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The family that laughs together

Updated on: 01 June,2017 06:00 AM IST  |  Mumbai
Malavika Sangghvi |

Some large families often need that one personable member to keep them together during good times and bad, and we have often said that the large Kapoor khandan

The family that laughs together

Rima Jain, Neetu Kapoor and Shweta Bachchan Nanda
Rima Jain, Neetu Kapoor and Shweta Bachchan Nanda


Some large families often need that one personable member to keep them together during good times and bad, and we have often said that the large Kapoor khandan has its pressure valve in the form of the effervescent Rima Jain, patriarch Raj Kapoor's youngest daughter.


Rima, who lives in south Mumbai with her businessman husband Manoj, and handsome sons Armaan and Aadar Jain (who we will soon see on screen later this year), still manages to keep up with everyone in her khandaan, often putting their priorities over her own as she has in the past, when she relocated to New York to take care of her ailing sister Ritu Nanda. So, when a couple of days ago, the gregarious lady posted "Hey Bhagwan Life bohot boring ho gayi hai. Utha Le aur patak de Paris ya London mein" (Oh God, life has become very boring, please pick me up and drop me in Paris or London!), it once again got her family and friends in splits.


Sister-in-law Neetu Kapoor, and friends Maheep Kapoor, Seema Khan and Bhavana Pandey were ROFL. But the best response was by Shweta Bachchan Nanda, married to her nephew Nikhil Nanda. "Who is that brave?" she asked, tongue firmly in cheek.

A group picture of members of a former government.
A group picture of members of a former government.

Some more opposition bashing
Man about town and former head honcho of Britannia, Sunil Alagh, who never lets you forget that he was a Narendra Modi supporter much before the owner of the 56 inch chest became PM, is using the full arsenal of his celebrated gift of the gab against opposition heavy weights. Commenting on this group pic of the ghost of governments past, which included the likes of Sharad Pawar, Mayawati, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Mamata Banerjee seated together (looking rather bored), Alagh had tweeted, "What a Group photo! All of them together can't equal one man!" That was not all. When the resulting traction by Modi bhakts included a comment inquiring why Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was left out, Alagh's reply was up in seconds. "He was taking the photograph!" he tweeted.

Vanessa Redgrave. Pic/Gettyimages
Vanessa Redgrave. Pic/Gettyimages

Last night's glitzy artsy gala
The London-based businessman and founder of the Arts for India charity, Satish Modi called yesterday, on the eve of his glittering Golden Gala, scheduled to be held later that evening at the iconic London landmark, BAFTA 195 Piccadilly. "We are honouring Vanessa Redgrave with the Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the world of cinema," he said, adding, "And we are delighted that 'Baahubali's Tamannaah Bhatia will also be attending along with director Kunal Kohli and Shekhar Kapoor." The annual event consists of a champagne reception, dinner, an auction followed by an awards ceremony, which was to be hosted by Amy Jackson.

Tamannaah Bhatia
Tamannaah Bhatia

Modi had created the charity for the support of talented young Indian artists who are taught at the International Institute of Fine Arts (IIFA) in Modinagar. "Everyone concentrates on primary education," he grumbled. "But it is providing higher education to the disfranchised, which I have made my mission. Do you know I have registered the Arts for India charity in New York and Hong Kong also?"

And then he was gone. No doubt to don his black tie and tux, and greet Redgrave, Bhatia and the rest of the glitzy gathering.

The fast and the furious
Word comes in that this leggy lass and former beauty pageant winner, who has been seen in some not so memorable Bollywood films, has been unstoppable in her quest of self-aggrandisement. The pretty lady, who is often spotted at high-profile events on the arms of sundry billionaires, has apparently rubbed one of the city's jewellers the wrong way.

"We were introduced at a cocktail party and began chatting," he was overheard saying recently. "I didn't really know her from the movies but she was very charming. Before I knew it, she had taken my cell phone and saved her number on it asking me to keep in touch with her on WhatsApp," he recalls.

"The next morning, I woke up to about 8 unread messages from her. These had started out fine but when I scrolled down, I was shocked to see that she had sent me screenshots of jewellery items from my collection which were up on my website. Did she expect me to send them to her? Of course I didn't reply!" says the man.

Some girls move fast…

Jitish Kallat with
Jitish Kallat with 'Here after here after here

Scene from the Moon
"Just today, one of my European friends shared some satellite pics of my artwork, 'Here After Here After Here' seen via Google Earth with me," said Jitish Kallat, one of the Indian art world's leading stars, yesterday about the 6 metre tall and 17 metre wide sculpture that he had created in 2015 for a site in Stockerau, 20 km north of Vienna. Variously described as resembling a giant ribbon or a flower, the quirky art work can be clearly seen on Google Earth if one taps in 'Here After Here After Here,' Austria.

"It takes you straight to the work, marked as a tourist attraction," said the artist.

Usha Rajbans Khanna with MFâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Husain. Pic/Pradeepâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Chandra
Usha Rajbans Khanna with MFâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Husain. Pic/Pradeepâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Chandra

This satellite imaging of Kallat's work reminded us of another series he had presented at the Jodhpur Palace, a few years ago, called the 'Forensic Trail of the Grand Banquet (2009)', which had evoked a journey through space, wherein planetary and stellar formations were created through hundreds of X-Rays of food.

We recall how the cryptic hypnotic images had resulted in the small band of assembled champagne quaffing art connoisseurs to wax eloquent about 'planetary and stellar formations, even galactic clusters and nebulae,' until Kallat had informed them that in fact, what they had been admiring, were giant enlargements of chapattis.

A work from Kallat
A work from Kallat's 'Forensic trail of the Grand Banquet'

This is almost like the reverse end of the cosmic telescope, we commented on hearing about the satellite imaging of his latest work.

"Its so interesting that you say that," said Kallat. "The friend who shared the link with me was joking that since my works often have this interplay between the terrestrial and the celestial, it is fitting that one of my pieces should now be visible via satellite imaging."

Incidentally, on our return from Jodhpur, when we had shared Kallat's images of mysterious moon-like objects with our late mother Usha Rajbans Khanna, whose instincts for art were as acute as her instinct for good, wholesome food we recall that she'd instantly said, "What moons? Those are pictures of chapattis and very good ones at that!"

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