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sitanshi talati-parikh

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Category Archives: Interviews: Cover Stories

Alia’s Unalienable Allure

01 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Interviews (All), Interviews: Cinema, Interviews: Cover Stories, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Alia Bhatt, Best Dressed, Bollywood, Verve Magazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Cover Story, October 2016
Image credit: Tarun Vishwa

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She’s waif-like, with fine features and aggressive sideburns. You would expect her to be loud and vivacious, but her off-camera persona is quietly dignified with moments of impetuousness. At Verve’s Best Dressed cover shoot, she inadvertently transforms breathtakingly into India’s answer to Audrey Hepburn. She’s poised and controlled, even though a stray, unstifled yawn delicately slips by between shots. Grievances, if any, are kept under wraps, evidenced only by the slight movement of the eyes which her very tuned-in press representative, Priyanka, catches. The blower gets switched off when the dress billows too much, her hand stays next to it, and she quietly strives for the perfect pose that keeps the skirt from doing a Marilyn Monroe while facing the lens with youthful zeal.

Unlike a tall, lissome model that you would want to make a clothes hanger, you nearly want to shoot Alia Bhatt with the bare minimum on, because she is, literally, comfortable in her own skin. And yet, she transforms in front of the spotlight with every kind of outfit that comes her way. Flirty dresses that lend romantic appeal, punk rock chic with attitude, jackets that demand attention and couture befitting an urban sophisticate. It’s all Alia, and you could keep going. Wielding props from metallic studded headphones to virginal blooms, she carries off the ready smiles and pouts like she was to the camera born.

It’s this chameleon-like adaptability to clothes, moods and the environment that makes her come alive on screen with a natural aura. She isn’t someone who needs the ‘right’ look or the ‘perfect’ environment to perform. Alia is a heady cocktail of daintiness amid sharpness: the limoncello that is quietly, unobtrusively intoxicating, without a harsh edge. And she has a wry sense of humour. It’s not slapstick and perhaps not sharp enough to be British, but it is blunt. When she can’t hear our creative director’s suggestions over the loud music, her lips curl into a slight smile to knock the bite off the words, “Either scream or don’t talk!”

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The one ‘look’ that suggests longevity is the all-encompassing smile that radiates oomph and naïveté all at once: the glow of youth and the vigour of a woman. Alia Bhatt has an incredible fan following online, despite the live gaffes that have had the country in disbelieving splits. But then, refreshingly, like India rubber, she bounces back, laughing at herself, finding humour in the absurd and her fan base swells with overwhelming uproar. And that is style. The skill to be suave in situations that don’t appear favourable, to shrug those perfect shoulders and create your own brand of cool; that’s what makes Alia Bhatt stand out from the crowd. “I can’t answer questions about what others think about me or what image I am portraying. I prefer not to think about why I am not like the others. Then I will become conscious of it and I will try and be this fabricated version of myself which is not fun, and then you are taking yourself too seriously.”

She doesn’t need to be an intellectual, she’s smarter than that. Intellectuals alienate the masses, smart people know that being a nonchalant but authentic version of yourself is magnetic in a world of make-believe and press imagery. “You can’t develop that. You either have it or not. It’s actually not even an ability, it’s just who you are. I think a certain way, which I assume is how it’s supposed to be, and which reflects how I have been brought up. Because of the fact that people keep talking about it now, I feel that it’s a big deal to not take yourself too seriously.”

At 23, she is admittedly a dreamer, but in other words, she runs the happy risk of losing interest rapidly — and you have to work really hard to engage her. Much like a girl of her age, in today’s age. It’s a generation that perhaps isn’t heavy on wisdom, but is wise beyond their years. Wise enough to understand that in a world of ephemeral wants and multiple choices, it’s best to go with the flow. To know who you are and ignore naysayers and disbelievers. Because where’s the time for that? Alia Bhatt epitomises the young woman of today — self-assured but not self-reflective or conscious. “I know when people say things like ‘youth icon’ it bodes a sense of responsibility. I just hope that when they look up to anyone, or look at anyone, they see a real person they can connect with rather than the images portrayed on screen as characters.”

It’s important, to her, that this ‘real person’ be well-put-together. “If I am going out for an event, or a party, I always want to look impressive. And that’s not to impress one person in particular!” Who’s her definition of a best-dressed person? “Somebody who stands out without trying too hard; who can combine looks with a certain ease, which is not ‘black heels, a bodycon dress, tight and fitted right here, and perfect hair’. That’s nice, but there has to be some personality, something interesting about the way the person dresses. Either the combination, or the kind of clothes, keeping the trends in mind. Someone who basically understands their body, self and clothes.”

As spirited women from Indian cinema have often grappled with the question of publicity and image, Alia is very firm that being an actor of worth isn’t enough. “It is important to be well dressed. You can’t just be focusing on your talent. You have to be visually appealing. If you are beautiful, you would present yourself beautifully also.” Alia isn’t alien to making a good impression, in every way she can. Much like Angelina Jolie’s internet-breaking wedding gown decorated with the artwork of her children, Alia’s stylist came up with the idea of a ‘doodle dress’ during the promotion of her film Shandaar last year. “I feel really bad — we are constantly getting these lovely letters, drawings, paintings and pictures from our fans and we never get to do anything with them apart from looking at them and probably saving them. This way I can actually wear them, since clothes are such a big part of our lives. It was an ode to the fans.”

She’s recently bought adult colouring books, to rewind to a childhood passion. “It’s exciting, therapeutic and de-stressing; it’s complicated, but so much fun! And it’s still hard to stay inside the lines — which is important, to make it look neat and pretty.” And that defines Alia, striving to stay inside the lines, without toeing the line. Someone who always puts her best foot forward, even if she manages to put her foot in her mouth occasionally.

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Alia Speak

“My trademark style is comfort mixed with fun and colour. I dress according to my mood — after all, I’m a Piscean! I’m always comfortable, no matter what I’m wearing.”

“I need my stylist(s) to push me. It’s also important that they understand my vibe. If I feel it’s not me, I won’t wear it even if it’s gorgeous. You need someone who understands fashion and trends, even making a look out of something in your own wardrobe. I may like a stand-alone top and a dress, but I may not be able to visualise a winning combination.”

“I love Kangana’s (Ranaut) sense of style. She has nailed the combination of being at ease and looking unique at the same time.”

