PUNE, APRIL 25, 2010
hrs.
.BUZZZZ...
HOOKAH
BOTTLE
MAKES A
FORTUNE
AT a recent Indian sale held at
British auction house Bon-
hams, a rare intact Mughal
gilt-decorated glass hookah
base from the first half of the
18th century created a lot of
excitement.
A Bonhams representative
says, “It sold for 1.6 million
pounds — a whooping amount
considering its higher esti-
mate was just 12,000 pounds.
The 19.5 cm tall gilded green
glass bowl has a globular body
and short cylindrical neck with
a rib. It is decorated with a
frieze of poppy plants alter-
nating with cypress trees.”
John Clough (1904-1947), a
high court judge in Kolkata
owned the hookah bowl and it
was passed down through his
family to the present owner.
—Riddhi Doshi
Shoe graffiti
F F
O
artist Bruce
G
Dunn
’ I N
SHO’ E
Preeti Devnani
So you own an expensive pair of designer
shoes for which you shelled out big
bucks… Yawn! Owning high-street labels
is passe; because it’s now cool to sport cus-
tom painted shoes that only you own in
the whole world.
This new concept is called shoe graffi-
ti. And one such shoe graffiti artist 20-
year-old Bruce Dunn is busy turning his
customer’s boring shoes into snazzy
pieces of art. “One day I bought a pair of
white canvas shoes. I found it boring and
thus grabbed my paint brushes to make it
more colourful,” says Bruce.
Sushant Chhabria, a fine art photogra-
pher who’s quite popular for shoe graffiti,
says, “I once was on a look out for a partic-
ular kind of shoe. As I didn’t find it in
H I G H
the market, I took it upon myself to paint
the same one. It’s mostly teens and college
L I V I N G
Pune talking Aloe skin secrets
Graffitised shoes
are the new
‘sole mates’ for
those who love
to flaunt their
individuality
kids who like .” “The reason someone
would want to get their shoes to be graphi-
tised is to reflect their own style. A rock
lovergot me to paint guitars on his shows
while girls make me paint fairies and flow-
ers on their footwear. One can have skele-
tons, knives, bikes, hearts, their own name
or football club logos,” explains
the creative junkie. Bruce says the
best kind of shoe to work on are
the canvas ones as opposed to Rex-
ene or leather and he charges
Rs1,200 onwards. Graffiti on other
accessories like helmets, bikes,
guitars, cafe walls, caps is also the
in-thing.
16-year-old Vedika Puri, a stu-
dent of St Mira’s says, “I had my pink can-
vas shoes done up in gothic design with
hearts, crosses, stars and roses. It’s girly
and yet tom-boyish which is how I like it.
Seeing them, my friend who is a Manches-
ter United fan got his favourite football
club’s logo painted on his shoes.”
The Avatar effect
p23
for Hrithik and
Rakesh Roshan!
After being blown away by the special effects of
JAMES CAMERON’s movie, father and son
now want to rope in the same
production team for their next film
Prithwish Ganguly
FILM-MAKER Rakesh Roshan and son
Hrithik will soon travel to Hollywood to woo
the visual effects company that worked on
James Cameron’s Avatar to provide special
effects for his movie Krrish 2.
A source says, “Rakesh has been very
impressed by the special effects of
Avatar. He wants the same kind of ef-
fects for Krrish 2. So, what better than
getting the people who had done it for
Avatar to do the same for Krrish 2. The
movie will have detailed fight se-
quences, an opulent set
and thus the visuals will
have to be breathtaking.”
The source adds, “In
case the creators of Avatar
can’t work on the project,
similar companies of re-
pute will be approached.”
Moreover, Rakesh also
is keen to make Krrish 2
into a 3D movie alongside
the normal feature film format. “3D is
the new IT-thing in the world with
Hrithik Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, Clash of
Roshan, the Titans and others being released in the
format. The makers will certainly weigh
(inset) the pros and cons of making and releasing
Rakesh the film in a 3D format in India and inter-
Roshan nationally,” the source ends.
g_prithwish@dnaindia.net