Birthday babe Mandira and hubby Raj at Tantra. Pictures by Rashbehari Das

Party animals kissed their mid-week crisis goodbye on Wednesday when MTV VJ Nikhil Chinappa and international DJ Lee Coffey brought the house down at Tantra. Funky house, tribal house and some pure underground tunes were the high points of Submerge — the Smirnoff underground party.

While the kids kept the dance floor packed, a star-studded birthday bash was on at the Bodhi Bar. The birthday girl was none other than the “first lady” of Indian cricket and actor Mandira Bedi, in town to promote her first starring role in the Bollywood flick, Shaadi Ka Laddoo. Cosying up to hubby and director Raj Kaushal, with co-actor Sanjay Suri also in attendance, Mandira cut a huge chocolate truffle cake at the stroke of midnight while Raj uncorked the bubbly.

So, how old did the girl turn? “Keep guessing!” is all she concedes, looking chic in a white spaghetti top and khakis. “Lots of hugs ’’ kisses” is all Mandira got from Raj.

But does the loving couple hit it off as well on the sets too? “It was disastrous!” screams Mandira. “It’s very difficult to work with somebody you have a personal rapport with.” Ask hubby-turned-director about her goof-ups and he goes as defensive as Dravid. “I have to go home with her,” he laughs.

Only Sanjay spoke his mind, looking somewhat blue in a green crushed shirt, as the music wasn’t really his scene.

Dona Ganguly at HHI

But the house clearly disagreed, letting out peals of pure pleasure as Nikhil mingled with the crowd. He and Lee kept the floor grooving till the wee hours of Thursday with tracks like The Theme by Belle Ville, Lola’s Theme by Shape Shifters, Mauve by Go Bang, Rockin Music by Martin Solvic and Jet Set by Coffey Cut. Haven’t heard the stuff before? Don’t fret, says Nikhil. “There is so much happening in house music that anything that’s three weeks old is junk,” he says. “Yeah, house music is a religion back home,” adds London-based Lee, chilling out over a chilled bottle of Foster’s. “There are places in London and New York that just play specific kind of house and music is seldom repeated!” explains the Briton.

“We are starting the same concept in India. I’m sick of listening to the same old Hindi remixes over and over again at every pub and disc,” complained Nikhil. “One day I ganged up with friends and we decided to have our kind of party. So, Submerge was born.” Tantra should see a similar show every month.

But given the phenomenal demand for Hindi party remixes (so much so that the night was hosted on a weekday and not on the packed weekend), is the house night likely to click in Calcutta? “I have no illusions that I can ever compete with Adnan Sami or Shah Rukh Khan in terms of popularity. As long as I can find my niche audience I’m okay with it,” shrugs the MTV anchor, who feels that R&B and hip-hop will give way to the “subversive comeback” of rock.

Let’s rock to that!

Fancy footwork

And now for the real “first lady of cricket”. The Poila Baisakh evening at The Poolside lawns of the HHI came alive thanks to some song and dance from the skipper’s wife. Dona Ganguly performed a traditional Odissi recital, dressed in an orange and green Bomkai sari, accompanied by music and generous audience appreciation.

Picture by Aranya Sen

Students of Dona’s school Diksha Manjari took the stage for the piece Vishnuvandana, after which classical dance gave way to light Bengali pop music from Cactus.

The occasion: The post-premiere party of Warish

The hosts: Director Kaushik Ganguly and actor wife Churni

The venue: ITC Sonar Bangla

The time: Wednesday night

The spread: Biryani, Chicken Makhani, Kosha Mangsho, Dum ki Sabzia, Paneer Khurchan, Alu Dum Kashmiri. Dessert — Bhapa Doi, Chocolate Mudpie and ice cream

Star trek: Debashree Roy, Rupa Ganguly, Anjan Dutt, Arjun Chakraborty and wife Nilanjana, Nachiketa, Bikram Ghosh, Sohag Sen and a galaxy of TV actors

Colours of the night: Sky blue and black