“I would happily get into a ganjee and loose long overalls with jeans; pyjamas in bed; and sneakers over heels any day! I wear a nice dress if I’m dressing to impress. It can be a midi, but it should be interesting and not the short, typical outfit. I love what I wore for my birthday this year —  the Bambah dress. There isn’t any look that I regret.”

“It takes me 20 minutes to get ready for a regular look and an hour for something dressier.”

“My go-to city for shopping is London.”

“I love ready-to-wear kind of brands like Chloe, Zadig & Voltaire and Anya Hindmarch. Locally, I love Manish (Malhotra), he’s an all-time favourite. From the newer lot, I really like Dhruv Kapoor.”

“I’m not a label-conscious person, I can wear anything from anywhere. But, I would choose bags from the luxury lines simply because I want them to be long-lasting and of high quality.”

“If I had to be a brand ambassador, I would choose affordable over luxury. For example, Anya (Hindmarch). The bags have a lot of personality.”

“I like following trends — because that’s what is available and looking good. I don’t follow every kind of trend…there are some which wouldn’t look good on me. I could never wear a fringe dress for instance — it would irritate me, the idea of everything just dangling about! Give me a fringe jacket, instead.”

“I have a love-hate relationship with food. While I love it, instinctively I don’t eat badly. I like it to be nutritious and I don’t enjoy the taste of junk grub any more.”

“I’ve recently turned vegetarian/pescatarian — I eat fish once in a blue moon. I went off meat — there is no religious reason, but I felt so much better when I was avoiding it. I prefer only three meals a day. I have porridge or granola (from the Paleo Foods Company) with almond milk for breakfast, sabzi-roti (ragi/jowar) for lunch and something light for dinner, like soup and an omelette, or fish and veggies. Or I have dahi-chawal. I love it, it’s my favourite thing to eat!”

“If I don’t work out, I get really cranky. I have always been like that. I was recently ill and forbidden to go to the gym and all I could think of was about when I could get back. I like sweating it out. I do a combination of Pilates and cardio. I also love swimming.”

“For a night out in town I go to my favourite restaurants for dinner. It’s generally with my sister (Shaheen) or my friends…I have three friends in total! I’d wear comfortable clothes, because if I go out, I eat!”

“I zone in and out of places, people and conversations like that (snaps fingers). I can dream about anything — what I want to do next, something that I saw, a movie that I want to see or be in, a vacation….”

“I have an obsessive-compulsive disorder — vis-à-vis my hands. I need to keep cleaning my hands. While running on the treadmill all I can think about is how I need to clean my hands! It’s very irritating — you reminded me of it now again. And then I keep smelling them. (Smells them.) Now I want some cream.”

“When not working, I just want to sleep…lie in bed and watch Downton Abbey or Friends. Comfortable, happy stuff.”

Gypsy Queen: Anushka Sharma

01 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Interviews (All), Interviews: Cinema, Interviews: Cover Stories, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Anushka Sharma, Bollywood, Interview, Interviews: Cinema, Verve Magazine

Published Verve Magazine (Cover story) April 2015 and on vervemagazine.in
Photographs by Prasad Naik

Anushka Sharma for Verve Magazine April 2015 cover

“I don’t think I have ever felt like I have belonged to any place.” Coming from an army background, she has spent her youth travelling around the country. Even Bengaluru, where she spent most of her time, wasn’t really home. Anushka Sharma moved to Mumbai over eight years ago with no connections, accompanied by just her mother and brother. “The beauty of my childhood, the lovely experiences I had…all came into focus when I didn’t have them anymore.”

The arrival into the city, into the civilian world, made her appreciate the sheltered and contained life she had lived before. “That’s what your journey is about — when you are living it you don’t know what it is, you are only experiencing emotions. In the army background you are prepped to live in order; when you come out of it, you experience chaos. You live and you continue the motions to cope with it. You ride the tide. You can’t stop and think; you go with the flow.”

In her new, comfortably appointed home in Versova, she tucks herself into a nook of her massive sofa and bites into an extra-large samosa with relish. This particular house has been a labour of love; with an entire floor (over 6000 square feet) devoted to private spaces for her parents, her brother and herself. Bright vases, patterned wallpaper, large mirrors, distressed furniture all radiate a happy, lived-in vibe. After the success of the Aamir Khan-starrer, PK, she’s shooting nights, and also juggling the launch of her maiden production venture, NH10 while awaiting the release of Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet with Ranbir Kapoor. She doesn’t have the jaded eye of a seasoned traveller or the wide-eyed wonder of a newbie. She’s free from poetry but she finds the silent music that calls out to her when she moves to her own rhythm. Over cups of cappuccino made with freshly crushed coffee beans and topped with smileys patterned in the foam, we discover the girl behind the gypsy.

“Mumbai made me grow up.”
“I was 17 or 18 when I came to Mumbai. I didn’t have any friends when I came here. My brother (older by four years) accompanied me…we got even closer. You learn so much about yourself. For an outsider, the city doesn’t have a residential vibe, unlike Bengaluru and Delhi. Here, every area is a mix of workplaces and homes. You are constantly surrounded by a rapid pace and energy. You find it daunting, you get involved in it, you get sucked into it and finally find your calm in the city.”

“Mumbai is an extremely professional city.”
“I have gotten a lot from it and I have grown to respect the place. There is a vein in which people who live here function, especially those who have come from outside to work. People are hard-working — constantly on the move, constantly trying to make something out of their lives.”

“Although you are a part of this huge population, you are constantly alone.”
“People say Mumbai is a lonely city. Everyone’s moving in a hurry. No one casually chats with anyone. In a train filled with people, no one is having a conversation. Everyone is in his or her own zone. And you want that, you are looking for this time to yourself.”

“I just want to be left alone when I am travelling.”
“Even when nobody knew who I was, I would explore places as if I were lost in my own world. That’s the time you enjoy your privacy. In India I can only see places when I am shooting, because they are cordoned off. It’s only abroad that I can experience something as normal as getting out of the hotel and walking on the street rather than getting into a car and going somewhere….”

“I’m not interested in sightseeing.”
“As actors we travel a lot. We live in places for 15 days to a month and a half. A film crew is always interested in the sights. For me, it’s all about the experience. I want to go to a restaurant; I want to walk on the streets and eat in the quaint places, experiencing the local flavour of the place. That’s exciting.”

