(From top): Shabana Azmi with Mahmood Mamdani at Crossword; Fardeen Khan and Tupur model outfits from Provogue?s winter collection; Karuna Khaitan with models in creations from her latest line; Zila Khan in performance at Hotel Ashoka

In vogue

Clothing giant Provogue recently launched its all-new Winter 2004 collection at the Grand Hyatt in trademark high style. The evening was a lethal combination of style, fashion, glamour and glitz, and it threw up three brand-new new lines ? Metroscape, Casino and Club Casino.

The evening began with DJ Vivek (of Provogue Lounge) pumping up spirits with a range of foot-tapping mixes. At the stroke of midnight, the much-awaited Provogue Winter 2004 fashion extravaganza was unveiled, with top names from the modelling and film world strutting their stuff on the ramp. High energy and dazzle was the name of the game as rampscorchers Upen Patel, Aryan Vaid, Anupama Verma and Tupur Chatterjee did their best to do justice to the label?s new ensembles.

The show, which was choreographed by Lubna Adams, was distinctly divided to reflect the three new ranges. If Metroscapes took inspiration from minimalist art, then the Casino range paid tribute to glamour. Club Casino, true to its name, is the new partywear collection that seeks to break all rules.

After the show, the party rolled on with the Who?s Who of the fashion and glamour world in full attendance. Shaina NC, Rocky S, Priya Kataria Puri, Vikram Phadnis, Salim Asgarally, Manish Malhotra, Aseem Merchant, Nandita Mathani from the fashion world turned up as did Feroz Khan, Sohail Khan, Vikas Kalantri, Vikas Bhalla, Gayatri Joshi, Tusshar Kapoor, Ken Ghosh, Sanjay Suri, Jimmy Shergill, Suman Ranganathan, Naved Jaffery, Bhagyashree, Marc Robinson, Nikhil Chinnappa, ad man Prahlad Kakkar and Shruti Seth. Not surprisingly, the Provogue brand ambassador, Fardeen Khan, attracted plenty of attention, looking every bit as gorgeous as always.

Book, line and sinker

It?s the hottest topic of the George Bush II Era. So, it wasn?t surprising that a mixed bag of activists and intellectuals turned up at Crossword for a debate on Good Muslims, Bad Muslims by author Mahmood Mamdani (Herbert Lehman Professor of Government at the Department of Anthropology, Columbia University). The book probes the causes of Islamic terrorism and discusses a range of issues that include everything from racism and the modern state to imperialist political violence.

Inevitably, the discussion that followed was a heated one. The panelists included actress Shabana Azmi, director-writer Mira Nair and activists Dr Asghar Ali Engineer and Dr Ram Puniyani.

The launch was followed by a book-reading session. Mamdani, whose book dwells on the Westernised concept of Islam, makes a distinct difference between ?Muslims as secular citizens and Muslims as fanatics fighting America, regardless of their religious beliefs?.

Music to the ears

She is the first woman in seven generations of her family to have taken up music as a profession. Sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan realised that times were changing and trained his daughter Zila Khan in the rich tradition of Indian vocal classical music. Zila, named after Amir Khusro?s raag ?Zila Kaafi?, sang for the underprivileged women in our society in the Capital recently.

Organised by NGO Bisnouli Gram Udyog Seva Sansthan (which works for underprivileged women), the concert took place on the grounds of Hotel Ashoka. Though it was a freezing night, Zila soon warmed up things with her rich renditions of bandishes (a type of raga). Bandishes have been sung by women of different gharanas for decades. You could catch these classical strains in her new album Ishq Ki Nayi Bahaar.

But you would definitely not be forgiven, especially by Zila, if you went away with the feeling that she was making a statement with her performance. ?Yeh maze ke liye hai,? she said, in between her bandishes. No doubt the audience was doing just that, as a first-time listener was overheard commenting, ?She sings from the heart.?

But Zila had a slightly conservative message for her audience at the end of the concert. ?A woman is not independent till she can earn for herself. Yet it is in her hands to be responsible with her independence and remain the daughter, sister, wife and mother that she has been for ages.?

Winter wows

Who says crinkled skirts have been done to death? Designer Karuna Khaitan begs to differ. Khaitan launched her winter collection at her store Wild Orchid in Delhi and she had plenty of crinkled skirts on show in everything from shocking pink to statement-making black.

The idea behind these embroidered crinkled skirts, according to the designer, was to give the fabric a texture and fall without the need for ironing them. The skirts were teamed with funky woollen tops to achieve an ethnic yet contemporary look.

Then there was the unusual combo of salwar-kameezes and ponchos. ?You could team a purple salwar with a brown poncho for a different look,? said Khaitan. One good thing about the collection was its affordability. While the jackets and skirts were priced between Rs 1,000 and Rs 3,500, the ponchos and sweaters were available from Rs 1,900. Even the lehengas were priced upwards of Rs 3,000.

?The lehengas come in bright tones ? oranges, turquoises, purples and lime greens. They are for young girls who do not want to wear saris and salwars for attending shaadis,? said Khaitan, who launched her first collection back in 1984 with a small show at her home in Calcutta.

Photographs by Gajanan Dudhalkar and Prem Singh