Nina Manuel and Michelle Innes show off outfits by Rocky S. at the Blenders Pride fashion show at The Oberoi Grand; (middle) Joey Matthews in a Cue ensemble and (above) another model in a Manish Arora creation

It was the perfect cocktail: lots of colour, a liberal amount of spirit to ensure an all-evening high, and plenty of fizz. The best part: Calcutta was the first of five cities to knock it back. Serving it up at the Blender’s Pride fashion show held recently at The Oberoi Grand were six shining stars on the Indian fashion firmament — Aki Narula, Anshu Arora Sen, Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna, Rocky S. and Manish Arora. And shine they did — over two spectacular nights, in three installments with a posse of pretty faces backing them up.

Presented by Seagram’s in association with The Oberoi Grand, the Magical Nights show on day one, kicked off a bit late what with everyone making the most of the free-flowing alcohol. But when it started, highs of a different kind took over. First up was Aki Narula whose essentially-white collection of creative co-ordinates spoke of sporty-glam and fun in the sun. Tiny ruched tops and dresses captured the trend of the time even as juicy stripes were sometimes added to the all-whites for a splash of colour. Reflecting the lounge-leisure theme was a range of divided skirts with frisky frills, playful pleated versions, sexy tops with peekaboo slits and diaphanous blouses that left little to the imagination. Milky-white stockings with pom-poms, delicate lace, Alice-bands and metres of white satin ribbon were just some of the accessories Aki used to pump up his collection. For the man of today, the designer showed a small yet stylish collection comprising lower-than-low capris, wispy shirts w ith intricate thread-work and even a curious yet extremely comfortable-looking combo of the lungi and the churidar.

If Aki Narula looked to the pale for pizzazz, Anshu Arora Sen’s collection was all about summertime juice. The talent behind A Small Shop played with polka dots, crinkled fabrics and pretty hues such as peach, pink, aquamarine and neon green to come up with a line that she described as “a bit nostalgic, almost pulled out of the attic and reinvented”. As sensually-slow Cuban music filled the ballroom, models including Carol Gracias, Nina Manuel and Michelle Innes glided down the ramp in everything from sexy slip dresses with lining in contrasting tones, layered skirts and lacy halters to bare-back blouses and poncho-style minis in deeper colours. The showing complete, applause rained down on the shy designer as she took the stage for all of two seconds.

Day two of the Blenders Pride event saw Calcutta’s chatterati back in their seats to sample the offerings of the evening courtesy Rocky S., Manish Arora and Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna of Cue. Rocky, who in the past has made a mark with his daring Western ensembles, this time around did an about-turn and went Indian. His first-ever ethnicwear collection took in gorgeous saris and ghaghra-cholis in baby-blues and soft pinks while his kurtas and sherwanis for men were a study in beige and off-white. But Rocky didn’t abandon Westernwear entirely, showing off a range of funky outfits that he avers “Calcutta’s women can definitely carry off.”

Bringing up the rear were Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna who unleashed a barrage of black worked over with silver for that extra shine, each creation being high on minute detailing, and Manish Arora who dared to go where no one else would with his Star Trek-inspired range of clothing.

A scene from the play Kalidasa’s Sakuntala at G.D. Birla Sabhaghar

Classic for a cause

The English department of Jadavpur University recently staged their acclaimed English production of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala at the G.D. Birla Sabhaghar. The play, directed by Ananda Lal, a well-known professor of the same university, was performed to raise funds for Prerak, a voluntary support group for cancer-fighters in Calcutta.

For the past six years, Prerak, which has as its members, cancer survivors, their families, volunteers and social workers, has been providing support to those afflicted with cancer through home and hospital visits, one-to-one counselling sessions and therapy classes. Prerak has also been conducting programmes in schools, colleges and clubs to spread awareness about cancer and remove the many myths surrounding the dreaded disease. Dependent entirely on donations, the organisation conducts several fund-raising programmes from time to time.

The classic play, which was earlier performed by the same group at Max Mueller Bhavan and the G.D. Birla Sabhaghar, was entertaining and competently acted out by a very young cast including some well-known local theatre talent. Ananda Lal’s penchant for bold experimentation was evident not only in his choice of play but also in the use of costumes such as jeans and leather jacket to clothe Dushyanta and his group. Interestingly, Sakuntala and others at Kanva’s ashram were dressed in clothes more suited to the time in which the play is set. Explaining his reason for choosing this particular play, Lal said, “It was primarily because Indians normally have no knowledge of it, even though scholarly consensus regards it as the pinnacle of Indian literature.”

Some modern productions of Sakuntala have changed the ending of the play to make it more in tune with the prevailing notions of political correctness. Lal, however, chose to stick to the original. According to him, “One could argue that (in the play) Kalidasa epitomises a tradition of environmental consciousness (a very politically-correct and desirable consciousness to have in today’s world) in India far more advanced than anything in Western literature.” Significantly, the play adopted conventions of classical Sanskrit theatre such as live music and dance, no sets, mimed objects and gestures and a hand-held yavantika and parikramas to suggest changes of location.