Malavika’s Mumbaistan: Diwali Cheer in London

It would not be wrong to say that in spite of the arrival of a much wealthier, flashier NRI crowd of billionaires in London, the long-standing annual Hinduja Diwali

It would not be wrong to say that in spite of the arrival of a much wealthier, flashier NRI crowd of billionaires in London, the long-standing annual Hinduja Diwali party is a still a landmark event on the city’s social calendar. Here, you can expect to run into members of the British Cabinet (the Blairs were almost a fixture) and the Royal Family, visiting Indian dignitaries (including A-list politicians and industrialists), and leading lights of the NRI rich list, who, over a chaste repast (the family is famously tee totalling and vegetarian) and much name-mangling by a posh-English butler, while formally announcing the arriving guests, blithely gets the IndAian names all wrong, will celebrate the festival of lights in traditional bonhomie. The Hinduja brothers, all four of them – SP, GP, PP and AP – as is known, are a tightly-knit quartet of almost-identical looking Sindhi brothers from Mumbai, who, in spite of their great wealth and connections, are fastidiously traditional. And, like every year, this year too, their invitation for the festivities held at their sumptuous residence at Carlton House Terrace have gone out in all their names, along with their wives, accompanied by a Sanskrit sloka and a colourful depiction of Goddess Laxmi. “Anil Aggarwal has already thrown his OTT Diwali party at Anabel’s this year,” our oolong tea-serving hostess friend managed to rasp over the line from London, when we spoke to her yesterday, while she was nursing a hangover after a series of Diwali extravaganzas. “But in NRI circles, the Hinduja Diwali invite is regarded more like a summons. It marks the official launch of the NRI festive season, darling,” she said. Indeed.

The Hinduja Brothers. (Reuters File Photo)

New Art Form

Michelle Poonawalla

“The exhibition is a tribute to, and a continuation of my grandfather, the artist and architect Jehangir Vazifdar,” says Michelle Poonawalla, about her upcoming solo exhibition at a city gallery next month, titled Born Free. “He always said that his artwork made him feel free, and the title of the show references this,” she says. While her grandfather focused on portraits, Poonawalla has extended his painting style to present a series of canvases, which are overlaid with video-mapping. The 25 new works utilise a technique Poonawalla first learned from Vazifdar, where the paints are mixed directly on the canvas, creating a thick impasto style, over which the artist has projected an interactive and dynamic digital image, creating a new art form and resulting in the otherwise static artwork coming to life. “It allows some of the animals to ‘break free’ from their frame or cages, letting the viewer to experience their power, from the strength of a lion to the fragility of the butterflies,” says the artist, who held her first solo show two years ago, debuting alongside artists such as Thota Vaikuntam and Ajay De. She will also be presenting a collateral pavilion at the Kochi Murzi Biennale this December. “I have been involved with Kochi Muziris Biennale in the past as a patron and this time, I will be taking a new multimedia installation that builds on the digital mapping techniques I have worked on for Born Free, to create a really immersive experience. I wanted to create a moment of reflection amongst the bustle of a busy biennale,” she says.

Tweet Nothings
“We don’t celebrate Halloween on Indian TV. We are usually dressed like everyday is Halloween!
- Tweeted by @nakuulmehta

Designing for the Beautiful Game

Manish Arora

Is there anything designer Manish Arora can’t do? The enfant terrible, who shuttles between New Delhi and Paris, celebrated for his in-your-face vibrant colours and pop designs, is known for many exciting collaborations, which have seen him design Champagne bottles, cars, bikes, watches, shoes and even a line of makeup in the past. Now, word comes in that he has designed a special collection of clothing in partnership with one of the world’s leading football teams, Paris Saint-Germain, “My latest collaboration is with one of the best football clubs PSG, with some of the top players around the world including Neymar jr, Mbappe, Cavani, Thiago Silva,” he posted, along with some photographs of his work recently. “The French football club approached me for a collaboration as they really liked my work and wanted to bring two very different aspects, fashion and football, together,” he said, when we texted yesterday, adding, “When they approached me seeing my style and use of colours to bring out something unique and inspirational, I just couldn’t refuse.” Any thoughts about the beautiful game, was he a fan? It’s the nail-biting game that gives you an adrenaline rush with every miss, goal and celebration happening on field,” he said. “It is a simple game to understand, but complicated enough. The more I started spending time in France, the more I fell in love with the sport.”