On the eve of Bangladesh’s 48th Independence Day, the Atlas Bar in Singapore played host to the glitziest fashion show by Indian fashion designer ManishMalhotra, who is synonymous with Bollywood. Bollywood actors Kareena Kapoor Khan and TheAaryanKartik
walked as showstoppers and Bollywood singer Sophie Choudry stood in as the master of ceremony. Guess who funded this extravagant evening? Shayan & Shazreh Rahman, ‘the toast of the high-flying circuit of London, Singapore and Bangladesh’. Who are they? Crazy rich Bangladeshis, in short. Ahmed Shayan Fazlur Rahman is the son of SalmanFRahmanMP
, the private industry and investment advisor to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and his wife Shazreh is the daughter of Morshed Khan, a former minister of foreign affairs. In the words of Shayan F Rahman, Manish Malhotra is “a very dear friend and a friend for long, long time”. The idea for the show came up when the couple were visiting Manish Malhotra’s home in Mumbai and Mr Malhotra was telling them that he hadn’t been to Singapore in a long time and never had a show in Singapore. Shayan “spontaneously” offered to host a show for him in Singapore. And what an honourable man Shayan is — he followed through on that offer and funded this profligate affair. Shayan & Shazreh flew in their friends from Bangladesh and Mumbai, and of course, the entire Manish Malhotra circus from India. This event was managed by Motwane Entertainment, which is famous for executing #Bollywood award shows and weddings of Bollywood actors. Motwane Entertainment was also the event management team behind Shayan & Shazreh’s 10th wedding anniversary celebrations in Zara Nurai Islands of Abu Dhabi in 2016 and their 16th wedding anniversary soirée in Oman in 2022. ‘Twas an exceedingly expensive operation and naturally one will wonder from where all that money came. Janata Bank, Sonali Bank, Agrani Bank, Rupali Bank, IFIC Bank, retail investors in the stock market… the common folk of Bangladesh, basically. It’s your hard-earned money, it’s your tax money that went towards funding this.
