Signature move
Signature move
Alia Bhatt at the launch of a fashion magazine on Monday
Lock, stalker and smoking barrels
Stars of Grant Road
IT is turning out to be a serendipitous year for Indian authors. After Amitav Ghosh’s Booker nomination and Akhil Sharma’s Folio award, it is time to raise a toast to Vikram Chandra and Akhil Sharma again for winning the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim fellowship for this year.
The Foundation, set up in 1925 by US Senator Simon Guggenheim and his wife (in the memory of their son who died in 1922) has given out 173 Fellowships (including two joint fellowships) to 175 scholars, artists, and scientists on the basis of their achievements and exceptional promise. There were over 3000 applicants for the grant this year. The scholars and authors will receive an undisclosed amount to work on a project of their choice for anywhere between six months to a year, enjoy absolute creative freedom and no interference. They will however have to submit a report of how they have spent the grant to the revenue department at the completion of their project. For Sharma, whose book Family Life, has been the toast of the literary circle, the grant could be just the cherry on his cake. Apparently, he has won a grant of $50,000 to complete a collection of short stories.
Crowning the clown
THE spate of good news continues with The Whitaker Foundation committing to a staggering $750,000 grant to the St Louis Opera Theatre for five years. The reason we are excited by this piece of news is that a significant chunk of this grant will be devoted towards developing new productions, including a stage adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar The Clown by composer and pianist Jack Perla and libretto Rajiv Joseph. Considered one of Rushdie’s most significant works, the novel was shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Award and is a story replete with revenge, seduction and political power play. The stage adaptation, in the making for three years now, is scheduled for 2016 world premiere.
Tailpiece
WE are almost breathless keeping a tab on Mrs K’s jetsetting lifestyle, studded with professional and personal milestones these days. Today she is in Goa, helming the big bang party for Sachiin Joshi’s resort, alongwith Nandita Mahtani and Bhavna Pandey. Later this week, she launches her second store in the city. This one is located in Bandra, close to Mannat and not very far from her ‘good friend’ Susanne’s store along similar lines. With the kids keeping the father occupied on the IPL grounds, there is obviously a lot of ‘me time’ to be made good use of.
PS: Buzz is Kishore Bajaj’s KA Hospitality is on the hunt for investors, with a target of Rs 150 crore or so. Nonetheless, all eyes are on the massive building he is building on Pali Hill, bang opposite the Narang residence. Apparently, it has been designed to dwarf all other famous addresses in the neighbourhood. Watch this space for more.
Alia Bhatt at the launch of a fashion magazine on Monday
Lock, stalker and smoking barrels
A certain woman, a ‘stalker’ as the affected peeps are calling her, who changes her name and identity at will (she calls herself a cyber crime expert, who blogs under a different name and has a twitter handle as yet another person and calls from different numbers), is the unlikely link between several people we know. Actor Annu Kapoor confided to a friend that she has been stalking him, making romantic overtures, and harassing him for months now. Om Puri has claimed, she has been offering free legal expertise using her ‘influence’ with senior ‘judges’ to help settle his divorce case, much to the chagrin of Nandita (who confronted the befuddled actor with “How do you know this woman?!” after she was contacted by one of the affected women who wanted to check if the Puris were actually as close to the con woman as she claimed). With Manisha Koirala, she is a ‘fellow cancer survivor’ who wants to help her out, with Nisha Jamvwal, she is a ‘cyber judge’ who had been trolling her on social media and then has been persuading her to inaugurate a child-care centre in Nagpur. According to Nisha, when she refused, the woman ‘threatened’ to end her life, saying she is a cancer patient, who cannot handle ‘rejection.’. And the calls have not stopped ever since. She had also been in touch with a senior television journalist, playing the role of a facilitator, promising to get him touch with people whose opinion may matter. It is a different matter that few of the so-called opinion makers existed or were willing to bite the bait. The men claim they have stopped taking her calls and have blocked her on facebook and Whatsapp. The women are considering going to the cops. Especially since it emerged that she may have been hitting on some of their spouses. Estranged or not, that, is strictly out of bounds, okay?
Stars of Grant Road
IT is turning out to be a serendipitous year for Indian authors. After Amitav Ghosh’s Booker nomination and Akhil Sharma’s Folio award, it is time to raise a toast to Vikram Chandra and Akhil Sharma again for winning the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim fellowship for this year.
The Foundation, set up in 1925 by US Senator Simon Guggenheim and his wife (in the memory of their son who died in 1922) has given out 173 Fellowships (including two joint fellowships) to 175 scholars, artists, and scientists on the basis of their achievements and exceptional promise. There were over 3000 applicants for the grant this year. The scholars and authors will receive an undisclosed amount to work on a project of their choice for anywhere between six months to a year, enjoy absolute creative freedom and no interference. They will however have to submit a report of how they have spent the grant to the revenue department at the completion of their project. For Sharma, whose book Family Life, has been the toast of the literary circle, the grant could be just the cherry on his cake. Apparently, he has won a grant of $50,000 to complete a collection of short stories.
Crowning the clown
THE spate of good news continues with The Whitaker Foundation committing to a staggering $750,000 grant to the St Louis Opera Theatre for five years. The reason we are excited by this piece of news is that a significant chunk of this grant will be devoted towards developing new productions, including a stage adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar The Clown by composer and pianist Jack Perla and libretto Rajiv Joseph. Considered one of Rushdie’s most significant works, the novel was shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Award and is a story replete with revenge, seduction and political power play. The stage adaptation, in the making for three years now, is scheduled for 2016 world premiere.
Tailpiece
WE are almost breathless keeping a tab on Mrs K’s jetsetting lifestyle, studded with professional and personal milestones these days. Today she is in Goa, helming the big bang party for Sachiin Joshi’s resort, alongwith Nandita Mahtani and Bhavna Pandey. Later this week, she launches her second store in the city. This one is located in Bandra, close to Mannat and not very far from her ‘good friend’ Susanne’s store along similar lines. With the kids keeping the father occupied on the IPL grounds, there is obviously a lot of ‘me time’ to be made good use of.
PS: Buzz is Kishore Bajaj’s KA Hospitality is on the hunt for investors, with a target of Rs 150 crore or so. Nonetheless, all eyes are on the massive building he is building on Pali Hill, bang opposite the Narang residence. Apparently, it has been designed to dwarf all other famous addresses in the neighbourhood. Watch this space for more.
