Scene and Heard

Marcellus Baptista

What's happening in Mumbai’s hotels? A peek into the party circuit and events in the city...

Wine divine

Dr Vijay Mallya and Juilette Monmousseau at the Bouvet-Ladubay soiree on board Indian Empress

Dr Vijay Mallya's luxury yacht Indian Empress was the happy venue for the introduction to the finest Loire Valley wines from UB Group's premium French winery, Bouvet-Ladubay. Patrice Monmousseau, president, Bouvet-Ladubay and daughter Juilette, along with Dr Vijay Mallya stood at the entrance to welcome aboard guests like Gautam Singhania, Sunil Alagh, Ashok Wadhwa, Queenie and Raja Dhody, Laila and Ricky Lamba, Sharmilla and Sandip Khanna, Bonita and Vivek Bulchandani, Lali and David Dhawan, Kaajal Anand, Natasha and Adar Poonawalla, American model Jessica von der Steen, Simone Singh and Fahad Samar, Vidya Malavade, Zeenia Lawyer, Prahlad Kakar, Arti and Kailash Surendrenath, Gauri and Mohan Pahoomul, Champa and Chakor Doshi, Anna Singh and Jaiveer, Renuka Jain, Vijay Rekhi and winemaker Abhay Kewadkar. And pairing very well with the fine handpicked wines was a special menu by Farokh Khambatta.

Sail trail

Sunil Shetty at the sailing brunch at Salt Water Grill

Brunch at Salt Water Grill is always fun, as it was at the celebration of the first Provogue Mumbai International Match Race 2007, promoted by Aashim Mongia of West Coast Marine and Rajiv Somani of H20 under the aegis of Indian Naval Watermanship Training Complex and Match Racing Association of India, with top-level competition from Russia, Germany, Sweden, USA, Japan and India. Beer and wines did the rounds along with tasty brunch bites. You thought you were in Goa with sand under your feet, palm trees and hammocks all around and a cool breeze in the air. And enjoying the smooth sailing experience were guests like Adi Godrej with his four grandsons, Anish Trivedi, Anil Dharker, Remu and Naaz Zaveri, Monica Vaziralli, Anil Chopra, Gayatri Khanna, Leena Mogre, Apnavi Thakkar, Arjun Bhasin, Raja Dhody, A N Roy and Emmanuel Balayer.

Italian flash

Lisa Haydon at the Festa Italiana fashion show

A feast of fashion flashed before you at the Festa Italiana fashion show at Jamshed Bhabha theatre with models like Diana Penty, Candice Pinto, Carol Gracias, Lisa Haydon, Sanea Sheikh, Tapur and Tupur Chatterji and Sahil Shroff showcasing the creations of young Italian designers Alberto Zambelli, Georgia Turri, Carlotta Danti and Claudio Montias. It was a picture of elegance and tradition, sophistication and the avant-garde at this show choreographed by Marc Robinson and presented by the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana. Sabina and Anil Chopra, Joyti and Niranjan Thakur, Esther and Raju Daswani and James Ferreira were all there getting their dose of Italian fashion and, earlier, enjoying the fine wines and Peroni beer.

Makeover menu

Lara Dutta at the new menu launch at Prithvi Cafe

Even a landmark needs a makeover - Prithvi Café did just that as it launched its new menu at a spirited party hosted by Kunal Kapoor and Riyaaz Amlani. Bollywood actor Lara Dutta was there, though for only a brief moment, while others lingered on to sip the café's famous Irish coffee as well as masala chai and have a bite of the Bambaiya style food like samosas, vada pav, chaat, kebabs and kheema. Live music was in the air amidst a setting of tall trees, bamboo plants and lanterns that illuminated the many guests. Actor Meghna Naidu was there, along with others like Achala Sachdev, Rouble Nagi, Yudhistir Urs with Deepika Mehta, Nikhil and Leena Mogre, Shamita and Mashoom Singha, Kiran Salaskar and Sandili Sinha, Craig and Manasi Scott, Makarand Deshpande, Nasser Abdulah, Brandon Hill, Rajit Kapoor, Saurav Sakhlani, Prashant Raj, Anoushka Manchanda and Pratichee Mahapatra. And everyone had a good time as they relished the food and drink.