Tag: mumbai

Categories
Diaries

The wedding story makers

Mumbai is gradually replacing the old mausajis who take care of details at the wedding mandap, by smart, all-involved wedding planners.
by Ritika Bhandari

Part III of the Shaadi Mubarak Diaries

When Shama and Ramith Sharma decided to get married, little did they know what lay in store for them. From booking wedding venues to deciding on a decorator, to getting the innumerable licenses for the band, instead of enjoying the memorable occasion – everything had them screaming with stress.

Had the Sharmas watched the recent Bollywood hit Band Baaja Baaraat, they would have known better and hired a wedding planner. Neha Shroff of Momente Planners says, “With today’s hectic lifestyles, it becomes difficult to plan an entire wedding. To incorporate this changing schedule in your normal lifestyle is a task. So hiring a wedding planner works as the couple and their families can then handle the details.”

Introducing a wedding planner from the first stage of the marriage preparations helps in the long run-up to D-day. While the couple relaxes, the planners wear the anxious faces as they get involved in the minute details of the wedding rigmarole. Shroff says, “With a proper budget allocation, finalising the venues and the theme and design of the wedding becomes easier. Handling the caterers, decorators, florists, entertainers, the mehndi and makeup artists to the choreographer for the Sangeet, everything is handled by the wedding planner.”

Farida Venkat of Amante Wedding Planners says, “From A to Z, a wedding planner has his hands full with the invitation designs, gifts, menu selection to trousseau suggestions. We coordinate everything from the moment the baaraat arrives till the bride’s bidaai ceremony.” It also depends on the couple to see how involved they want the wedding planners to be.

Research analyst Neerja Shah hired a wedding planner to gift herself an entire new wardrobe. “I wanted my trousseau to be unique. And the shopping part of the preparations never tired me, so I shopped with the help of the personal stylist provided by my wedding planner.” Momente Planners provide jewellery services through their sister concern ‘Utsokt’, which specialises in creating one-of-a kind varmalas.

With destination weddings being the flavour of the season, a wedding planner definitely comes in handy. But the main niggling question is the increase in budget while hiring a planner. On this, Ruchita Parelkar of SR Event Planners says, “We believe hiring a planner is a cost-effective approach for a couple. If you have dreamed of a fairytale wedding, then we come in to bring your visualisation to life. We come to couples as their friends and provide them something different.”

So what requests do planners usually get? While Farida believes that every couple is a special one and complying with their demands helps to make their dream wedding possible, Ruchita says, “We have got requests like using only white candles on the wedding ground or getting a bridal outfit which is a combination of olive green, dark maroon and white!” She remembers having to outsource invisible chains from Dubai to hold tents, as the family didn’t want a shabby tent held up by ropes.

With the hectic lifestyle that symbolises Mumbai, couples need the relaxation and breathing space provided by wedding planners. Farida says, “Every person wants to be involved in their wedding preparations and chaos. So if you share this vision with a wedding planner, they will make sure that all the elements are encapsulated and you end up enjoying the wedding.”

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on a single issue. The ‘Shaadi Mubarak’ Diaries aim to capture the essence of the wedding season in Mumbai. Part III is the concluding part of this series.

 

Categories
Event

At the iPhone 5 launch

Mahafreed Irani attended the India launch of Apple’s newest and most eagerly-awaited iPhone in Mumbai on Friday at Phoenix Mills.

An announcer on a mini stage that’s been erected in the courtyard of Lower Parel’s Phoenix Mills heralded the launch of a new gadget. “The real moon of Karva Chauth: the iPhone 5 is here,” she said. A long queue of Apple fans had been waiting to buy the iPhone5 on the day of its launch. They’d been standing for over an hour to make sure they lay their hands on the very first phones sold in the country.

Amongst the many standees were Apple fanboys, phone resellers, and office peons and servants that had been delegated to pick up the product for their masters. The contrast was very clear between those who would own the phones and those who were just there in lieu of somebody else.

