The Hindu Business Line : Variety

It was billed as a formal, black tie, sit-down cocktails and dinner to mark 100 years of Variety, the top entertainment magazine in the US. Very exclusive indeed. Not surprising, because there are just so many people you can seat at the Ballroom of the Taj in Mumbai. Limited space is a great leveller.

The invitation was from the Variety top boss and Pradeep Guha of Zee. It was just a week after the Bombay Times party and the chatterati was keen to see what the master party-giver would do. He did not let them down.

Reports say that just about every top honcho, beginning with the normally reclusive Ratan Tata to the affable Gautam Singhania, with a host of top captains of industry including R. Gopalakrishnan, Venugopal Dhoot, Adi Godrej and Yash Birla turned up in style. Tina Ambani represented her husband.

If Bollywood turned you on, there were Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Rekha, Jaya Bachchan and some others. Just in case the Government was feeling left out, the Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel arrived in a dark suit and a sunny smile.

Variety entertainment

For those who are still interested in the advertising industry amidst a crowd like this, one could spot an `advertising table' that had Mike Khanna, Sam Balsara, Prem Mehta, Ramesh Narayan and Goutam Rakshit. Also spotted were Ishan Raina and Prasoon Joshi. The evening had some speeches and a fashion show by Manish Malhotra.

Incidentally, henceforth Variety will be doling out some awards at the Zee Cine awards. God, how we love awards!

So was the party a hit or a miss? The answer from an intrepid partygoer sums it up. "Any party that could hold a power-packed audience like this for three hours without liquor would have to be called a success." So you know it. It's possible to keep a party swinging with just fruit juice. (The cocktails didn't materialise; evidently, something to do with Gandhi Jayanti week.)

HT vs. TOI

The Times group cannot be thrilled with the results of the IRS survey vis-a-vis Delhi. There was a time when the Times seemed to have hoisted its flag over the national capital. Now it will have a lot of interpretation to do. On the other hand, whatever the stock market feels or not about The Hindustan Times, its Delhi readership seems to have given it the two-thumbs-up-sign. And if the rumours emanating from the ABC headquarters in Mumbai about TOI Mumbai's certification turn out to be true, the old lady of Bori Bunder's cup of woe could well runneth over.

Clea PR

Whatever you say, Clea's Vinod Nair has turned out to be not just a survivor, but one smart egg.

The press is full of reports about how Nair has produced and telecast commercials on CNBC about his PR agency, a first by any yardstick. The reports go on to explain that Nair says he was compelled to do this because the print media said they would not publicise a PR agency's own PR. And in reporting that they would not publicise Clea's tenth anniversary, they went on to do just that. Incidentally, the advertising industry must be kicked about the fact that a PR agency had to resort to advertising to communicate its achievements.

Air-India

Soon after appointing someone to overhaul its brand, Air-India has, it seems, floated tenders to appoint a consultant who can study its business environment and come up with a detailed set of recommendations for it to execute a total business makeover. Very ambitious. And very necessary. Yet one hopes Air India and its masters in the Civil Aviation Ministry would tell prospective consultants whether the generous upgrades offered to government types would continue, and what steps would be taken to mitigate the woes of the fare-paying passengers when aircraft are yanked off scheduled routes to make VVIP flights. Only then can any `makeover' be effective.

Airport PR

Talking about PR, Mumbai's airport has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. First there was the strike by some unions against privatisation. And more recently, the sorry sight of Mumbai airport on its knees for three days because one Boeing 737 overshot the runaway. Maybe the AAI should be seriously looking for a PR agency.

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