Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

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Industrialist Harsh Goenka (center) laughs as actor Dimple Kapadia makes an animated attempt to halt someone in their steps at the launch of daughter Twinkle Khanna's latest book, at a Bandra five-star on Friday. Pic/Rane Ashish

Make it large
When Hindi novelist Balendu Dwivedi set out to write Madaripur Junction, a story about self-appointed caste representatives in an Uttar Pradesh village, his only aim was to pen a cutting political satire. But, the cherry on top was when it was selected as one of the most promising books on which a film should be made, at the recently held MAMI Film Festival. In fact, chairperson Kiran Rao has even requested a copy. "I think when a writer writes a novel, he thinks only about the content. What they found appealing is the realism and drama in the novel," shared Dwivedi.

Journalists remember their 'Sidhu'
Every year, sports writers from all over the country assemble to participate in various tournaments played against zones organised by the Sports Journalists' Federation of India (SJFI). Yes, you can say that they are on the other side of the fence for once!

This year, the sporting festival is being held in Bangalore and, as usual, the JK Bose Trophy cricket tournament is most significant. On Friday, the cricket teams turned up at the Karnataka State Cricket Association nets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and the seriousness and desire to do well was present as in previous years. At lunch before their first practice session, anecdotes flew around which date back to the past editions.

In the 1980s, a news agency reporter was part of the West Zone cricket team and was certain to play in the side. He fancied himself as a useful medium pacer but on match day he was told that a younger man would take his place in the playing XI. The enraged reporter packed his kit, drove off to his hotel to pick up his luggage and headed to the airport for a flight back to Mumbai.

This story became more famous when Navjot Singh Sidhu left the 1996 tour of England in a huff after he was reportedly humiliated by a teammate. So the journalistic fraternity has a Sidhu, who like the former dashing India opener, has long retired but still remembered!

A show of love
It was heartening to see how some of the country's leading lifestyle houses came together to celebrate the striking down of Section 377. The impromptu campaigns, now flooding social media, flash the rainbow pride colours unabashedly. From L'Oreal's multi-hued lips to Tanishq's "Two of a kind make a beautiful pair", and Fast Track's #Sec377moveon campaigns, it feels, at least for now, that the freedom to breathe and love, and wear your choices on your sleeve, is what brands promise.

When a spare flea leads to castings
When we had spotted Padraig Cusack, NCPA Mumbai's new creative producer, and Tasneem Vahanvaty, head of theatre productions at NCPA, watching One Flea Spare at Prithvi Theatre, we should have realised they were scouting.

The play's leads, Jim Sarbh and Kalki Koechlin, are set to appear in productions by NCPA. Sarbh will star in an adaptation of Nick Payne's Constellations and Koechlin will lead in Lucrece, an adaptation of the poem 'The Rape of Lucrece'.

Narendra Kumar and hockey champ Dhanraj Pillai

Hockey team gets sartorial
To have designed outfits for the Indian team playing the Hockey World Cup 2018 in Odisha is a matter of pride and nostalgia for designer Narendra Kumar. "Apart from the fact that it's [hockey] our national game, I also grew up playing it, representing my school and college, and continue to follow the game," Nari says.

The outfits carry an updated legacy of the sundial logo

The team's new outfits were unveiled on Friday at an event attended by coach Harendra Singh and hockey stars Ajit Pal Singh, Dhanraj Pillai, Ashok Kumar (son of the famed Dhyan Chand) and Sandeep Singh among others. "Since the games will be held in Odisha, we decided to look at the Konark Temple for inspiration. We've retained the legacy of the sundial logo as the main motif, but made it look modern and stylish through design intervention," Nari tells this diarist.

The outfit designed by Kumar

He has designed on-field jerseys, while hoodies, tailored jackets and travel gear are part of off-field athleisure wardrobe. "For people who don't consider hockey or its players fashionable, this was a design opportunity for us to prove otherwise," he says. Now that the assignment is behind him, he has time on hand to watch a film about India's historic win at the 1984 Olympics, he has been meaning to. "Gold. I am going to watch it now."

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