Friend, designer, hypnotherapist

>> She's been a friend and confidante to the stars and wardrobe designer for movies as celebrated and varied as Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Umrao Jaan, Khalnayak and Omkara; has found herself a place in the Guinness Book of Records for her contribution to Indian cinema and continues to be one of Bollywood's leading designers, but Ana Singh appears to be on her most interesting career move yet: as a certified clinical hypnotherapist, available to friends who require healing for themselves for issues of health, relationships and other issues.

Ana Singh

Always inclined towards matters New Age and Spiritual, Singh who earned notice as the official designer for the Miss India contest can now counsel the bold and the beautiful, the beautiful and the damned on issues beyond the merely sartorial. Or perhaps her new expertise is only an acknowledgement of her job description: after all every designer/make up artist/hairdresser to a star knows that counselling and therapy comes with the territory. u00a0

The point is scandal
>> "Most people I've given it to tend to finish it in one sitting," said filmmaker, columnist and now author Fahad Samar about his soon to be launched book Scandal Point when he handed it to us before we left for our USA darshan. "Perhaps, you'd like to read it on the plane?" We promised to but forgot and so on returning this weekend we clicked on it to make good our word. And he was right.

Fahad Samar

It took one evening and the better part of Sunday night to finish Samar's highly readable, funny and incisive scrutiny of the famous, fatuous foibles of Bollywood high society and NRI mores. It's all there in the book: warring families, coke soaked heirs, ruthless starlets and backstabbing hacks. Written with Samar's droll wit and insider's view in to the world of high society and entertainment. We could say more, but best to pick up your own copy when it's launched this September. Until then we can safely say that Scandal Point lives up to its title and then some!

Vine, Vino, Vici
>> If there's a bit of a lull on the party scene in Mumbai and Goa put it down to the absence of a man about town, bachelor, bon vivant and ace wine entrepreneur Rajeev (Sula) Samant who is away to Bordeaux attending the Vinexpo, the mother of all wine conventions. We recall attending the Vinexpo in the early '90s after a fortnight of traversing France's premier wine growing regions on an educative tour designed by the country's wine producers. We went from Bordeaux to Burgundy from Champagne to Armagnac learning about appellations and terroir and the intricacies of crushing and fermentation.

Rajeev Samant has been able to put Sula on almost every wine drinker's table

It was a group of three cherry picked hacks that were afforded this exposure. And truth be told, after visiting over 40 vineyards, talking to hundreds of wine makers and sampling thousands of wines, whereas the other two in the group went on to great careers as food and wine experts, yours truly only came back with the knowledge that wine was a good thing. Nevertheless as Vinexpos go, it couldn't get bigger and better as a showcase and meeting point for the world's most important producers, sellers and aficionados to attend. And Samant who has put Sula on every Indian wine drinking table and quite a few international ones - must be swinging his weight with the best of ‘em. But as we said things are a bit dull in his absence…

Kitchen Queen
>> 'Tis the time to diversify, branch out, go out on a limb and follow your dream obviously. Close on the heels of wardrobe designer Ana taking up hypnotherapy and filmmaker Fahad penning a novel, word comes in of TV executive (Star and Imagine) Sanvari Alagh Nair launching Houseproud.in, a one stop virtual store for all things bright and beautiful in the world of home accessories.

Sanvari Alagh Nair and Anjori Alagh

From wooden floor cleaning liquids to pepper grinders to high-end kitchen utensils and cookware from some of the best brands in the world, Nair's enterprise promises to afford the yuppie homemaker a universe of gizmos and gadgets, pots and pans that will make them - well, house proud. "Busy working women just end up compromising and settling for what they find in their locality instead, or shoring up their wish lists for trips abroad," she said in an interview to Mint over the weekend. "People want to invest in quality products, especially for the kitchen. Cooking can be a pleasure, not a chore, but you need good tools." We agree. And with Houseproud.in just a click or phone away that mandatory afternoon spent at London's Selfridges being dazzled and tempted by all its shiny wares in the kitchen section will be a thing of the past! We like!

What was Charles Saatchi thinking?
>> And whereas we were as appalled as anyone else about the assault on Nigella Lawson by Charles Saatchi, we have only this to say: having been a frequent diner to Scott's on Mount Street (first introduced to by Conde Nast's big cheese Nicholas Coleridge who can be trusted to excavate the trendiest eateries around the world) we wonder how on earth Saatchi could have imagined a physical attack of this nature would go unnoticed.

The reports say the couple sat outside, and though we have never chosen this option, outside or inside the famous seafood establishment is the official watering hole for and packed to the gills with a certain kind of Londoner who inhabits the world of media entertainment and finance. To attack your very high profile wife there would be akin to a similar offence taking place in Wasabi! Perhaps time has come to change the legendary catchphrase ‘Labour's not working' that he coined to help Margaret Thatcher come to power to ‘Saatchi's not thinking'!
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