Bhatt of course
Bhatt of course
Mahesh Bhatt pulls Mohit Suri as Pooja Bhatt looks on during the wedding reception of the late Gulshan Kumar’s daughter Tulsi and Hitesh Ralhan at a city hotel
Net loss
INVESTORS and entrepreneurs may be riding the e-commerce boom, but the going seems to get tougher for the older players in the business. Yahoo India has been downsizing quietly for a while now but recent developments suggest that it has done away with almost all of the editorial staff. This is where you had read about managing editor Prem Panicker putting in his papers. It seems his was not the first, nor is the last exit. For the global giant that created much noise around its India foray, this whimper is conspicuously inaudible.
By the way…
HE lavish production of The Merchant of Venice that marks the foray of the Aditya Birla Group into the world of arts, has set the bar several notches higher for theatre in the city. In the presence of Kumarmangalam and Neerja Birla, Priya Dutt, Owen Roncon, Sharon Prabhakar, Alyque Padamsee, Rajit Kapoor, Shernaz Patel, Mahesh Thakur, Suchitra Pillai, Quasar Padamsee, Anu Menon and Dolly Thakore, the play became a talking point for its production values – barring the length of the play. But theatre persons are celebrating. It is after a long wait that corporate giants have started supporting the art form and besides the Birlas, they have the Mahindras to thank as well.
Word perfect
JEFFREY Archer loves a full house. And this city did not disappoint. At the reading held at a SoBo book store last evening, the bestselling author was in his elements, as hundreds of fans spilled over to the street outside to catch a glimpse of the rock star of popular fiction. The session was lively, with Lord Archer talking about how he still hand writes all his 14 drafts (yes, we had told you so) before sending his manuscript to the publisher. He also spoke about how he was scheduled to have breakfast with Ronnie Screwvala today, triggering a volley of questions about possible film adaptation. “Bollywood stole Kane and Abel,” he said, referring perhaps to Rakesh Roshan’s directorial debut Khudgarz starring Jeetendra and Shatrughan Sinha. From listing his favourite authors to praising Malgudi Days as one of the finest novels, every word he uttered was lapped up. Especially the parts about how a crowd like the one that had turned up, inspired him to keep writing.
Bitter harvest
REPORTS have emerged of Maharashtra’s first and only palace hotel being put up for sale. The 1932 property – Shalini Palace – in Kolhapur is owned by the Chougules of Chateau Indage, who are struggling to repay debts amounting to 31.67 crore, fraction of a staggering debt. The palace comes with a tag of Rs 51.30 crore, and along with the family’s Worli property, which too may be put up for sale, could see the brothers Vikrant and Ranjit get out of the financial crisis. The first and largest winery of the country had collapsed in 2010, taking down the wine business with it. Most winemakers still hold a grudge against Chateau Indage for dragging subsidiary companies with it when it crashed, with unsold stock of grapes that put farmers in debt. Worse, CI’s entire unsold inventory turned into vinegar because of inadequate electricity. The wine industry took a while to come to terms with global recession and the CI collapse, though the company is still trying to liquidate its assets to repay loans, as per the court directives.
The news puts the spotlight back on society’s former darlings Vikrant and Kavita, who ended their marriage last year. With Vikrant’s interest and investments in some of the toniest nightclubs in the city and Kavita’s social currency, they were on everybody’s guest list. When Chateau Indage went bust it was the fairy-tale marriage that took the blow. According to family insiders, Kavita, who had tried unsuccessfully to establish herself as a luxury brand consultant/entrepreneur and a high priestess of social soirees, settled nothing short of an expensive divorce that has left the family bleeding all over again. She had also taken formal charge of a wine boutique and created a label named after Tiger Hills resort. Unfortunately things soured to such an extent that Chougule empathisers had begun calling her the ‘other Sheetal Mafatlal’ after Vikrant allegedly confessed to his buddies of how it had become difficult to cope with Kavita’s high maintenance lifestyle. Curious, because her so-called jet-setting lifestyle was something he had helped perpetuate when the going was good. Meanwhile, a report says that Shalini Palace, which belonged to the Chhatrapati clan and was the family patriarch Shamrao’s vanity asset, awaits its new owners. A reports says “Phoenix ARC Pvt Ltd, a financial services company, put out an auction notice stating that the palace will be sold through an online auction to be held on March 23.”
Tailpiece
KANGANA Ranaut is literally going places. The talented actress, the original fashionista will attend the Paris Fashion Week with Manish Malhotra in tow. There as a guest for a consumer electronic brand, Kangna would return to the city where she shot large parts of her breakthrough film. Attagirl!
