PUNE, APRIL 25, 2010 H I G H L I V I N G h r s . Pune talking Aloe skin secrets p23 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 the market, I took it upon myself to paint the same one. It’s mostly teens and college 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.” HOOKAH BOTTLE MAKES A FORTUNE A AT T 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 representat ive 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 .BUZZZZ... The Avatar effect for Hrithik and Rakesh Roshan! 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 Avatar , Alice in Wonderland , Clash of the Titans and others being released in the format. The makers will certainly weigh the pros and cons of making and releasing the film in a 3D format in India and inter- nationally ,” the source ends. [email protected] 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 Hrithik Roshan, (inset) Rakesh Roshan Graffitised shoes are the new ‘sole mates’ for those who love to flaunt their individuality S H O ’ E ’ I N G O F F S H O ’ E ’ I N G O F F Shoe graffiti artist Bruce Dunn