Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

She's got the look
Mallika Sherawat soaks in the sunny spell that the city has been experiencing, as a security guard takes note of the glam quotient when she stepped out of a restaurant in Juhu on Thursday. Pic/Sneha Kharabe

Rahul Bose during a rugby match

The Cup is coming!
Rahul Bose is ecstatic. And why shouldn't he be. The former national team player (1998-2008) took to social media to break the news that for the first time ever, the Rugby World Cup trophy - the Webb Ellis Cup - will be coming to India.

Abhishek Bachchan, and Atul Kasbekar

He went on to call his sports buddies - Abhishek Bachchan, Ranveer Singh, John Abraham and Atul Kasbekar to tweet their support for the cup's yatra across the country in August - from Delhi to Mumbai to Bhubaneswar - which happens to have a sizeable following for the sport. Loyal friends that they are, they promptly put their weight behind the tour.

Zuni with parents Anupama and Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Zuni's teenage dreams
Here is one teen who might soon be giving her famous parents a run for their money when it comes to being in the news. Zuni, the daughter of Anupama and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, is ready with her second work of fiction, The Island of the Day Before. The book is a well curated collection of poetry, flash fiction and prose. This is the fourth published work from Zuni. This diarist managed to browse through some of the writing inside, and it was evident that this young mind is bursting with imagination. No surprise then, her favourite writers include Lewis Carroll and Neil Gaiman.

A scene from Katkatha staged at IIM Indore. Pic/Sanjna Kapoor

When theatre took over management lessons
"It was lovely that these young students and future leaders were a part of the audience," Sanjna Kapoor's excitement was hard to miss over the phone from IIM Indore. She, along with Junoon co-founder Sameera Iyengar, had just wrapped up an engaging 75-minute presentation of their first show on campus as part of their Through The Looking Glass programme that takes theatre to colleges and provokes conversation. The session witnessed the staging of Anurupa Roy's Katkatha. "The idea was ignited by thought leader Rama Bijapurkar earlier this year.

She had introduced us to IIMs, and Indore jumped at the idea," recalls Kapoor. "The play, based on the Mahabharata, offered many views and many worlds to the students. The beauty of the arts is that it provokes you to question more, as Anurupa explained during the Q&A session," shares Iyengar, adding that the play provoked them to think." Both are hopeful that the IIMs and IITs will warm up to the initiative. "Theatre can be a great catalyst. We must recognise that culture is as important as other faculties," Kapoor signs off.

Raftaar with Varun Dhawan

Leg-up for hip-hop
Last year, we had reported in these pages how India's hip-hop community would get a leg-up with the first edition of Shuffle, the first dance festival in the country dedicated to the genre. Well, the scene has definitely shown signs of improving since then, what with the emergence of rappers like Prabh Deep and preparations for Gully Boy, a Bollywood film based on Dharavi's hip-hop crews. And now, the announcement for the second edition of Shuffle, in September, means that things will move further in the right direction. So big ups, to borrow hip-hop language, to the team behind it.

Cross-border greeting
There are rare finds, and then, there are such postcards that makes one sit up and take note. Like this picture postcard shared by Rajan Jayakar, noted lawyer, historian, antiquities collector and creator-curator of the Bombay High Court Museum. Sourced from a dealer, Jayakar tells us that this slice of nostalgia depicting the city's famous Crawford Market was actually printed in Pakistan. And guess what was the occasion for which it was created? A greeting to wish everyone for the festival of Eid! Now that's a first of its kind.

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