Scene and Heard

Marcellus Baptista

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

Star power

Neeta Lulla and Aishwarya Rai at Henry Tham

This year's Lakmé Fashion Week was a good opportunity for five-star hotels and standalone restaurants and nightspots to spring into the limelight. Henry Tham was the chosen venue for celebrated couturier Neeta Lulla's party, a day before her show that was dedicated to the immortal love of a woman. Aishwarya Rai was the star attraction at the party and she was warmly greeted by restaurateur Henry Tham and wife Ashita.

Other guests included designers Wendell Rodricks and Sabyasachi Mukherjee, models Candice Pinto, Sanea Sheikh, Reshma Bombaywala, Nethra Raghuraman, Fleur Xavier and Anchal Kumar, Kelly Dorji, Ameesha Patel, Hard Kaur, Viren Shah, Esther and Raju Daswani, Kehkashan Patel, Lata Patel and show director Marc Robinson.

Chivas Regal and Peroni were in full flow along with hors d'oeuvres like duck pancakes, salt-pepper prawns and tempura tofu plus a buffet spread in the upstairs dining section. Henry Tham was also the venue for the Aza party hosted by Alka and Atul Nishar for designers Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Narendra Kumar. Sabina and Anil Chopra, Simone Singh and Fahad Samar, Hital and Bijal Meswani, Smita and Mohan Jayakar. Ayesha Dharkar, Chhaya Momaya, Madhoo Shah and Anjala Zaveri were among the many guests present

Glow show

Padma Lakshmi and Parmeshwar Godrej at the Taj

Stylish and sophisticated indeed was the party at the Taj, hosted by Fern Mallis (Sr VP, IMG Fashion), Tim Wright (MD, IMG India) and Vikram Raizada (VP, IMG Fashion India) in honour of Ted Forstmann (Chairman and CEO, IMG). The ballroom was bedecked with little lights that cast their glow on the guests as well as the spread of white asparagus on a bed of ice and pink salmon. Partaking of the champagne, scotch and other spirits were guests like Jade Jagger, Princess Francoise Sturdza, Padma Lakshmi, Parmeshwar Godrej, models Mugdha Godse, Indrani Dasgupta, Shruti Agarwal, Lisa Haydon, Shamita and Mashoom Singha, Sheetal Mallar, Tamara Moss and Nethra Raghuraman, designers Wendell Rodricks, Arshiya Fakih, Narendra Kumar, Payal Singhal, Anupam Dayal, Arjun Khanna, Kiran Uttam Ghosh, Nachiket Barve and Poonam Soni. Also present were Anil Chopra, Marc Robinson, Ashwini Kakkar, Pradeep Hirani and Gautam Singhania

Designer do

Ekta Raheja at Prive

The designers' parties continued with Vineet Bahl celebrating at Privé at the do hosted by his friend Umesh Jivnani. Among the earliest arrivals was Ekta Raheja who was soon joined by Atul and Alka Nishar of Aza, Pradeep Hirani and wife Neha of Kimaya, Lata Patel, Viren Shah, Chhaya Momaya, Sharmilla Khanna, Nikasha Tawadey, Bikram Saluja with wife Schauna. Drinks, dinner and dancing - that's what the invite promised and you witnessed all that. Privé and Tetsuma next door was also the venue for designer Manish Malhotra's party celebrating his Lux collection at the fashion week. Couple-around-town Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, who were seen strolling across hand-in-hand to the first row of the show, were among the earliest guests at the party. Others among the swish set were Gauri Khan and Urmila Matondkar, Simone Singh and Fahad Samar

Simply splendid

Sharon Prabhakar, Princess Francoise Sturdza, Pria Kataria Puri and Anupama Verma at Busaba

It was an elegant cocktail and sit-down dinner at Busaba, hosted by designer Pria Kataria Puri and her husband Sumit for Gregory David Roberts and his fiancée Princess Francoise Sturdza who were the showstoppers at her show. A splendid setting was created with French Chantilly gold lace draping, silver rosette candle stands and orchids, along with the scent of orange jasmine blossom. Apple martinis and champagne set the tone before the dinner with green papaya salad and Indonesian stir-fried vegetables topped with peanut sauce and tofu to start with. The main course comprised chicken kaukswe served with noodles and assorted condiments, de-shelled crab in Thai red curry paste topped with kaffir lime leaves, steamed fish with lime, chilli and garlic, beef with lettuce, mint and garlic, plus a selection of vegetarian main course items. Baklava, cup cakes and chocolate fondant were the delightful desserts. Madhur Bhandarkar, Anil Chopra, Viveka Babajee, Sharon Prabhakar, Firoze Nadiadwalla, Kehkashan Patel, Fern Mallis, Albert Morris, Suleiman Merchant, Ashwini Kakkar, Lata Patel, Anita Vaswani and Anupama Varma were among those enjoying the experience.