Missing M.S.

Missing M.S.
Missing M.S.

Begum Parveen Sultana prepares for her performance for Dr MS Subbulakshmi centenary celebration at a city auditorium yesterday.

Rising sun, raising glasses

ALL of Delhi’s political circles seem to be raising a toast to senior politician NK Singh. Singh, who has chaired the fiscal responsibility and budget management review committee under the BJP government, was recently awarded Japan’s secondhighest honour. Singh was conferred the Order of Rising Sun by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a glittering ceremony at the country’s Imperial Palace in May. Tomorrow night sees a gala evening hosted by the Embassy of Japan in India to honour the veteran bureaucrat. Meanwhile, among the first partythrowers for Singh was political spin doctor Dilip Cherian. Cherian hosted a dinner for him at a Delhi five-star, which saw Arun Jaitley and Jyotiraditya Scindia attending. Saturday night was flamboyant lawyer Raian Karanjawala’s turn. He booked the private chambers of another five-star for his celebration, and also hosted Jaitley along with legal bigwigs like Soli Sorabjee and Mukul Rohatgi.

Changing panels

OUR journalist pals from the Capital can barely contain their chatter as they regaled us with tales from Amar Singh’s party last week. The politician from Uttar Pradesh, in the news all of the past week were causing fissures within the Yadav family, hosted both Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brother Shivpal Singh at his do. But the guest of honour was Subhash Chandra, Singh was celebrating the media mogul’s incorporation to the Parliament. In a bid to make peace with Chandra and another media baron, Aveek Sarkar, (the two sparred years ago over acquiring a news agency) Singh called Sarkar on stage. He introduced the stalwart as someone who knew “the real Amar Singh before the world did”, recounting their Kolkata days. Sarkar, ever the gentleman, came up and accepted the compliments. Only to make a polite exit as Chandra was invited on the dais.

Turning tides

LAST week’s much-hyped Christie’s auction of South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art, held at the Rockefeller Plaza in New York, has left the Indian art world collectively disappointed. Not only a chunk of works failed to fetch the prices they ought to, but their star piece that made it to the cover of the catalogue – an oil on canvas by modernist V S Gaitonde estimated to sell for nearly $ 2.2 million – didn’t find a buyer. The auction house is especially disheartened because Gaitonde has always fetched record prices (their Mumbai auction saw a painting by the modernist go for Rs 30 crore last December). Even the untitled Gaitonde at the SaffronArt auction in Delhi earlier this month fetched only a little over Rs 10 crore. For now, we’ll keep our bubbly on the ice.

Thank god for smartphones

GUESS who’s been videochatting for long hours all day? None other than the newest love-birds in the film industry—Arjun Kapoor and Athiya Shetty. While the hunky Kapoor is shooting in New York City for an upcoming film, he’s been making up for his long outdoor schedule with never-ending phone calls and video chats. We hear these two are getting quite serious about each other. And we think they do make such a handsome couple.

Tailpiece

A recently launched SoBo restaurant specialising in a novel concept appears to have hit rough weather. Despite being situated in a bustling commercial district, it has rumouredly shut down for being unable to draw in a crowd. Its Londoner chef is believed to have quit because the veteran promoter failed to clear his dues. Even the vegetable vendors were not paid. This one didn’t end with a good taste.