This is Narayanrao Shripad Rajhans' story - one of the greatest singers and stage actors. He was famous for his roles of female characters in Marathi plays, since women were not allowed to act on stage during his time. He got the name “Balgandharva” from the famous freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak who patted his back & gave him title while praising him for his performance.

The film begins with Balgandharva (Subodh bhave) performing for a “natak”. He is part of the Kirloskar Sangeet Mandali.The company was run by Mujumdar and Nanasaheb Joglekar. After Joglekar’s death in 1911, there was discontent about Mujumdar’s dictatorial and manipulative style. Bal Gandharva, Gangesh Govind (‘Ganpatrao’) Bodas (kishore kadam) and Govindrao Tembe (avinash narkar) left the company in 1913 to form Gandharva Sangeet Mandali. The lavish sets, sarees, perfumes & other expenses leads their company into debt.Narayanrao Bal Gandharva became the sole owner of the debt ridden company in 1921. The debt was paid off in 7 years’ time, but the company accumulated debt again over next 6–7 years. Enter the legendary V.Shantaram, who offered Bal Gandharva a six film deal with Prabhat Film Company but the partnership was dissolved after just one film (Dharmatma, Classic film) in which Bal Gandharva was portrayed the role of Sant Eknath. Narayanrao revived his drama company in 1937, and soon formed an infamous association with Gohar Karnataki (also known as Gauhar Jan) who joined the company in April 1938. With Narayanrao increasingly ill at ease in female roles owing to his advancing years, the company was looking for an actress to play female roles.

The story of his rise to fame and his relationship with his mother, his wife, his co-actors and other women are all part of his celebrated life. But what adds to this amazing journey are the performances. Each & every actor has added life to their characters. Kishore kadam, Avinash Narkar, Vibhavri Deshpande & the others have done total justice. The cast is perfect. Now coming to the crew, Music by Kaushal Inamdar is just what a movie like this needed. Though marathi film lovers would have liked ajay-atul, Inamdar has done a good job. My personal favs are ”Chinmaya Sakal Hridaya” & “Parvardigar”. DOP by Mahesh Limaye is outstanding… Take a bow! Costumes by Neeta Lulla are beautiful & each saree makes you go “OOooh, I want this”. The use of colour is perfect. Make up artist (Vikram Gaikwad) is a magician, brilliant work! The producer & art director Nitin Chandrakant Desai (remember his brilliants sets in devdas,black) gets all the brownie points… A. For the lavish expenditure & amazing sets B. For getting a good team together.

Director Ravi Jadhav makes a comeback after Natrang with this movie. Natrang was also about a man donning the role of a woman (nachya). Comparisons were obvious, Natrang was a mega-hit & people were expecting an extravagant treat. The movie is a real treat for good cinema lovers and full marks to Ravi Jadhav for his work as the director. He has done a fab job.

Yes, I have reserved the best for the last! I never followed Subodh Bhave's body of work as a film actor, but he made me sit up & notice him in 'Haapus', where he did a fairly good job. However, Bhave has hit it out of the park with Balgandharva. He literally makes you cry, smile and clap for his classic performance. He had the grace, the “ada”, the charm & everything that an actor needs to portray the role of Balgandharva. Be it the scene where he cries looking at himself in the mirror when realizes he is mourning the loss of his only child on stage or the scene where he gets back home & breaks down… Subodh has proved that he is definitely of the finest actors in the Marathi as well as the Indian film industry today. One of my personal fav from now on… Kudos Subodh!

Overall, This movie has definitely made it to my ALL TIME FAV MOVIES list. Dont ask WHY, Go WATCH!!!!! “Balgandharva”… Thumbs up!

Last week, I was invited to check out the new collection at the 'Bebe' store in Bandra. As we all know, Bebe is a popular international brand and the first Bebe boutique was opened in 1976 in San Francisco (Well if you didn't know, I am telling you now *wink*). It's a global label that embodies a sophisticated lifestyle. Well, we all know how popular the 'Bebe' basic Tshirts had become in some local thrifted stores some years back. Today, Mumbaikars have 3 'Bebe' stores. One at Infinity Mall (Malad), Phoenix Market City (Kurla) and the 2 month old store at Bandra.

The ambience of this store is nice. Located on the busy shoppers paradise Linking road, near other popular stores like Mango and UCB, the store can easily be located. Also, with four top brands under one roof (Inglot, Charles and Keith, QueUp and Bebe, all the brands are under Majorbrands in India), shoppers will definitely have a good time.