“I want to be part of the experience. There is a sort of vibrant energy here,” said Shreyam Desai, a student who had been part of another Apple queue in the past. “I stood in line for the iPhone 3G in the US. There was never anything like that in India and now that there is, it’s a very nice experience.”

Another iPhone fan waiting was Siddharth Shetty.

“It’s important for me to be here on the first day. I want to be part of the tradition that Apple has been carrying out in other countries,” he said, referring to the cult-style enthusiasm in which thousands of Apple customers stand for hours and sometimes days outside stores to be among the first people to get their hands on the phone.

In the meantime, reporters and camera crew cramped and pushed each other to get the best shots of actress Esha Gupta of Jannat 2 fame, as she held the phone in her hand, pouting for the cameras. Veena Parikh, a lucky customer was handed the phone, making her one of the first to own it after the official launch in India. She’d been handpicked perhaps because of her interesting story – her husband was buying her the phone as a gift on Karva Chauth.

“She can use it to facetime with our daughter who is in the US,” he smiled.

Mahafreed Irani is a Mumbai-based journalist and co-editor of The Report (youtube.com/thereportlive)

Categories
Diaries

Let them eat cake

Give a miss to the shaadi ka laddoo – bite into the trendiest cakes that Mumbai bakers have to offer.
by Ritika Bhandari

Part II of the ‘Shaadi Mubarak’ Diaries

When American cartoonist James Thurber said, “The most dangerous food is the wedding cake,” little did he know that a three-tier, rich plum cake is a delicacy not to be missed for the world. Borrowing from the traditional White Wedding concept of Christian weddings, today several Mumbai couples are opting to cut a beautifully-decorated cake to spread the sweetness of their wedding.

Every function, from a sangeet sandhya to a cocktail party, calls for a cake these days, and definitely, the D-day is when out comes a special, unique, satiny rich cake covered with fondants and marzipans. Aditi Limaye Kamat of The Cake Studio, Dadar, says, “Indian weddings have started to give a lot of importance to cakes. Earlier, we would get requests only for church weddings. But now it is definitely changing.”

Aditi is the co-owner of The Cake Studio along with cake decorator, Niketa Patil Rampal. “Niketa is the reason for our good looking and tasty cakes,” says Aditi. “Her chocolate cakes with truffles or cream icing are really famous, but the cakes with marzipan can be decorated more beautifully. We can create designs like flowers, couple figures and also add food colours like pink, blue, gold and silver.” Along with the cake’s looks, Aditi stresses on the taste as well, because the Big Fat Indian Wedding has to be a palate-pleaser.

22-year old Sonica Baptist runs Crimsons with her family. While her mother Marceline bakes the cakes, her elder sister Malaika juggles with the baking and decorating, with help from Sonica, who works as a graphic designer. Sonica says, “The tier form of designing is the most popular style for any wedding cake. The oldest way of enhancing the cake’s complete looks is with edible sugar work of drapes, flowers, ribbons and a centre piece of the couple.”

With the humongous crowd that one tries to accommodate at weddings, cakes start with three tiers and can go up to an eye-popping 10-tiers, too. “Also the flavour of the rich plum cake is substituted for a chocolate cake, vanilla cake or a red velvet cake among favourites,” Sonica tells us. “A wedding cake is a big deal and one should book it at least a month in advance to enjoy the culinary delights of their favourite baker.”

As with weddings, special requests are de rigueur and the decorator at The Cake Studio complies by matching the marzipan bride and groom’s outfit colours. Another customer favourite is topping the wedding cake with real flowers like orchids and anthurium. “The elegant look of a pastel-coloured marzipan on a gooey chocolate cake made on a bed of orchids, or topped with anthurium is our bestseller,” reveals Aditi.

Bride to-be Khushi Baldota says, “Tiered cakes are way too usual. I wish to have cupcakes as my wedding cake.” And with all the icing and frosting showered on cakes in Mumbai’s patisseries, one cannot blame her for diverging from the beaten path. Sonica says, “Cupcakes can be used, but they need to be arranged in a tier form. One can use the cupcakes as an element in the larger design of a cake, but the right essence of a wedding can only come through a cake.”

