Star Moms and other friends

A gang of prime Mumbai divas, many of who happened to be the moms of some of Bollywood's hottest stars, gathered on Saturday afternoon to bring in the birthday of Sheilu Mahtani-Lehr.

So over Yauatcha's famous dim sums, turnip cakes and refreshers, Neetu Kapoor, Lally Dhawan, Hiroo Johar, Kavita Singh, Sunita Kapoor and Pammi Bakshi joined a slew of friends for an afternoon of warmth, laughter and bonhomie. Mahtani-Lehr had been an old friend of theirs and her birthday lunch was one more reason to bond.

Sheilu Mahtani-Lehr (in blue) with Neetu Kapoor (in white), Sunita Kapoor (extreme right), Shashi Bhasin (wearing glasses) and a friend

But of course, to Bolly watchers (the entire planet) this causal grouping of some formidable industry matriarchs would give rise to endless memorabilia: after all it was Neetu's son Ranbir Kapoor and Sunita's daughter Sonam Kapoor, whose careers had been launched together not so long ago, and it was Hiroo's son Karan who had flagged off the career of Lally's son Varun Dhawan! Fortunately this was just background music on the celebratory afternoon.

The Quintessential Mumbai Boy
"My roots are in Mumbai. School, college, cricket, club, my memories of growing up are all centered around Mumbai and so are the friends I treasure," said newsman Rajdeep Sardesai, who brought in his fiftieth year with a rambunctious party at the Bombay Gymkhana, with friends like Kunal Vijayakar and Cyrus Broacha amongst others.

Maharaja Rajdeep's Maha-birthday celebration: He turned 50 in Mumbai

"Celebrating in Mumbai was the natural thing to do," said the man whose on first names terms with most of Delhi's power elite, who, it is interesting to note, he avoided on his big day. "Rajdeep grew up in Bombay and spent so much happy time at the Bombay Gym, it was heartwarming and joyful to have his 50th birthday party there with all his beloved school and college mates.

The high point was a cricket match at the Bombay Gymkhana for his birthday," said his wife Sagarika Ghose, herself a quintessential Dilli girl. What did you give him for his birthday we asked Ghose. "The party!" was her reply. Incidentally when asked what his favourite dish at the Bombay Gymkhana while growing up was, Sardesai said, "The open beef sandwich! Not sure they will make it now!"

High Fashion meets High Street
What's it like going to 'Todi Mills Social,' Riyaz Amlani's edgy, high octane filled to the rafters, hot and crowded newest city watering hole, with three amongst high fashion's most stately and formidable personalities?

Sandeep Khosla, Fern Mallis and Abu Jani

When we found ourselves with Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, the design team that's been on the top of their game in India for almost four decades, and Fern Mallis, the celebrated creator of Fashion Week in New York, whose recent book Fashion Icons, a series of in-depth interviews with the likes of Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, is making waves; at the strictly for the young and restless eatery, we were curious.

How would these fashion gurus respond to the culture shock? Would they recoil from the standard duty jeans and sneakers and LBD sweaty and frenetic ambience? Fortunately for all, the trio observed the encounter with Mumbai high street with equanimity. A new line book on young and restless street fashion to follow?

Well dressed wedding
The end of the month will see some very well dressed people turn up for the wedding brunch at Hakkasan, to kick off the nuptials of designer Nishka Lulla's wedding to Dhruv Mehra, which will take place in Bangkok on 11 June.

Nishika Lulla

After all, the bride's mother is Neeta Lulla, a popular designer herself, who has dressed some of Bollywood and society's most famous names. As for the bride herself, going by this recent ensemble worn on her birthday, it is a foregone conclusion that she will be very well turned out herself too!

Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma

Goose for the gander
Appalled as we were at the absurd blame heaped on to Anushka Sharma when the Men in Blue were trounced in Oz by the local team, we cannot help chuckling at the wit of the person who pierced rampant Indian misogyny, and came up with the meme: if Anushka can be held responsible for India's defeat in a cricket match, how come Virat Kohli hasn't been blamed for Bombay Velvet's failure? After all, what's good for the goose should be good for the gander - right? Just saying...

Show girls and their Sugar Daddies
It's as old as the hills. The fascination people have for showgirls and their sugar daddies. So when social media and society was agog with the latest appearance of a Mumbai actress best known for her runaway mouth, and her penchant for the high life preferably on foreign shores, we were not surprised.

The latest flurry was caused on account of the actress showing up at a high profile event on the French Riviera, where she flaunted a cache of expensive gowns and accruements way beyond her apparent professional earnings. That, a sugar daddy in the form of a famous, and flamboyant Indian billionaire, lurked nearby, was a matter of note. "There's no fool like an old fool," said a society insider.

"After all, every one knows the story of the besotted Indian producer who purchased a stunning duplex apartment for his actress lady love at Malabar Hill back in the day, only to sell it off when she broke his heart." As for the globe-trotting actress, "Perhaps a case of disproportionate assets can be made out," said the society wag. "And I don't mean the material ones," said the wag, tongue firmly in cheek.