Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Nimesh Dave

That top-of-the-world feeling

An old man sits on the winner's podium and watches the games at Poisar Gymkhana in Kandivali West.

Sisterhood and the business of bonding

Members of the community in conversation at the meet

Having been a professional in the advertising industry for a decade, Rinkle Sangloi Kapoor noticed the absence of women entrepreneurs. "We decided to bond over a Whatsapp group to voice our opinions. As soon as we came together, we realised there was so much more to discuss," said the founder. The She Community had their first meet-up in the city last Sunday, and saw a plethora of women entrepreneurs' network, and present their ideas. "We might take this to other cities like Bengaluru in the future where women can get together, and voice their opinions," she added.

Rinkle Sangloi Kapoor

Bey to the challenge

Community members at a recent event

They say adulthood kills your dreams, but some of the new generation is striving hard to protect theirs. For Anthony Mendes, last Sunday's BeyMarch tournament in Andheri was an attempt to do just that. "Many of us collectors and Beyblade gamers grew up as children watching the anime series," he shared. Now that these children are grown up and have financial backing, they are choosing to relive the nostalgia. "With Comic Con coming up in April, anyone in the anime scene will be in their crunch time now. So, it was the perfect way to enjoy this game and represent our piece of nostalgia," he shared.

Tricks and treats

A skater performs a trick at the park

Who's got the best tricks of them all? Mumbai-based skateboarding group Bombay SB and Barcelona-based skateboarding community Pusher joined forces in Bandra to find out. A one-versus-one format competition at Bandra's Carter Road skatepark saw skaters rolling in from across the city to battle it out under the scorching sun on Saturday. "Think of it as a jugalbandi. A skater performs a trick to start the game, and to progress, the opponent must repeat it and make a clean landing. The last skater standing wins a grand prize of R10,000. Skateboarding is often considered a solo sport. The aim was to gamify the experience and bring the community together," Altamash Sayed, co-founder, Bombay SB shared with the diarist.

The play without rehearsals

Quasar Thakore Padamsee, Nandita Das and Gopal Datt

This diarist is familiar with actors who spend months in preparation before a role. For actor-writer Gopal Datt, his upcoming performance of Iranian theatre maker Nassim Soleimanpur's White Rabbit, Red Rabbit is one that requires no preparation, quite literally. "I don't even know the script or the story," Datt shared with this diarist. The play, produced by QTP Productions, will stage four performances simultaneously in Hindi, Marathi and English, in Pune and Mumbai. If that was not challenging enough, the four actors performing - Datt (Hindi), Nandita Das (English), Vibhavari Deshpande (Marathi) and Niranjan Pednekar (Marathi) - have neither rehearsed the script or read the lines for the play. "We will probably get the script in a sealed envelope on the day of the production," laughed Datt. In fact, the actor revealed that director Quasar Thakore Padamsee had warned him not to watch any previous productions of the play since he might have to perform it some day. "It is a solo performance. So, it is a unique experiment. That is precisely what made me say yes to it," he said. Thakore Padamsee added, "It is meant to be performed without rehearsal. The actors aren't supposed to know what the script holds before the show. In this regard, the play puts up quite a challenge, which when accomplished performers like Gopal and Nandita [Das] take up, something really exciting is born."

Full circle in Dadar

Waghmare at a screening in Germany

It is ‘Home sweet home' for filmmaker and scholar, Somnath Waghmare, as his film Chaityabhumi is set to host its first public screening at Dr Ambedkar Bhavan in Dadar this Sunday. "Having travelled to London School of Economics, Columbia and Bonn in Germany, the film will now have its first public screening in the city at Dadar. It is apt that Bhimrao Yashwant Ambedkar, his grandson will be in attendance for the event," Waghmare told this diarist.