With couples marrying throughout the year, a wedding cake really has no season. So chocolate, strawberry, or rum and raisin, Indian couples love the fact that they can cut the cake and eat it too.

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on a single issue. The ‘Shaadi Mubarak’ Diaries aim to capture the essence of the wedding season in Mumbai. Look out for Part III.

(Pictures courtesy The Cake Studio and Crimsons)

Categories
Big story

Cult classic: At a PVR near you

Digitally restored Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron opens for the public today at PVR Cinemas in 10 cities. Go watch it!
by The Diarist | thediarist@themetrognome.in

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron is the classic. You remember most of its dialogues, you chortle at all the jokes you’ve already replayed in your head, and you just can’t get that iconic Mahabharata play (and what really happens to it) scene out of your head, ever. But most of us have watched this film on TV. If you want to relive this gem of a film on the big screen, today’s your big chance.

The Worli-based National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has re-released this film in association with PVR Cinemas in 10 cities in India – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune, Surat, Chandigarh, Vadodara and Ahmedabad. The film – directed by Kundan Shah and starring Naseeruddin Shah, Vivek Baswani, Bhakti Barve, Om Puri, Satish Kaushik, Neena Gupta, and Pankaj Kapur in his first film role – has been digitally restored and can be played on a 2K projection. This is NFDC’s first film restoration project for a theatrical release – previously, the organisation has only restored home videos.

“It took about six months to restore the film entirely, and this included cleaning up the sound, colour and picture quality, too,” said a member of the team that worked on the project. The entire restoration work was done in-house. “We had to be careful to select the film – it had to have a mass appeal, it had to have a connect with today’s audiences, and it had to be entertaining. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron ticks all these boxes.”

However, NFDC is only testing the waters with the release of this film, and will wait to see audience response to the experiment before turning to other, equally important films. “The thing about these films is, and especially with Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, is that the current generation has not seen it and don’t know what it is about. It is important for the youth to watch this film in the present time – not only have they missed out on a fantastic film, but they must see it because it is so relevant in today’s times as well,” the official said.

In Mumbai, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron will be showcased at PVR Juhu, PVR Phoenix Mills, PVR Goregaon and PVR Mulund.

(Pictures courtesy www.boxofficeindia.co.in, NFDC)

Categories
Diaries

Of chemistry and flashbulbs

It’s not enough to change your FB status to ‘Engaged’; you need a perfect photo. Pre-wedding shoots are the answer.
by Ritika Bhandari

Part I of the Shaadi Mubarak series

As the cool November air brings with it the whiff of an upcoming wedding season, you will see the shaadi shenanigans begin in every household of your building society. Open the newspaper, and the pink-and-yellow advertisements scream Shaadi Utsav 2012. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to marry, and once the preparations for the final wedding day begin, there is little room left for the blissfully-engaged couple to enjoy a few quiet moments.

As photographer Raphael Das says, “A pre-wedding shoot gives the couple a collection of pictures, which they may not be able to capture at a later date. After the wedding, life gets busier. As time passes on, their first anniversary approaches and the couple realises that it doesn’t have a collection of its own pictures.  So people prefer to do a small shoot of very personal pictures.” Based in Malad, Das has done quite a few pre-wedding shoots already. He feels that a couple of hours spent together can become moments which shall be cherished for a long time.

While photographer Deepa Netto believes, “It’s (a pre-wedding shoot) the perfect chance to get some amazing casual portraits and the perfect excuse to get away from the wedding preparation chaos.”

The concept of pre-wedding shoots has its roots in the West, where couples send wedding invitation cards with a picturesque photograph of the soon to-be married duo. The colourful frames aim to reveal the chemistry in a jovial, tender and candid style. With locations that epitomise special moments, the idea of a pre-wedding shoot is now trending in Mumbai.

