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Journalism of Courage
Several of Mumbai8217;s celebs hopped on to a flight heading for Calcutta, last week, to join Rathikant Basu for the launch of his new company, Broadcast Worldwidet 8212; which makes a bow with four new channels, one each in Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi and Gujarati. All four channels will be titled TARA television aimed at regional audiences, with the event in Jyoti Basu8217;s town being held to commemorate the launch of the Bengali channel.
One spotted chief guests Amitabh Bachchan and Aparna Sen mingling with other special invitees like Amar Singh, Maneka Gandhi, Simi Garewal, Shatrughan Sinha, Ila Arun, Bachi Karkaria, Ramesh Sippy and Kiron Juneja, Neena Gupta, Shobha and Dilip De, and MP Ajit Panga. But what really set the Crystal Room at the Taj Bengal sparkling was the fashion show organised by internationally-renowned designer Bibi Russel, who used Bong models like Bipasha Basu and Noyonika Chatterjee to show off her exclusive man-made fabrics and shoes. And just when everyone thought things couldn8217;t get any better, they were treated to performances by Bengali rock band Bhumi, and one by Sukhbir.
Next up, we are told Bobby will join bade bhaiyya Sunny on stage shows in India. Now that will be something to look forward to 8212; the nimble-footed Bobby matching steps with Mr Two Left Feet Sunny Deol!
Net catch
Remember the Gloria Vanderbilt8217;s Murjanis? Well, they are still hitting headlines with the scion of the empire Manoj Murjani making waves as the CEO of an quot;entertainment companyquot;. Essentially, a website, to be launched this fall about August, it is just one of the many ventures the company plans to float. With several quot;global offline venturesquot; in the pipeline, the company is a subsidiary of a NY-based company with large fundings from an exciting list of investors. All top secret for the time being, the young CEO will unfold all plans himself in a couple of weeks 8212; when he makes a visit to Mumbai.
The website 8212; a vortal 8212; has a creative team of the city8217;s hottest celebs. From Reverie partner Kaajal Anand to model Gauri Parulekar to music maker of Bombay Boys Ashutosh Pathak, the team also includes writers like Niloufer Quereshi, Renuka Joshi and Sangeeta Wadhwani. Guess who else can be spotted at the Ambassador Hotel where the team is currently operating out of? Queenie Singh. Since the site is about Indian culture, film and fashion, the former beauty queen-turned-restauranter, is a hugely valuable addition to the site. A mother of two, the slender model is surely the most qualified person to consult on beauty.
Best shot
You may or may not find your photographer here, but you8217;ll definitely find them in PGI,quot; say the photographs in the Black Book. The advertisements of the recently-formed Photographer8217;s Guild of India also mouth the same sentiment. So what is the PGI? It8217;s a new association formed by all the professional photographers in the country. And the reason we should want to know more about it is because the city is soon going to be flooded with hi-tech, illuminated hoardings and posters of some of the works of leading photographers as campaigns for the PGI. Three press ads 8212; to be released all over the country 8212; will follow this high-profile, glitzy campaign. The Black Book, which was recently released at Hotel Shatranj in Bandra, contains three pictures taken by Swapan Parikh, Suresh Natarajan and fashion photographer Sumeet Chopra. Each of them captured a theme with Sumeet8217;s being homosexuality.
He takes a controversial issue and puts it in a stylised situation 8212; with leading models like Carol Gracias, Sushma Reddy, Fleur Xavier, Diandra Soares, Tarun Raghavan, Zulfi Sayed and John Abraham posing to present a makeshift homosexual club, shot at Headquarters in Colaba. Check out to see the picture in the making.
And finally 8230;
Did you get a CD in the mail last week that also doubled up as an invitation. Titled Love A Little Longer8216;, the CD was from Devika and Suresh Bhojwani inviting their friends to join them to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary this weekend. With Now 258217; written on the cover 8212; a visual treat with a picture of a young Devika and Suresh on one side and a slightly older version of the two on the other 8212; the real treat was inside. In the listening. With vocals by the couple Suresh also wrote the lyrics and arrangement by good buddy Biddu, the song Love A Little Longer8216; was a wonderful way to ring in a party flavour. We figured out why the CD came with the warning: quot;Persons listening to this CD are likely to have a heart related experience lasting 25 years or more.quot;
