The force was with them

We could not make it to what many call the movie event of the year, if not the decade - the premiere of Star Wars on Wednesday night at the PVR, due to bad traffic.

Kiran Rao, Aamir Khan and Fahad Samar

According to a radio channel's movie critic, Fahad Samar, the show was marked with some out of the ordinary showmanship. "There was electricity in the air as celebrities and cineastes gathered," recounted Samar. "Darth Vader marched down the red carpet with a retinue of Stormtroopers to wild cheering and a flurry of flash bulbs. Aamir Khan was in attendance en famille with Kiran Rao and daughter Ira. Raju Hirani and R Madhavan were there, as were Kalki Koechlin and Rajkummar Rao, Sonali Bendre with husband Goldie Behl."

Oh well, next time we're stuck in a Mumbai traffic jam and it looks like we're going to miss such a spectacle - we hope the force is with us to get us through!

New Pattanaik book
Devdutt Pattanaik's legion of fans will be happy to know that his latest tome, My Gita will be launched early next month.

Devdutt Pattanaik

"We begin 2016 with a bang: Pattanaik, one of our most engaging writers, will give a talk based on his new book, My Gita. Devdutt is a wonderful speaker too, so it should be a special evening," said Anil Dharker, whose Literature Live will be hosting the event.

"My Gita is about discovering your Gita, not what Krishna told Arjuna or what Arjuna actually understood, but how that conversation makes sense to your life and mine," said the author, when we asked him to tell us about the book, which he says took him exactly nine months to pen. And on what prompted him to write it, Pattanaik, easily one of India's most read authors, cites that reason which most authors most covet: ‘reader demand.' "There was much demand from fans who liked Jaya: my retelling of Mahabharat," he said. Nice!

Gathering of the best and the brightest
Wednesday evening saw the city's best and brightest gather at the Turf Club's member's enclosure to celebrate the marriage of Sudeep, son of Sucheta and Viral Doshi, to Gitanjali.

Sudeep Doshi. Pic/Twitter, Renu Basu, Hemendra Kothari

he Doshis are a renowned clan, what with Viral being one of the city's most sought after education consultants, and a leading member of the Cathedral alumnus association. From the Taj's Renu Basu, to SoBo's leading doctor Rohit Barman, to investment banker Hemendra Kothari, to event organizer Sharmilla Khanna, to publisher Alex Kuruvilla, to financial whiz Pradeep Shah, to educationist Indu Shahani, they were all there, to celebrate the happy occasion.

But for all the stars in the sky and at the flower bedecked venue, the highlight was undoubtedly the spectacular sit down traditional vegetarian Gujarati jaman served on the occasion; many a well heeled society matron was overheard remarking how stuffed she was by the delicious fare, and how grateful that the Doshis had organised a sit down for their guests.

"These days, juggling a sari, a shawl, a dinner plate, a glass of wine, a cell phone and a handbag, and what ever else we women carry, makes occasions like these pretty daunting. So, to be able to sit and eat in comfort is a real pleasure," said one.

Padma in Goa
She's always been known to be a woman who knows her mind, and one indication of this is the roster of men she has loved and left, which reads like a who's who of international alpha males, including Booker prize winning author Salman Rushdie, and billionaire Theodore ‘Teddy' Forstmann (CEO of IMG).

Padma Lakshmi. Pic/AFP

But friends who bumped into actress, model and author, Padma Lakshmi recently in Goa where she was for a shoot along with her daughter, Krishna Thea Lakshmi-Dell, cannot stop talking about how devoted the child's father is to both of them.

"He took time off to accompany them to Goa and appeared to be taking full charge of his daughter when Padma was working," they said about Adam Dell, brother of Michael, Chairman of Dell computers, and a successful venture capitalist in his own right.

"Not only that, but the couple who had earlier fought a bitter custody battle over their daughter, appeared to be on good terms now, they said. Incidentally, Dell is not the only friend of Padma's who dotes on the child.
Before his death Forstmann had also changed his will to include an undisclosed trust fund for Krishna. Is there a reconciliation in the offing? Friends residing at the same hotel said they were keeping their fingers crossed.

Christmas Eve cheer
Word comes in, that last night was a busy one for SoBo's young and restless, what with multiple parties hosted around town to ring in Christmas Eve.

Nandita Mahtani and Dino Morea

These included pre drinks at Rishi Acharya's latest offering in Breach Candy called Doppio (we hear he has another SoBo offering in the pipeline), a snow-themed party at Marine Drive's Dome with DJ La Rossa at the Deck, the bar at Long and Short had been booked out for a private Christmas Eve party by an industrialist's young son, Aer had been taken over by Acquin Pais and the Bandra boys of Butter events, while a couple of floors down, Dino Morea and Nandita Mahtani's playground party at the Mansion, was all set to host a Christmas themed night.

Acquin Pais

And what did we do? We chose to watch Bajirao Mastani to check out what the fuss was all about. Ho ho ho! and Merry Christmas folks! Remember to be naughty and nice all day.