“I always end up talking to strangers.”
“While growing up I used to watch a lot of travel shows. The one thing that connects people and places is food. There are so many stories you hear when you go to a restaurant or to a bar, meeting local people, talking to them. That discovery is very important, which is why I don’t like going to touristy places. If my friends want to go to Goa, I won’t take them to Baga. It will be to a place that I have discovered after several visits to Goa.”

“I’ve always been open to new experiences.”
“Travel is anything that enables you to have a different perspective on things, which could be 50 or 5000 kilometres away. I constantly want to see and know more. I don’t have a wish list, because when you really want to connect to places you keep your horizons wide and open.”

“I find it difficult to connect to European countries.”
“I find that language is a barrier — as much as I love Europe and its unique culture — I don’t think about living or having a house there.”

“I bring back fridge magnets from every place I go to.”
“I also always pick up one for a friend. Unfortunately, in this (new) home, I am unable to put up the magnets on the modular kitchen fridge, so now I just keep them or give them to people….”

“My home is very personal.”
“I didn’t want someone to just do my house. I didn’t want an opulent looking place with chandeliers and velvet or the colour red. I find it impersonal. I wanted a space that would be an extension of my own personality. I’m a little rough around the edges, I’m not very proper; so the elements in the house are close to that.”

“The moment in my life that I felt extremely proud was the day I moved into my house.”
“People in the industry who come from an affluent background, may feel it’s just buying a house…but for me, it’s a milestone. When you come from a middle class background, it’s the biggest achievement. I’ve lived in government lodgings all my life. My father had taken many loans for our house in Bengaluru. I’m very close to my family and always wanted to live with them. When I moved into this house, my father looked very happy — and for the first time I felt proud of myself. Though I had an apartment before, this was the ‘big’ house we all wanted. ‘Achievement’ is a personal term. For the world achievements may be fame and money, but just the fact that we had made a home, meant the world to me.”

Anushka Sharma for Verve Magazine April 2015 cover

Places with connect

St Ives, England
“I had the most amazing mussels here. (I am now a vegetarian). I could see seagulls near the ocean, hear the sound of the birds, the weather was beautiful; I was with my closest friends and the mussels were so fresh….”

Galibore, Karnataka
“I went to a fishing camp with two friends. The Kaveri River flows by there. It wasn’t the fishing season; bits of the riverbed were exposed. We didn’t fish, but we would go on boat rides. We stayed in a camping site that included tents and barbeques, no resorts!”

Australia
“Even though I’ve only been there once, I really liked it.”

Café Y, New York City
“It’s an underground café in the Village. I heard the most beautiful music here. It was commercial music, but done so differently.”

North-east India
“The north-east is the loveliest part of our country. When I was six or seven years old my father was posted in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. I used to travel to places people hadn’t even heard of. It was a completely different world.”

London, United Kingdom
“I could have a house in London. I’ve been there the most number of times; I know the place really well.”

Anushka Sharma for Verve Magazine April 2015 cover

Right Here, Right Now with Anushka Sharma:

On my iPod “Take Me To Church by Hozier.”

In (On) my fridge “No fridge magnets!” (There’s a story behind this. Read more here.)

In my bag
 “Wallet, Lip Balm, House Keys.”

On my blacklist
“Complicated people, drama, lies, dishonesty.”

In my wallet
 “Money, credit cards, identity card.”

In my bedroom “I like it clean. I don’t like hoarding things. Just my bed, TV and books.”

On my bookshelf  “Lots and lots of books. A favourite, JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.”

On my phone “Phone calls, music, e-mails.”

On my wall “Two pictures of a ballet school, showing the feet of ballerinas. It describes all the things your body can’t naturally do, that you train your body to do – it shows strength and hard work; it is beautiful and creative.”

In my car’s glove compartment “Tissues.”

In my wardrobe “Clothes waiting to be colour coded! I have no OCDs but my wardrobe is chaotic. It’s a walk-in wardrobe where I just leave things. I can’t find clothes. So I keep saying I need more clothes.”

On my bucket list “To travel, to grow, to learn.”

In my beauty bag “Lip balm, mascara, under-eye cream.”

In my bathroom “I’m obsessed with bath products! I have lots of shower gels and multiple body lotions. My nose is sensitive and when I wake up and go to have a shower, I like to surround myself with lovely fragrances.”

On my skin “Moisturiser. I have asked all the women whom I have met who have great skin, if they moisturised a lot when they were younger, and they said yes. However late I may return from a shoot or however tired I may be, I make sure I moisturise everyday.”

In my life “Family, work, love.”

Curators of Style: Sussanne Khan, Farah Khan Ali & Simone Arora

11 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Interviews (All), Interviews: Cinema, Interviews: Cover Stories, Interviews: Lifestyle, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Bollywood, DDecor, Designers, DJ Aqeel, Farah Khan Ali, Hrithik Roshan, Interview, Simone Arora, Sussanne Khan, Verve Magazine

Published Verve Magazine, December 2014
Photograph by Rohan Shrestha

These stylish, poised women have created a name for themselves in the designing world, each with a distinctive sense of aesthetics and style. Sussanne Khan for her interior design and curated home store, Farah Khan Ali for her jewellery brand and Simone Arora for her fabric design and recently-opened concept home boutique. Sanjay and Zarine Khan’s daughters are creative, dedicated and spirited women of substance, discovers Verve

Verve Magazine December 2014 cover: Sussanne Khan, Farah Khan Ali, Simone Arora

It’s not a stretch of the imagination to expect that the younger lot of a famous film family are likely to be starry, diva-esque butterfly society women. It is an easy stereotype that gets associated with those who come from a family of means and natural access to the limelight. But Zarine and Sanjay Khan’s daughters appear to be quite the opposite. They are self-assured, strong-willed and independent, with a single-minded determination to excel and are deeply passionate about their work.

Producer, director and actor, Sanjay Khan and his interior designer wife, Zarine Khan (née Katrak) have four children. The first, 45-year-old Farah Khan Ali is married to DJ Aqeel and is the founder of the Farah Khan Fine Jewellery brand. Younger by a year, Simone, married to Ajay Arora, the owner of D’Decor home furnishings, has been instrumental in the creative aspect of the brand and has recently launched her own concept store, Simone. Thirty-six-year-old Sussanne, formerly married to Indian cinema actor and childhood sweetheart Hrithik Roshan, has followed her mother in interior design and has been working on her own store, The Charcoal Project, for the last few years. Zayed is the youngest, whom Sussanne considers to be “a boy version of me, my twin!” even though he is two years younger.

