Yes we Cannes!

Abhishek and Aishwarya Bachchan (photo courtesy Reuters Pictures)

How cute are they?! (photo courtesy Reuters Pictures)

Here are a few snatches of Bollywood at Cannes 2009. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai actually rushed back to Mumbai after attending the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival to get home in time to hear the election results. “It’s a crucial election for us. And we wanted to be here when the results came in,” said Abhishek (even skipping a big Bollywood party held by the Committee Of Indian Industries hosted by flamboyant industrialist Vijay Mallya on Saturday night at Cannes. I get the feeling Mr. Mallya is probably more bummed about this than the Bachchans!) As expected the rest of Bollywood’s who’s who that attended Cannes stayed back.

Rakesh Roshan, Barbara Mori and Hrithik Roshan (photo courtesy bollywood.celebden.com)

Did you hear this one? (It seems everyone’s rubbing Aish the wrong way on (and off the red carpet.) Apparently the Mexican actress Barbara Mori, Hrithik Roshan’s co-star in “Kites” was fairly monosyllabic on their run-in at the hotel, The Martinez.  When Ash heard that Hrithik and Barbara are in the same hotel, she went to say hello to Hrithik and expressed a desire to meet Barbara too. When Ash finally met Barbara, Miss More just said a casual “hello” and excused herself saying she had to go for an event. Mr. Sensitive Hrithik jumped in to explain that perhaps Barbara (being foreign) may not have realized who she was. (What a wonderful thing to say to Miss World no?) Who’s willing to bet that the next time they meet Aish will suggest Barbara go fly a kite?

Martin Scorsese (photo courtesy monstersandcritics.com)

Monica Bellucci and Sophie Marcea

Rachel Weisz

Brad Pitt (photo courtesy exposay.com)

Hilary Swank (photo courtesy Reuters Pictures)

Another total cutie "Slumdog Millionaire" actor Ayush Manesh Khedekar (photo courtesy Reuters Pictures)

And just to put things into perspective here the other people at the various red carpet events were Hilary (looking) Swank(y), Monica Bellucci,  Sophie Marcea, Penelope Cruz, Kate Winslet, Rachel Weisz, Bill Clinton (he still gets invited to all the sick: definition here parties eh?) Mariah Carey, Brad Pitt (drool-drool- swoon-swoon) and directors Quentin Tarantino and Ang Lee. (*ahem* can we have a little enthusiasm please Bollywood?)

Aishwarya Rai (photo courtesy indiatarget.com)

Now that’s more like it!
Honestly though, if she reacted like that around Hollywood royalty she’d be laughed right out of France; but  somewhere behind that ice-maiden exterior I just bet there’s a little girl screaming, “pinch me, Brad Pitt is here!”
(And perhaps maybe also a tiny little cheeky “in-you-face Sonam Kapoor!“)

Much Ado About the Derby

The McDowell Signature Indian Derby 2009 was (as you know) India’s much awaited rendezvous for the Bold & Beautiful this past weekend. India’s most prestigious race and the premier fashion event of Mumbai “McDowell Signature Indian Derby”, was back with a bang this year with a record prize amount of Rs 1.75 crores, for the first time in the Indian racing history.

Vijay Mallya

Apparently “Saddle Up”, the Signature (and somewhat cheesy sounding) cocktail for the McDowell Signature Indian Derby, named after Dr. Vijay Mallya’s legendary horse was served to all guests. Keeping with the Derby traditions worldwide, this Signature whiskey based cocktail was a special summer cocktail which will be served at the Derby every year.

Sarah Jane, Simran Kaur mundi with Rocky S.

Sophie and Sarah Jane

Apart from the races,  performances by International Ariel ballet and Salsa artistes were introduced for the first time.  Kaytee Namgyal, Sophie Choudry and the Salsa India company performed salsa and tribute performances to the Beatles, Rolling Stone & Cliff Richard. Rocky S. presented models Simran Kaur Mundi and Sarah Jane in his race inspired dresses.

As I mentioned their specially designed 9000 sq ft air-conditioned “hanger” featured  a flea market, tarot readers,  Derby hats, face sketching and several other attractions for visitors.

Besides the high stakes a lucky patron Mr. Sanjay Shah drove away in a gleaming new Mercedes, as a part of the Derby sweepstakes while Mr. Usman Rangila won his weight in whiskey!

Antonios with trainer S.S. Shah

Farouq Rattonsey, JK Rattonsey (owners of Antonios) and Rekha Mallya, Vivek Jain, Hussain Nensey (owner of Antonios)

The McDowell Signature Indian Derby was won by “Antonios” owned by Farouq, JK Rattonsey and Hussain Nensey, trained by S.S. Shah, jockey was Sylvestor Dsouza. The owners, trainer and jockey were ecstatic by the suprise win of Antonio over favourites “Set Alight” and “Autonomy“. Mrs. Rekha Mallya gave away the derby Tropy. Also present were the (official) Mallya children Siddharth & Laila. I stress official because this one night at Play (a night club in Lower Parel, Mumbai)  Siddharth introduced himself to (a fairly shocked) me as Vijay Mallya’s “legitimate” son!

