ROVING Eye

Later in the evening, Madhuri, Rekha and Mamta even danced to the tune of Mera piya ghar aaya’. It seems that the fear psychosis, after a series of underworld killings, is finally beginningto lift. After a long time, Bollywood saw the stars in such high spirits. The day after the party, when stars rang up to thank their hostess, they were in for a real surprise. The party had wound up late but Madhuri was not in. She had left in the early hours of the morning to shoot for a film. It seems that she is already preparing to walk off with a host of awards next year, as well.

Solo soul

When soul singer Diana King — whose hits include Shy guy’ and Say a little prayer’ — came to town on Tuesday, she almost went unnoticed. Her show at Three Flights Up had her singing only five songs and most of her fans left for another pub, disgruntled. Even the compere, for the evening, Nafisa Joseph left in a hurry. And stage actor dominating Art, Sohrab Ardeshir — who really seemed to enjoy the diva’s performance — also made a mad dash for the door. Only model Anupama Verma and Anita and Anil Singh (the promoters of Famous Grouse whisky) stayed on for a second drink.Perhaps Mumbaiwas sated with foreign singers what with Savage Garden also making an appearance.

Wishes galore

Though there were a host of celebrities at the Star-for-Wishes night’s gala dinner held at the Turf club, the real stars were the children. To commemorate the global Make-A-Wish day, the Indian chapter of the charity had organised a concert and dinner. Louis Banks, Hema Sardesai, Gary Lawyer and Swapna Mukherjee were among the artistes who lent their voices for the occasion. Banks even composed a special song for the night and called on the celebrities present, to join him and sing along.

But the real highlight came after the concert when three children were granted their wish. Cricketers Ajay Jadeja, Rohan Gavaskar and Sanjay Manjrekar were among the celebs called to give away the gifts. Dalip Tahil, Sharon Prabhakar, Raajeshwari Sachdev and Helen Brodie also joined them on stage. Raja, a five-year-old boy, was given a two-in-one — his was the 200th wish to be granted since the charity started inIndia, two years ago. He was so delighted that he tried to lift the music system himself but failed — Jadeja came to his rescue, making him even happier. Five-year-old Sushma’s wish for a double-seater tricycle was fulfilled and Chetan was gifted a Sega video game. The most poignant moment of the night was when seven-year-old Imran spoke of how the Make-A-Wish organisation fulfilled his dream of meeting Sachin Tendulkar, earlier this year. Anupam Kher, who also took the stage, said that if he had one wish it would be that all children should have a long life. Spotted among the audience were celebs like Mahesh and Hasina Jethmalani as well as Tanya and Arvind Dubash.

Prize catch

These days our cricketers have become the real celebs. Mohammed Azharuddin and wife Sangeeta Bijlani were spotted at Gabbana — on what appeared to be a shopping spree. The couple drew up in a silver grey Mercedes and were ushered in by three excited staffers. In minutes, a crowd had gathered. First to gape at the sportsmodel convertible and then, to stare at the star couple. Despite the Indian team’s famous win at Sharjah, it was Sangeeta who had a glow on her face and not the victorious captain. She also looked slimmer than before, belying all rumours that she’s pregnant.

Ruby day

Ruby Bhatia, veejay and anchor, was honoured by the Canadian consulate for being the Epitome of the Successful Indo-Canadian’ at the consulate. Ruby was presented a maple leaf, a Toronto Club Tee-shirt and a frame with four of her earlier pictures. On her behalf, vice-consul Sanjeev Chowdhury also presented a pack of powdered milk to the nuns of St Joseph Foundling Home, Byculla. Cheering her on were A D Singh, who gave her an invite to his new restaurant, Soul Kadi. Also present were Persis Khambatta and Vijaya Mehta.

Friday fever

Pakistani pop band Junoon were in town on Friday — on a low-key visit — and were spotted only late at night at the 1900s. The night club of the Taj was packed to capacity and seems to beregaining its spot as the city’s favourite haunt, once again. But they are making a serious effort to woo Mumbaikars. Most days of the week they have a special offer — for instance, if you arrive before 11 pm on a Friday or Saturday, they waive entrance fee for guests. On Fridays, ladies are also presented with a drink on the house. Given all these incentives , we think that the 1900s will soon be the place to hang out in.

Out to lunch

The Bombay Gymkhana was the power centre of the city at lunch time, this weekend. On Saturday, Sunil Gavaskar was seen lunching with Nana Chudasama and Mid-Day’s Khalid Ansari. An involved discussion was on but voices were really raised when everyone jumped up to pay.

Also spotted was Dilip De — minus his wife Shobha De — enjoying a chilled drink with lunch. With the top newsmakers collected in one spot, deals must have been made and sealed.

Students’ show

On Saturday night, the final year students of NIFT-Mumbai had their end of the year show atthe Oberoi Hotel. Top models like Madhu Sapre, Rajalaxmi and Aditi Govitrikar modelled the clothes which were judged on creativity, practicality and structure. All the outfits were wild and wacky and showed that the new breed of designers have a lot of flash and dash. So much so, that the prize-winning students received louder applause than the models. Checking out their potential were a host of Mumbai’s fashion experts such as Rocky S and Abu Jani, jewellery designer Kavita Behl and ace fashion photographer Farrokh Chotia. On the downside, the venue was so crowded that it was difficult for people at the back to really see very much. And though it was well organised, the sardines- in-a-tin-can feeling was reminiscent of the Ensemble show, held late last year.

And finally…

One of the highlights of the week was the Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla show for The Enduring Image finale. The whole event was tastefully organised and most people agreed that it was a fitting way to end this BritishCouncil sponsored cultural blitzkrieg. Everyone also voted Anna Bredmeyer as the show stopper of the event. This thirtysomething shared the ramp with the city’s latest crop of reigning models but outshone them in poise and style. Wearing a green outfit, she was a picture of elegance — Anna could teach the younger models a thing or two about ramp shows! But then she is quite an expert at wearing Abu-Sandeep creations as Anna has been an important part of each show.