Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

A smashing time

We mean that quite literally, as a muscle man cracks open a coconut with his elbow, even as Sunny Leone doesn't look prepared for it, at a shoot in Juhu. Pic/Shadab Khan

Fund the fest

The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival has become an essential stitch in the city's cultural fabric, with SoBo wearing different colours when it's held there every year. But organising it hasn't been a cakewalk this year in terms of finances, and the organisers are reaching out to Mumbaikars to crowdfund the event.

An installation placed at the festival in 2011

"The times are a little difficult for everyone right now. So this year, we decided that we will raise the funds ourselves. This being a people's festival, we felt that it's kind if they contribute, since we are doing it for them," honorary chairman of Kala Ghoda Association Maneck Davar told this diarist, urging you to show some love and open up your purse strings.

A Little change

When The Little Door launched its first outlet in Andheri, the city got a new avenue for live gigs. These would usually involve musicians playing a show that wasn't too loud, sticking to genres like jazz and funk. But then the franchise launched its second outlet in Bandra, and decided that this time, they would curate the programming more towards electronic music. This diarist remembers attending a gig when Matteo of the French trio Chinese Man performed, which was off the roof.

The place was packed to the brim with barely any space to move, let alone dance. So, it came as a bit of a surprise that the eatery-cum-bar is shuttering its Bandra outlet and opening a new one elsewhere. This diarist tried reaching out to the proprietors, who confirmed the news, but said they prefer keeping their cards close to their chest and will get back to us with details when the time is right.

Friends join forces for food

What happens when two talented Punjabi chefs get talking about food? Well, plans to whip up a scrumptious feast together, if chefs Amninder Sandhu and Pooja Dhingra are the people in question. The duo will join hands to whip up a completely Indian meal, which is Sandhu's forte, at the monthly event called Table No 13 at Dhingra's Le 15 Café next Friday. The menu will comprise kulle chaat, bhatti da paneer and jaggery ice cream.

Dhingra told us, "I've always been a big fan of her [Sandhu's] food. So, when we connected in Delhi recently, we hung out and got talking about our love for eating and cooking." Sandhu, meanwhile, said about the menu, "It's food that you crave, which is satisfying." This is the first we will see of her after she exited Arth. Sandhu added that this cook-out with a friend is just one of the things up her sleeve till her new venture sees the light of day this year.

A helping hand

Adult survivors of child sexual abuse and allies will get together at a safe space where their stories will be shared and heard next week.

Created to help people walk the path from victims to survivors and leading a fulfilling, trauma-free life, this event by city-based NGO Open Minds Foundation will later be conducted in different parts of the city. The upcoming one is scheduled for January 18 at Versova's Leaping Windows café. Resources for mental health assistance will also be shared.

Wearing his confusion on his sleeve?

Union minister Piyush Goyal recently invited some members of Tinseltown to meet him in the city to discuss the Citizenship Amendment Act. Farhan Akhtar, Karan Johar and Javed Akhtar chose not to attend it. But Ranvir Shorey, Prasoon Joshi and Shaan did. Shorey, incidentally, said after the meeting that he thinks that the CAA is a humanitarian act if it wasn't linked to the National Register of Citizens.

He then got into a war of words on social media with people protesting it, calling them "commies" in one tweet. But the irony is that someone pointed out that while attending the meeting, Shorey himself was wearing a T-shirt with communist icon Che Guevara's face on it. We are scratching our heads.

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