Layla Mallya

Siddharth Mallya

Zavaray Poonawala with daughters Delna and Simone

The Poonawallas

Spotted: Zavaray Poonawala with daughters Delna and Simone, Dr Cyrus Poonawala, Mohit Burman, Dallas Toddywala, Riyadha Oomerbhoy, Randhir Kapoor, Esther & Raju Daswani, Rashmi Nigam, Devita Saraf, Shaan Khanna, Akbar Khan, Adar Poonawala, Mohit Lalvani, Gary Lawyer and Madhur Bajaj

Randir Kapoor and Ester Daswani

Didjya Know?
Racing draws its share of celebrities form all walks of life. Who can after all resist the glamor associated with the Sport of Kings. Bollywood’s great owners included Raj Kapoor, Mehmood, and the Sippy’s of Sholay as well as Sanjay Khan. In fact the first horse he had ever bought was in partnership with the Actress Sadhana and was named after their hit film, Intaqam. The partnership clicked. In 1970, they bought a son of Rock of Gibralter in the auction ring for a 1.35 lakhs and in 1972, this horse – named Prince Khartoum for the record, won the Derby by a short head. Since then his brother Feroz Khan achieved great success with his filly, Winning Pretty.

The first Indian Derby in 1943 offered a purse of just about Rs. 35,000. Pesi Shroff was the winning jockey astride Revelation. In the year 1985, Dr. Mallya’s group picked up the sponsorship of the race and made it into the extravagant social sporting and fashion event it is today.

Arjun Rampal’s Bikini Destination

Calendar Girls: Nargis Faqri, Moni Kangana Dutta, Mimi Blix

Nargis Fakri, Moni Kangana Dutta, Arjun Rampal, Vijay Mallaya, Atul Kasbekar, Tamara Moss, Mimi Blix & Cyrus Brocha

Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar Launch 2009

I dived right back into the social scene on Sunday when Vijay Mallya launched his legendary swimsuit calendar in Delhi (they flew the paparazzi in you see.) The venue was the very swanky and soon-to-be-officially launched Emporio Mall in Vasant Kunj. Gucci, Louis Vitton, Fendi, Armani, Hugo Boss, Escada, Kenzo, Paul Smith and Tiffany & Co. are just a few of the 130 brands (of which 70 are International) available there. I even saw this amazing Tarun Tahiliani sari which I was all set to splurge on till I realized it was for 77,000 rupees. Snap.

Tarun Tahiliani Design

But back to the 2009 Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar – in its 7th year now – they decided to mix it up because they always launch in Mumbai and apparently people are starting to get a bit ho hum about the whole thing… (also Vijay Mallya’s apparently trying to be sensitive about large celebrations in a still-somber city after 26/11. He even cancelled his annual New Year’s bash in Goa leaving several social butterflies with nothing high-profile to attend – of course they claimed they were in no mood to celebrate anyway.)

Charu & Priya Sachdev

So this time the who’s who of Delhi’s rich and restless turned up including Priya & Charu Sachdev, apparently dressed as twins.  (I actually went to the British school with these girls eons ago in Delhi and you could tell even then that they had stilettos in their future.) Also spotted actor Rahul Dev, Nafisa Ali, designers Ritu Kumar with her son, Suneet Verma, Ashish Soni, JJ Vallaya, Malini Ramani, Priyanjali Dhanjal, Manav Gangwani, Ritu Beri, Mumbai restaurateur AD Singh who’s got a new Japanese cuisine hot-spot for the fancy to frequent called “Ai,” theatre personality Sita Raina, Head of Louis Vuitton Tikka Shatrujeet Singh, Vijay Arora, Chetan Seth, Shabnam Singhal and a large number of foreign folk from various consulates (I even spotted former J & K. Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah marching out with his full security detail at around 5:00pm, although I’m not sure if he actually came for brunch or business.)

Beer-drinking Divas

Cyrus Broacha hosted the festivities in his own inimitable style with a few impromptu beer-drinking competitions (with a surprising set of female contestants including one social diva who’s response to why she likes beer was, “I had a baby and now I like beer!”) and several inside jokes involving Atul Kasbekar and the King of Good Times Mr. Mallya himself.

Arjun Rampal

Interestingly, Delhi’s “Page 3’ crowd is a motley crew of Gucci-toting and sunglass-wearing, swanky-dressers with just a tad too much make up! Arjun Rampal was the guest of honor and made quite an impression on Delhi’s rich and restless when he showed up on Delhi on his bikini-babe expedition for buddy Mallya. The Calendar girls looked pretty and stuck to their PC views for the most part and Arjuna accommodatingly hopped into the Force India Formula One car for a photo op, brunch extended (as it does) well into the evening when finally the chill set in and the Kingfisher cowboy hat clad, set out.

Good Times. Swimsuit Calendar Style!

Sorry I’ve been MIA for so long I spent the first week of 2009 enjoying the last week of my holiday veggie-style (you know, when you make like a vegetable and do just about nothing.) But now I’m back and two flights later absolutely wide awake at 2:40am. Ah jet lag my old friend. Sadly the Hong Kong part of my voyage has been called off but this weekend still looks promising. I guess I was just destined to take another flight…

Our very own desi Richard Branson the notorious Mr. Vijay Mallya is all set to launch his legendary (and fairly steamy) Kingfisher Calender for 2009. The 7th edition of the widely acclaimed and coveted Kingfisher Swimsuit Calender Special will be unveiled on January 11 over an exclusive brunch hosted by Mr Mallya at Emporia Mall in New Delhi. Of course they’re flying the who’s who of Mumbai society down for the do. We’ve learnt to expect nothing less from the extravagant King of Good Times!

P.S The globally acclaimed, multi-award winning, limited edition, Kingfisher Calendar 2009 is shot by ace photographer Atul Kasbekar bringing 12 months of sheer glitz and glamour. The Kingfisher Calendar 2009 promises to be an extraordinary combination of beauty, fashion and lifestyle, which comes together to create “a magical spa for the soul” – and the party should be a really good time! Watch this space for pictures (and if we’re lucky a little video too.)