Pune Citygritty

A Borderline rendezvousSaturday, April 18 - the members of Poona Club and their guests had been promised the stars. Border, the war movie de...

A Borderline rendezvous
Saturday, April 18 8211; the members of Poona Club and their guests had been promised the stars. Border, the war movie depicting the Battle of Longewala in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, was to be screened on the club premises. A battery of people involved in making the film, from director J P Dutta and some of the actors and actresses, to the real-life persons on whose experiences the film was based, were to be present.

But it seemed as if most of the stars opted to remain in their own orbit. Akshaye Khanna and Jackie Shroff, who were to drive down from Mumbai, had not arrived even halfway through the function. Brigadier Chandpuri, whose character was played by Sunny Deol, could not make it from Jallander. Those present included Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Anu Malik, Sharbani Mukherjee and Rajiv Goswami, a small platoon indeed compared to the vast regiment that took part in the making of the film.

Matters right from the beginning of the show confirmed that though reel life was all about the ways of the military and the defence services, the real life arrangements were far from it. The programme, scheduled to begin from 8 pm, saw the top brass from the Armed Forces who had been invited turn up right on the dot. But they were the only ones there! Not a single member of the Club, except for one elderly gentleman and his family, was present.

Vice-Admiral Arun Prakash, commandant, NDA, Air Vice-Marshal B K Pandey, Deputy Commandant Brigadier Madan Gopal, sub-area commander, Air Commodore Harish Masand, station commander, Air Force Lohegaon and Air Commodore Gupta, commanding officer, 9 BRD Air Force were all seen cooling their heels on the side, waiting for the show to begin. Rather reminiscent of Wing Commander Bajaj Jackie Shroff in the movie, waiting impatiently for the break of dawn so that he could take off for the battle. And like Bajaj, they had a long wait!

Almost an hour and a half behind schedule, the function finally got off a limping start, with the film crew being invited on to the stage. Well, it was about time!

The Aryan invasion
Aryans8230; the beginning. The name of this music album which has just hit the audio racks says it all. On the cover, sandwiched between two men with flowing manes, is a familiar bald head. Yes, it8217;s D J Narain, spokesman, Southern Command, and now part of the Aryans, the latest group to join the Hindi pop bandwagon. Other members of the group include Sadasivan, a medical representative from Bhopal and Mumbai-based Jai Walia, who also writes scripts and composes music for TV.

Says an excited Narain, 8220;Polygram, the recording company, wanted to project us as a group and got us together. All three of us worked very hard on this album over the past seven months 8211; we compose our own lyrics and music, Sadu and Jai play the synthesiser and I play the guitar. We have combined a variety of music, pop, bhangra, disco, dandia. Melody is our USP.8221; Now, they are awaiting the release of their music video, due in another 15 days. Meanwhile, they are already thinking of their next album.

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Says Jai, 8220;We have worked so much over this album that now we have enough for another two albums.8221; And is this just the beginning?

The value of value?
Are sentiments more important than money? This was the question posed by Ghar Shreemantanche, a play performed at the Tilak Smarak Mandir on April 19. The play has Sudheer Moghe and Asha Kale in the lead roles of the father and mother in a middle-class set-up. The accidental discovery of a ruby in a shaligram, a holy stone kept in the puja room, dramatically changes this family8217;s fortunes. The son, driven by lucre, gets involved in some get-rich-quick schemes, in the process inviting his mother8217;s ire. The rest of the story revolves around how the mother wins back her son to the straight and narrow path and teaches him that being rich in the right values is more important than being cash-rich. Moral of the story 8211; hold on to your precious values!

Cottoning on
It8217;s the season to wear flowing cottons! Vastrakalya, the house of traditional materials, has some exciting cottons on sale at an exhibition at the Reflections gallery on Fergusson College Road, on display till April 23.

Attractive block and hand prints in earthy shades or blues and greens on white are ideal keep-cool options. There8217;s a wide range of lightweight bandhini prints and dupattas too. Pune-based Chandrani Jagtap and Baroda-based Madhuri Dhruva have got together to present the colourful exhibition, collecting materials from Rajasthan and Gujarat. Fancy buttons and short summery tops are the other pretty items for those who like Indian ethnic chic, at affordable rates.
Contributed by Mita, Aishwarya and Shaan