Roving Eye

Male Storm

The Fashion Bar amp; Bistro was packed with lovely ladies on Thursday night. In fact, at first glance, it looked like a hen night. The reason? Achla Sachdev had choreographed a show which used only the hottest and hunkiest male models. Though it was meant to be a fashion show, it seemed that the ladies had come only to ogle at the handsome hunks, sashaying down the catwalk. On the ramp was Lascelles Symons showing-off his new tattoo which is dangerously below the belly button, Jas Arora and Tarun Raghavan. And though the ladies kept shouting, quot;Take off your shirtquot;, none of the men obliged. Instead they stuck to Achla8217;s choreography. Among those seen whistling were Nina Manuel, Helen Brodie, Ujwala Raut, Lisa Ray and Svetlana Casper. It must be a refreshing change for the ladies to be the one8217;s leering, instead of being leered at.

Melange8217;s Medley

Earlier that day, Gayatri Ruia and Anuradha Vakil had a showing at Melange. Sangeeta Kathiwada really has an eye for talent, asboth these designers8217; lines were appealing, affordable and well finished. Anuradha is from Ahmedabad and designs under the Noor label. Her line of kameezes in traditional bandhani and printed block-work fabrics were given a modern twist, so that they would sit right on both the young and old. Gayatri8217;s embroidered Indo-west collection also used traditional Indian embroidery on western silhouettes. Gayatri deserves a special mention 8212; all her profits are being donated to Akanksha, an organisation that educates slum children. Among those who dropped in for a dekko were Sunita Saxena, Uma Dubash, Queenie Singh-Dhody with younger sister Bonnie, and Rasna Behl.

Fiesta Time

Copa Cabana8217;s Tapas food festival has really caught the fancy of the city8217;s foodies. But that is not surprising 8212; the food is great and Karen Anand8217;s recipes are just delicious. Which is why people, who normally do not leave the house before midnight, are making a special effort to come to Copa before thekitchen closes, at 10 pm. Among those who sampled these Spanish hors d8217;oeuvres were Shernaaz Dinshaw and Suchitra Pillai.

Mainland China

The entire China Gate gang 8212; minus Urmila Matondkar who was roped in at the last minute for a sizzling number 8212; showed up at the Juhu Centaur last Thursday, for a pre-release party. Director Rajkumar Santoshi looked relaxed after much hard work and heart-burn over the last two and half years. His now-in-now-out-now-in-again heroine, Mamta Kulkarni, looked like she had just walked out of a powder bath 8212; her already fair face looked chalk white barring her prominent bright red lipstick. Samir Soni, who makes his first appearance on the big screen, looked relaxed as did Santoshi8217;s new villain Mukesh Tiwari. For the rest of the team 8212; Naseeruddin Shah, Danny Dengzongpa, Amrish Puri, Paresh Rawal, Tinnu Anand and a host of others 8211;it was fun-time as they posed for endless photographs, ate, drank and laughed till well past midnight.

Fired Up

DeepaMehta knows how to spring a surprise. At a press preview of her film Fire, held at the Nehru Centre, she turned the tables on the attending scribes. Mehta announced a post-screening discussion on film and before you knew it leading ladies, Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Javed Akhtar, who penned the dialogue for the film8217;s Hindi version, formed an impromptu panel. The three women narrated their experiences while working on the film and its impact on them. Nandita talked about how a few homosexuals and lesbians came up to her and spoke straight-from-the heart about their sexual leanings. Shabana said that working in Fire taught her not just to be tolerant, but empathic toward people who make choices different8217; from the accepted norm.

Oh Boy!

Kaizad Gustad8217;s much-talked about film Bombay Boys is due for release by the end of the year. And from the look of it 8212; Channel V is running clips through the day 8212; the film is expected to be a huge hit. It has alreadyhad a successful showing in the Toronto film festival and now, Mumbai eagerly awaits the film named after it. For those who find the time-lag unbearable, there is hope. The soundtrack of the film was released 8212; check out Waltzing Matunga 8212; at a huge party, last Monday, at Three Flights Up. Celebrating with Gustad were Jackie Shroff, Raveena Tandon and Sonali Bendre. Both the ladies, all dressed in black, spent most of the night avoiding the paparazzi. The real stars of the evening and the film were not so standoffish 8212; Tara Deshpande again in predictable black and Naseeruddin Shah. His grey hair makes looking both distinguished and sexy seem so natural. But even with such a grand turn-out, no one got into the party spirit till past 11 pm 8212; most people were at home glued to the idiot box as India was playing against Sri Lanka!

Finally8230;

It seems like December 12, 1998 is taking over February 14 as the day of swearing undying love. Models Noyonika Chatterjee and Malaika Arora havechosen that day to get married. Malaika will tie the knot in Mumbai, with her long-time boyfriend Arbaaz Khan and Noyonika will marry her sweetheart, tele-personality Gurpreet in the capital. While we are sad to see Noyonika go, we are sure that Delhi designers must be breaking open the bubbly. Since there is a dearth of good ramp models in that city, the presence of Noyonika will be like a beacon. Our congratulations to these beauties who leave in their wake several broken hearts.