Through various interactions with the women in the family, you begin to draw a distinct sense of who they are. Fiercely protective about each other and extremely supportive, there is an easy camaraderie that can only be built up through a lifetime of nurturing. As Farah interjects, twice, “I love them to death and would do anything for them. I would even kill for them…not that I would ever kill anyone.”

Firm grounding
“It’s the values,” insists Zarine Khan, called the “firecracker of the family” by Sussanne. When you speak to her, you understand what her daughters are made of. Notwithstanding the strong creative and emotional influence their father has had on them, you come away knowing that they are reflections – albeit in their own unique ways – of their mother. She is crisp in her language, sharp in her observations and firm in her opinions. “They grew up with a lot of humanity in them, with gentleness and kindness and not an ounce of jealousy. Even though we had cars at our disposal, we had rules. Once by car, the next time by bus.” Simone speaks up. “We were not raised to be competitive, to be compared or be critical. We complemented each other.” And the importance given to the legacy of education, impressed upon them by their father who himself couldn’t complete his education due to lack of funds. Farah: “We were taught to value people and relationships over things. People can never be replaced; things can be. If Simone buys something bigger, I won’t envy her, I’ll be happy that I can also use it. We share bags, clothes, shoes, jewellery, memories and laughter.”

Well-travelled and well-exposed to the world, fond of the European lifestyle and far from a slacker, Zarine continues to work for her select clientele even today. It is a family of early risers and active swimmers, with full workdays. “Despite having all the luxuries of being a star wife, I continued to work. I’ve impressed upon them the need to avoid idle gossip.”

Sussanne recalls, “Our mother left us with the thought that we must try and be the best we could be and choose to do something that would give us creative satisfaction. Watching her was the biggest example.”

Meeting the Khans
I had first seen Sussanne at a tony suburban café with her then-fiancé Hrithik Roshan, sharing conversation and coffee just before the launch of his first film, Kaho Na Pyaar Hai (2000). They looked at ease with each other, made a lovely couple and suggested a genteel persona. No one knew that he would soon take the industry by storm. Sussanne is not too different today, nearly 15 years later. While her youthful face may be etched with the trials of a woman, she has an easy charm that you warm up to instantly. The girl who has a tattoo on her arm that reads, ‘Follow your sunshine’, is polite, courteous as a host, punctilious and an amiable conversationalist.

Farah appears to be more difficult to pin down, as she misses the first interview opportunity and leaves hurriedly through the second, with a promise to send an e-mail message. She surprises you by actually doing so, and then calling and texting after. You are left amused, because this grown woman of a well-established brand is droll and sincere and as she puts it, somehow manages to find “method to the madness”. Simone wants to be heard. With the launch of her store, this is her chance to come into her own, in the eye of the media, and she is eager to make her voice and name felt.

Simone: The one in the background
Simone, the first to tie the knot at the age of 21, joined her husband as the creative director of his business. At the time, Ajay Arora used to manufacture garments. Zarine Khan felt the greater potential of a furnishings line, and seeing the business sense in it, Simone and Ajay took up the challenge. They bought designs from Italy, machines from Belgium and started the process of creating samples for the international fairs. Simone, with her unerring eye for colour, was in charge of creating the designs and combinations. Now, after 15 years, the D’Decor brand is the world’s largest exporter of home furnishing fabrics. Four years ago, they turned their attention to the local market with Gauri and Shah Rukh Khan as brand ambassadors.

“After being an anonymous contributor to D’Decor (while it was the company that made me who I am), I felt it was time to express myself and create an identity of my own.” Inspired by the process of designing her own home, Amore, and the feedback she received, Simone took forward the idea of her own store. She wanted a modern space hosted in a classic heritage building and Amarchand Mansion in South Mumbai provided exactly that. The store, Simone, launched just over two months ago, is nature-inspired, with curated pieces from international brands. “It was a hard journey, a labour of love. It had to embody me and my design sensibility. Simone is like a canvas, and everything that I display is the hero. I like to accessorise on simple cuts and monochromatic palettes. We have everything for the home, including the signature scent of Simone.” (Read more about Simone Arora.)

Farah: The party girl grown up
Farah was the one who floundered the most in choosing a career. Having assisted her father in the television production of his serials and dabbled in interior designing, she came into her own accidentally. Taking off for a course in gemmology at the GIA (USA), she thought it would be a good cover for a fun social life. “On the first day of my class, I learned that gemmology was the study of the chemical, optical and physical properties of 99 minerals and their gemstone varieties. I was in total shock as it involved all the sciences I had despised in school! Having made a promise to my dad to excel, I ended up becoming the ‘Indian nerd’ instead of the ‘party animal’.” She topped her class and there was no looking back. “The Bollywood connection only helped open doors initially; but it was my work eventually that made people keep coming back. I struggled hard – I had no investment of my own to begin with, so I began creating designs on paper that were breathtakingly beautiful. I spent hours sketching, rendering and painting life into each piece.”

Over the years, from retailing with other jewellers to starting her own store and then facing legal trouble with a disgruntled financial partner, Farah emerged surer, wiser and stronger as a businesswoman, able to take her brand to the next level. Having to start financially all over again, she then secured a loan and began her own top-of-the-line manufacturing unit. In 2013 she re-opened her showroom in Bandra in a bigger way; and just last month, Farah achieved another milestone by signing up as a designer for Tanishq and becoming the first designer approved by them to take care of the manufacturing, having met the strict  standards of the Tata Group. “I see the world in a magical perspective where everything I see, I see as design. Design for me begins with a strong emotion. My thoughts are conceived in my overactive imagination that allows me the freedom to make the impossible possible.” (Read more about Farah Khan Ali.)

Sussanne: The spirited dreamer
Sussanne, being the youngest, used to accompany her mother on the latter’s interior projects. Her mother recalls fondly, “She could make out the difference between fawn and beige!” She has always been attracted to a strong masculine sensibility, despite her petite feminine appearance. “I love metal, Gothic, industrial, shabby chic. Metal mixed with leather and dark wood, elements of nature.” A strong believer in the energy radiated by metal, Sussanne’s style is about the bolder, stoic structures balanced with the frivolous and fun using European influences, like that of French Rococo and Renaissance.

