Downtown: The Delhi Mumbai Gazette

They are calling it the digital dream of creating history on canvas, aided by a subtle touch of the brush to guarantee authenticity. Art reproductions of some of the raremasterpieces of both European and American painters like Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso, Degasand Monet are now available in India for a song. "It is like a dream come true,especially because museums abroad do not sell the originals (except cheap prints) andconventional reproduction always misses out on details," says Sunaina Anand, whoseArt Alive Gallery in Delhi has tied up with a host of European and American studios whichhave licenses for digital reproduction of such classics.

How is it done? The studios hire professional photographers who take digital images of the paintings, use a highlytechnical process to mount the same on the canvas and superimpose touches of colour to addfinality to the process. The prices for such exquisitely-framed paintings hover in therange of Rs 5,000-25,000, rates many can afford with relative ease. "And it does notgive the impression of a poor reproduction nor a cheap print," says Anand, addingthat such reproductions are increasingly becoming the vogue across the world. Butdoesn’t reproduction reduce the awe and glamour normally associated with theoriginals? Anand, whose exhibition on Van Gogh is slated next month in Delhi (August 1-5,Habitat Centre), differs: "No artist wants to remain in isolation. Besides, how manyof us have the wealth and power to acquire the originals? It is almost next toimpossible."

It’s time to strike a pose again. The second Lakme India Fashion Weekunfolds in Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Hotel from August 6-12. Organised by the Fashion DesignCouncil of India—the apex body of Indian fashion designers—the event will focuson creating business relationships and facilitating designer-buyer dialogue, an elementmany found lacking last year. "This initiative will serve as a national platform topromote the business of fashion that in turn will increase the domestic target customerbase. Our primary aim is to create a conducive environment facilitating buyer-sellerinteraction within the industry," says Sumeet Nair, executive director, fdci.Participating designers have been asked to showcase either a ready-to-wear (priced betweenRs 800-10,000) or a diffusion (between ready-to-wear and couture, priced between Rs10,000-30,000) line.

The number of designers has gone up to 44 from 33 last year. Thenotable new names this year are Krishna Mehta, Manish Malhotra and Rocky S. from Mumbai.Rohit Bal, Tarun Tahiliani and J.J. Vallaya continue to extend their support to the event,while other big names like Shahab Durazi and Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla go missing thisyear too.

The event is expected to see some 15,000 visitors. Added attractions:hairstyling, skincare and modelling workshops in the wings; an onsite trend forecastexhibition.

Some of the most famous snippet celebrities in Mumbai have joined hands to help you findyour way to Page 3. People like Sangeeta Chopra, Daboo Ratnani and Satyadev Dubey havecome together as faculty in a new patented institute called GlamourIndia, whose mantra, inbold letters, is: ‘Be A Star’.Promoted by Ajay Chabbria and Anil Hemwani, theinstitute has conceptualised courses in model grooming, hair styling and acting. There isa DJ school and a fitness centre too. Stretching from a week to 3 months, these coursescome at prices between Rs 1,000 and Rs 75,000. The expensive end of the spectrum is forthe three-month hair and make-up course. Chabbria is optimistic about enrolments andwarns: "The name GlamourIndia and the words ‘Be A Star’ have been patentedby us." Now to whether they have a patent on stardom as well.

A gummy smile, made worse by a set of crooked, chipped teeth? Mumbai’s new quickfixduo, dentists Dr Mona Kakkar and Dr Anupama Patil, have formed Le Visage, a clinic devotedentirely to aesthetic dentistry in Powai. From simple whitening of teeth to straighteningcrooked teeth, from building ground teeth to fixing gaps with bridges; the duo have alsohandled full-blown mouth rehabilitation cases, one where the client had all his 28 teethground, all the way to the gums. The clients are already flowing in. Says Dr Kakkar:"A smile builds your self-esteem and confidence, so it makes sense to invest in itrather than jewellery or clothes." The price to pay for that million-watt visage: Rs5,000 for whitening and even up to Rs 1.5 lakh for an extensive job.

The hype had been quite unprecedented for a TV serial. AXN even flew lead actress Gina Lee Nolin down to India, made her dress in a Neeta Lulla sari and do her round of namastes for the press conferences. To no avail. We still don’t like the show. Based on a comic series, Sheena is all about a jungle beauty who preserves and protects the environment from intruders. For a change it’s this brawny babe who goes about rescuing the hero. But wildlife protection or female emancipation are not the crucial issues here. Sheena is in the league of Pamela Andersen’s VIP or Xena where the USP is a big, buxom heroine suitably attired in low-necked and tight-fitting dresses. As her figure dominates frame after frame, male fantasy gets nicely satiated. Is it a wonder then that compared to Sheena, Ally McBeal seems a woman of substance?

That do you do after you have mastered the art of talking nineteen-to-the-dozen? Youswitch to acting. And true to the tradition of Indian glamdom, yet another veejay hoistshimself onto the big screen. You have seen him host the Channel V show, Jungli Jukebox,next you’ll see Purab make his debut in Bollywood with Padam Kumar’s Supari. Notthat he had been dreaming about a film career. "The offer just fell into mylap," he claims, typically. To be shot in Canada, the film is about a group of fourfriends who land themselves in a sticky situation. And Purab, the quintessentialboy-next-door, gets to play an emotional character. The plum assignment notwithstanding,the man has a complaint—he doesn’t get to sing and dance around trees in foreignlocales. This film, he says, is different. Wonder where we’ve heard that before?

Spiritual painter Udayraj Gadnis will never deny that he loves newsprint, especially ifit’s all about him. But the controversial erotic painter swears that his latestallegation is no publicity-seeking ploy. He says that his book Dark and Unknown whichshowcases his paintings alongside the text has caught the wrath of the Bajrang Dal."I got a call from their Pune branch. They asked me to take out two pages. One whichhas a line saying that spirituality is an erotic cabaret dance, and another page whichcontains a painting depicting Shiva as both man and woman. Some bookstalls in Pune andsome in Mumbai, including Stand and Danai, have returned copies of my book. I had printed3,000,000. How can I take back those pages now?" When asked for his reaction, ShankarGaikar, chief of Bajrang Dal in Maharastra, said, "I don’t know anything aboutthis." Pune chapter too said it did not issue any threats. Shanbag of Strand Bookstall claims: "We never received those books. And so the question of returning themdoesn’t arise. I am not one to be scared of any threats. I don’t know what thisartist is talking about." Danai and Crossword too said they haven’t heard of thebook. But Gadnis maintains: "I’ll get the threat in writing from BajrangDal." That will be the first time in history when someone has requested Bajrang Dalto issue a threat.