Roving eye

Channel caperLast Monday night saw CNN announce some new programmes for its South Asian audience, for which they had two of their senior e...

Channel caper
Last Monday night saw CNN announce some new programmes for its South Asian audience, for which they had two of their senior executives fly down from Atlanta and Hong Kong for the same. Later in the evening, the network threw a party at The Oberoi Poolside to celebrate the occasion and to welcome two new anchors into their family. Namely, Mallika Sarabhai and Anish Trivedi, who looked dapper as always. Also spotted over cocktails were Hotmail creator Sabeer Bhatia who, apparently, ran out of visiting cards, Deputy CM Chaggan Bhujbal, Murli Deora and a towering Ravi Shastri, who was seen having a deep conversation with columnist Ayaaz Memon. All in all a quiet evening maybe their programmes speak louder than their parties?

In high spirits8230;
Debutant film-maker Sunhil Sippy hosted a lavish, well-attended party at Indigo last Tuesday to release the music of his film, Snip. At the event we spotted veteran Bollywood types as Tabu and Ramesh Sippy, who turned up to encourage Sippy Junior in his new endeavour. Sponsored by Famous Grouse scotch whisky yes, the drinks didn8217;t stop coming, neither did the guests, the party also showcased an interesting audio-visual which gave a glimpse of how interesting the movie was. To nobody8217;s surprise, everyone went home plastered, but with a smile on their faces!

A designer evening
We all know that Ritu Kumar, the queen of trousseau, had three very exciting openings in the city last week. The first two were at her Warden Road boutique, one on Wednesday afternoon and the other in the evening. Nineteen of the ready 28 bridal line dresses were modelled for the exclusive audience, who sat in rapt attention, taking in every detail of the intricately embellished sarees, salwar-kurta and lehengas. Hema Deora one of the first to arrive in a white salwar-kurta, set off by bright green mojris and a matching handbag she looked like a parrot was patience personified as she waited for the preview to begin. Sangita Jindal, Kokila Ambani and Vimla Patil were also present at the Warden Road openings. The third preview at Kumar8217;s boutique at Juhu Centaur Hotel on Thursday was a more lively affair. Unlike the South Mumbai audience, who soon disappear as soon the showings got over, the guests at Juhu were a more inquisitive lot feeling the material, asking about the embellishments used. Pinky Roshanwas one of them and the mother of the groom-to-be lost no opportunity as she ordered some tastefully traditional lehengas and sarees to wear at the wedding of the year.

Great outfits amp; a heart of gold
They say charity begins at home. And, truly, what better place can Bollywood call quot;homequot; than The Famous Studio at Mahalaxmi, where a few of tinsel town8217;s best chose to walk the ramp at the Fashion Theatre event to showcase Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla8217;s latest collection. Both Friday and Saturday saw Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan, Sonali Bendre, Raveena Tandon and Rahul Khanna share precious ramp space with Mumbai8217;s itinerant models for an event where the cause was noble. And for once, nobody attempted to upstage the other the proceeds of both nights went towards a fund created to support those women and children infected with the deadly AIDS virus. All throughout, the event spoke of class. Whether it was the exquisitely designed sets by Bijon Das Gupta, the dance choreography by Farah Khan or the whole sit-down cocktail experience, one thing was evident throughout sophistication. Even at a pricey Rs 5,000 a plate, Mumbai8217;s high-profile society people showed up in full-force to help the cause. Spotted over wineand mineral water on Friday night were Karisma Kapoor, Amrita and Saif Ali Khan Pataudi, designers Ritu Kumar and Manish Malhotra, socialites Sonia Garware, and Adi and Parmeshwar Godrej along with daughter Tanya, to name a few.

The following night, too, Rahul Roy who proudly watched wife Rajlaxmi on stage, Vir Sanghvi, Shobha De, Gautam Singhania with his gorgeous wife Nawaz Modi Singhania and photographer Atul Kasberkar were dutifully in attendance. Both the days had their share of drama, too Friday evening saw the radiant looking Rekha, while Amitabh walked onstage. Whereas Saturday saw a bearded Akhshay Kumar seated with the lovely Twinkle Khanna, while ex-flame Raveena who looked gorgeous walked the ramp in a million-dollar outfit. However, clearly, the show was stolen by Amitabh Bachchan and Anna Bredmeyer. While Anna made her grand entrance in a maroon ghagra with intricate zardozi work on it which was by far the best of the lot, The Big B looked royal in a flowing gold and silver kurta. The end, of course, was as spectacular as everything else, with Jaya Bachchan and Dimple Kapadia dressed staidly in a simple salwaar kameez inaugurating Abu and Sandeep8217;s book titled A Celebration of Style to mark the duo8217;s 15 yearstogether. And really what a celebration it was!

The complete show
Thirty-six models, seven designers and the versatile Raymonds8217; fabric will get together on November 17 and 18 for the first time this year. quot;The versatility of the fabric will be on show. There is so much you can do with it in men8217;s as well as women8217;s wear jackets, sherwanis, women8217;s Indian as well as western wear,quot; reveals Gautam Singhania. While the last Raymonds8217; fashion show three years ago had James Fereira designing a collection, this time seven clothesmiths will show their designs. With Arjun Khanna, Raghuvendra Rathore, Rina Dhaka, Bhairavi Jaikishen, Rocky S and Rajesh Pratap Singh, matching skills will be budding designer Aparna Suneja.