After Sophia College in Mumbai, she went to Brooks College in Long Beach California to study interior design. Like her father, she got interested in the history of art and architecture. “As a designer you have to ensure that what you are giving your clients is unique. You also have to get to know them well so that you can have them feel the best in their space. In the setting you have to think of stories, and the story is more important than the product.”

Talking about the inspiration behind The Charcoal Project, her face is more alive than ever. “Space can be grey and lifeless; charcoal is ugly. But when you light it, it sparks up. When a designer or person ignites a site or project it almost glows, as life is breathed into it. Design is a feeling. It elevates you. It makes you feel good. It is also designing your thoughts, and about how to deal with certain situations in your life.” (Read more about Sussanne Khan.)

Entertaining as a lifestyle
All three sisters strongly believe that the exposure while growing up has led to their creativity. Sussanne: “The influence of the world of design and the aesthetic value of knowing how important your home or your way of living is has been brought in by both parents equally. My father and mother (who is a Parsi) are both passionate about entertainment, with visitors from all over the world, not just the film fraternity. They have the most fabulous spread of exotic foods. The home was also like their temple.” Sussanne remembers watching her mother put together the most beautiful table settings. Lemon and white, or a combination of sea green, in handcrafted, cross-stitched French linen, flower arrangements, silver and cut glass all formed a harmonious composition. “In other homes, dining is part of the living room. In our home it was kept separate, giving it that importance. If the family was in the house, we always ate every meal together. We were never encouraged to eat alone in our room.” Sussanne, who has two sons, Hrehaan (8) and Hridhaan (6); Farah, who has a son, Azaan (11) and daughter, Fizaa (9); and Simone, who has three children – boys Armaan (18), Yuraaz (17) and a daughter Adah (11) – have continued this tradition with the next generation. (Read more: What do Sussanne, Farah and Simone have in their homes?)

And to date, the smaller, intimate gatherings are what they value the most. Farah, the acknowledged party girl admits, “Twenty years ago entertaining meant going out all night and breaking all the curfews, getting caught, getting fired. Now entertaining means being with my family and people I care about, my close friends. It’s not about being everywhere or at Page 3 parties. It’s about being with people who matter.”

Making relationships work
Farah, who renewed wedding vows with husband DJ Aqeel on their 10th wedding anniversary in Goa, shares that they are both very different people – one “living by the day” and the other “by the night”, and all marriages have their own challenges. “There is no marriage that is perfect and it requires a lot of hard work like any relationship. Some succeed, some don’t, and some keep trying, some leave and some stay. Being successfully married in any actor’s life is a miracle because your marriage is never a private affair and things that any other couple could have worked out easily become a mammoth issue because of a lack of total privacy. Sometimes less ‘concern’ by others is much nicer.” Talking about her sister, Farah says, “Sussanne is my precious baby and Hrithik is my younger brother who I love and adore with all my heart. I will always be there for both of them and wish things work out eventually, but if they don’t, I will have no choice but to accept that too. Equations change all the time but certain bonds transcend all.”

Sussanne, in a different conversation, when asked whom she relies upon during trying moments, shares that while family is always at hand, she is a bit of a loner and a private person and remains inspired by great thinkers like Einstein and Steve Jobs. “There are times when you have to make a choice and people may not think it’s the right choice, but you have to be true to yourself in life. You have to live in your own head, and you don’t have to live in anyone else’s head. It’s important for human beings to value their instinct and their own gut more than any suggestion or any kind of influence from the outside.”

The sibling equation
As evidenced at the shoot, Simone wields easy authority over Farah. Farah reminisces from their childhood: “She was the head girl; I was the naughty girl. She was neat and organised; I was untidy and disorganised. Simone had timetables on one side of the wall; I had rock stars and pop stars. She would want to wake up in the morning to study. I would want to stay up all night and not study. We had a line dividing our parts of the room and if either one crossed that line they would get a slap! She married the first man she cared about. I dated many frogs before I met my prince.”

Sussanne, who is an amalgamation of the two of them in terms of personality, finds a balance. “At work I maintain a certain order, but there is also a strong element of a flower child in me, which likes to enjoy life and music.” She talks about their childhood, “There would be crazy fighting growing up – actual physical fights. My sisters were fighting over a dress, and my mom, who knew how to shut us up, took the dress and cut it in the middle and gave each of them half! My parents never took sides or indulged us to the level of spoiling us. They taught us to appreciate what we have and to not ever think that something that is expensive will make us feel or look better.”

Coming of age
The turning point in their lives came soon after their father’s fire accident while shooting on the sets of the television series, The Sword of Tipu Sultan. As teenagers they had to come to terms with the fact that their father may not make it. “We saw our mother stand up, so tough against all the odds stacked up against her. We thought, come what may, we are going to be like her, going to be strong.”

Eighty-two operations and 103 bottles of blood later, he survived. Simone feels it taught them perseverance and determination, “the never-say-die spirit, how to appreciate life and all its offerings.” In the hospital room, he saw the staff come in to clean, and all he wanted was to switch places with them – he was in such extreme pain. “The doctors wanted us to amputate his hands, saying that it was the only way he would survive.” Their mother refused. Eventually, post his recovery, he went back to completing Tipu Sultan, even riding horseback in the heat of Rajasthan.

Farah needed to release the stress and turned to dance with Shiamak Davar’s troupe. “The discipline that I learned is what I put into my work today. From a youngster who didn’t care about things I became this perfectionist. It changed me overnight. I became more like Simone!”

She continues to sum up the go-getter anthem of the family that has seen many ups and downs, together and individually. “It’s not where you are born; it’s what you make of your life. I have seen the rich squander away their legacy and have seen the poor man make history. Carve your own destiny…only you can.”

