WittyGift Boxes

Adventure Seaker, Indulgence Junkie, Spa Lover or Culture Vulture? Tell us what your Valentine is like in the comments below and win them a WittyGift Box of your choice!

This Valentine’s Day do something you’ve never done before; gift your Valentine an experience! Lucky for you MissMalini has 8 awesome WittyGift Boxes for you to win :)
Psst! Don’t forget to tell me what city you’re in so I can send you the right box xoxo

WittyGift provides over 800 of the most fun-filled and thrilling experiences like massages, beauty treatments, fine art, kayaking, paragliding and even Japanese cooking classes! Available in a variety of themes like Adventure, Adrenaline, Wellness, Culture, Gourmet, Dance etc. with a price range of 999rs to 7999rs, there is a box for every occasion and budget.

Wellness Box

Wellness WittyGift Box

Wellness Box : 2000rs
Choice of activities include massages, manicures, pedicures, skin treatments, makeovers, art therapy, fitness, yoga etc. from AromaThai, Lakme, Birla Ayurveda Vaidyashalya, Ambika Pillai, B-Blunt, Sykz Fitness and many more.

Adventure Box

Adventure WittyGift Box

Adventure Box : 4000rs
Choice of activities include paragliding, rafting, paintballing, camping, star gazing, trekking, flying fox, zorbing, quad biking, sailing etc. from Natura Adventures, Wanderlust Travels, Adventure Plus etc.

Culture Box

Culture WittyGift Box

Culture Box : 3000rs
Choice of activities include salsa, ballroom, photography, film making, painting, wine tasting, multi cuisine cooking classes, pottery, guitar, bollywood, fashion design, color exploration, belly dance, acting, ayurvedic treatments, yoga, kathak from Sandip Soparrkar, JJ Rodriguez, Yellow spiders Pottery, Nrityanidhi, Guitar Hall, Delhi Dance Academy, The Art Loft, School of Symphony, Pulse the Studio, etc.

Indulgence for 2

Indulgence for 2 WittyGift Box

Facebook Like! WittyGiftBox
Twitter: @WittyGiftBox
website: www.wittygift.com
email: info@wittygift.com
Tel: +919820881993

Anhaita Uberoi and Viraf Patel

Heads up, Mumbai! This weekend the Kala Ghoda Festival kicks off, and while there is so much to see, do and participate in, don’t miss the play Bombay Talkies (Uncensored Emotions of Eight Mumbaikars).

It will be held on Sunday, the 5th of Feb, at 7 pm, at the National Gallery of Modern Art, opposite the Prince of Wales Museum.

Bombay Talkies stars theater veterans like Darshan Jariwalla, Anahita Uberoi, Zafar Karachiwala, Viraf Patel, Rasika Duggal, Jeneva Talwar, Namit Das and Devika Shahani-Punjabi. The play is in English, and it’s about eight citizens of Mumbai, pouring their hearts out to the audience; a slice of their lives is served on a platter and explores pain, joy, memories, hopes, fear, desires, sorrow, ambitions and love.

It has been written and directed by Vikram Kapadia.

Entry is free and seating is first-come-first-serve!

Farrokh Khambata & Khushroo Suntook

Farrokh Khambata owns two of Mumbai’s most popular restaurants, Joss and Amadeus. And now, this loved restaurateur is back with his first ever open-air bistro, the Café at The NCPA. The perfect weather and the tranquil ambience, away from the city’s chaos, made it the perfect place to be on Sunday evening, as Farrokh and his wife Dilshad Khambata, hosted a Sundown Preview evening, along with Khushroo Suntook,  the Chairman of the NCPA.

Shyam Benegal

Dilshad Khambata with Pheroza Godrej

The evening saw distinguished guests from the world of business, art, theatre and movies, soaking up the ambience of this gorgeous al fresco eatery. Everyone seemed visibly delighted to welcome a place like this, in a remarkably popular cultural space like the NCPA. We were surrounded by green on all sides, with the grass-edged flagstones lining the walkway on one side, and potted plants and palm fronds on the other.

