For the Hope House fund-raiser, a benefit held Thursday in support of a Calcutta-based project inspired by the Oscar-winning documentary Born Into Brothels, event planner Lina Dhingra of KarmaPro Entertainment Group partnered with local philanthropist Jason Wong to host an Indian garden party and basement bhangra after-party for more than 400 guests at the Palais Royale.
"I wanted to make it really fun and really unique and different," Dhingra said of the event, the plans for which were announced at a cocktail reception held in January. "We wanted to give it the utmost class, sexiness, and elegance, and because there are two facets—a V.I.P. dinner with corporate sponsors and an after-party—we wanted to give [attendees] the feel of what India is and can be."
For the V.I.P. portion of the evening, Dhingra called on the Indian Rice Factory, the Palais Royale, and Noble Culinary Creations to handle the catering. "I didn't want it to be solely Indian, that’s why I added other chefs," she said. Dhingra also cut rental costs by using banana leaf plates for the casual buffet meal, served on the venue's waterfront patio.
"We wanted it to have that Indian garden feel. We really wanted to steer away from the conventional and create a very organic, free-flowing feel. The water is so serene, so it really works with something that’s not so formal, and the setting gets people interacting and feeling comfortable," she said.
Inside, Dhingra dressed the main party space in red, pink, and yellow and set up two elaborate tents on either side of the stage. "It just adds so much luxury and it gets people involved," she said. The Fantasy Lounge tent, sponsored by the Investors Group, offered tarot card readers and handwriting analysis. The second tent, dubbed Rekha's Den, was dedicated to DJ Rekha, who flew in from New York to spin tunes for guests, including the film's producer Geralyn White Dreyfous and co-director Ross Kauffman.
Born Into Brothels, directed by Kauffman and photographer Zana Briski, tells the story of the children in Sonagachi, the largest red light district in Calcutta. The film won the Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2005. Since the film’s release, the nonprofit organization Kids With Cameras, founded by Briski, has spearheaded the drive to build Hope House, a safe haven for young girls in the district.
"Ross and I are delighted to be in your beautiful city," White Dreyfous said. "We especially want to thank Lina and Jason. We got a call blindly at the foundation from Jason telling us he wanted to do this fund-raiser for us and we were just delighted. Everything has surpassed our expectations,"
Elements from the film ran through the event. Guests could bid on photographs taken by the children in the documentary, could buy a copy of the film in a raffle that included the chance to win a trip to India, and had the opportunity to hear a Hindi performance by John McDowell, composer of the music in the film, and members of Regent Park School of Music Children's Choir.
"Because the film is about children, I thought why not have a children’s choir? So we paired them with the composer of the film. He flew down and trained them," Dhingra said. "It’s out of their element. They’re singing in Hindi...we had months of preparation for that." Additional entertainment included the Julie Michels Trio, the Dhol Circle Troupe, tenor Marcus Saroop, Ivana Santilli, and headliner Maestro Fresh Wes.