Mahesh Bhatt pulls Mohit Suri as Pooja Bhatt looks on during the wedding reception of the late Gulshan Kumar’s daughter Tulsi and Hitesh Ralhan at a city hotel
Net loss
INVESTORS and entrepreneurs may be riding the e-commerce boom, but the going seems to get tougher for the older players in the business. Yahoo India has been downsizing quietly for a while now but recent developments suggest that it has done away with almost all of the editorial staff. This is where you had read about managing editor Prem Panicker putting in his papers. It seems his was not the first, nor is the last exit. For the global giant that created much noise around its India foray, this whimper is conspicuously inaudible.
By the way…
HE lavish production of The Merchant of Venice that marks the foray of the Aditya Birla Group into the world of arts, has set the bar several notches higher for theatre in the city. In the presence of Kumarmangalam and Neerja Birla, Priya Dutt, Owen Roncon, Sharon Prabhakar, Alyque Padamsee, Rajit Kapoor, Shernaz Patel, Mahesh Thakur, Suchitra Pillai, Quasar Padamsee, Anu Menon and Dolly Thakore, the play became a talking point for its production values – barring the length of the play. But theatre persons are celebrating. It is after a long wait that corporate giants have started supporting the art form and besides the Birlas, they have the Mahindras to thank as well.
Word perfect
JEFFREY Archer loves a full house. And this city did not disappoint. At the reading held at a SoBo book store last evening, the bestselling author was in his elements, as hundreds of fans spilled over to the street outside to catch a glimpse of the rock star of popular fiction. The session was lively, with Lord Archer talking about how he still hand writes all his 14 drafts (yes, we had told you so) before sending his manuscript to the publisher. He also spoke about how he was scheduled to have breakfast with Ronnie Screwvala today, triggering a volley of questions about possible film adaptation. “Bollywood stole Kane and Abel,” he said, referring perhaps to Rakesh Roshan’s directorial debut Khudgarz starring Jeetendra and Shatrughan Sinha. From listing his favourite authors to praising Malgudi Days as one of the finest novels, every word he uttered was lapped up. Especially the parts about how a crowd like the one that had turned up, inspired him to keep writing.
Bitter harvest
REPORTS have emerged of Maharashtra’s first and only palace hotel being put up for sale. The 1932 property – Shalini Palace – in Kolhapur is owned by the Chougules of Chateau Indage, who are struggling to repay debts amounting to 31.67 crore, fraction of a staggering debt. The palace comes with a tag of Rs 51.30 crore, and along with the family’s Worli property, which too may be put up for sale, could see the brothers Vikrant and Ranjit get out of the financial crisis. The first and largest winery of the country had collapsed in 2010, taking down the wine business with it. Most winemakers still hold a grudge against Chateau Indage for dragging subsidiary companies with it when it crashed, with unsold stock of grapes that put farmers in debt. Worse, CI’s entire unsold inventory turned into vinegar because of inadequate electricity. The wine industry took a while to come to terms with global recession and the CI collapse, though the company is still trying to liquidate its assets to repay loans, as per the court directives.
The news puts the spotlight back on society’s former darlings Vikrant and Kavita, who ended their marriage last year. With Vikrant’s interest and investments in some of the toniest nightclubs in the city and Kavita’s social currency, they were on everybody’s guest list. When Chateau Indage went bust it was the fairy-tale marriage that took the blow. According to family insiders, Kavita, who had tried unsuccessfully to establish herself as a luxury brand consultant/entrepreneur and a high priestess of social soirees, settled nothing short of an expensive divorce that has left the family bleeding all over again. She had also taken formal charge of a wine boutique and created a label named after Tiger Hills resort. Unfortunately things soured to such an extent that Chougule empathisers had begun calling her the ‘other Sheetal Mafatlal’ after Vikrant allegedly confessed to his buddies of how it had become difficult to cope with Kavita’s high maintenance lifestyle. Curious, because her so-called jet-setting lifestyle was something he had helped perpetuate when the going was good. Meanwhile, a report says that Shalini Palace, which belonged to the Chhatrapati clan and was the family patriarch Shamrao’s vanity asset, awaits its new owners. A reports says “Phoenix ARC Pvt Ltd, a financial services company, put out an auction notice stating that the palace will be sold through an online auction to be held on March 23.”
Tailpiece
KANGANA Ranaut is literally going places. The talented actress, the original fashionista will attend the Paris Fashion Week with Manish Malhotra in tow. There as a guest for a consumer electronic brand, Kangna would return to the city where she shot large parts of her breakthrough film. Attagirl!
