Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Janhvi actually spotted me!

A fan is elated that the young Bollywood star noticed her in a crowd at an event in Bandra. Pic/Shadab Khan

Star in the making

I am very excited. It's a testament to the incredible work done by the kitchen and our teams.

The levels of innovation there are stratospheric and it's great to see their efforts receive recognition," ace restaurateur Zorawar Kalra told this diarist when quizzed about his thoughts on the recent news that his restaurant Farzi Cafe's London outpost has been listed in the Michelin Guide, UK.

The much-followed restaurant guide describes Kalra's labour of love as, "A great spot for a meal before heading next door to the Theatre Royal," and hails the fare as "classic Indian dishes, with some interesting global tou­ches." Food for you, Zorawar!

Another round of jazz for Mumbai

At the launch of a new jazz space in the city called The BlueBop Café over the weekend, we learnt that the club is all set to get some company come February/March next year. For, there's another jazz club coming to town - Bengaluru's Windmill Craftworks, known for hosting big int­e­rnational acts from the genre.

A gig at the Bengaluru microbrewery

The microbrewery will be opening in BKC across a 4,000 sq ft area. Kapil Thirwani, whose recent works include antiSOCIAL and The BlueBop Café, has done the sound. "The owner, Kamal Sagar, is a jazz fan," Thirwani told us.

New York City for #SaveAarey

At a time when Mumbai is grappling with the hacking of over 2,000 trees inside the green environs of Aarey to make way for a Metro car shed, the movement to protect the city's green lungs found resonance in the Big Apple.

A bunch of students we­re spotted along a sidewalk in New York, holding posters to pro­test the chopping of the trees with messages to support the #SaveAarey campaign. Now, that's what we call showing solidarity across the seven seas.

Indian animation loses its guru

If Mahatma Gandhi is the Father of the Nation, who's the Father of Indian Animation? The only answer to that question is Ram Mohan, a doyen of the animation industry who passed away over the weekend, aged 88. Mohan began his career at the Cartoon Films Unit of the central government's Films Division of India.

Screen grab from Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama

He later worked on films like Satyajit Ray's Shatranj Ke Khiladi and BR Chopra's Pati Patni Aur Woh and went on to mentor scores of budding animators, who he always had time for.

Ram Mohan

No wonder that there was an outpour of grief from animation industry biggies Ashish Kulkarni, Vaibhav More and Shilpa Ranade, who called Mohan the Pitamaha Bhishma of his field.

AD Singh's double role

His impeccable taste extends beyond his wardrobe, which is full of dapper suits and fun shirts, and transends into the chic and varied décor at his eateries. This weekend, restaurateur AD Singh turned his style quotient up a notch with a tissue wrap jacket with asymmetric kurta in ombre when he walked the ramp at a fashion show at one of his Delhi eateries, which was the venue for Antar Agni fashion show.

"It's one of my favourites, and I invited Ujjwal Dubey [the label's founder] to be part of the flea market, which we organised at our Delhi outlet. He had requested me to invite a couple of friends and walk [the ramp] for him. I like his designs. They are original and quite different," Singh told this diarist. But this isn't his debut, for Singh walked the ramp for friend and designer JJ Valaya back in 2012.

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