Aug. 4 : Saturday night spelt party time at Lakme India Fashion Week. The tone was set by the Sunsilk show, built around film hairstyles of the last four decades. And as television's funny man Sajid Khan bounded on stage to introduce the show in his inimitable style - which takes in mimicry, dry wit and a healthy dose of slapstick humour - the magic of the movies took over. The show that followed was a bit Bollywood Dreams meets Chitrahaar, but nobody was complaining. They were too busy laughing hysterically at every mildly funny crack from Khan, clapping along to the music and wolf-whistling as their favourite stars were recreated on the ramp. The flavour of the Sixties was captured by beehive hairdos, a la Nanda and Asha Parekh. The bohemian Seventies found expression in the funky short crop of model Jesse Randhawa as she did that whole Zeenat Aman-'Dum maro dum' number. The Eighties saw the disco queens (both male and female) doing their bump-and-grind routines, in the dishevelled hairstyles of the period. The Nineties were epitomised in the abbreviated bob and long straight hair that Kajol and Rani Mukherjee respectively sported in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, with the models romping on stage to the strains of 'Ladki badi anjani hai'. And the new century was depicted through the gyrations of a Hrithik Roshan lookalike, who danced along to 'Ek pal ka jeena'. Then hairstylist Joseph 'Neeko' Abriol, specially imported for the occasion, displayed hairstyles for the future, over which it is best to draw a discreet veil. The show, choreographed by former model Achla Sachdev, had a breezy energy that went down well with the Saturday-night audience, which was clearly out to have a good time - and never mind the clothes. Which was just as well, given that they were tacky replicas of film outfits, with neither fit nor finish to recommend them. But costume designer Neeta Lulla - basking in the glory of having dressed Aishwarya Rai for Devdas - seemed oblivious to their shoddiness, as she strode confidently down the ramp to a smattering of polite applause. The hairstylists, Javed Habib, Samantha Kochar and Neeko, had a slightly warmer reception, though their own coiffures could hardly be held up as shining examples of their craft. The party mood was carried over to the Rohit Bal show, which rocked just as hard as the designer does every night on the social circuit. The hall was overflowing with Bal admirers, who didn't mind standing at the back or even squatting in the aisles just so long as they got a glimpse of the master's oeuvre. And Bal didn't disappoint with his confident mens-only collection under his new label, Balance. A rabid animal lover, Bal used faux leather to make a political statement, with finishes ranging from metallic, textured to pretend-patent. In a collection best described as biker chic, trousers and jackets were embellished with silver anklets, silver zips, copper trim, coloured inserts in faux-snakeskin and floral prints. Photo-prints were used to great effect, as was the high contrast of black with white and red. Belts were worn low down with the legend 'Bal' etched in a confident squiggle to draw the eye. Faux leather T-shirts with gold lettering, T-shirts with hoods worn balaclava-style gave a funky edge to the collection as did the floral trousers in a patent leather finish. The knits had a more conventional appeal, with pastel colours, distressed fringing and a floral motif running through. The buyers' verdict will be in soon, but the audience clearly loved it. Each new line was greeted with wild applause, as Bal's clients and friends made their approval clear. Among those cheering from the sidelines were Rekha Purie and Feroze Gujral, fellow designers Suneet Varma, Ravi Bajaj and Rajesh Pratap Singh. But the highest media attention was reserved for a quiet man sitting in the first seat of the first row: Robert Vadra, accompanied not by wife Priyanka but Misha Grewal (wife of designer Ashish Soni, his friend from his British School days).