Last night I made the rookie mistake of lingering a tad too long in the sponsor lounge and ended up having to watch the show from in there since the crowd for Manish Malhotra’s shindig was swelling way past seating capacity. I’ll get to the show in a second but I assure you there’s always loads of entertainment lingering in the hallway if you keep your eyes open!
Kim Jagtiani (sporting a shock of purple hair) was catching up with Shehnaz Treasurywala, Divya Mohta (carried off a funky combination of accessories with style, I guess it helps if you design them) Anaita Shroff Adajania looked comfy but classy in a flowy white dress, Narendra Kumar looked pretty pleased with how his men’s show had gone, live band and all. He was telling me how the guys looked really spiffy like you’ve never seen them before, bow ties, tuxedo’s and jeans. (I have to agree, mostly male models end up looking like a bit of a caricature of themselves in the outfits they’re given but Nari appears to have rectified that for at least one show.) Bandana Tewari was racing around happily and when I asked her how she manages to do it considering it was now day 4 of non-stop activity (and late night partying) she laughed, “This is nothing darling, I’ve just done Paris, Milan and London Fashion Week.” (And all this without Redbull? How?) Then of course I spotted a familiar face and was just about to do the obligatory “Hey, how’ve you been?’ *kiss* *Kiss* when a friend of mine reminded me why he looked so familiar. Ali holds the distinction of being the only male stripper in Mumbai who bachelorette after bachelorette has had the (somewhat queasy) pleasure of witnessing perform. But I guess we have to give him props for holding the monopoly in the biz.
The buzz about Shah Rukh Khan arriving, getting his make up done, and that the show wouldn’t start for another half hour made the rounds and then suddenly there was music as the first of the golden girls strutted down the stage. Manish Malhotra’s design skills are unquestionable however the show seemed awfully short for all the hoopla around it. The camera crews were torn between panning up the model’s endless legs to micro mini gold boy shorts and focusing on a dishy front bench made up of Gauri Khan, Kajol & Tanisha Mukherjee, Hrithik & Susan Roshan, Karan Johar, Arjun & Meher Rampal, Tusshar Kapoor, Sophie Chaudry, Ritesh Deshmukh, Raveena Tandon and Sridevi & Boney Kapoor. Shah Rukh made an appearance in a black and gold ensemble with a matching sling for his recovering shoulder and proceeded to do a 5 minute stand up act. There’s no denying the fact that he could pretty much do anything at all and still steal the show. A few inside jokes with his celebrity bench followed by a global diss on all male models “I hope Gauri still respects me in the morning” and he was whisked off to the after party where there was a VVIP section within the VIP section and a some excellent strawberry martinis.
I felt mildly bad for Tusshar Kapoor who seemed lost puppy like as the last celebrity standing when SRK and his entourage slipped out. (I’m not sure how Sophie ended up part of that entourage.) I’m guessing there was an after party to the after party we’ll never see pictures of. Kjo meanwhile seemed absolutely comfortable hanging out but perhaps there is more under the surface than meets the eye since Hrithik Roshan appears to have dethroned him as Shah Rukh Khan’s current BBF.
Honorable mention to the paparazzi who do this night after night hoping to capture that money shot. I also met the charming Mrinmoy who runs a fantastic deli called Table of Contents in Khar, Mumbai.
Oh and here’s yet more proof that male models deserve all the Zoolander flack they get. These boys (one in a wife beater) seriously thought I was taking their picture because I’m a fan.
And yet somehow the guy in the Ed Hardy gear seems even further down the food chain. (Can someone please explain to me what the obsession is?) The only explanation that comes to my mind is that perhaps they got it free and its shiny so hey why not? But who gets dressed up thinking I look really hot in these gold shorts, pimp hat and kolhapuri chappals, all I need is to do is pop the collar on my Ed Hardy tee shirt to finish me off!
P.S. I was told by an ardent follower that perhaps I’m not bitchy enough, I’m trying to keep it within reason and avoid flaming for the sake of it but I hope you enoyed the meow factor in the post 🙂