Cafe At The NCPA

Rati & Nadir Godrej

Akshay & Payal Kilachand

Dipti Bhatnagar, Poonam Dhillon and Vidya Malvade

Cafe At The NCPA

Aditya Hitkari & Divya Palat

The evening began with an engaging performance by the Symphony Orchestra of India. Divya Palat and Aditya Hitkari told me how excited they were about the place, which is ideal for performing artists, such as themselves. With their brand new production, Foreplay, coming to NCPA this Feb, the Cafe will be an ideal place to chill out between rehearsals & practice for their shows (and it helps that Divya thinks the coffee is superb).

Kailash & Aarti Surendranath

Sooni Taraporewala

Madhoo Shah

I totally cherish my little chat with Madhoo Shah, who told me that her husband loved the MissMalini video of her and her daughter Ameya at the Burberry party. But, the craziest part of the evening was bumping into my gynaecologist, Feroze Soonawala and his dad, the amazing R.P.Soonawala. 

Sameer & Palak Sheth

Sabira Merchant

Gauri Pohoomull

Simone Tata

I love that they have three open-air counters, and everyone seemed to enjoy the live kitchen that offered the Cafe’s specialities like dimsums, gruyere sandwiches, mini beef burgers (my favorite), cocas (same as the ones at Amadeus), stuffed kulcha slices, grilled chicken, lamb kebabs, prawn momos, sinful chocolate cake and an interesting selection of coffee, tea, smoothies and wine. I particularly loved the warm and gooey Normandy Apple Tart (which I went back for the next day as well).

Pheroza Godrej

Sunil & Tanuja Padwal

With the light and scrumptious Cafe menu, and the food at Amadeus getting better with time, staying at the NCPA is starting to threaten any hope I had of losing weight. Maybe, just one last chicken and pickled gherkins burger and then I won’t go for back for a week…I mean month…

Tabu & Richard Rothman

Mr Jamshed Godrej

Marat Bisengalier

Mahesh Dattani

Farzana Contractor

Lata Patel

Kunika Singh

Dilshad & Farrokh Khambhata

Spotted: Simone Tata, Jamshed & Pheroza Godrej, Rati & Nadir Godrej, Shyam Benegal, Mahesh Dattani, Dipti Bhatnagar, Vidya Malvade, Lata Patel, Sunil & Tanuja Padwal, Brinda Miller, Kunika Singh, Gauri Pohoomull, Sonali Dalwani, Farzana Contractor, Sabira Merchant, Sooni Taraporewala, Sabira Merchant, Akshay & Payal Kilachand, Akanksha Agarwal, Aarti & Kailash Surendranath , Marat Bisengalier (of the Symphony Orchestra of India) and Sooni Taraporewala.

Anshuman Jha

Anshuman Jha: “I reflect the common man and therefore advertisers like me, I guess. I think I’m ugly yet sexy and people relate to me. It’s been a good year.”

Hehe, so Anshuman Jha thinks he’s “ugly yet sexy” – I can honestly say I have never heard anyone describe himself that way before, but whatever it is, his face is definitely working for the advertisers. CNBC picked him up as one of the most popular advertising faces of 2011, and it makes sense – after all, he has Pepsi, Kaun Banega Crorepati and Tata Sky to his credit.

Psst, CNBC’s Storyboard special will replay Sunday at 11:30am; if you can’t wait till then, check out the YouTube video above :)

Anshuman Jha

He also tells us he’s got more endorsements lined up for next year, as well as a diverse range of films – he’ll be playing a Sardar in Boys Toh Boys Hain, a negative role in Gyarah Chaalis Ki Last Metro and a romantic barber in Bakra. Seems like he’s got his hands full; all the best for the coming year, Anshuman! :)

Jatin Kampani's photographs

After Rohan Sippy’s incredible musical on Day One, The Chivas Studio in Mumbai didn’t look like it could get any more entertaining. But day two was equally fab as it brought together the enigmatic Art Foyer and the funkiest Art Jam I’ve ever seen.

Jatin Kampani's work

A painting by Paresh Maity

I loved Jatin Kampani’s mesmerizing photographs and the artwork by Paresh Maity. Each image as beautiful as a painting captured by his Jatin’s lens celebrates Chivas through the captivating beauty of his muse, a woman.

