Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Ready or not, here she comes

Malaika Arora gets some last-minute help with her dress during an event at a Lower Parel five-star on Thursday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Playing for a long time

We live in a world where people increasingly consume digitally than watch theatrical productions. So, it comes as a refreshing change to hear that Dance Like a Man, a play written by Mahesh Dattani, will see its 620th staging this month, in Mumbai.

A scene from Dance Like a Man

Directed by Lillete Dubey, the plot deals with how a man who aspires to be a dancer is trapped by circumstances, and how his wife is caught between her own ambitions and her family life. His failed ambition turns the husband into a drunkard, resulting in an untold tragedy later on.

Dubey told this diarist, "We have just had a standing ovation for a Hindi fest in Coimbatore, and after all these shows, we have a new cast member, Ananth Mahadevan."

Ready to rock the college circuit

There was a time when college fests were the only occasion when music concerts were held on campus. But those days are now gone. Further evidence of that lies in the fact that a smartphone brand is launching a new property that will involve two big-ticket singers playing gigs in colleges across four cities - Mumbai, Guwahati, Jalandhar and Chennai.

The artistes include Bollywood sensation Guru Randhawa and hip-hop star Divine. There is an additional event called Campus Stars Programme, which is aimed at hunting for new musical talent among the college crowd. The venue for the Mumbai leg, which will feature Randhawa, is IIT-Bombay, meaning that the students there now have something more to cheer for than just Mood Indigo, their annual college festival.

A biopic that packs a punch

You might not know it, but there is a sole Indian boxer who has fought against the mighty Muhammad Ali. His name is Kaur Singh, and if you want to learn more about him, here's some good news. A biopic on Singh is under production, and called Padma Shri Kaur Singh.

It will chart the life of a boxer who represented India in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and won three gold medals for the country in the Asian Boxing Championship and Asian Games in1982. But the film will go beyond his sporting achievements. Catch it when it hits the screens next year.

KJo's got a book for Rensil

How far removed is the act of scriptwriting from that of penning a novel? Not too far, if you go by the fact that Rensil D'Silva - who's written the scripts for movies like Rang De Basanti, Aks and Student of the Year - will now debut as a author next week.

It was Karan Johar who suggested that D'Silva write a full-fledged book, which resulted in Kohinoor Express, a novel set in the 1850s that deals with revolutionaries enlisting the help of a bandit to rob a diamond that the British have in their possession.

Talking about the transition, D'Silva said, "Writing this book has been a liberating process for me as it consists of a crucial element of internal monologue, that is absent in writing screenplays."

Upping SoBo's glam factor

The year 2018 saw too many high-profile Indian weddings in different locations, from Italy's Lake Como to Jodhpur's Umaid Bhawan Palace. But if there was one man whose name the Internet couldn't stop raving about, it was Sabyasachi Mukherjee.

And now, he's all set to get city brides and grooms excited with a new flagship jewellery store that opens in Kala Ghoda on October 22. He made the announcement through a drool-worthy Instagram (IG)post yesterday, showcasing its plush interiors and collection.

Our thoughts mirror that of the IG account @baateinfashionwaali, who commented, "Pls call it an art museum, I dunno if anybody is going to look at the jewellery even !!! [sic]"

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