By now everyone has dusted off their trendy sneakers and posted their selfies looking suitably triumphant at Saturday’s all-day Global Citizen concert, but our sources inform that even as the rest of the city’s movers and shakers had happily left their egos behind as they rubbed shoulders with the hoi polloi, some stars insisted on... well... throwing their starry weight around and obviously did not get with the vibe
Arjun Rampal and friends at the Coldplay concert
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By now everyone has dusted off their trendy sneakers and posted their selfies looking suitably triumphant at Saturday’s all-day Global Citizen concert, but our sources inform that even as the rest of the city’s movers and shakers had happily left their egos behind as they rubbed shoulders with the hoi polloi, some stars insisted on... well... throwing their starry weight around and obviously did not get with the vibe.
“Even as the likes of Boney Kapoor, Sridevi, Amar Singh, Farhan Akhtar and Shraddha Kapoor (the latter two who in fact were performers that day) mixed freely with the rest of us, suddenly during the show, we saw a huge commotion as a phalanx of bodyguards and other security personnel strode in, forming a cordon around a group of VIP entrants,” says a young lass.
“On closer inspection, we saw that it was Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif, Varun Dhawan and builder Sunny Dewan along with friends, who were being given the starry reception,” she griped, adding, “So uncool, na? With Coldplay and Jay Z on stage, who did they imagine would give them a second look?” Indeed.
The Tharoors in New York
So much has been written about Shashi Tharoor and wife No 3, the late Sunanda Pushkar, that it is easy to forget that his wife No 1, the noted academic Tilottama Mukherji Tharoor of New York University, is very much alive and kicking as this charming portrait of India’s ‘First Family of Writers’ demonstrates.
The Tharoors at Kanishk’s wedding
Shot a few months ago at the wedding of their son, the author Kanishk Tharoor, to Amanda Calderon, along with twin Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post, and the celebrated author, MP and Congressman, it features the Tharoors in fine Indian splendor. Tilottama, who hailed from Kolkata, was a well-regarded blue stocking, and the couple had enjoyed a heady college romance, which had much to do with a meeting of minds, it is said.
Giving it a Polo miss
Even as most of the city’s happy, shiny people had congregated at the MMRDA grounds to listen to Coldplay and Jay Z, one woman had certainly got her priorities right. Fashion accessories designer and polo enthusiast Rinaa Shah kept her date with her polo team at the Amateur Rider’s Club Polo tournament on Saturday, where her team participated.
Rinaa Shah (centre) with her family at the match
What’s more, it was something of a red-letter day for the woman who took to the game rather late in her life, as her family had came to see her compete. “My parents and my mama-mami came to watch me play polo today for the first time. I was so happy to have them there,” she gushed about the special occasion. She added, “I‘d rather be playing polo than be at the #Coldplay concert.”
A new Rushdie
Author Salman Rushdie’s fans will be pleased to know that even as the New York resident takes active part in all that goes on in the life of what is known as the intellectual capital of the world, he has not neglected his writing muse.
Salman Rushdie
“This looks suspiciously like a completed 379-page manuscript,” announced his succinct post on social media over the weekend, accompanied by a photograph of what looked like a sumptuous new tome from the winner of the Booker of Bookers. “1,30,000 words. Off to publishers on Monday. Good grief, here we go again. Book #18.”
And the title? ‘The King in the Golden House,’ it read, leaving some Rushdie fans wondering if that might be a wry allusion to the new occupant of the White House. As is known, the author had put up a spirited opposition to Trump over the past few months.
A traditional Christmas Eve
They were certainly one of the city’s leading couples, when Vindi Banga of Hindustan Unilever along with his wife, writer Kamini, hosted their annual Christmas Eve Brunch at the Taj each year.
Vindi and Kamini Banga
No surprises then that the announcement of it being resurrected this year after a gap of a couple of years, when the couple had shifted base to London, was met with much excitement. And though it’s being thrown to celebrate the wedding of their son Tavraj’s marriage to Alexandra, which took place in Newport, Rhode Island, last year, the fact that it is being held on Christmas Eve is a nod to their earlier tradition.
Which reminds us, ’tis the season to be merry, and in times when the breaking news brings no cheer, what else can one say but: ho ho ho!
Eyes don’t lie
If body language is anything to go by, then this diarist can confirm that the two Bollywood star couples that have kept their fans guessing about their relationships are certainly more than just friends.
The first happens to be a couple who has no need to camouflage their feelings for each other, given that they are both single and free to mingle, but that has not stopped them from playing a hide-and-seek game with the public.
Nevertheless, the fact that they were very much together at a recent exclusive, for a handful of friends- and family-only sit-down dinner for her mother’s special birthday, confirms that they are much more than just colleagues.
As for the second star pair, guests at a recent event which the pair had attended, confirmed the electric chemistry between the two, despite the fact that the two have gone out of their way to deny their liaison, perhaps to avoid complicating the separation that he’s recently sought from his long-standing wife. As they say: the eyes don’t lie.
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