A photograph by Jatin Kampani

Mrigya

A photograph by Jatin Kampani

His work titled Phantasmagoria depicted the woman in her different avatars, a mother, a dreamer, a pro creator, cocooned, hiding and yet free to fly.

Angela Johnson at The Chivas Studio

Angela Johnson

Paresh Maity’s paintings transformed mundane places into dreamy lands you want to visit. His painting of the Ganges symbolized the washing away of all impurities. My personal favorites were the ones he drew of Kerala with its culture and unique rituals and the one of Delhi which brings this multifaceted city to life.

Art Jam: Brian Olsen paints to the tunes of Mrigya

There was a soul stirring live performance by popular fusion band, Mrigya. But, the coolest part of the evening was the Art in Action/ Art Jam with Brian Olsen.

Brian Olsen with Angela Johnson and her portrait

Art Foyer at The Chivas Studio

Apart from being a talented artist, Brian’s a great performer who uses music as an inspiration to create masterpieces from blank canvases.

Pristine beauty in white by Jatin Kampani

Sharat Chandra Srivastava & Ranjit Barot

I was totally impressed by the man’s creativity and my favorite part was when he painted Angela Johnson live to the tunes of Mrigya.

A photograph by Jatin Kampani

Tisca Chopra at The Chivas Studio

The portrait looked shockingly similar to her and his energy was so infectious. I loved his black paint-splattered outfit and his artistic talent really blew our minds.

The Chivas Cocktail menu

The Chivas Bar designed by Vikram Sharma

Some snazzy Chivas cocktails with unusual names like Rebellion without a cause, My Velvet Lady, Sonny Collins and the one I had called Mutiny at the Bounty combined with some scrumptious finger food really seemed like the perfect ending to a therapeutic evening. One things’ for sure. Chivas knows how to party in style!

Paresh Maity created this memorable installation art piece

The Chivas Studio Mumbai

Brian Olsen

Spotted: Leslie Lewis, Dalip Tahil, Arzan Khambatta, Chhaya Momaya and Tisca Chopra.

Art Foyer at The Chivas Studio Mumbai

A photograph by Jatin Kampani

Jatin Kampani's depiction of a woman

My favorite pic at the exhibition!

Palak Shukla, Gary Richardson and Cyndy Khojol

Last evening, diners at the Fat Cat Cafe in Andheri West, Mumbai, were in for an hilarious treat as Gary Richardson‘s Mad Horses Comedy Stampede had everyone in splits. Gary and stand-up comedian Umaesh Pherwani were a tag team of Stand-Up Comedy backed with Interactive Comedy (where the audience were made to participate) with Cyndy Khojol, Palak Shukla and Surabh Agarwal.

Umaesh Pherwani, Alexx Oneil and Gary Richardson

The cherry on the Fat Cat cheese cake was TV actress Madhuri Pandey belting out popular Bollywood hits while the owners, Jimmy and Deepak Chaudhary made sure everybody had a drink in hand.  Applauding her performance loudly were actors Alex O’Neil, Sandeep Rajora, Rajev Paul and Viveck Mushran.

Madhuri Pandey croons for Rajev Paul

No prizes for guessing that a super hilarious time was had by all!

The Chivas Studio Mumbai

Chivas Studio and Rohan Sippy created an awesome musical, Love and All That Jazz which actually had the whole Broadway feel and yet was so Indian in its appeal.

Chivas by Paresh Maity

The stage is set!

While its all very nice to say that the show was a roaring success (it took me back to the 60s) with a huge celebrity turn out, its important to appreciate the making of the great musical extravaganza and what went into producing this magical work of art.

Shahana Goswami

Behind the scenes: Love and All That Jazz

I was also totally impressed with the hard work that the guys behind the scenes put in to make the photographs by Jatin Kampani, installation art and paintings by Paresh Maity and even the bar designed by Vikram Sharma look so royal at the Mehboob studio in record time.

The Chivas Studio bar!

A beautiful painting by Paresh Maity

So, here’s a sneak peak into the behind the scenes action through some images I captured. I particularly enjoyed watching Terence Lewis and his team work on the inspiring dance moves with Shahana Goswami.

