Happy Birthday!
From its starry launch at the Gateway of India on May 30, 2005 to present day, our city's most popular compact
It resembled a luxury recreational hub for the rich and famous, and it sprawled across The Grand Ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Flashbulbs popped, alcohol flowed, appetisers circled and the A-list descended.
Not quite what you'd expect at a place outfitted with a table tennis setup, a basketball hoop, speedbag and kindred fixtures of a game zone. This was, in fact, the Mumbai Mirror first anniversary bash, tailored on the lines of its renewed motto – Fit For You, because after the initial 'cut', it's all about the 'fit'. And no other paper has Mumbai better measured. So, in keeping with its keynote, the party was fitted with the various accoutrements of sport, right down to pompon-waving cheerleaders.
The beautiful people of film and television, the Page 3 staples, the business brigade and the literary brightsparks walked a green carpet (closest approximation to turf), managing quite effectively, to drop their reserve for a game of whatever was close at hand.
If not the game, then the spread. A multi-cuisine smorgasbord of Lebenese, Mughlai, Chinese, Italian (plus a crepe station) food, and a heaving dessert display attracted those who preferred an epicurean challenge to a recreational one. The ones who wanted some sort of post-prandial action headed for the dance square - made out like a boxing ring - where a couple of DJs spun an uninterrupted sequence of remixes that kept the floor busy long into the night.
All in all, the hours were eventful and the air was celebratory at the Mumbai Mirror anniversary party - after all, you don't bring out a winner all the time.
Grandmasters
Ila Arun and Varun Badola tested their reflexes at a doubles game of table tennis, while Rakhi Sawant eyed the pockets of a carom board with Cylopic attention, and Yash Tonk grazed snooker baize.
Stand at Ease
Among the ones who abstained from the game was Hema Malini, who radiated in a gorgeous sari and had even the most impassive of the lot gaping. Ones like Urmila Matondkar, Kiran Nagarkar, Dolly Thakore and Anupam Kher made a quick show-and-go, but others like Prasoon Joshi, Hiten Tejwani, Maushami Udeshi, Yash Tonk, Vrijesh Hirjee, Reema Sen and Karan Kapoor stayed till the wine went dry.
Talk of the telly
It was a night out for TV stars, almost all of who made a show. To name just a few, Hiten Tejwani and Gauri Pradhan, Yash Tonk and Gouri Tonk, Varun Badola and Rajeshwari Sachdev, Manish Goyal and Poonam Narula, Rajev and Delnaz Paul, Bobby Darling, Deepsshikha, Divya Dutta, Vikas Bhalla, Chetan Hansraj, Karishma Randeva, Anoop Soni, Amar Upadhyay, Gauhar Khan, Swetta Keswani and Shveta Salve were there and making the most of it.
