Starry night at Ambani centre: Indian, Hollywood celebs rock in new-age desi looks

The opening of Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) on Friday (March 31), the first-of-its-kind, multi-disciplinary cultural centre, was a star-studded affair, with Indian and Hollywood celebrities togged up in riveting new-age outfits, who walked the red carpet and posed for shutterbugs.

Superstars like Rajinikanth, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan, supermodel Gigi Hadid, Hollywood actors Tom Holland, Penelope Cruz, Zendaya and a host of actor-couples like Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas, Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani, and Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan, were among the guests who attended the event on Friday evening.

Salman arrived and posed for photographs with the family of his close friend Shah Rukh. The ‘Pathaan’ actor had given the red carpet a miss.

Saif and Kareena were accompanied by Karisma Kapoor, while Alia Bhatt came to the event with mother Soni Razdan, father Mahesh Bhatt and sister Shaheen Bhatt. The guest list also included Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, her daughter Aradhaya, Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, Vidya Balan, Athiya Shetty as well as veterans Jeetendra and Neetu Kapoor.

NMACC – a mega multi-disciplinary centre

The NMACC is situated within the Jio World Centre at Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai and will offer the finest of India’s music, theatre, fine arts, and crafts. It is home to three performing arts spaces: the majestic 2,000-seat Grand Theatre, the technologically advanced 250-seat Studio Theatre, and the dynamic 125-seat Cube.

The NMACC also features the Art House, a four-storey dedicated visual arts space built as per global museum standards with the purpose of housing a shifting array of exhibits and installations from the finest artistic talent across India and the world.

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The inauguration event at NMACC featured a specially curated art and craft exposition
called Swadesh. It also had three blockbuster shows a musical theatrical
called The Great Indian Musical: Civilization to Nation; a costume art exhibition
called ‘India in Fashion’ and a visual art show called Sangam/Confluence, a press release stated.

Second day of NMACC opening

ita Ambani launched the ‘India in Fashion: The Impact of Indian Dress and Textiles on the Fashionable Imagination’ exhibition at the cultural centre.

The exhibition, which paid ode to the country’s textiles and craftmanship, was graced by Shah Rukh Khan, Alia Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Hollywood stars Zendaya, Tom Holland and Penelope Cruz and musician Anoushka Shanker.

Karan Johar, Kajol Alia, Varun Dhawan, Ranveer Singh, Hrithik Roshan, Shahid Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, Ananya Panday, Shraddha Kapoor, Kriti Sanon and veteran actor Rekha were some of the prominent personalities to attend the event.

The exhibition explores the layered impact that traditional Indian dress, textiles and craft have had on the international fashion sensibility since the 18th century and features iconic Western couture and ready-to-wear designs inspired by India, from the 20th and 21st centuries.

Billed as the first exhibition of its kind in India, the show will also trace the birth and development of the contemporary Indian fashion community.

Both Zendaya and Gigi chose saree as their attire for the occasion.

The launch also saw performances by Varun, who was joined by Gigi on stage for a quick jig, Ranveer and Rashmika Mandanna.

While Ranveer and Varun invited Shah Rukh on stage to dance on “Jhoome Jo Pathaan” from his latest blockbuster “Pathaan”, Rashmika called upon Alia to shake-a-leg on the Oscar-winning track “Naatu Naatu” from the latter’s film “RRR”.

The exhibition India in Fashion is curated by Hamish Bowles, global editor-at-large for Vogue and editor-in- chief of The World of Interiors. It is designed by Patrick Kinmonth with Rooshad Shroff.

The showcase features works of pioneering Indian designers like Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla, Anamika Khanna, Anita Dongre, Anuradha Vakil, Manish Arora, Manish Malhotra, Rahul Mishra, Ritu Kumar, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Sanjay Garg, and Tarun Tahiliani.

International names include Christian Dior, Cristobal Balenciaga, Elsa Schiaparelli, Gabrielle Coco Chanel, Jean-Philippe Worth, Mainbocher, and Yves Saint Laurent.

The exhibit is also accompanied by an insightful audio guide experience for the guests and children under seven, senior citizens, and fashion & art school students can enter free of charge.

The Cultural Centre will open for public from April 3 with a list of events already lined up. Booking of the events can be done on the NMACC website and Book my show.