No Airs, All Grace

30 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Interviews (All), Interviews: Cinema, Interviews: Cover Stories, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Art, Bollywood, Interview, Kalki Koechlin, Verve Magazine

Published Verve Magazine, July 2014, Art Special, Cover Story
Photographs by Jatin Kampani

She’s like a delightful elf, a wisp of fresh air, youthful, light-hearted and effortlessly chic. The face of alternate cinema and an agreeable player in mainstream blockbusters, Kalki Koechlin is malleable and experimental, making her the perfect muse for Verve’s art issue. Verve explores the creative inspirations that define her personality and talent

Kalki Koechlin Verve July cover girl - art special shot by Jatin Kampani  VERVE-KALKI-KOECHLIN2

Kalki Koechlin impresses upon you that she’s not conventional by any means. She stood out from her first film, Dev D (2009), where she played the role of Leni, a teenage girl caught in the world of prostitution. Her molten sensuality and her raw performance were stellar, added to which was the subject matter, the fact that she is a “white, blonde-haired chick” and that she is tantalisingly uninhibited. And it’s a different uninhibitedness from say that of a Rakhi Sawant or a Mallika Sherawat; Kalki’s is a classy reserved-ness that naturally doesn’t liken itself to exposure. She isn’t crass or over the top – she merely has different boundaries. These are the boundaries that an artist explores, that one probes unreservedly at societal limitations. “I am not consciously trying to be different; the fact is, that I am different,” she explains, while sitting with her bare feet tucked under her on the sofa. She admits facing an on-going battle with people’s perceptions and consciously attempts to break those limitations.

A QUIRKY BEGINNING
Everything about her has been fairly unusual. Born in Puducherry to French parents, Francoise and Joel Koechlin, who settled into ashram life, she hasn’t been brought up with conventional rules. “They both came here separately, they met in India. They were looking for a life that was different – they taught me to be responsible but to make my own choices. It was never, ‘you have to believe it because we believe it’.”

A CHILDHOOD OF GULLY CRICKET AND PHILOSOPHY
Growing up she read a lot of philosophical literature, including Aurobindo. While most people safely go their entire life without stumbling upon it, Kalki explored Krishnamurti’s Freedom From The Known at the age of 13. “My life changed because of it – you get affected by these things.” She started writing at a very early age – little poems, songs, stories, while running around barefoot, playing gully cricket in a village called Periamudaliachavadi and exploring drama and art along with trekking through jungles while at Hebron School, Ooty. So removed was it from a traditional Indian schooling experience, that she felt comfortable in the knowledge that it was all sufficiently “open-minded and liberal”. Until she had an eye-opening jolt when she went off to study at Goldsmiths in London, where there were “women with T-shirts saying ‘I’m a lesbian’, with pink hair and purple tutus and Goth black boots coming to school. I felt so simple!”

BRINGING THEATRE TO LIFE
Studying drama in London was admittedly the greatest influence on her, carving her as an actor. You understand immediately when she explains that Damien Hirst, and some “out-there art” emerged from Goldsmiths. A smile begins to form, “A lot of which I didn’t like, but which made me think outside the box. It was an opening to these other things that I knew nothing about. An artist takes everything as inspiration, everything that affects your life, the circumstances.”

CREATING CHARACTERS THAT SPEAK
Her all-round drama course exposed her to everything from feminism in theatre to world theatre (including our own Kathakali and Butoh, a Japanese form of theatre); while she picked her favourites from the local greats like Pina Bausch, Peter Brook, Robert Lepage and Robert Wilson. That foundation in theatre becomes ingrained – as a big screen actor, she needs familiarity with the mise-en-scène, which takes place upon reaching the set – even before hair and make-up. A newspaper-stuffed handbag won’t do; what if she needs to throw something at someone, or needs the phone to make a call, while in the throes of the scene? “I need to know what is in my room… what drawers to open! Sometimes I ask the set designer to put some stuff in. The more detailing you give to anything, the more real it becomes.”

Kalki Koechlin for Verve's July Art Issue shot by Jatin Kampani

BEING A HUMAN CHAMELEON
The personality she brings to a mainstream girl-next-door role, like that of Aditi in last year’s blockbuster, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, is unique. The mannerisms, the bitchy look, the irritatingly suffocating girlfriend may be as far removed from Kalki in real life as possible, but Natasha in Zoya Akhtar’s hit film, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara(2011) came alive on screen and became one of the most memorable characters from the movie. Kalki can’t help asking questions… making sure the script works, the role works and maybe that’s why the casting works. “I need logic to the character, some idea of how it’s working, even if it is a completely commercial film. You have to make that character believable for yourself. If you don’t believe it, your audience won’t believe it.”

SEARCHING FOR ACCEPTANCE
She has a particularly contrary mix of cinematic choices – dark, edgy plots, horror and easy feel-good romantic films. She takes this mixed bag in her stride; after all, she can watch a Meg Ryan or Julia Roberts’ rom-com, intense European films, or “a mindnumbing Bollywood film like Heroine” with equal ease. “Everybody has multiple tastes, so why should  an actor only stick to one thing? An actor’s job is to be a chameleon, to constantly adapt to different roles. I just want to surprise myself. I chose to be an actor because I love the challenge of changing and transforming. If I get comfortable and stick to that, I would get bored of acting. I can’t keep doing the same role.”

TELLING A PERSONAL STORY
She’s not immune to the fact that an actor only survives because of an audience; an artist can’t find inspiration in isolation. “No matter how much you say you are only doing it for yourself, you want people to relate and understand. I don’t think of doing an independent film so that only my family will watch it, I think, ‘this is a great subject, how come we don’t talk about these things more’. At the end of the day, like everyone, I want to be loved and understood. And that’s the main thing an artist wants.”

The 30-year-old loves popping into MoMA, Tate Modern and the Guggenheim, and finds herself drawn to modern art. “Art is completely tied to the society and the place you are at. It is always relevant to what’s going on. It has to start with something personal otherwise it becomes a social cause. I see art that preaches about change. But until you bring your own personal story to it, it’s not as powerful. The reason you do art is because you feel helpless and you want to change things…but only when it really affects you do you begin to have something to say.” She expresses herself through her writing – even though she isn’t deeply committed to it. She’s written a play, Skeleton Woman, with her friend, Prashant Prakash; co-writtenThat Girl In Yellow Boots with director Anurag Kashyap; has written a new (untitled) play recently and engages in a spot of blogging. “It’s something very sporadic; I feel very focused on my acting. Writing is therapeutic for me.”