Ali Fazal

The Chivas Studio Art Foyer Mumbai

I imagined that watching the musical almost twice during rehearsals would be a drag but it actually just made me see how much I enjoyed it.

The Twilight Players on stage!

Chivas style!

Also, loved my green room chat with Rahul Dev who shared beautiful stories about his son as well. (He makes the sweetest dad ever).

Chivas presents Love and all that Jazz

The Chivas Studio Mumbai

But my hilarious interaction with the Twilight Players takes the cake. They’re funny, witty, adorable and it helps that they love MissMalini (wink) and I can’t wait to run into them again.

Behind the scenes

Ali Fazal & Shahana Goswami shake a leg!

Their dance combined with Ranjit Barot’s music is super fun and still has me swaying. Props to the Chivas Studio for pulling off something so challenging, artistic and memorable and making it look so easy.

The final rehearsal!

Terence Lewis choreography

At The Mehboob Studios in Bandra

Love And All That Jazz

Delhi by Paresh Maity

Checking the lights!

Rohan Sippy joining the actors on stage

Mercedes Benz World Catwalk India

Poorna Jagannathan and MissMalini

At the Mercedes Benz World Catwalk India show I bumped into Poorna Jagannathan. She is actually hilarious and told me she loves this blog (yay) oh and she also told my boy Nowshad Rizwanullah that marriage rocks! Double yay :)

Chivas Studio After Party, China House

Ali Fazal

The Twilight Players, Sinbad & Jimi with MissMalini

I ran into the whole crew after Day 2 of the Chivas Studio, Rohan Sippy, Ali Fazal and The Twilight Players finally took some (well-deserved) time off to play at the after-party and were super fun, dancing up a storm!

Time Out Food Awards – Best Chef, Alex Sanchez!

Gauri Devidayal and Chef Alex Sanchez

Dish away ladies, you’ll find this fine young chef at The Table, Mumbai deffy order the to-die-for chicken wings – OMG (I just made myself drool.)

Abhay Deol and Kalki Kochelin

And of course the new face of Bollywood, Abhay Deol and Kalki Kochelin were sweet enough to pose, I loved Kalki’s unassuming style and Abhay’s skinny tie. (Now don’t get me started on those dimples!)

Time Out Food Awards, Mumbai

And then we came full circle with Poorna again, this time accompanied by the very handsome husband (it sure helps if they’re cute doesn’t it P? *Lol*) xoxo

The Chivas Studio

Love and All That Jazz at The Chivas Studio was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. The show, directed by Rohan Sippy and performed by Rahul Dev, Shahana Goswami, Ali Fazal, Hazel Keech etc made me feel like I was on Broadway! It’s weird that even after all our song-and-dance numbers in films, we’ve never really had a proper on-stage musical. Love and All That Jazz filled that void and how! :) Not to mention, it was a totally star-studded event with the likes of Lara Dutta, Imtiaz Ali, Jaya Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan (who remembered me and actually thanked me for my tweet… no, thank you, AB!) and so many more making an appearance.

Rohan Sippy and Abhishek Bachchan

Abhishek Bachchan and Ekta Kapoor

It was actually great to see so many Bollywood stars come out in support of Rohan Sippy and this venture. I spotted many people congratulating him (and his dad, who looked so proud) after the show; don’t you just love when people get along in Bollywood? ;)

Sidhartha Mallya

Also spotted was Sid Mallya, who, poor chap, was limping due to straining a muscle during a rugby game. He also seemed a bit bewildered by the questions journos were throwing his way; one guy kept quizzing him on his New Years plans (rephrasing his question in every way possible), even though Sid had already said he had made no plans as of yet. I have to admit it was funny, though I’m not so sure Sid thought so! ;)

Rashmi and Imtiaz Ali

Also I got to have a quick chat with Imtiaz Ali, who told me (on camera) about his thoughts of the show – look out for that. He definitely enjoyed it, that’s for sure. :) Pssst, we also spoke to Rahul Dev, Hazel Keech and Terrence Lewis (who choreographed the show) about their experiences working on Love and All That Jazz; keep an eye out for it.

All in all, a great show and a fun night – big props to The Chivas Studio for putting on this show!