When 28-year old Dipshika Das, a software professional, decided to take the plunge with her lover Novin Vathipatikkal, she wanted him to feel special. “After five years of being together, I wanted the shoot to be something which was ‘not normal stuff’. So with nothing pre-decided, we took Deepa to Kharghar and got a collection of personal moments clicked,” says the happily-married Das.

Be it a couple living in our concrete jungle or another whose head-over-heels love story started with a glance at the Mumbai airport, the shoot not only ushers in a sense of hushed intimacy, but also prepares the bride and groom to face the arc lights at their wedding. Das reveals, “The shoot even works as an icebreaker with the photographer, and increases the comfort level of the individuals in front of the camera.”

Deepa, a Navi Mumbai resident, says that themes for the shoot are usually dependent on client ideas. “What I really look forward to is capturing the couple’s story with a fun element. Sometimes they can be absolutely goofy, while others tend to be romantic,” she says.

So where do our Starbucks-loving, new generation couples wish to be clicked? “It is mostly out of Mumbai, they like to drive down to Karjat. The Vasai fort and the Madh Island beach are also popular,” says Raphael, who refrains from pushing any themes for the shoot. He believes that the comfort level of the couple matters the most.

Deepa’s shoots have taken her to South Mumbai locales like the Gateway of India, Flora Fountain, Marine Drive, Colaba, Worli Seaface as also the Manori beaches and the rocky, quaint areas of National Park, Aarey Colony and Kanheri Caves.

For Ian Gallyot, the shoot with Raphael at Silver Beach in Juhu captured the spirit and essence of getting engaged to his wife, Melissa. He says, “We used his brilliant and wonderful snaps to make a coffee table book. Also, we designed our wedding invitations with our favourite photograph of us walking on the beach.”

So if you are bitten by the social media chromosome, share your chemistry with a pre-wedding shoot.  Or use your creativity to make a wedding website to invite your nearest and dearest.

After all, it is the photographer’s helpful remedy to the pre-wedding jitters of the flashbulb.

(Pictures courtesy Raphael Das, Chasing Dreams Photography)

Shaadi Mubarak is a series that captures the essence of weddings in Mumbai. Watch out for Part II.

Categories
Listen

Music at a railway station

We catch up with Neeraj Arya as he performs at the Borivli railway station and quickly draws a big crowd.
by The Diarist | thediarist@themetrognome.in

It is 6.15 pm, and Borivli railway station’s platform number 1 is expectedly buzzing with commuters on their way home. But at a space near the main indicators, the unmistakable strains of a man singing to the accompaniment of a dholak fill the busy air. Edge closer, and you realise that you can no longer hear the passing trains.

I catch up with the next performer in line, Neeraj Arya. “What’s the time?” Neeraj asks me, clearly distracted. He is a few minutes away from his performance – he sings and plays the guitar – but he stops to chat and offer details. “I am a resident musician with the National Streets for Performing Arts (NSPA), and so far, we’ve played at three railway stations this month, every week. I have performed on at least 15 occasions,” he grins, adding that he also fills in for musicians who are scheduled to play but who cannot turn up at the last minute.

 

Arvind Ekrupe, coordinator at NSPA, joins us. “We perform at railway stations because train travellers are an extremely stressed lot, and live music helps bring their stress levels down. Besides, musicians and good artistes perform only at galleries and closed auditoria, so the common man on the street doesn’t get access to good music. This is our effort to make music accessible in a community space,” he explains, adding that with local trains being a mass transit travel mode, the initiative gets all kinds of audiences.

“We perform at Churchgate station on Monday, Borivli on Wednesday and Bandra on Saturday,” Neeraj chips in. “We have two artistes performing from 9 am to 11.30 am, and two others from 5 pm to 7.30 pm. And there is a good mix of music played out. So far, the response has been fabulous.”

He leaves us to prepare for his own act. By now, several curious commuters have stopped to watch, and listen, as Neeraj and a friend start tuning up their guitars. Three beggar children are the audience members closest to Neeraj, but he doesn’t seem to mind them.

And then he begins to play, and we forget the trains once more.


Exit mobile version