The backless night at Tantra. Picture by Rashbehari Das

It’s back to basics. With ‘less is more’ now becoming passé, bare all seems the only way to go for city party hoppers.

A humble beginning towards this end was made with a backless night for women at Tantra on Saturday. Forget the faces, forget the clothes, Calcutta’s fashion models bared their backs to hold the crowd back for more.

And, one has to admit, they did a great job of it. If the crowd had to wait for an extra hour in between two shows, they did, not backing out from their set positions around the bar that doubled as the ramp.

There was much to see beyond the ramp as well, even as abiding female guests backed the cause of the evening by flaunting their well-painted backs, complete with tattoos of cupid. So it was no surprise when the men in the crowd chose to take a back seat in the sitting area. The Bodhi Bar, the private lounge in the disco, was choked till well past 2 am.

The centrepiece of the evening was the models walking around in flowing evening gowns in bright colours — backless, of course — skirts and spaghettis by designer Abhishek Dutta.

In his signature style, Abhishek used leather to embellish his outfits. The skirts, mostly in muted reds and browns, used zari, merging the contemporary with an antique look. But with the shapely backs taking centre-stage, the textures and the colours, the fall and the cuts were thrown into the backyard.

The night rolled into the early hours of the morning with backs still bare and the spirits still high. While women have done their bit this weekend, if a little birdie in the party circuit is to be believed, men will be next in line. For them, the dress code will be topless.

Star stanzas: Sharmila Tagore at a reading of a poetry compilation by Soumitra Mitra on Saturday evening. Entitled Pratham Asha, the evening included verse by Rabindranath Tagore, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Sankho Ghosh and Shakti Chattopadhyay. Actor Soumitra Chatterjee also lent his voice to the occasion. Picture by Rashbehari Das

Winning skin

The right skin treatment can do wonders to your skin. What if one skin cream can wipe off your wrinkles, make your skin look fresh and young or just give it that glow that you’ve been looking for all this while?

With promises like these and more, Shiseido, a 130-year-old Japanese cosmetic company, has arrived in Calcutta. Selling in 62 countries in Asia, Europe and North America, the company opened their counter at City Centre on Saturday afternoon.

With a range of beauty products that addresses all skin types and various skin issues, the counter is meant to be more than just a point to pick up your monthly ration of skin care products. “Our products are expensive and we don’t want to scare the customers away by pushing them to buy the products. Our beauty consultants will first conduct a thorough examination of a person’s skin before suggesting what products she should pick,” said Dinaz Jeheni, brand manager, Shiseido.

The two basic skin care lines of the company are targeted at protecting and revitalising the ageing face, and moisturising and balancing younger skin.

To reach out to what they think is potentially a “huge” market, the company plans to “educate the Calcutta woman on the need to take good care of the skin”.

“We will soon be launching our men's line of products in Calcutta as well,” adds Dinaz.

Young blood

After being touted as a place for 35-plus party people for a long time, The Big Ben, the pub at The Kenilworth is now taking a U-turn and getting into young mode. In keeping with this spirit, Saturday nights are now being jazzed up to cater to the vibrant tastes of the youth brigade.

This weekend saw Swastika, the voice behind many a hot remix, setting the mood with numbers like Kaliyon ka chaman, Saiyan dil mei aana re and Yeh hai jalwa in what was titled the Jalwa Night.

So what if she had to make do by way of accompaniment with the male voice on some of the tracks playing on the CD, filling in for the female voice, she kept the crowd engaged for over two hours moving swiftly from one number to the other.

The young brigade hit the dance floor, jumping at the slightest invitation from the singer to match her steps. An innovative cocktail, predictably called Jalwa, was a hit at the bar counter, as some adventurous guests sampled the drink of the evening.

A model gets a make-over with a new brand of skin care products. Picture by Rashbehari Das

Dramatic ties

Club culture may the remnants of the Raj, but the true blue Bengali working the club circuit holds on to his bangaliana nonetheless. Members of six premier city clubs got together for Sampreeti, a three-day Bengali theatre festival, in a bid to highlight their “cultural heritage” and just get-together to have a good time. The fest culminated in a fun-filled finale last week at the Calcutta Rowing Club amidst the rustle of silks and chiffons.

The meet drew in veteran actors Madhabi Mukherjee and Tapas Pal who, though not part of the festival, were “glad” to be present at the party. “I didn’t get an opportunity to see any of the plays, but it’s heartening to see that people are still interested in these endeavours,” said Madhabi, who feels Bengali theatre is “dying out” and that there is a strong need to revive it.

Tapas Pal echoed her views, adding that more and more such festivals should be organised. “Life is full of struggle and these meets help take one’s mind off the mundane and enjoy some moments of creativity,” he said.

Seven one-act plays enacted at Uttam Mancha over three days saw the members of Calcutta Rowing Club, Calcutta Club, Outram Club, Lake Club, International Club and Anderson Club come together to direct, act and produce plays that were adaptations of noted works, including Bhushandir Mathe, Prabhat Phire Esho and Bimal Bandyopadhyay’s Satyam Shivam Sundaram.

Gorge on green

Digging into a bowl of salad for lunch or dinner might be the ideal option for a health freak out on the town. Now, the go-green brigade has another place to feast on cold meats and veggies of their choice. Starstruck, the multi-cuisine restaurant at Forum, has joined the calorie-conscious fray with its new salad bar.

With three basic salads to choose from, diners also have the option of tossing up their own salad. “We have diet, mild and spicy dressings to cater to different tastes,” said Bunty Sethi, owner, Starstruck. One helping of either the vegetarian or the non-vegetarian salad is priced at Rs 150, with some garlic bread thrown in.

ling out another Rs 25 will add a soup or a Diet Pepsi to the salad. On weekends, with the lunch buffet on, one also has the option of including some calories to the meal from the dessert counter. This comes at an additional Rs 50 over the basic Rs 150, with an option of at least four varieties of ice cream and cakes. For the hard-core foodie, a Chinese, Continental and Indian buffet on weekends along with the salad platter comes for Rs 300.

Quick fix

What’s a hard day’s work if it isn’t sprinkled with some interesting breaks in between? And nothing can possibly be as exciting as a light yet sumptuous power meal during the afternoon break. Keeping its high-profile corporate neighbours in mind, The Big Ben, the pub at The Kenilworth, has introduced a pub-lunch seven days a week.

The cuisine options range between Mongolian, Mexican, Italian and Indian. A bowl of soup, five salads, a live interactive counter where the guest can toss up the main course, and two desserts make a typical menu.

“We are offering the first three kinds of cuisine through the week, with Sunday lunch being booked for an Indian set buffet menu,” said executive chef Niraj Kumar Sinha.

The family crowd is expected to drop in on Sunday, and feast on a vegetarian spread of biryani, paneer, paratha, dal, aloo subzi and desserts.

Rice and noodles in the Mongolian section, tacos and fajitas in the Mexican mix and Italian pastas will form the crux of the menu on other days. The meal, on offer from 12.30 pm to 3.30 pm, comes for Rs 250 per person, excluding taxes. A quick beer and a soft drink complete the package.