Malavika’s Mumbaistan: Rattle your jewellery

From chauffeur-driven limos that followed each other in stately convoys, to those who had hailed taxi-services – both app-based and kaali peeli – to others who had come by bus and train, the event attracted a cross section of the Band’s fans

As to be expected, U2’s concert in Mumbai was the perfect opportunity for the city’s cool crowd to display their music smarts and rock cred. As far as celebrity spottings go, the concert was a teddy bear’s picnic: From Lara Dutta and Mahesh Bhupathi to Kumar Manglam Birla, Alex Kuruvilla, AD and Sabena Singh, Kim Sharma, Ujjwala Raut, Dr Farhad Taraporewala, there were as many familiar Mumbai faces in the crowds of excited, casually dressed people that evening – as there had been modes of transport.

Hrithik Roshan and Suzanne Khan

From chauffeur-driven limos that followed each other in stately convoys, to those who had hailed taxi-services – both app-based and kaali peeli – to others who had come by bus and train, the event attracted a cross section of the Band’s fans: baby boomers, Millennials, rock enthusiasts and die-hard hipsters. And while many well-known people had opted for the VVIP lounges and were photographed walking the ‘red carpet’ (good grief!), including Sachin Tendulkar, Ranveer Singh (who we spotted mid-concert waving cheerily at the crowd below from an overhanging balcony) with Deepika Padukone and Hrithik Roshan and Suzanne Khan; others like Malaika Arora, Anurag Kashyap, Owen Roncon, and Srinivasan Jain opted for the pit, and displayed the courage of their convulsions, grooving with the cooler crowd.

Incidentally, regarding modes of transport we hear that some uber cool Mumbai folk, are reported to have even chartered helicopters to avoid the crawling traffic and make it to the concert in style , which, when you think about what the Band and its music stands for is a pretty dumb thing to do.

As John Lennon had once famously announced, tongue-firmly-in-cheek, while performing at a concert for the Queen in 1963 : “Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewellery?”

Just Sayin’

And whereas #ShameOnBollywood and #BollywoodKeBekaarBuddhe has been trending, social media has also shone a light on those from the industry who have stood up and spoken out against the powers that be on many occasions. These include Naseeruddin Shah, Renuka Shahane, Sushant Singh, Mahesh Bhatt, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Anurag Kashyap, Manoj Bapai, Rajkumar Rao, Vicky Kaushal, Huma Qureshi, Swara Bhaskar, Sudhir Mishra, Kalki Koechlin, Radhika Apte and Richa Chaddha, among others. The film industry has had a long and illustrious legacy of political outspokenness and engagement. From the vanguard actor-tuned-politicians of the south to Bengal’s film icons, many of them incubated in the intellectual addas and coffee houses of Kolkata, to Mumbai’s pink-leaning Pathans both Hindu and Muslim , like Prithviraj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar who’d arrived from the same towns of Peshawar and gone on to dominate the industry.

Naseeruddin Shah

Even more relevant to this were the industry’s great writers and lyricists, like Manto Majrooh Sultanpuri , K A Abbas, Kaifi Azmi and Sahir Ludhianvi who picked up the socialist Nehruvian mood and disseminated it in a hundred of popular songs and stories. So, yes, there is much anger against and condemnation of those who do not speak out or stand up for what is right, but given the list of those who have and continue to do so, it is unfair to tar all with the same brush. Also, give it time, or as Bob Dylan, famously sang “For the times they are a-changin’”

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Democracy is not the law of the majority, but the protection of the minority

Quote by Albert Camus, shared by industrialist Harsh Mariwala yesterday.

Turning Tables

It’s been an exciting week for restaurateur Gauri Devidayal, who, along with her husband Jay Yousuf, runs the Table restaurant in Colaba. Just last week the restaurant was rated as no. 4 in India on a restaurant list by a travel publication and the week took a glitzy turn as Hollywood power couple Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones, in India for the HT Leadership Summit, turned up for lunch.

U2’s Adam Clayton at The Table with friends.

“He’s as hot as ever. And charming. And she’s gorgeous. Uff, so star struck!” Devidayal had shared on her social media earlier this week. But that was not all: this weekend it was another international celebrity, Adam Clayton, the bassist of rock band U2 who visited for lunch. “‘Tis the season of celebrity sightings” she’d added.

The perks of being located in the same neighbourhood as the Taj Mahal Hotel?