Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Another war cry?
Actor Kangana Ranaut continues to be in her warrior queen mode at a special screening of her latest film held at a Ghatkopar mall on Thursday. Pic/Sneha Kharabe

A worthy title
If you are a fan of crime drama Sacred Games, you are perhaps familiar with its opening title sequence, which shows mandalas interspersed with black and white footage of some of India's historic events. The sequence has now been nominated for Excellence in Title Design (along with Deadpool 2, Black Panther, and Aquaman) at the SXSW Festival to be held in March in Austin, USA.

"It depicts what's going on in the central character's [played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui] mind, that got him to where he is. Besides, mandalas are an important motif in the series," VFX supervisor, Vijesh Rajan, who directed the sequence, told this diarist.

In the service of all Mumbaikars
Earlier this week, when Kunal Avanti heard faint mews at his events firm office in Worli, he knew it wasn't the usual frolicking of cats, but a distress call. He and his colleagues soon realised that an injured cat was trapped on a ledge of the second floor. When their efforts to rescue the little one failed, they called the fire brigade. "The Worli fire brigade arrived in eight minutes flat and it soon became a six-man operation. They even had a blanket ready, lest she decided to jump. The cat was rescued in 20 minutes," Avanti told this diarist, adding that the firemen's commitment urged him to express his gratitude on social media, where he asked his friends to tag cat lovers they know, and keep the cycle of gratitude going.

Chicken central
Fans of butter chicken inhabiting the nether regions of Mumbai city, look alive. A kitchen for Saransh Goila's popular QSR, Goila's Butter Chicken, is in the works and the goal is to expand operations. Speaking about what prompted the decision, the chef told this diarist, "We are a delivery kitchen and supply food to different pockets in the city. Consistency is key for such a venture. Hence, we decided to open a centralised kitchen in Chembur."

#MeToo in art
Scene and Herd, the Instagram account that is, according to its own bio, "Cutting through BS in the Indian Art world, one predator and power play, at a time," published two anonymous accounts yesterday that called out Sumesh Sharma, the co-founder of Clark House Initiative, for sexual predatory behaviour. Both narratives detail how their encounters with Sharma began with consensual flirting and then gravitated towards verbal and sexual abuse and harassment. But news of Sharma's ill reputation had been brewing in the art world for far too long; in fact, when the issue was brought to light on social media, several users commented saying that they were "not surprised". When mid-day reached out to Sharma for a comment, he did not respond. Clark House Initiative hadn't issued a statement until the time of going to press. "Since the members are in different places, we are yet to meet," they told this diarist.

Faux pas queen
Getting flustered by faux pas you make is now a faux pas. It's now perceived to be a humanly normal thing to slip. TV anchor and reality show host, Shibani Dandekar, is no stranger to them. This diarist recalls a Lunchbox session she facilitated last year featuring her and Gaurav Kapur. While the latter had said that everything he does on air feels like a faux pas, Dandekar had told us about one incident at the end of a cricket game when she was trying to break, and ended up saying "when we come back, we'll head to the toss". She recently shared a video of her bloopers while hosting the show, captioned, 'There are people that actually have talent and get it right! I'm not one of them'. The short video comprises six bloopers, before Dandekar goes off stage, announcing that she needs a minute. Her followers have appreciated her spunk, crowning her "candid" in an Insta-perfect world.

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates