Monsoon may mean life’s in slow-motion, but not for Bollywood town

The rains and the IB school vacation-time are ensuring that the parties in town are kept to a minimum. For a few weeks now, Mumbai’s pretty people are conspicuous by their absence, as is a thriving nightlife circuit — primarily because there are very few appointments on the social calendar currently. Maybe the under 25’s are also sulking after the new drinking diktat by the state.
Bollywood town is unconcerned by the apparent lull — this quarter the big boys are readying to play, in the wake of the cricket season having cooled its tempo. ‘Readying’ may not be an apt choice of word where Salman bhai is concerned — he has already aced this quarter, Ready has set the cash registers ringing despite critics panning it. Salman is once again the BO’s uncontested blue eyed boy!
The fashion world meanwhile is preparing for the upcoming fiestas in September-October, both in Mumbai and in the capital. Collections to be unveiled then need to be prepared now. Some among the biggies in the fashion world, are of course otherwise occupied — designing for superstar wardrobes on TV (a la Rohit Bal for AB) or introducing signature bed linen in the city (Goa’s Wendell Rodricks was in the city this week).
And television is teasing us with a host of new English shows in a bid to garner eyeballs from niche audiences.
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Meanwhile, reading an international report on how powerful women in politics and business would seldom do what some men in positions of power seem to be doing around the globe (getting caught in sex scandals), it struck me how to the entertainment world, scandal is quite the opposite — a very compelling device indeed. A good scandal can up your brand value, get you headlines, and catapult you back in the running post a flagging career spell. There’s no such thing as negative publicity, publicity is publicity — the unwritten rule from time immemorial, even more relevant now, else how to explain the rise and rise of unrelenting PR machinery at present? Globally, Lady Gaga has made a career out of seemingly-scandalous offerings, courting those who think they’re part of counter culture, even if they are actually mainstream. But it works differently in politics/business, obviously — as Strauss Kahn, Arnie Schwarzenegger and the like would no doubt attest.

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And finally — the nightlife scene may be a bit lacking in glamour at present, but Sunday will see a lot of it as many from the world of entertainment, society, business and fashion come together to support a cause. Designer/politico Shaina NC (along with couturier Manish Malhotra) is getting prominent personalities from diverse professions to walk the ramp in aid of cancer patients.