IIFA Screening Event

So yesterday night was quite fun and interesting. I attended an event which was basically the screening of the IIFA awards which were held in Singapore. The whole programme will be aired on TV today. I had been sick the previous day and was unsure if I would be able to attend but thankfully I woke up in the morning with the fever gone and decided why not. It would be fun and it was.

It was a formal event so needed to dress up and get the stilettos out. I own one black pair which is quite enough to give my toes the kind of exercise they would rather avoid. The good part is that when I wear them I get to be slightly taller than my husband. I like that. Although with his characteristic humour when I was walking home and decided to get out of the heels he smiled and said," Arey! you became Govinda from Amitabh Bachchan." Yes if you don't know by now let me say it again he is hilarious.

But I digress as always. So as we were driving to the event Anshuman decided to use the GPS woman who annoyed me to no end by telling us to take left when that would have meant banging into the wall. I will never get myself a GPS woman. He took a wrong turn and when you do that in Dubai it means spending a good amount of time getting back to the right one. I had accidentally put on the perfume I most dislike by mistake and was not very happy about that. Other than that all was well.

So we reached and saw that there was a green carpet. I don't know why it was green instead of the traditional red. Our invites were at the reception and we didn't get to see them as the man kept them as required. I walked in to see two winged angels meaning two Russian looking statuesque women with black feathered wings attached to their backs. I moved on and caught up with my friend while my husband headed directly for the bar and was seen off and on lovingly holding his whiskey.

Then I laid my eyes on two men who were dressed as felines I think with black and white stripes with parts of their costume missing. I'm guessing a fight over territory. People were taking pictures with them and I knew I had to get one of myself with them. So I did and Anshuman promptly uploaded it to Facebook. Since this computer is a bit wonky I am unable to post the picture here. Will try to do that later. OK managed it as you can see!

I ran into someone I know. She is a mother of two and absolutely does not look like it. She recently started a salon and did the hair and make up for the event. She wore the exact same colour dress as I did only hers had ruffles. I can never wear a dress with ruffles unless I lose about 10 kgs which I doubt that I will. I'm pretty happy the way I am. I was happy even when I weighed 10 kgs more but then diabetes hit and I had to lose weight. People ask me all the time if I went on a diet. I'm against fad diets. Well I had to quit sugar, rice and potatoes but that's the point I HAD to. Given a choice I would still be my pleasantly fat self.

There was a woman in a red dress. Her hair was piled up on her head and somehow fluffed up in a way that I was sure that if I put a finger in her hair a bird would bite me maliciously. I know I'm being bitchy but I just can't help it. Sometimes you feel like going up to a person and asking them,"Really?"

And then Geeta Basra walked in. Lovely looking woman in a yellow blingy dress. She is a model/actress whose name I couldn't remember and had to ask one of Anshuman's friends who happens to work for a TV channel and was there to cover the event. The man with her designed the dress she is wearing. Unfortunately I couldn't understand exactly what his name is.

People from the Indian community kept pouring in and getting their picture taken. I also got my picture taken at the green carpet but the lights were so bright that my face went completely white and I looked like a ghost from the long gone past in a blue dress so I am not putting up that picture. If 20 people comment on this post asking me to put up that picture then I will. Hah! like that's ever gonna happen.


And yes I must talk about the decor which as I learnt was done by Magic (pronounced as Majiic the French way)  The sofas were cream coloured. There was a picture of Audrey Hepburn. There was a wedding dress, a red dress and man's jacket on headless mannequins and old Hollywood movies were being projected on the wall. At the far end of the room there was a giant Buddha statue set off by candles and blue chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Throw in the black feathered angels and feline men in striped leotards with cats makeup and what you definitely have is atmosphere which is somehow an Asian/ Hollywood version of Cirque du soir.

Nitin Mirani a comedian who owns Comicsutra was the MC along with two RJs and a woman called Shadab. She was introduced as 'our very own Shadab' many times but I have no idea whose Shadab she is. Lovely girl with a light bulb smile. They cracked some jokes and Nitin seemed visibly upset because we Indians are stingy with our applause. The jokes included impersonations of well known Bollywood celebs as expected. One was quite good but I now forget who it was.

Finally the screening of the IIFA awards started on the giant screen. Three seconds in to the screening there was a technical glitch and it had to be started again. Standard event organizer's nightmare. Farhan Akhtar and Shahid Kapoor are quite the funny pair but I loved Boman Irani's contribution. Bipasha came out of a cake and did the Chikni Chameli dance but she can't move like Katrina. Hot nevertheless having been slathered in body butter. Then Nitin Mirani came back and announced that a designer whose name I can't pronounce or remember would be debuting his collection.

That's when buff bodied male models began strutting the catwalk dressed in sometimes Jodhpurs and sometimes tight pants wearing a plethora of quite well designed Jackets. The mood of the collection was formal with a subtle touch of India. The designer chose his fabrics well and played with them expertly. All the garments fit the models well and one could see the heart and passion that had gone into each piece. I especially liked Nitin Mirani's jacket of which I do not have an image.

I was right up there in front with the photographers taking pictures on my little trusted Philips camera and was soon told to sit down as I was blocking everyone's view which is when I realised why all the photographers were crouching on the floor. So I crouched as well and took my low angle pictures.

 The IIFA screening continued and Shahid Kapoor danced well while Prabhu Deva did it better. Ranbir Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor danced with Monty silver Jackets from Karz. Fun yes! Then Nitin Mirani came back and announced that a designer called Masaba would be showcasing her collection inspired by the IIFA colours. It turned out that they were all warm colours with a generous lining of gold zari.

The models often came up wearing red and orange coloured sari like things with a black and white printed pallu which did not make any design sense to me. The designer is a young girl who seems very sweet and I hate to be harsh but the seam of one of the garments had come off and thread was hanging from it. It literally seemed like coloured cloth which fit the theme of IIFA had been carelessly draped around an East European model and asked to walk the ramp. More often than not the clothes didn't fit the bodies and hung loose on thin frames which is sacrilege in a fashion show. The only time she showed any small measure of promise was when she flattered the form with traditional Indian lenhgas and bustiere (choli). So Masaba has a long way to go. She needs to go back to school and learn the art of draping from someone who knows and understand that perfect finish and fit are the very basics of a good garment. That said I reiterate the designer seemed very young and hopefully will learn as she goes along.

Ms Kangana Ranaut was the show stopper and she made an appearance for exactly 100 seconds. She catwalks wonderfully and is very pretty. She wore a tie and dye meets gold zari number and made it look good through sheer presence.

Then came dinner in the form of a perfectly laid out chicken, five pieces of potatoes lightly flavoured, fragrant plain rice a slice of papad and a sprig dhaniya patta. So that was it. We headed home and Anshuman changed channels on the radio till we reached home. I heard parts of many Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu and Arabic songs. The man has an attention span of a five year old boy. I love him I swear I do!

And that's yours truly all dressed up and ready to dazzle even if I say so myself!

I'm so vain I think every song is about me, I'm so vaaaaaiin!