The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 09

The International News Weekly Off-beat
August 25, 2017 | Toronto 10
Priyanka Chopra and Lady Gaga
coming to Toronto film festival
The Canadian Press
TORONTO: Lady Gaga
will debut a new documentary
about herself and perform
at this year's Toronto
International Film Festival.
Organizers say "Gaga:
Five Foot Two" will make
its world premiere at the
fest, which runs Sept. 7 to
17. The premiere screening
at the Princess of Wales
Theatre on Sept. 8 will be
followed by an intimate
onstage performance.
Emmy-nominated filmmaker
Chris Moukarbel
directed the doc, which
goes behind the scenes
of the life of the singer,
whose real name is Stefani
Joanne Germanotta.
Organizers say the Netflix
original documentary
follows her over an eightmonth
period as she records
and releases her 2016
album, "Joanne."
Cameras also capture
her personal struggles as
she copes "with intense
emotional and physical
pain." Viewers also get to
see her with family members,
friends and her dogs
at home.
"Moukarbel's documentary
offers an unprecedented
look at Lady Gaga
in full creative mode: the
ideas, the emotion, the
sheer work it takes to do
what she does," TIFF artistic
director Cameron
Bailey said Thursday in a
statement. "I had a rare opportunity
to create a portrait
of an artist with such
an open heart and mind. I
feel really lucky that Gaga
trusted me and my vision,"
added Moukarbel.
TIFF has also announced
four new special
events for the fest. Among
them is an exclusive first
look at footage from "Legend
of the Demon Cat"
with Chinese director
Chen Kaige, who will do a
Q-and-A and is also on the
jury for this year's Toronto
Platform Prize.
Meanwhile, actress
Priyanka Chopra will be
on hand for an evening
celebrating actor and firsttime
feature filmmaker
Paakhi A. Tyrewala's "Pahuna:
The Little Visitors."
Chopra co-produced the
film, about three Nepalese
children separated from
their parents.
Other special events
include a Q-and-A for the
world premiere of "On My
Way Out: The Secret Life
of Nani and Popi," directed
by Brandon and Skyler
Gross. Canadian filmmaker
Barry Avrich and
comedy star Howie Mandel
produced the 40-minute
documentary, which profiles
two 95-year-old Holocaust
survivors. Avrich
and the directors will be at
the Q-and-A.
The menu on India's last night
as a British colony
By Mohammed Shafeeq
Hyderabad: Consomme
al Indienne, Delicacies a
l'Hindustan, Poularde souffle
independence. These
were some of the dishes on
the dinner menu at The Taj
Mahal Palace, Mumbai, on
the night of August 14, 1947.
The night when India ushered
in its independence,
it was celebration time
at the famed five-star hotel
with music, dance and
speeches and, of course, the
delicious food, reflecting
the Indo-French cuisine of
those times. At Shamiana,
the popular restaurant at
the hotel, the menu of three
courses was set to cabaret
entertainment, albeit rationed
as per government
regulations at the time, say
officials of the Taj Group of
Hotels. The rationing conditions
were applicable to all
restaurants at that time and
diners had to choose course
combinations rather than
feast on each choice.
Dosabhai Framji Karaka
also known as D.F. Karaka,
an Indian newspaper
editor and then owner of
Current Weekly, addressed
the guests, the officials said
quoting from the book 'The
Taj at Apollo Bunder'.
Seventy years later, Taj
has recreated the menu
served on that memorable
night. The group's flagship
hotels in Delhi, Hyderabad,
Chennai, Bengaluru and
Kolata besides Taj Mahal
Palace, Mumbai, will take
their guests back in time
by serving the same dishes
beginning this week and till
Independence Day.
The chefs have developed
a menu which is in
sync with the culinary
trends of that year. They
had to go back and understand
the essence of the recipes,
and adapt it to current
tastes using local ingredients
and techniques.
"We've retained the
Indo-French touches not
just in the dish names, but
also in their foundations on
the core French sauces and
ingredients -- albeit with a
modern Indian twist," said
a chef.
Nitin Mathur, Executive
Chef at Taj Krishna,
Hyderabad, pointed out that
since the photographs of the
dishes are available, they
used their imagination to
match the menu.
"As chefs we tried to
recreate the whole thing by
working on it. We used our
imagination to match the
menu," Mathur told IANS.
"We did not tweak the
menu and retained all dishes
that were there," he added.
However, the chef has
provided few choices to the
vegetarians. "There were
no vegetarian choices in the
menu, but we have added a
few," Mathur said.
There were a total of
five combinations on the
original menu, comprising
a soup, a starter, two dishes
in the main course and one
dessert.Words like 'al Indienne',
'a l'Hindustan', 'independence'
and 'liberation'
were added in tune with the
significance of the occasion.
The chef tried to match
the preparation of the menu
with the Indian dishes.
Cardamom enhanced
clear chicken soup (Consomme'
al Indienne) was
the only soup served, but
the chef has added another
soup -- creamy almond veloute.
The starter comprises
three flavoured smoked cottage
cheese steaks with mint
chutney (Delicacies a l-Hindustan).
The original main
course comprised Paupiette
de saumon joinville (Salmon
roulade, soft creamy mash,
wilted spinach, turned vegetables
and joinville sauce)
and Poularde souffle Independence
(chicken souffle
with steamed vegetables
and lemon parsley sauce).
The chef added two vegetarian
choices -- Crepes
aux epinards (stuffed spinach
crepes with makhani
gravy) and Champignons
Vol-au-Vents (truffle and
wild mushroom, paprika
cheese sauce).
Taj has fixed Rs 1,947 as
the price of this dinner (for
one person). While guests
will enjoy the sumptuous
meals inside, the hotels from
outside will be illuminated
in the Indian tricolour.