It’s difficult to imagine someone so soft-spoken having firm opinions about things; it’s unnatural to imagine Kalki as a movie star. She does and she isn’t. She’s an artiste, an actor, married to the craft, and understands and loves it for what it is. Having participated in various shoots and covers for Verve magazine, including a glamorous Best-Dressed issue last October, you find nothing has changed, no airs have appeared. She’s matured ever so slightly, or is it your imagination that the pixie-like features are just a bit worldlier post her recent estrangement from director-husband Anurag Kashyap? But the childlike innocence, the carefree spirit and the charming personality are all intact. She turns up post a leisurely holiday in Greece, with an enviable figure, abs to die for, dressed unobtrusively in pastel shorts and a shirt. She lounges around photographer Jatin Kampani’s studio, waiting for the shoot to commence, and is completely at ease, with herself and the people around her. She doesn’t mind being captured on candid camera without any make-up or work on her hair, while her contemporaries wouldn’t accept being seen without make-up. She takes photos of the crew on her own nifty camera and is easily amused with the results – promising to email them out. I am not surprised when, true to grain, the email arrives, intact with artistic filters that pick up the mustard yellow from my jumpsuit and spread it in a slow fire around my face. After all, what is art if not living life on your own terms with a little bit of experimentation?

KALKI’S COLLECTION
ON HER WALLS

  1. French artist Marie Tissot (original, inherited from her grandmother).
  2. Modernist Marc Chagall (replicas, he’s one of her favourites).
  3. Dhiraj Choudhury (painting of clowns, gifted to her by her mother).
  4. Amrita Bagchi (given by the artist in repayment for a favour).

IN HER LIBRARY

  1. Lots of books on philosophy, history and people.
  2. Leonard Cohen’s biography (“I am a fan of his music…not his personality!”).
  3. Non-fiction like Rana Dagupta’s Capital.
  4. Classics like those by Oscar Wilde and Edith Wharton.
  5. Kurt Vonnegut (“When he died, I was like, ‘What, I won’t get any more books?’”)

Watch Kalki live in Verve‘s quirky behind-the-scenes shoot here.

Cover Story with Priyanka Chopra: “Little Grown-Up Girl”

17 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Interviews (All), Interviews: Cinema, Interviews: Cover Stories, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Interview, Priyanka Chopra, Verve Magazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Dec 2013 (18th year anniversary issue)
Photograph by: Dabboo Ratnani

Priyanka Chopra has had to take leaps and become an adult when her peers were bunking school. She’s tumbled into several coming-of-age moments; ones that define her and some that continue to plague her. The top-rung Hindi film actor and experimental singer opens up about her self-esteem issues, growing up, making mistakes and finding herself

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She’s sexy, glamorous and unbelievably graceful. As she walks into the cover shoot, every single head turns. And if you catch her eye, the look can be distant or it can pierce your soul, entirely dependent upon how interested she may be in knowing you. She’s warm but has her personal space and boundaries clearly defined. Her husky voice is muted, as she remains engrossed in long, involved conversations with her Verve cover co-stars, Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor. Later, you struggle to reconcile the raw vulnerability of the girl to the exterior of this poised and spirited woman, as she reveals the moments of the past that define her today….

JUST INTO THE AWKWARD TEENS, I WAS VERY CONSCIOUS OF THE WAY I LOOKED. I was very dusky and skinny to my Punjabi family’s fair, fat and pretty. I always felt left out. With all those insecurities in mind, I landed up in America in high school (ninth grade), which took a big toll on me as a teenager.

TO BE IN HIGH SCHOOL IN AMERICA IS JUST LIKE MEAN GIRLS, THE MOVIE. I came from Bareilly, didn’t understand anything and had so many emotional and self-esteem issues; and around me the girls looked so grown-up. I looked 12 to their 16. They were dressed up, developed, wore make-up, had blow-dried hair, and I was in pigtails. I realised that grooming is the only thing that will make you look the best that you can be and I started learning how to take care of myself.

THE WAY YOU LOOK, UNFORTUNATELY, MAKES YOU FEEL A CERTAIN WAY. Everybody doesn’t like certain things about themselves and as soon as you start accepting yourself for who you are, or be the best that you can be then you start feeling confident. It is something I still do. I have improved upon my skin, my looks. There is nothing wrong with that skin tone; in fact, I photograph really well because of it. But my skin, unlike Smita Patil’s beautiful duskiness, for instance, used to be an unclear dusky. I started taking care of it, which gave me a much clearer complexion; being more active and getting toned up so my body started developing the way I wanted it to; and I began wearing the right kind of clothes.

THE UGLY DUCKLING USED TO BE MY FAVOURITE STORY, BECAUSE THAT WAS MY STORY. In high school, in four years, from 13 to 17 I changed from that gawky teenager to Miss World. And yet, even as Miss World, I didn’t feel like a pari. I had major self-esteem issues because it was in my head.

I CAUGHT A TV SHOW, JUST THIS MORNING, WHERE THEY TALKED ABOUT ‘PLASTIC CHOPRA’ about how my body, face and hair have changed over the years. My knees were circled in one picture pointing out that they had more gradation in skin colour (2005) and they circled my knees now, saying ‘knees pe plastic surgery karvaiyi hai, colour badal gaya hai unka! (She’s had plastic surgery on her knees, their colour has changed.)’ It hurts me so much, because it’s taken so much of me to go from that ugly duckling to be who I am today, to be in the movie business. For all the young girls out there – moisturise every day and watch your skin become smoother and it will start glowing. It’s the little things and I learnt that over time. There was no one to teach me….

WHEN I BECAME MISS WORLD THAT WAS A BIG COMING-OF-AGE MOMENT FOR ME. Suddenly from a school uniform in the 12th standard I went to talking about the economy of Zimbabwe to the press of the world. How am I supposed to know that at 17? I had to grow up instantly.

THE MOVIE INDUSTRY IS A HARD PLACE TO BE IN WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE A MENTOR OR A BOYFRIEND, SOMEONE WHO IS PROTECTING YOU. At the ages of 18-20 I had to deal with people the way an adult would, and in the movie business you meet a lot of strange people. I had my mom with me, and even though she didn’t know the ways of the industry either, we both knew how to live life on our terms.

I HAVE NEVER BEEN FORCED OR COERCED INTO DOING SOMETHING. I know how to protect myself as a woman. Even if it’s a big film, I know how to say no if I feel uncomfortable. Every movie that I have done has been an experience in making me the actor that I am today. Sometimes it’s hard, because it’s a male-dominated world. But nothing in life is worth your self-respect or your dignity.

