Life8217;s a party

All the top parties of this season -- Vijay Mallya's birthday bash, the Rohit Bal fashion extravaganza, the Dianoor jewellery show and Ja...

All the top parties of this season 8212; Vijay Mallya8217;s birthday bash, the Rohit Bal fashion extravaganza, the Dianoor jewellery show and Jaya, the rock-opera directed by Lilette Dubey 8212; had one thing in common. The 32-year-old Nimesh Mirchandaney. He looked after everything from the set design to the food. And his ideas really seem to click with the city8217;s celebs 8212; Nimesh is booked until March, next year, untouched by the gloom of recession.

But work was not always this hectic. Particularly at the start. Sixteen years ago, he joined the Indian National Theatre INT to handle technical production. At that time, there was no such thing as an event manager, so all his work came under the general category of dogsbody. But during that period, Nimesh worked with everyone and everywhere to gain event organising experience.

His resume includes shows with top fashion choreographers like Sangeeta Chopra, Lubna Adams and Sharmila Khanna. He has also worked as a video editor and sound engineer for people like LeslieLewis and Rajesh Jhaveri, Alisha Chinai8217;s former husband. After seven years at INT, Nimesh quit and moved to Bangalore. By then event management was a full-fledged function. And Nimesh spent seven years handling galas for Mallya, Videocon and Opel. But he found there was not enough work in the Garden City to sate his appetite and he moved back to Mumbai.

On his return, he rejoined INT and set up its Events Division. In the 18 months since, nearly every major event in Mumbai has been handled by him. quot;I was among the first few people who looked at event management as a separate industry. At that time no one had a clue that it would become such a big thing,quot; says he.

And he is a big fish in a big pond. Choreographer Achla Sachdev, who has worked with Nimesh on the Giants Club beauty pageant, says, quot;When I ask him to do the set design, he even takes care of all the technical aspects.quot; But handling events can have its downside, especially at this time of the year. quot;Except for one year, in the last 10 years, Ihave always worked on New Year8217;s Eve,quot; he says.

And this year is no exception. Nimesh has his hands full with organising several New Year8217;s dos. Not that he minds. quot;It is fun to make other people party,quot; says he. Nimesh may like to make others party but he prefers to spend his time off at small dinners, rather than huge social functions.