Cannes 2013 is on and this year the festival will see the largest contingent from Bollywood as Cannes is celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema. Bollywood stars who have already landed at the French Riviera are Amitabh Bachchan as the 12-Day Cannes Film Festival opened with the screening of The Great Gatsby, Vidya Balan who is part of the illustrious jury, the lovely Frieda Pinto and Sonam Kapoor who is there as one of the Brand Ambassadress for L’Oreal.
Cannes Film Festival is keenly watched by fashionistas to dwell over the style quotient of divas from the celluloid. Vidya 
Balan made three appearances, all in traditional Indian wear by Sabyasachi Mukherjee – one in a maroon lehenga (I particularly loved the simple Choli bereft of any gaudy embellishment), another in a lovely ivory saree paired with a brown blouse with gold embroidery on the shoulders and a final one in a peach coloured lehenga-styled in Mughal regality for the Gatsby screening. The final look was a little OTT for me.
Big B made a couple of appearances. The sporty/safari jacket that Bachchan donned was out of place. Rest of the Gatsby team were dressed up in greys and blacks. Bachchan’s striped blue Safari jacket and white pants and shoes did not compliment his natural style. And gawd that belt at the waist was a disaster. At The Great Gatsby screening Amitabh Bachchan was again the odd one out in his shimmering BLINGY jacket. Could have gone for a Bandhgala with sober embellishment if he wanted BLING.
Sonam Kapoor please apna Nath utaar do. (No pun intended! Nath Utaarna also means losing virginity, which I am sure Sonam’s done with.) Our stylish diva too opted for an off-white saree (Anamika I think) with a lattice work full-sleeve jacket for Gatsby screening but that huge nose ring was definitely an eye sore. Another appearance in a scalloped Anamika Khanna jacket with lattice work paired over high-waist pants was chic. She was also spotted with Frieda Pinto in a black and grey ensemble was nice too but I have my reservations over wether those gold danglers went with the look.
Oh yes Mallika Sherawat too was there at The Great Gatsby screening in an yellowish-orange sleeveless gown. Thank god there wasn’t any slits or sheerness or cleavage revealing elements in her ensemble.
Don’t most self-proclaimed fashionistas spend hours in front of the mirror? More so the ones who hire PR to brand themselves as Divas and seek invitation to parties? Well here is one such case – Aijesh Oberoi who claims to be a fashion designer (But then who isn’t?). These days I get to see her pretty often on ‘Page Trash’, oops -’Page 3′.
Aijesh Oberoi was lately snapped at some random do where she happily posed for the paparazzi in her fashionable clothes and ignored the fact that her top was short for the low-slung pants she wore, making her belly peek out. I am sure it is not a deliberate attempt to give a sneak-peek of the belly or the latest fad. If it was, then madam Oberoi should have had done something about the ungainly stretch marks. Have a look for yourself.
Dear divas, wearing fancy labels doesn’t make you fashionable. Wearing clothes that compliment your body sure does!
BISHI- a songstress, a performer and a fashionista is taking London by the storm. “The New British Diva” The New York Times stated! She is a friend of mine who I met some years back when she periodically visited India to learn Sitar from the maestro – Ravi Shankar. Bishi aka Bishnupriya Bhattacharya is a fashionista too and have been extensively shot by lensman Nick Knight and last year Vogue -Italia released her album.
Here is the video of a Bishi’s rendition of one of Rabindranath Tagore’s song with her mother – Susmita Bhattacharya.
Bishi adds this note for fashionscandal.com readers about this song:
Hi there,
Blessings for the road ahead from my mother and I!
I’d like to wish you a wonderful new year with this beautiful song and visual treat from my mum, my team and myself 
Gram Chara is a reworking of a well known poem by Bengali poet and novelist Rabindranath Tagore, set for our voices and strings by Neil Kaczor & produced by Matthew Hardern (who also directed and produced the video). The main strings are played by The Ligetti Quartet whilst the solo viola da gamba is played by Liam Byrne.
I grew up hearing my mum (Susmita Bhattacharya) sing this as a lullaby and in performance during her career as a classical singer.
She has studied the Tagore tradition throughout her life and 2013 is an important celebration for the man regarded by many as the greatest writer in modern Indian literature. 100 years ago Rabindranath Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
He was an accomplished artist, environmentalist, rural reconstructionist, political thinker and philosopher; as an educationist he founded the International University, Visva-Bharati. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems; the Republic of India’s Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh’s Amar Shonar Bangla; he even established a new dance form called Rabindra Nritya.
Tagore had strong links with Scotland after establishing a close friendship with pioneering Scottish town planner Patrick Geddes and his grandfather Dwarkanath Tagore was honoured with the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh in 1845.
The string arrangement echoes with Scottish themes that pay respect to this historic International communion of art, literature and humanity.
English Translation……
Beguiles my mind the earthly road
Beyond the village it does spread
I know not for whom my mind thrusts
With arms languishing in those dusts
Pulling at my feet the road drags me out
To an obscure end I know nothing about
In which turning in the road
Will I find the mother lode?
Where some new person I will befriend
I can’t fathom where it will end
Lots of love
Bishi x
Today is Fathers’ Day and as promised fashionscandal.com brings to you some infamous Lecherous Fathers – The Thadki Dads.
I got lot of suggestions, which I’ll enlist here. However I am not enlisting Single Dads who are separated or divorced from their wives. I am giving them the benefit of being single.
Bollywood Dads are very lecherous. Many suggested the name of Shakti Kapoor. Indeed he tops the list. But Jeetendra is no less lecherous. He and his friends – Prem Chopra and Raakesh Roshan meet up at the Sun and Sand Hotel at Juhu everyday around 6pm. Jeetendra is seen at his lecherous best there. He has a roving eye and befriends unsuspecting young fans, the age of his daughters only to lure them for some naughty fun.
Then there are industrialists. One such lecherous guy is the husband of a respected actress of TV Serials and used to head a Biscuit brand. Then there’s this guy who was associated with a media conglomerate and was the pioneer of India’s first beauty pageant. When he was at the helm of affairs, he used to make indecent proposals to contestants and promise winning ranks. He is no longer with the media house. You all must be aware of the guy who launched one of the first Private Airline and later sold it off and of course the undisputed Liqour Baron. Both are shameless and lecherous to the core, always looking for girls their daughters’ age to have fun.
In Delhi too there are no dearth of lecherous dads. One such dad is the father to two daughters, one of whom is married but now separated and linked-up with many guys. They are in the fashion business. The father has a roving eye and makes the female staff very uncomfortable in the office when his eyes get fixed on their cleavages.
Yet another dirty dad is a millionaire meat-exporter. His daughter and wife are big time fashionistas but I was surprised to see him at a party making move at any lady standing momentarily alone. He sheepishly used to move in and try to make conversation but never got lucky. Finally he tried his luck on the East-European girls who were floating around at the party serving drinks. Poor Thadki failed there too.
Gareth Pugh one of my favourite designer took up residence in the LiveStudio to handcraft a one-off garment for SHOWstudio SHOP. The entire process of creation was recorded and broadcast live to a global audience, while Pugh’s final dress was modelled by Raquel Zimmermann in a unique and truly unprecedented one-off performance.
‘Tonight Matthew…’ captures Gareth Pugh’s unique dress in action, via a sensational performance from Raquel Zimmermann to Lady Gaga’s music. I simply loved the video and want to share it with all you fashionistas out there. Just click on the link: http://showstudio.com/project/livestudio/session/gareth_pugh/