Says Das about his factory experience, ``I had approached two other factory owners about the shooting of this film but they thought the shooting would disturb the factory work. Pritam Singh, proprietor of Seven Seas readily agreed to the four-day shooting.'' The rest of the shooting will take place in the Bhopkhel village near the CME in July. Cricket and cocktails Cricket buffs watched Australian leg spinner Shane Warne rip through the Pakistani batting order as they downed cocktails at the Hotel Sagar Plaza. The hotel had organised a live screening of the World Cup finals at Rumours on a 10-feet-by-12 LCD (laser compact disc) display. An ideal way to celebrate the World Cup Final, it proved to be!

Thai fare
And while on the subject, Hotel Sagar Plaza is organising a Thai Food Festival spread over a period of five days, starting June 23. Chefs and hostesses flown right from Bangkok, a Thai ambience, with temples and all, and exclusive dishes; a complete Thai-ish experience. So the gourmands in Pune know where to head for, for a tempting Thai cuisine, 7 p.m. onwards.

Notes of empathy
This was the Pune rockers way to rock the Pakistanis out of Kargil. After all, every bit of effort counts. So the rockers got together on Saturday night at the Ganesh Kala Kreeda Manch and decided to put up a show that would help the bereaved families of the soldiers killed in Operation Vijay. With Agni, Ezee Meat, Mandar Agashe and Mystic Frost on the scene, some of the top-most of the city's uppermost were ready.

Unfortunately, the patriotism of the Punekars proved to be a bit shy than expected, as barely 500 hundred people made it to the show. Guess 100 bucks proved too much for them but for the soldiers and their families it would have made a big difference. Anyway, the show went on and the guys belted out some neat numbers including a few originals. Some officers from Ahmednagar came on stage to express their appreciation and the funds went to the Army Wives Welfare Association. So far they have collected approximately Rs 45,000. Way to go! Fish (re)treat The Royal Retreat in Wagholi ushered in the monsoons with a Machli Festival on June 17.

The Retreat was all spruced for the festival. The stewards in bright red and green koli outfits, with red caps, while colourful thermacol cut-outs of fish were suspended from the ceiling. Fish-nets were placed around the room as decoration, and two stewards dressed as fishermen sat in a wooden boat, distributing coconut water. In the meanwhile live fish were kept ready for the asking and the fish of one's choice was cooked, and served hot. Prawns, lobsters, crabs, pomfret, ravas and surmai were served with pulao and all this made for tasty fare. The Retreat is a relaxing getaway, especially on holidays and week-ends.