UK Blitzz

With the motto to get rid of plastic use and a bid to save our environment, social activist Smita Thackeray of Mukkti Foundation inaugurated Rebot, an automated plastic recycling machine at Mukkti Foundation in Andheri West. Corporator Devendra Bala Amberkar also attended the inaugural event. With the tagline, ‘Paryavaran Bachao – Plastic Se Mukkti Pao’, Smita Thackeray averred, “the safety of the environment is the need of the hour and this is just a small step towards it. There are many more to come!” In today’s date, approximately 72 million tonnes of hazardous waste is generated annually, requiring, at the current rate, one square kilometer additional landfill space each year to accommodate this waste. Thirty million tonnes of this waste takes hundreds of years to breakdown. Not being able to contain the said waste, we can already see that the plastics have started to enter our food chain. To curb this damage, “an automated PET bottle recycling machine, Rebot, allows the...

Known for critically acclaimed hits like ‘Maula’ (One Above), featuring Gulzar in 2018 and ‘Saanwal’ with music produced by Ustad Zakir Hussain and Michael Mennart in 2019, musician-singer-pianist Reewa Rathod is back with her debut solo album titled ‘Saaya Tere Ishq Ka’. The icing on the cake is that the lyrics of the same album are written by Gulzar himself! Speaking about the same Reewa said, "Gulzar Sahab has taught me to follow my heart, to believe in myself, and with 'Saaya Tere Ishq Ka', I have learnt to overcome all my fears". With Dhrupad exponent Late Pandit Chaturbhuj Rathod as her grandfather, Roopkumar Rathod - Sunali Rathod as parents, and music director Shravan Rathod (of Nadeem-Shravan) as uncle, music flows through the Rathod family veins. Reewa Rathod started training under Miss Shanti Seldon for western classical piano at the tender age of 6 followed by training for Carnatic classical musical under the acclaimed guru TS Balamani. She has t...

Aaditya Thackeray inaugurates Hridaynath Mangeshkar and family's restaurant Sarjaa; restaurant to serve a special handcrafted menu dedicated to Lata Mangeshkar It’s a known fact that the mellifluous Mangeshkar family is no stranger to restaurateurship! Following Sarjaa’s launch and grand success at Pune’s very own Aundh in 1996, Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar and the Mangeshkar family recently gifted Pune with yet another restaurant named Sarjaa – Restaurant and Bar in Wakad, Pune. While Cabinet Minister Aaditya Thackeray inaugurated the restaurant, the ceremonial grandeur was attended by the who’s who of the Marathi cultural universe including singers Usha Mangeshkar, Roopkumar Rathod, Sunali Rathod, Reewa Rathod and Saleel Kulkarni among other celebrities and dignitaries. An excited Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar proudly chuckled, “Gavaiye khavaiye hote hai…,” literally paraphrasing to musicians are either gourmet chefs or they generally love to eat or feed! Delighted by th...

Bollywood’s oldest association for dancers the Cine Dancers Association (CDA) and the newly formed All India Film Television Events Dancers Association (AIFTEDA) have been at the loggerheads for few months now. Since senior choreographer Ganesh Acharya formed AIFTEDA in spite of CDA’s existence, both the associations have been criticising each other. Veteran choreographer Saroj Khan has been appointed as the brand ambassador of CDA whereas Ganesh Acharya serves as the general secretary of IFTCA (indian film and television choreographer association)and acharya is taking advantage of his post and instigating other choreographers to use AIFTEDA members not CDA.According to the senior members of CDA, Ganesh Acharya who once said that he would support CDA all his life, suddenly opened AIFTEDA. Some dancers from CDA have also alleged that there is pressure from the rival association, and whoever are joining AIFTEDA have been asked to sign an affidavit agreeing to whatever payme...

The 10th Mumbai Edition of India Art Festival (IAF) at the Nehru Centre, Worli, continues to grow in scale, bringing cutting-edge contemporary art to the metrop with over 45 art galleries and over 5 00 artists across countries taking part in the exhibition. With yet another successful year, the India Art Festival is presenting all forms of artistic expressions including paintings, sculptures, photography, ceramics, textiles, installations and offers an insight into current art trends from India and Asian countries. There are a total 150 booths, spread on the ground and second floor, Discovery of India Art Building, Nehru Centre, Worli.  The inaugural ceremony of the festival was a star-studded affair, that saw celebrities of the likes of Ravi Dubey, Nandish Singh Sandhu, Preeti Jhangiani, Dilip Joshi, Lalit Pandit, Sonalika Pradhan, Ivanka Das and Abhinav Gautam amon...

Veteran writer Rakesh Bharti has approached the Bombay High Court against Deepika Padukone-starrer "Chhapaak", claiming he originally penned an acid attack survivor's story on which the film is based.   The petitioner, Rakesh Bharti, has sought that he should be given credit as one of the writers of the film.   The suit filed by Bharti claimed that he had conceived an idea/script for a movie, tentatively titled 'Black Day', and got it registered with the Indian Motion Pictures Producers' Association (IMPPA) in February 2015.   Bharti said since then he has been working on the script and approaching several artists and producers, including Fox Star Studio, for narration.   "However, the project could not commence due to unavoidable circumstances. The plaintiff had narrated the idea to Fox Star Studio, which is the production house for 'Chhapaak'," the plea said. Bharti's advocate Ashok Saraogi said the plaintiff later came to k...

Veteran playback singer and acclaimed voice actor Sudesh Bhosale’s contribution to the world of music is not unknown. However, few know that his mastery in voice acting has earned him accolades and appreciation from the industry. Recently, Sudesh Bhosale was felicitated by the India Voice Fest for his exemplary contribution to the craft of voice acting. Held at Rangsharda auditorium in Bandra in its second edition, India Voice Fest  is backed by an association of all-India voice artists, dubbing artists in radio, films or TV who help those ‘behind the curtain’ per se. “Often, some actors do not do their own dubbings. We voice the actors,” says Sudesh Bhosale, adding that “Amol Sen, Harish Bhimani were part of the jury that chose me this year for my contribution to the world of dubbing and voice artistry.” On receiving this honour, Sudesh Bhosale shared, “It felt really good. I met senior artists as well as artists from the young generation.” With the youth present at...

Anusha Srinivasan Iyer, a Writer-Director-Media Strategist, TEDx Speaker, Life Coach, Social Entrepreneur, Gender-Animal and Environment Activist won big at the Perfect Achievers Award of 2019, a one of a kind award function recognizing and empowering women. Held at Country Club, Andheri, the pageant where 15 finalists from all over India, was organized by Gurubhai Thakkar, Dr. Khooshi Gurubhai and Dr. Geet S Thakkar. The other winners included Aalisha Panwar, Angela Krislinzki, Aasiya Kazi, Chahatt Khanna, Mohit Malhotra, Karan Sharma, Dilip Sen, Vaishnavi Macdonald, Sonalika Pradhan, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Shrusti Maheshwari, Sonali Gupta, Sangeeta Kapur, Feroz Khan, Paras Madan, Himanshu Shukla, Jhyothi Tommaar, Bhakti Rathod, Jeet Soni, Amita Choksi, Golden Guyys Sunny Waghchoure-Sanjay Gujar, Preeti Soni, Kiran Golani of the Super Women Group and MLA Dr Bharati Lavekar.