Kala Ghoda festival entered its 14th year in Mumbai, earlier in February this year. With a footfall of more than half a million people this year, the festival is only becoming popular with every passing year. I managed to visit the fest on its last day i.e. 12t February, 2015. It was a bad decision to visit an art festival on a Sunday. Never have I seen SoBo look so crowded (except on weekdays. Otherwise, it wears a deserted look on Sundays). It was almost like the sight of Churchgate station on a weekday at 6:15pm, when hundreds of people are ready to kill each other for a seat in the Virar local.

As soon as I got down near the Parking lot area of Kala Ghoda, I felt like I was transported to the Kumbh mela. People were busy clicking pictures with practically everything. Even the man dressed up as Yama wasn’t spared. He became a celebrity, thanks to his Oh-So-Different costume! Many stalls were similar to the ones I had seen last year. Some of the NGO's from Orissa, Manipur etc were selling the same items that they did last year. A book sale caught my eye and I ended up buying some books at a great bargain (A complete Webster’s desk reference set for 99 bucks was a steal!)

Kala Ghoda festival is all about creativity and some wonderful work of art. Stalls are just an add-on. But when you have stalls selling a lot of items, people love pouncing on it even if they don't need to. I managed to click some good pictures of the installations at the Fest. Some of them were brilliantly made while some were a rip-off from last year’s fest. The traditional folk performances were mind blowing as always. The Vishal-Shekher concert didn’t interest me much like last year's Sonu Nigam concert did. I decided to click more pictures rather than hear them lip sync to some random song. Sadly, missed out on the Literature events this year (But, I guess Literature live at NCPA last year more than made up for everything).

I also happened to see some NGO's working for some amazing causes. They deserve special mentions here.The Sparrow shelter organization had some fabulous sparrow shelters, which is a need of the hour due to the dwindling numbers of this species. The shelters were reasonably priced at Rs 250 and Rs 350. It’s an amazing concept and I hope people buy these shelters to save sparrows from complete extinction.

Another stall was run by PALS. They have been working for plants and animals since 1993 (One of my favourite causes).I picked up some Tshirts to support their cause. Another favourite was handmade paper notepad made by students who are suffering from different disabilities. I also picked up some organic holi colours for the festival coming up in March. Yes, my shopping bag was almost full, but with items that were different. It was more of a contribution to a cause than regular crazy shopping.

The festival can definitely be termed as ‘Creativity at its best’. But next time, I'm NOT going to visit it on a Sunday for the plain reason that I need better clicks of the installations! And next year, I gotta take time out for the Literature fest as well. So until next time.,

Adios Black Horse!

Yesterday I attended my first store launch in Mumbai! It was fun. The store in question is 'Vinegar'. Yes! Vinegar fashion and styling studio (Bandra) has now shifted to Khar, with a fresh, new look and a new name, Vinegar Fashion India. It also has a new collection and a tagline that is bold and fun.Varsha Bhawnani was seen having fun with 'Vinegar' fan Bipasha Basu. Also seen were Anusha Dandekar and Anushka Manchanda picking up their favourites from the collection.

Well, coming back to the collection! It's quirky and fresh. As it's the summer collection, they had lots of apparel in Tangerine, Cobalt Blue, White, Lime Green among others. Items in the store range from Rs.600 to 4000. I noticed that some things were affordable which makes it a win-win combo

(Something you like + Affordable is always a plus point, no?). Let's take a look at some pictures that I clicked last evening (Got tons of piccies, but will put up pictures of items that I really liked)

Summer vacations have started and I can see a zillion families who have come to Mumbai for a holiday. When I go somewhere, I make a list of places to see and most importantly, I always jot down a list of must buy items in my diary. After all, every city/village or country have markets which sell traditional items, be it food items, accessories or apparel. Even if it's not traditional, I make sure I pick up something as a souvenir. Like during my last trip to Konkan, I picked up tons of wooden toys and accessories from Sawantwadi.

When people visit Mumbai, they want to visit the Gateway of India, take a horse ride outside Taj Mahal palace and towers and pray before the beautiful Siddhivinayak idol in Prabhadevi.

But, do they have a shopping trip in mind too? If yes, then this list will help you to decide which place you should head to for some good, really cheap items.

