Scene and Heard

Marcellus Baptista

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

Merry mix

Neha Dhupia and Gul Panag at the Chivas Studio at Grand Hyatt

The three-day Chivas Studio at Grand Hyatt turned out to be an exciting event that fused the finest in photography, sculpture, jewel craft, music, fashion and mixology. A global property, the Chivas Studio was launched earlier in New York, London, Madrid and Sydney before coming to Bengaluru, New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Celebrated couturiers Rohit Bal and Manish Malhotra were the stars of the third day of the event in Mumbai with Bal presenting his 'Yasas', inspired by the glory of India's rich cultural heritage and Malhotra his 'Boho Chik' collection of evening wear with plenty of prints and poppy colours. Feasting on this fashion was the Bollywood brigade of Sonam Kapoor, Sameera Reddy, Celina Jaitley, Urmila Matondkar, Neha Dhupia and Gul Panag. The previous night saw the styles of Anamika Khanna and Wendell Rodricks who presented an all-white line. Sourcing inspiration from birds on a wing, what you saw were graceful swoops, plunging dives and fluttering movements in a line of garments that were flights of fancy but anchored in reality. The first day saw the styles of designer sister duo Gauri and Nainika with a collection of can-can underskirts and corseted bodices, followed by JJ Valaya with his optimistic take on the gloom and doom of 2009. The Chivas Studio also saw the works of sculptor and installation artist K S Radhakrishnan, photographs by Prabuddha Dasgupta, a musical performance by Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan, Gino Banks and The Maske Trio from Australia.

Sunny side up

Genelia D'Souza at the Chivas Studio brunch at Grand Hyatt

While the night shows were quite a sight, it was refreshing to witness the sunny brunch at the Chivas Studio at Grand Hyatt. The courtyard was the chosen venue to showcase the styles of Surily Goel and Malini Ramani. Cool cocktails were in full flow besides a bountiful buffet and live stations. The Sunday feast included a viewing of 'Myriad Dreams' from Surily Goel, a rather cheerful collection with silhouettes flowing from white to beige, blue to black and also a burst of maroon. Genelia D'Souza was the smiling showstopper in her short navy blue backless dress with fringes that flapped in chain and cord. Surily Goel also made heads turn with her cream lace dress teamed with flapper fringe boots. The afternoon also took you on a 'Magical Caravan' with Malini Ramani with costumes inspired from Marrakesh, Peru, Mexico and Rajasthan and including gypsy-like embroideries and gold stone embellishments on silk, jersey and velvet. Viewing the collections, through their designer shades or otherwise, were Preity Zinta, Tanya Deol, Malaika Arora Khan, Neetu Kapoor, Anju Chulani, Hasina Jethmalani, Seema Khan, Neelam Kothari, Maheep Kapoor, Debbie and Arun Hitkari, Ekta Raheja and Anil Chopra.

Ten cheers

Fahad Samar, Rajeev Samant and Simone Singh at the Sula anniversary at Good Earth

You said ten cheers, instead of the customary three, as Rajeev Samant celebrated the tenth anniversary of his Sula Wines at the Tasting Room at Good Earth. The swish set was in attendance: US Consul General Paul Folmsbee, Shirin Batliwala, A D Singh, Rohan Sippy, Simone Singh and Fahad Samar, Tina Parekh, Shunali and Shravan Shroff, Riyaaz Amlani, Rajit Kapur, Koel Purie, Shonali Nagrani, Narayani Shastri, Ashish Raheja, Akanksha Nanda, Monica Vaziralli, Sabina and Anil Chopra, Alex Kuruvilla, Seema and Jaideep Mehrotra, Shenaz Treasuryvala, Anchal Kumar and Anushka Manchanda. And the talk was on how ten years ago a Stanford graduate named Rajeev Samant chucked up his job at the Silicon Valley and returned to his roots, harvesting a small crop of Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc grapes, thereby sparking off the Nashik wine revolution. That year 50,000 bottles of Sula wine were sold door-to-door by Rajeev Samant and his team and ten years down the line over three million bottles of Sula wines are slated to have been sipped by India's burgeoning wine drinkers.

Cupcake choice

Shaana Gwynne and Sarah Jane Dias at the Butterfly Cupcake launch

Cupcake cheer was in the air as Miss India World 2007 Sarah Jane Dias and confectioner Shaana Gwynne invited you to their Butterfly Cupcake store. Fardeen Khan's wife Natasha, yesteryear star Bindu, model Aditya Bal, restaurateur Nicolo Morea, musical brothers Siddharth and Sangeet Haldipur and fitness instructor Vidisha Roy were all there, having a taste of the sweet seduction. A live band in the outdoor section set the mood, while inside you could see the frosting-textured walls painted dark brown, resembling bitter-sweet dark chocolate with multi-hued candy-looking butterflies that gave you a classic sugar rush. The talk was on the ingredients that comprised edible glitters, lustre, shimmers and fondant figures with the cupcakes bright, moist and spongy. On the menu were Triple Choc, a dark chocolate cupcake with rich chocolate sprinkles; Hazelnut Swirl, dark chocolate and ground hazelnut cupcake with chocolate hazelnut frosting sprinkled with crushed toasted hazelnuts; coconut almond, fresh coconut and almond cupcake smothered with a creamy coconut frosting; peanut butter jelly, vanilla and peanut butter sponge with strawberry jam filling and peanut butter frosting; and the signature Butterfly Cupcake.