Scene and Heard

Marcellus Baptista

What's happening in Mumbai’s hotels? A peek into the party circuit and events in the city...

Hip hop to the top

Shruti Agarwal at the first anniversary of China House

Hip hop and rhythm and blues filled the air at China House that celebrated its first anniversary with a performance by DJs Kray Twinz. The merry mix of guests like Kelly Dorji, Upen Patel, Rocky S, Hard Kaur, Sanjay Gupta, Aaditya Dutt, Naved Jafferey, Zulfi Syed, Shahwar Ali, Babita Malkani, Asad Shan, Muzzamil Ibrahim, Shruti Agarwal, Binal Trivedi, Ameet Gaurr, Inder Kumar, Brian Brown and Parthiv Patel enjoyed the experience at Grand Hyatt's culinary and high energy outlet. Those who were there on launch night a year ago recalled stepping into what looked like a Chinese home with artifacts, five open interactive kitchens, four private dining rooms (Ginger, Chilli, Cinnamon and Nutmeg) and a buzzing lounge. It was a time when they stepped past the entrance and into an open garden area with dining in pagodas encircled by bamboo plants and a bridge over flowing water leading the diners to their tables. They discovered the main dining area with four private rooms, a wine library, bar area with a variety of Chinese teas besides other potent stuff, semi-private booths and an exclusive chef's table

Vodka high

Aditya Hitkari and Divya Palat at the Ciroc menu launch at Wink

It was a spirited night at Wink with the new Cîroc cocktail menu launch hosted by Asif Adil, MD, Diageo India and Pankaj Sampat, GM, Taj President. Cocktail chatter mingled with the live music by percussionist Jonqui and in-house DJ Niall Hoban as guests sipped and savoured the vodka created from French grapes that were said to embody the French lifestyle of love, celebration, ennoblement of the senses and conversation. Anish Trivedi, Nisha Jamvwal, Kishin Mulchandani, Aditya Hitkari, Divya Palat, Raju and Esther Daswani, Narendra Kumar, Kadambari Lakhani, Monica Vaziralli, Ashish Raheja and Jasmine Dawda were some of the many guests having a good time. And the talk was on the fine white Mauzac Blanc grapes and Ugni Blanc grapes which are at the heart of the secret that is Cîroc - a compellingly Gallic and Cognac combination of 'altitude, latitude and attitude'. Party people enjoyed the cocktails made from the medium-bodied, elegant vodka - fresh with a hint of citrus and a distinctive smooth afterglow.

Arty party

Neha Uberoi at Tiger Translate at Red Light

The trickle of beer down the throat was matched by the different strokes across the canvas at the Tiger Translate night at Red Light. It was the Mumbai leg of the global lifestyle platform developed by Tiger beer to identify and showcase Asian-inspired creativity within the fields of art, design, photography and music. Here, emerging Asian artists get an opportunity to showcase their interpretations of modern Asia to an international audience through a series of worldwide events and exhibitions showcasing the best works and one winner is invited to showcase their work at the Global Translate event in London in August. In the main club area the DJs were spinning their brand of music while in the party room bands belted out the blues and the inner room was reserved for the graffiti artists. Chetan Gupta

of Asia Pacific Breweries was there to welcome the judges like Brinda Chudasama and guests like Neha Uberoi, Rashmi Nigam, Carol Gracias, Shamita Singha, Candice Pinto, Binal Trivedi and Zulfi Syed.

Sounding off

Hard Kaur at the sound party at Blue Frog

At Blue Frog it was time for Black Dog as guests enjoyed that Scotch as the nightclub celebrated the launch of its independent record label, a production company and recording studios. This sound party, hosted by Ashutosh Phatak, Dhruv Ghanekar, Mahesh Mathai, Srila Chatterjee and Simran Mulchandani, saw a whole lot of musicians like Gary Lawyer, Lucky Ali, Loy Mendonsa, Mehnaz Hussain and Hard Kaur.

Also present were Ashok Kurien, Ranjan Kapur, Shyam Benegal, Beenu Bawa, Pooja Shetty, Milind Deora, Luke Kenny, Devika and Suresh Bhojwani, Ila Arun and daughter Ishita. It all began with champagne flutes at the studio and guests given a tour of the facilities. Then at 10 pm the party moved across to the club for the record label launch and a passionate performance by Smoke and Shaa'ir + Func. It seemed like funky town.