Malavika’s Mumbaistan: Double celebrations for Ambanis

It’s a double celebration for the Ambani family. News comes in that only a few months after Mukesh and Nita Ambani’s son, Akash, got engaged to his girlfriend, Shloka Mehta, in Goa, the family has more reason to cheer. Yesterday, their daughter and Akash’s twin sister, Isha, got engaged to Anand Piramal, the enterprising son of industrialists Ajay and Swati Piramal at the Piramal heritage mansion in Mahabaleshwar. “Both families have known each other for decades and were present on the occasion. The couple has known each other since ages, but had recently met again and hit it off instantly. On Sunday morning, Anand surprised Isha by going down on one knee and proposing, and everyone is over the moon with the wedding being planned for December,” informs a source. Both Ambani and Piramal are products of an Ivy League education – Isha graduated from Yale University and is currently pursuing her MBA at Stanford University in California with a focus on philanthropy, while Anand, an alumni of Harvard Business School, who returned to India and joined his father’s business, has expanded into the real estate sector. We wish the young couple well and congratulate both families.

HAHA, MINISTER

We like politicians who possess a funny bone. God knows in these dismal times, a sense of humour is certainly called for. So we were happy to note that despite her shrill persona in the political sphere, minister for I&B, Smriti Irani, certainly shows signs possessing a refreshing sense of self-deprecation and good cheer.

Recently, at a media event, when a high-flying media maven noticed that while seated on the podium Irani appeared to be missing an earring and hoped that she’d located it, Irani sportingly responded with a ‘could not find it!’ with horror and crying emojis. And then, when her erstwhile producer Ekta Kapoor posted a pic of Irani in her Kyunki days with fellow actor Ram Kapoor, noting how they appeared so different back then, the minister promptly replied with ‘look so different is a polite way of saying we both got fat’ with a corresponding horrified emoji.

Nice!

HIS SECRET WEAPON?

If anyone wants to know what the results of unfettered ambition, simplicity and hard work are, they have only to look at the success of Mangal Prabhat Lodha, the 63-year-old MLA from Malabar Hill, who also founded what is now one of India’s leading billion-dollar construction companies.

Mangal Prabhat Lodha

The son of a freedom fighter and a jurist, Lodha had moved to Mumbai from Rajasthan in 1981, when his career in politics and business grew exponentially. Neither of these appear to have changed his intrinsic earthiness though. “He wins people over with his humility and by constantly doing good deeds for his neighbourhoods and constituencies,” says a journalist, who covered a recent election, which Lodha was involved in. What’s more, she says, that like other superheroes, the portly realtor apparently gets his secret powers from a wonder snack. “The boot of his car is always stuffed full with packets and packets of ParleG biscuits, which he constantly munches on. That and vada pao and tea are his staple diet,” she says.

Now we know.

MOHAN SAMANT HAZIR HO!

“This is a first for an Indian gallery,” said Mallika Sagar Advani, the Mumbai-based internationally noted auctioneer, on news that city gallery Jhaveri Contemporary is this year’s winner of the prestigious Frieze Stand Prize for its presentation of the late Mohan Samant, Indian modernist and member of the Progressive Arts Group. The jury had especially commended the spirit of risk-taking by the gallery in its decision to present a historically important Indian artist, who was not previously seen by a mainstream audience. “Jhaveri Contemporary has one of the most interesting programs in the Indian Art gallery space today,” said Sagar Advani.

Mohan Samant (left) and Mallika Sagar Advani (right).

“They have consistently pushed boundaries with their choice or artists and extremely well thought out show installations,” she said while boarding an aircraft on the verge of heading out for a vacation with her son. “Their aesthetic is clean and minimal; never crowding a space and allowing each artwork to breathe and hold its own. Their award at Frieze New York a few days ago reflects this carefully curated approach that has become their signature.”

As for Samant, the Goregaon-born artist, who we had often run in to at the Samovar, where his quiet and thoughtful presence stood out, the celebrated auctioneer and art consultant said: “Samant is a terrific artist, who as they have rightly said, has not yet gotten his place in the sun, unlike some of his Progressive contemporaries. His work is detailed, beautifully executed with a superb balance of colours, fitting in perfectly with the Jhaveri Contemporary aesthetic and program.”