Malavika’s Mumbaistan: Fit For A King

This Thursday, members of an elite business club – which counts amongst its echelons both Mukesh Ambani and Azim Premji – will attend the first exclusive art event

This Thursday, members of an elite business club – which counts amongst its echelons both Mukesh Ambani and Azim Premji – will attend the first exclusive art event of the year, at one of the most iconic venues in the city. Housed in Cuffe Parade, the Taraporewala Mansion has been the cynosure of all eyes for a while now, not only for its rich history and legacy, but also for its unrivalled aesthetic splendour. Built in the 1900s, when mansions of its kind dotted the Cuffe Parade promenade, once home to the likes of internationally celebrated conductor of music Zubin Mehta and chairman of Cipla Yusuf K Hamied, the mansion was acquired by its current owner in 2008, carefully restored and then decorated with the finest that money could buy, by way of artefacts. Now, it is ready and awaits its new occupants. And for those interested, here are a few of its salient details: The structure is built with indigenous stones of Mumbai and predominantly flaunts the Indo-Saracenic architectural style with hints of neo-Gothic. The mansion boasts five spacious bedrooms, each with double height ceilings; a professionally-designed home theatre with state-of-the-art 7.1 sound technology with leather recliners; a pine wood temperature-controlled wine cellar; a 40-foot vertical green garden and walls clad in custom-made marble and stone panels, specially treated in gold and silver from Pietra of Italy. And the asking price for this peerless pile? Approximately upwards of 100 crores, we are informed. Which, going by the kind of people who will have a private viewing of it this Thursday, is more like loose change in their pockets. So, will the iconic Taraporewala Mansion find its new owner this week? Watch this space.

Zubin Mehta (HT File)

True Lies
With general elections around the corner ‘tis the season to be merry, at least as far as the country’s tycoons are concerned, as they are expected to come up with the moolah to oil the wheels of party campaigns. “Ever since the government put an end to under-the-table political donations and started issuing electoral bonds which are sold by the State Bank of India, there has been a clamour amongst businessmen to find out how much their peers have paid to each party,” informs a Dalal Street maven. “And towards this, the three most common measures are: one, they try and coax the information out of board members who are party to all such financial transactions. Two, they work the phone lines themselves, asking around in their peer groups in the hope of discovering the information and three,” (and this is when the Dalal Street maven laughed) “They post one of their lackeys at the window of the State Bank of India to spy on which fellow tycoon has sent his staff member to buy bonds and for what amount.” And though we do not know which of the above three methods has worked, our source provided information about two such recent purchases of electoral bonds, both for the ruling party. “Two Mumbai-based industrialists have purchased bonds for large amounts recently,” he said, adding, “The first for ₹25 crore by a jet setting businessman who is undergoing a messy and high-profile divorce, and the second for ₹100 crore by a steel magnate known to be close to the ruling party.”
As we said, ‘tis the season…

Kya Taj?

Mira Nair (HT File )

The Harvard-educated Mira Nair, who has directed movies like Monsoon Wedding, Salaam Bombay and The Namesake, is currently in India, prepping for her next project that media reports suggest is a digital web series featuring Bollywood newbie Ishaan Khatter. But the feisty Padma Bhushan awardee who goes by the name of Pagli amongst her inner circle, seems to be having a horrific time at her hotel. “Toxic Taj Lucknow,” she posted recently. “Checked in to gagging paint fumes, then swam to an hour of DDT spray! Rather like napalm in the morning. What happened to the eco-friendly hotel?” she tweeted. At the time of going to print, the hotel, owned by the Tata Group which is known for its environmental measures, had not responded to the tweet. Perhaps they will send her some of Lucknow’s famous tunde ke kebabs to make up? Though, somehow, we hardly think that will work…

High Steppin’ Gals

Queenie Singh (left) with Sushmita Sen (HT Photo)

The combination of New York, power women and sexy footwear has been long established. TV soaps like ‘Sex and the City’ have made a virtual fetish of the three. So, when two of Mumbai’s glam girls bumped into each other this week while shopping for footwear, where else but at the well-heeled Bloomingdales at NYC’s 59th street, they certainly must have made heads turn. “Bumped into [the] lovely Sushmita Sen,” posted jewellery designer and glamazon Queenie Singh, about her chance encounter with the international beauty pageant winner and erstwhile actress. But love for shoes and glamour is not the only thing that the two women have in common. They have both found new love. Singh with husband Rishi Sethia, who she married on a yacht in the Mediterranean, and Sen, with beau, the curiously-named Rohman Shawl, the Kashmiri hunk who swept her off her feet and is the subject of many of her social media posts. Expectedly, having bumped into each other, indulging in their guilty pleasure, both fell into each other’s arms.
Sole Sisters after all...