Love makes the world go round

Love, the magical mystical evocative word has a special significance on Valentine’s day. World over lovers celebrate the fourteenth of February as affirmation of their faith and belief in love and romance. The city of Mumbai had reason to celebrate as Anil Ambani hosted a lavish party on Valentine eve to celebrate Tina’s Birthday. From the invitation card, which had a Queen of Hearts, to the going away present — a heart chocolate box — the evening was fine-tuned to perfection. The theme of love was echoed throughout. Pillars of red apples at the entrance to their lovely home were as wickedly tempting as they probably were to Adam and Eve aeon’s back. Hearts in red satin were on the linen, the decorations and even the hand towels, adding a touch that comes from meticulous planning. Hundreds of little red heart balloons bobbed in the breeze. Anil and Tina were at the door to greet every one personally and as the party had over four hundred guests, it was a gesture of warmth and caring. Tina looked stunning ina long red dress with gold stripes running through it and as the dress code was the colours of love, she was picture perfect. Anil had donned a simple red shirt to conform to the dress code. The guests took poetic license, and the colours of love ranged from black, while, silver, grey, pink, peach, blue, red, green, to virtually all the colours of the rainbow and then some. It was a visual treat. There was an air of lightheartedness, fund and bonhomie. From the time I walked in till the end it was like being with a charmed circle of friends and acquaintances. Love was in the air, I spotted Mukesh Ambani holding hands with his radiant wife Neeta, I saw Aroon Purie whisper sweet nothings to Rekha Purie. The inimitable sex siren Zeenat Aman and Zaheer, her young love, were coochie cooing.

Shobha De looking elegant in a sunshine yellow sari had her arm linked with her charming husband Dilip. There was romance and fun everywhere. Poonam Bhagat looked ravishing in a blue and red Versace dress, Sonali Bendrelooked young and sexy in a beige dress with a swingy new hair cut. Raj Thackeray and his wife Sharmila looked elegant in black. Lalit Suri, Shobhana and Sham Bharatiya, Yogi Deveshwar, Rani and Surinder Kapur, Mohan Guruswamy and Shekhar Gupta were some of the heavyweights from Delhi who graced the occasion. The film industry was well represented with Amitabh and son Abhishek, Boney and Sridevi, the Kapoor clan, Vinod and Kavita, Venkatesh, Vijayendra Ghatge, Akshay Khanna, Anupam and Kiron Kher and a host of others. The captain’s of industry turned out in style though I only managed to catch up with Harsh Goenka, Mr & Mrs Hinduja, Raj Salgaokar, the Nair’s of Leela, the Raheja’s Rajan & Nina Khilachand, Suketu Shah, Rashmi Mehta, Divaunshi & Anoop Mehta, Pradip Guha and Anu and Sandip Tandon. Looking particularly attractive amongst the bevy of beauties that night were Simi Garewal, Queenie Dhody, Lisa Ray, Shefali Khanna and Paulomi Jain. Arjun Khanna and Hemant Trevedi were the dapper designers who alongwith Sanjeev Chowdhury kept me on the dance floor till near dawn. Anil and Tina pulled off a social coup with this chic, well-attended party so early in the year. It’s going to be a hard social act to follow as the thread of warmth and love that wove itself magically through the night made it a one-of-a-kind memorable event.

The Chopard evening cohosted by Swati, Rashmi Mehta, Divanushi and Anoop Mehta had the star of the international fashion firmament Naomi Campbell walking the ramp. Unfortunately due to a previous commitment I walked in almost when the show was to start, said a quick hello to Mr A P & Mr S P Hinduja, Anjali and Ajit Singh only to be rushed off by my good friend Rashmi to an enviable vantage point seat. Satya and her son Shiv, Poonam and Sanjeev Malhotra and Arjun and Shefali were my immediate neighbours. The show started quite late but Sanjeev gallantly in true Oberoi tradition quenched our thirst with a glass of bubbly. The dramatic entrance of Naomi in a drop-dead cream Herve Legerdress was the cue to an evening of riveting looks and magnificent jewellery. Madhu Sapre in a lovely mint green dress, held her own. Naomi’s tigress-on-the-prowl walk had the men in the audience distracted, gasping and gawking. Naomi may have handed out carnations to all our lovely Indian models at the end of the show, but backstage she’d behaved like a prima donna and had barely even wished any of them. Tch! Tch! The show had a few hiccups but the jewellery were superlative and the revolving discs on the stage twirled the models so everyone had a vantage view. The show was choreographed by inhouse talent from the house of Chopard but Devika Bhojwani and Sangeeta Chopra did the co-ordination and show management. At the dinner post-show we sat in the Jacaranada room. I was escorted by Anoop Mehta to a table with Avanti and Yash Birla, Karan Johar, Kaajal Anand, Natasha Nanda, Grishma Mehta, Swati and Rashmi Mehta. We ribbed, teased and gossiped, when I left it was with the distinct impression that Chopardwould be a winner in India as it had the backing of Rashmi’s keen business sense.

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It was Nina and Rajan Khilachands’ twenty-fifth anniversary on Valentine’s Day and they celebrated by hosting a lunch at the Rendezvous. My engagement calendar got a bit skewed and memory didn’t serve me right, so I missed out on this lovely event. I heard it was resounding success and when Shobha De told me at 9 pm that I could still do a quick marking of presence as the party was still on, I knew I’d missed a fun lunch.

This Valentine has only firmed up my long held notion that love makes the world go round. Like they say, Its better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’ — so open your hearts folks, appreciate and love your loved ones and don’t be afraid of getting hurt as that’s the story and the glory of love.