    Bandra (Linking Road) – It’s called the ‘Haven’ for footwear lovers! The entire stretch near

              National College has tons of shops that sell chappals in all shapes, sizes and colours. You can buy Osho's, Ballet flats, Mojris etc. Also, you will find street side shops that sell bags and t-shirts for cheap. Get down near the National College signal to get some real, street shopping experience.

Crawford Market - Another popular shopping destination in SoBo, you will find travel bags and school bags at good discount. Pick up some healthy fruits from the market, especially mangoes. Visit Beauty Centre if you are looking at stocking up on some beauty favourites and then, walk towards Lohar Chawl to buy lights, lamps or knick knacks. Also, check out the amazing variety of fabrics and ready made garments available at Mangaldas market nearby. For the hungry soul, a stop over at Badshah for their amazing Kulfi and Falooda is a must.

Fashion Street - Located in the heart of Churchgate, this is another favorite with college students and  shopaholics. From thrifted jackets to graphic tees and even fancy footwear, these guys stock up on everything. With an entire stretch, starting from the Old VSNL building to Metro cinema, dedicated to apparel and accessory stalls; you have a lot to choose from. Don't forget to bargain! There are a few stalls that have got labels like Asos, Topman and even H&M. You just need a little bit of patience and luck.

Wow! I am writing about the MET ball after a week. That's sad, I know. But, there should be some respite for someone giving exams, no?

The recently concluded MET gala, held at the costume institute in New York City, saw a bee line of fashionistas making their presence felt on the red carpet. Better known as the 'Oscars' of the fashion industry, MET gala 2012 saw some hits and misses yet again. Also, it was the first time that this event was streamed live on amazon.com/fashion. But I missed it, thanks to the entrance exam madness.

Anyway, most of the attendees were looking amazing. Here's a 'dekho' at the women who rocked the red carpet with their dresses and more!

It feels like just yesterday, when we saw a young, sweet looking boy in a movie promo on TV. Back then Twitter and Facebook didn't exist (I am talking about 2003), so we never got to know much about the response that this particular movie promo got. People thought, it's just another college flick that will hit the theatres and soon be forgotten, but little did they know that it will mark the arrival of a new superstar. While the media was busy going gaga over some star sons, a young boy, whose brilliant dance moves made people go mad, became a new favourite amongst all the girls (and even boys, who wanted to become like him). Today, after winning several awards, becoming an inspiration for his fans and winning several hearts across the globe, the boy has come a long way. Yes! The young boy is none other than - Shahid Kapoor, who completes 9 glorious years in the industry today.

OOTD's are generally planned in advance or in some cases, are planned an hour or two in advance. But you dress up on your Birthday anyway, right? So this post has some pictures from my two day Birthday trip to Shirdi, which was filled with exam preps stress and some excitement too. But, I decided to keep those books away on my special day, to avoid getting a headache. Also, I started to miss my long hair a lot, but the short crop made me feel better, especially in the crazy afternoon heat, which almost touched 40 degrees.

I couldn't go out for my yearly shopping ritual with dad (although my sis and mom are my shopping partners, curbing the urge to shop more and helping me choose the right outfit is only best done by dad), better known as 'The Grand Birthday Shopping' day. So, I opted for a dress I had picked up a fortnight before my birthday, paired it up with the Tresmode kitten heels (My dream of buying Steve Madden pumps on the GBS day with dad were shattered, thanks to exams) and wore a spiral necklace along with a ring. I could have done a lot more, but then, there is always a next time (especially with birthdays, as they come every year). I used MAC's Kajal pencil on my eyes and for my lips, I mixed two lip colors, Revlon lipstick - 'Cherries in the Snow' and NYX lip creme - 'Milan'

Also, I usually wear a traditional outfit for the early morning Pooja in the temple. So, I got myself a bright orange kurta and purple leggings. Again, the make up was simple with some Kajal (MAC kajal pencil) and MAC's Morange lipstick.

And now, some pictures from the Birthday Bash (My idea of a bash is a private affair with family, in Shirdi of course).

Some Chocolate cake for all of you. Thanks for being such wonderful sweethearts!

Ethnic twist for the Pooja. Bright orange Kurta with a dash of purple and gold.

PS: Wondering why I don't have any footwear on? Simple, we decided to ditch the footwear at home and head straight to the temple, as the footwear counter outside the temple was all messed up. This picture was taken outside our Hotel room.