You may think from reading this blog that month after month, week after week, day after day it’s just one big party for me… You’re not far from the truth, but the only problem with this kind of lifestyle is that, after a while, every great cause, every wonderful event begins to blend in with the next. One party may be where I meet so and so and end up getting my picture taken with him and her, but in the end, I can hardly keep tabs. 

That is definitely NOT the case with any event organized by the wonderful ladies of FilmKaravan! Pooja Kohli and Payal Sethi are the dynamic duo behind the distributing powerhouse that has been responsible for bringing to US audiences — through their Karavan Kollective membership program — such gems as ‘Via Darjeeling’, ‘Ocean of Pearls’ and ‘The Bong Connection’. Not to mention, they set Nina Paley’s ‘jailed’ animated — and music copyrights plagued — film ‘Sita Sings the Blues’ free, by helping to distribute the DVD through Amazon and Netflix.

On Tuesday night, FilmKaravan threw a lavish, celebrity-packed, fun-filled party at Pranna Restaurant in NYC to celebrate the DVD release of the momentous quartet of films ‘AIDS JaaGO’ produced by Mira Nair. The film consists of four stories being told by four of the top filmmakers in Indian cinema today. ‘Positive’ by Farhan Akhtar, stars Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani and Arjun Mathur and deals with a son’s inability to forgive a father’s mistake, albeit one that changes the family dynamic forever; ‘Blood Brothers’ by Vishal Bhardwaj stars the talented and handsome Siddharth and deals with the power of suggestion and what feelings a medical mistake can generate in a man; ‘Prarambha’ — the Beginning — stars South Indian superstar Prabhudeva as a truck driver with a heart of gold who finds a child that has been treated heartlessly; and finally ‘Migration’ directed by Nair herself and starring Shiney Ahuja, Irrfan Khan, Sameera Reddy and Raima Sen deals with the unfortunate victims of HIV, who sometimes have done nothing more than trust those they loved.

At the event, Mira Nair looked elegant as ever in her beautiful embroidered maroon and orange jacket, filmi power-couple Shabana Azmi sparkled in her Chinoiserie shirt with sheer sleeves while the charming Javed Akhtar inspired awe in a wonderful indigo silk kurta and charcoal shawl. Sanjay Suri shined in all black and his signature truthfully warm smile and Rahul Bose looked right off the runway of the recent Mai Mumbai fashion show in a charcoal, Nehru collar suit with matching turtleneck. Needless to say, I was impressed with both Suri and Bose and their never-tiring ability for mingling with the attending public, who all wanted their picture taken with them or desired to share their own personal favorite films starring the two superstars. As the upstairs VIP room at Pranna was packed to the max, this was no easy task, but both maintained their cool and class under fire.

Fab IT film girl of the moment Tannishtha Chatterjee — who BTW will never ever go out of style with her open smile and wonderfully down-to-earth attitude — wore a fabulous blue chiffon dress with black roses details down the front and these fabulously fun shoes with red lips appliques which her beautiful sister, also at the party, had lent her. Chatterjee stars with Samrat Chakrabarti in the film ‘Bombay Summer’ which will be playing in the MIAAC festival on Friday evening, November 13 and which I highly recommend adding to your list of must-see. Of course, it does help when the director of a film I truly like is also such a wonderfully warm man. Joseph Mathew-Varghese has the aura of a filmmaker who is going to go far, yet the demeanor of a man ever ready to share a good word or spread around a familiar feeling.

FilmKaravan divas — in name of course, never in attitude — Pooja and Payal wore, respectively, a feminine little black dress with peep-toe gold sandals and a red satin short number with pearls. Their welcoming grace set the tone for a very successful party. Of course, I cannot forget one of the highlights of my evening, meeting one of my favorite actresses Sarita Choudhury. From the moment I first saw her powerful performance on the screen in ‘Mississippi Masala’ I have followed her career. She continues to be one of the most striking women in the room, anywhere. I photographed her with ‘For Real’ film producer and director Sona Jain. Their film will be showing at MIAAC this coming Sunday, November 12th, at noon.

OK, before you start thinking the wrong thoughts, the one person I wanted to have my picture taken with at the party was Rahul Bose, NOT the ladies… He’s my type of hunk, just to be clear! But a woman is still allowed to comment on the beauty of other women, as in fact it’s common knowledge that we ladies dress for other women to notice. Men typically won’t get past a few obvious clues, like the shine in our hair, the fold of our shirt, etc.

Speaking of beautiful women, also at the party media powerhouse and successful entrepreneur Geetanjali Dhillon in a stunning animal print sleeveless silk blouse and Bollywood-Hollywood producer and films facilitator Anadil Hossain, in elegant all black. Respected freelance journalist Aseem Chhabra, our own wonderful crew of Jitin Hingorani and Frank the cameraman — get their exclusive interviews this weekend on AVS TV — were part of the fun, as was filmmaker Eliyas Qureshi who has a 12-minute short titled ‘From Within’ — a haunting piece about a man witnessing a neighbor’s desperate final step — in the festival. And countless other celebrities and wonderful personalities, too many to name.

So, bottom line is rent your ‘AIDS JaaGO’ DVD on Netflix, buy it on Amazon or better yet directly from the Filmkaravan website. And the next time you are in NYC at the same time as one of this exciting initiative’s parties, don’t miss it!