Downtown: The Delhi-Mumbai Gazette

If Delhi has the largest base of India’s Platinum Circle, Mumbai is not far behind,topping the list for Super Platinums or super rich. Delhi’s 25-plus segment may stillhave more cars, but when it’s about sheer moolah, Mumbai is way, way ahead. Doing anautopsy of the media and product consumption patterns of the top 3.7 per cent of ourpopulation—(Sec) A in marketspeak—research agency org-Marg and Media User’sResearch Council have thrown up interesting data across six metros in an Indian ReadershipPlatinum Survey. Broad parameters include travel, entertainment, alcohol consumption,personal investments, club memberships, leisure, homes, etc. Besides, it sheds light onhow Delhi and Mumbai are getting connected like never before with the use of all forms oftelephony. The Net too is becoming the "cool" choice for financial transactionsand online shopping. Arrivistes no more, we’ve arrived.

Delhiites these days are headed for Westside, the three-storied plaza on Ajmal Khan Road(close to Pusa Road). The retail store offers 7,000-sq ft of relaxed shopping space foreverything, from apparel and accessories to gifts and household stuff. The prices toorange from reasonable to extravagant.

Westside is a unit of Trent Ltd, a Tata company which expects to break even next yearwith eight stores and 1.2 lakh sq ft of retail space. Says Trent’s Simone Tata, thelady who loves to call herself chairman: "Why should you go to Westside when thereare retail stores aplenty? Because it’s one-of-a-kind with its own brand ofmerchandise." Which means what you get in Westside, other than a few odd brands likeLakme (which she sold to hll before starting Westside), Revlon and Tata-Donnelly books,are all labelled Westside. Plus designer wear like Anita Dongre and Wendell Rodrigues.Also on the cards are the second Delhi store of 20,000 sq ft on Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar,before Diwali and a food chain early next year. Feeling on top of the world, Mrs Tata?
Paromita Shastri

After the cocaine drama, the excise department’s preparing another script forDelhi’s bar and restaurants. One regulation enjoins no order for liquor after 2230hours; a second that all bars in the city (barring 5-star joints) are to close at 2300hours; a third forbids dancing or performance by music groups in bars. There is a fourthone too: stocking of a specified quantity of liquor (read more than three crates of beerand four whiskey or rum bottles) would require a Rs 1,500 permit! How ridiculous can youget?

AB, Govinda, fine. But not Naseeruddin Shah too. "I can’t believe my luck,"says cricket fan Naseer on being chosen to anchor espn’s new cricket-based game show,Super Selector, starting September 21. Viewers are invited to select the bestinternational team of the month. Mega prizes are in store if their set of playerscollectively put up the best performance on field. Providing a helping hand are expertslike Sunil Gavaskar, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Geoffrey Boycott. Other attractions includelive band, astrology session and celeb guests.
Namrata Joshi

If Pepsi wanted to splash "Say no to Coke", they couldn’t have thought of abetter ambassador than actor Fardeen Khan who was recently arrested by the narcoticscontrol bureau for buying cocaine. The word is not official yet but reliable informationhas it that he’ll be the new Pepsi guy. His good friend, a highly-placed corporateexecutive, adds: "The commercial will also star Kareena Kapoor. The two are alsoslated to be cast in the remake of a south Indian film." While it’s not clearhow much Fardeen may have pocketed from the deal, curiously some corporates had beeneyeing him even before he became a snippet item. Provogue’s Salil Chaturvedi, whoinitiated a modelling deal with Fardeen six months before the film Pyar Tune Kya Kiya wasreleased, says: "We are very happy with Fardeen as our model and I am not surprisedthat companies like Pepsi too have great faith in his personality."

With A.R. Rahman the expectations are always high. But in Nayak he turns out a musicalscore that’s way below average, perhaps his worst till date. Stale and with acomplete lack of variation. Almost every single track is a love duet. Yet, despite thethrust on romance, none of these numbers have any resonance, intimacy or melody. The beatsin Saiyyan, sung by the full-throated Sunidhi Chauhan and Hans Raj Hans, go completelyawry, turning the song into cacophony. Shakalaka Baby is meant to make you hit the dancefloor. You’d rather sit languidly before the TV and see Sushmita Sen make her moves.Nonsense lyrics come as a package deal with the tepid tunes. Sample this: Rukhi sukhi rotitere hathon se khake aaya maza bada, Thanda thanda pani tere haathon se peeke chhaya nashanasha. Chances are you won’t hum these ditties and even if you do, not for very long.