Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Vest-ed interests
Actor Ranveer Singh was captured in Bandra on Tuesday sporting a new look for his upcoming film where he plays cop. Pic/Shadab Khan

City gets a new school of rock
Gone are the days when being a student of music necessarily meant joining a gharana to learn Indian classical and waking up ridiculously early for riyaaz. For, in the 21st century, there are institutions galore that impart education in western music, be it pop, rock or jazz, for a price. And news has just come in that there is another addition to that list. Furtados School of Music has joined hands with NMIMS to soon launch the School of Performing Arts. Tanuja Gomes, the co-founder and co-CEO of the music school, tells this diarist, "Music has been an integral part of my life, and my being. Most people love it and are keen to express themselves through it. So, we wanted to bring in an organised curriculum format through this school, since we feel that learning music helps develop a youngster's personality like few other fields can."

Street adda with Sarah
Chef Sarah Todd of Masterchef Australia fame balances her life in India between Goa, for her restaurant Antares, and Mumbai, for her second restaurant, The Wine Rack. While a TV show has covered her life in Goa, Todd wanted to showcase what Mumbai has to offer in terms of food, the streets and our architecture. So, the chef recently did a fun photoshoot at city landmarks such as Dhobi Ghat, Crawford Market and Capitol Cinema, to combine all of these elements.

"Community is a word I like to use frequently in my projects, and especially so when developing the menu for my restaurant in Mumbai. I want people to feel something that doesn't seem generic, that offers a real slice of the area. In my quest to achieve this, I went out seeking the most local flavours I could find and found inspiration in the streets of Mumbai," she says.

A musical treat for the little ones
If we were to ask you to think of a children's song in Hindi, chances are you would be reminded of the 35-year-old favourite Lakdi ki Kaathi, or you would jog your memory further back to Hum Bhi Agar Bachche Hote (1963). To fill this void, singer-composer Ankur Tewari (in pic) and musician Sid Coutto have collaborated to create original songs for children. The album, Bachcha Party, has been produced by Coutto and features songs written and composed by Tewari — with the exception of one, which is based on a song actor Ranvir Shorey penned for his son. From reclaiming Sundays to homework and riddles, the album sounds like a perfect summer treat for kids.

Cat out of the bag
Ronny Sen is an award-winning photographer who specialises in black-and-white images. But it's the first feature film he is directing, called Cat Sticks, that has caught our fancy ever since we first got wind of it back in 2016. And now, the wait for it is nearly over, with Sen making an announcement that a social media page for it is live and that post-production is nearly over. The story revolves around three brown sugar addicts looking for their next score. They find shelter in an abandoned aircraft in the midst of torrential rainfall and that's when the plot truly kicks off. There is also a photo book that Sen released a while ago ahead of the film's launch. And going by the images, this is one cinematic endeavour that will be a feast for the eyes.

Time to score for indie band
Here's news that will make fans of indie music break into a jig. Mumbai-based filmmaker Aditya Kripalani has roped in hard rock outfit Skrat (in pic) for the soundtrack of his next movie, Totta Pataaka Item Maal. The script turns the table on the concept of rape. Four women in a shared taxi come across a man who teases them. And in order to teach him a lesson, they first break him physically, then mentally, and finally bring him to the point of gangrape. Kripalani tells this diarist, "The reason we have taken songs from Skrat is that the feel of the film requires an almost heavy metal sound," meaning that with this new feather in their cap, the band's members definitely have something to sing about.

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