Elegance Personified at Jhalak

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Mandira Bedi (center); to her right: Ruchika Dias from Bollywood Shake, along with the Aalponaa Event Designers team, from left: Piyal Sengupta, Sailaja Bandhopdhyay, and Mumu Choudhury.
Photos: Murali Santhana

By Vanshika Vipin

STAFFORD: The colors of fall rolled over into an evening of glamour, fashion and entertainment for Jhalak, organized by Bollywood Shake and Aalponaa event designers in collaboration with Studio S on November 23, at the New Stafford Convention Center.

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After organizing Bollywood pageants featuring Preity Zinta, Neha Dhupia and Ravina Tandon, Ruchika Dias, Founder & CEO of Bollywood shake played host to the popular actor, anchor, sports presenter and now designer Mandira Bedi for the event. Sailaja Bandhopdhyay, Mumu Choudhury and Piyal Sengupta were part of the Aalponaa team that designed the event with meticulous perfection, creativity and dedication.

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Jhalak was a full day event featuring a fashion bazaar that was bustling and busy and carried a wonderful collection of local clothing, jewelry and accessory vendors. Featuring more than forty booths, the fashion bazaar was organized by Shama Irfan of Studio S. There was also a karaoke session held around noon along with the bazaar.

The main feature of Jhalak was the fashion show that featured three distinct designers and their collections; Radhika Puri jewelry from Austin, Studio S Pakistani designer fashions and the featured attraction – Mandira Bedi’s “Joie de Vivre” collection. Pooja Lodhia from ABC13 was the emcee for the night, she conducted the show very smoothly and kept it entertaining. Aslam and Abdul from Deco Art event planners decorated the stage and venue, sound and lights were well put together by BJ & DJ Asim from Dholi Beat International.

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Raza Hasan who choreographs all of Bollywood Shake’s fashion and pageant events very creatively choreographed Mandira Bedi and Radhika Puri fashion shows. Even Mandira Bedi was very impressed with the choreography for her show and complimented Raza herself. Jasmeeta Singh choreographed the Studio S fashion show. She has organized, choreographed and performed Indian classical and semi-classical, Punjabi and Bollywood dances for various events.

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At the end of the fashion show, the much-awaited moment arrived as Mandira Bedi appeared with her 3-year-old son Vir and it was a treat to watch. Ruchika asked him to say a few words and he said he was glad to be here. On being asked about her choice to be designer, Mandira answered, “I would wear a saree designed by myself and people asked me whom are you wearing, so I said me and that’s how this clicked”. Mandira thanked everyone for coming out to the show and added that she was very impressed by the shows choreography and the models that presented her saree collection.

A portion of the event proceeds will benefit Daya Houston, a local organization that provides services to women and children affected by domestic violence. Abhilasha Raj from Daya Houston made a small presentation to the audience. Gopaal Seyn was challenged to paint LIVE during the Mandira Bedi fashion show. The talented artist completed the painting in 22 minutes. It was auctioned for $5500, which was very generously bid by Anand Kumar Chauhan and his wife Dr. Ashima Chauhan, who are involved with various charities. 100% of the proceeds from the auction will go to Daya Houston.

The organizers would like to thank Gayathri Kumar from Just Chic Events, Murali Santhana and Jasleen Kaur for photography, all the Bollywood Shake dancers (Mashal, Shaila, Gauri, Esha, Deepali, Anusha, Kasturi, and Nikita). Special Mention was made for Arif Memon from DMMS who helped them with the last minute technical arrangements. In addition, they would like to thank Mahreen Khan of Bella Services and MakeupArt by Mariam for the models makeup. Nikki Lea Beauty for the hairstyles. They would also like to thank all vendors including Akshaya Caterers, Vishala Restaurant, Metlife, TapSnap and all the clothing and jewelry vendors, and the volunteers who helped whole heartedly in making the event successful including all the backstage helpers, ushers, reception team and saree tying team.

Following the fashion show was an exclusive ‘meet the press’ with the event organizers and Madira Bedi. The press included Tv-asia Channel, Indo-American News, Masala Radio Houston, Sangeet Radio Houston and Radio-Fuzion Houston. In a question and answer session with Mandira bedi, when asked by IAN about her experience and what she would like to advice as she has been successful in everything she has done, she said “ hard work always pays, so just keep working hard, and the most important thing is to believe in what you do and just love your work.”

Bollywood Shake gave Houston another day of fun and glamour, in collaboration with Aalponaa Event Designers and Studio S. Bollywood Shake has a grand New Years Eve Dhamaka planned at Safari Texas and several more glamorous events for 2015.