Roving Eye — Art aficionado

Occasionally, a couple of Mumbai’s beauty people walked in the most beautiful of them all was Chibb’s model girl friend, Nina Manuel, dressed in a ’60s style white dress with patent-leather white shoes (ouch!) — but their presence added no excitement to the evening.

And after 11:00 pm, the place started to resemble a morgue. Even the attempts of a largely off-key band could not rouse the remaining diners out of their slumber. The reason Chibb’s dinner was being given a miss by Mumbai’s otherwise `starved-for-new-places’ crowd is simple: prohibitive pricing.

The cost of eating at Buddha of Bohemia is even more steep than a dinner at the Thai Pavilion, at the President Hotel. And let’s face it, the service there is far superior. While there can be no complaints about the food – Chibb knows his onions from his coriander, every single dish on the limited menu was divine the waiters insisted on serving people over their heads.

Other than the threat of a gored eye by the sharp edge of a plate, a whiff of body odour does not help the phad phak go down easier. The waiters also insist that you pay for your meal as soon as you finish ordering it. Does Chibb think his diners will try and slip out without paying the bill? Or is he so short of change that he needs the money to pay for the next course? Anyway, for a tiny meal – one dish and one drink, not including the Rs 200 cover charge – you are already out of pocket by Rs 500 per head.

And after dinner, you have to go to Bade Mian, behind the Taj, to get a proper mouthful of food. No wonder then that the savvy citizens of Mumbai are giving Chibb’s dos a miss.

Hot stuff

Malaika Arora is best known for her MR Coffee sizzling ads. And Marc Robinson, well, he’s a hunk.Can you image the rising temperatures when they come together? Well, the small screen is soon going to find out if they are too hot to handle.

Coming together for a music video for Polygram, director Kunal Kohli has managed to pull off a casting coup. Kohli who prefers to use top models — remember Deepti Bhatnagar and Jas Arora; Anupama Verma and Bikram Saluja — is directing his seventh music video in as many months.

He won’t reveal the name of the song, but the buzz in the market is that this big-budget video will be another hit in the league of Mera Laung Gavacha. This time, real pleasure will come in about four minutes the average length of an MTV video.

New look

OAK Tree, the up-market boutique behind the Taj, introduced a new collection with champagne and hors d’oeuvres. The shop is a favourite with the city’s party girls with its suede and lycra clothes. The collection is dominated by Rinku Rajani and Coqueliot. Priya Ailawadi, the owner, wants to make it a one-stop shop for clothes and accessories.

So, Mont Blanc, Burberry’s and Rinaldi will have to share their shelf space.

Music nite

MANTHAN Kala Kendra along with Eternal Agro designed a musical evening on Sunday for Mumbai’s damp and wet at Birla Matushree at Marine Lines. Hariharan, Jojo and Chandana had the audience singing in the rain. Spotted mouthing a mean tune were Anu Kapoor and wife, Jolly Mukherjee, jewellery designer Neeta Bhonsle, Sushil Khaitan of Swil India and Rama Dhoot of Videocon. The music was accompanied by piping hot chai and pakoras — an ideal finish to a rained out weekend.

Out and about

The MTV VJ Hunt Grand Finale at the St Andrews Auditorium last week was an affair to remember. If it wasn’t for the guest list reading like the who’s-who of the glam biz, then it was the performance where the four finalists — Benoy, Amrita, Maria (Arshad Warsi’s girlfriend) and Nikhil — who were short-listed.

They put on a good show for the audience with their own renditions of music and dance, mock general knowledge quizzes, which were hilarious, and mock interviews with the judges. Among the judges were Nafisa Joseph, Noyonika, Prahlad Kakkar, Ashok Salian and Mehnaaz.

And finally…

IT’S out in the open. Manisha Koirala and DJ Hussain are not hiding their affair. Whatever his claim to fame, the man must be given a pat on the back for taming the shrew. Manisha was spotted at an Irani restaurant in Lamington Road , currently under renovation, sitting amidst rubble, gazing deep into his eyes.

If he can get Manisha to bypass her usual drinking spots then Hussain is spinning more than records. He seems to have the actress wound around his fingers.