I HAVE MY VALUES VERY INTACT. I HAVE A LOT OF COURAGE OF CONVICTION. EVEN IF I MAKE MISTAKES, THEY ARE MINE. I stand by them and I will take the lynching and the shooting and stand in front of the squad and say, ‘I did this. Now shoot me. I am not a saint. I haven’t come here to be one, and no one can be.’ I am someone who is happiest when I make people happy.

I HAVE A REALLY FIERCE SENSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHICH DOESN’T MEAN THAT I DRAW LINES AND STAY WITHIN THE PARAMETERS OF WHAT IS SAFE. I won’t say, ‘Yeh laxman rekha hai, and I won’t cross it.’ I am adventurous in life and I have done so many things out of my comfort zone whether it is my career or my personal life. But I stand by them. I don’t feel like I regret even the bad phases of my life. I may have wanted them not to happen. But I have never been ashamed of anything I have done.

I AM MOST UNCOMFORTABLE WHEN I AM IN GREY SITUATIONS. I am a very black-and-white kind of person. I need to make parallels and flow charts. I need to know life is headed a particular way; I need to know what is going to happen; I need to be prepared. But life is not like that, it throws googlies at you regularly…and I get thrown off. I am a very sensitive person, hugely emotional. Every time life throws a googly at me, I come of age. I grow up a little bit more.

THE ONE THING I MISSED OUT ON IS COLLEGE LIFE; MY MOM FEELS THAT THAT IS HER BIGGEST REGRET FOR ME. Bunking classes and running off with your friends. I never had that. I feel like I am regressing now, though. I am also a private, shy person. With my work I take all the risks, but with my personal life I am afraid to take the leap.

I’M LETTING LIFE PASS ME BY BECAUSE I ADORE MY JOB. It gives me the greatest joy, but maybe ten years down the line I will think, ‘I wish I had taken that holiday….’ I haven’t taken a holiday in 16 years. This phase – as you are talking to me – is a coming-of-age phase. I am happy and content professionally; I am blazing my own trail…whether it’s the wrong path, failure-ridden path, successful path…I don’t know. But at least it’s my own. I’m not following norms. It’s more fun that way. I always like running…or flying! I don’t ever want to take any steps back for any reason.

MY DAD’S GOING MADE ME GROW UP A LITTLE BIT. It’s too soon so I haven’t dealt with it in a way, but that changed me a lot. I’m still processing it. I will always remember my post 20s beginning like that.

MY 20S WERE VERY TURBULENT. I didn’t know who I was, what I wanted to be…not that I know now, but I am a little closer to understanding it. I know what I don’t want. You start living with an acceptance of who you are.

Beauty From Another Border

09 Saturday Nov 2013

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Features & Trends, Interviews (All), Interviews: Cinema, Interviews: Cover Stories, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Katrina Kaif, Trend, Verve Magazine

Published: November 2013, Cover Story, Verve Magazine

Indian cinema has become a multi-ethnic turf with the foray of Eurasian or non-Indian fair-skinned brunettes. The film industry continues to open its arms to a posse of beautiful foreigners, which may be a sign of globalisation or reverse exoticism….

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“I have never believed that I’m better at my work, more famous or more beautiful than my Indian colleagues, even if I look different.” Yana Synkova Gupta, Czech model and item number girl, formerly married to an Indian, once said to Verve. The Indian film industry continues to be a leveller, an industry of opportunities – allowing for the foray of international faces into its desi waters. Far before the country opened up its economic arms to globalisation, women from abroad found themselves trying to woo the Indian audience, with varying results.

Possibly the first grand entry into India cinema of a foreigner was that of ‘Fearless Nadia’, born Mary Ann Evans in Australia, but brought up in India. With her theatre and circus background she carved a unique spot for herself after being introduced to Hindi films by Jamshed Wadia of Wadia Movietone in 1935. The tall blue-eyed blonde ‘Hunterwali’, held her own in Indian cinema for over three decades. Raj Kapoor brought a Russian circus down in Mera Naam Joker (1972) and Kseniya Ryabinkina, the fair maiden therein who won his heart on screen, was one of the early entrants to Indian cinema, albeit in a blink-and-miss role. While women from the subcontinent have found presence for a long time, hardly any actress made a major impact, until two Nepalese girls who studied in India (though separated by decades) came to the fore: Mala Sinha and Manisha Koirala. It may have helped that they could easily be mistaken for local artistes (much like the Sri Lankan Jacqueline Fernandez today). And who can forget how Burmese actress and dancer, Helen Richardson, set the screen on fire with her sensational moves? With over 500 films to her name, she is the one who created a unique space for special dance or ‘item’ numbers in popular Indian cinema.

Today, the roster of international faces hails from all over the world including remote Eastern European countries to the big Western ones. In Thomas Friedman’s ‘flat’ world, you find markets becoming interchangeable: Hollywood is realising that India is a huge audience for their films while Indian cinema is growing all over the world because of the number of Indians living abroad. Globalisation and the exposure of Indians at home to foreign cinema and television over the last couple of decades have provided access to visual material featuring people of different races – making it more acceptable to be admiring of or drawn to them.

WHY INDIA?
India’s thriving film industries are a big market for aspiring actresses. International, non-Indian models already here, like Yana Gupta or Giselli Monteiro, are looking for opportunities to break into the small or big screen – in the way Saif Ali Khan’s former-love interest, the Italian Rosa Catalano, once attempted. Those who are ‘discovered’ from abroad, like Rockstar’s Nargis Fakhri and Madras Town’s Amy Jackson are willing to take a chance to become popular in a foreign country. Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa runner-up, the American Lauren Gottlieb, who is a natural brunette, says most people wonder whether she has any Indian roots. Add dark hair and good looks to the Indian desire for fair skin, and you’ve got a Katrina-Kaifesque winning combination. It is harder to stand out in one’s own country than it is to gain exotic recognition abroad.

Hindi cinema director, Imtiaz Ali, who has cast foreign faces in two of his movies, believes that signing an actress from abroad can be more economical than hiring an established actress from India. “What you would pay a foreigner would be the same as a new person in India, with the added advantage of a fresh face. The only difference being, if you have specially invited the person here for an acting role, you would be responsible for providing them their life here – the travel, the lifestyle.”

So you have Eurasians, women with Indian roots or origin, eager to give it a shot, even if they, like the Indo-German Evelyn Sharma, have been discovering their roots for the first time (and for the longest time believed that biryani was a German dish).

SPEECHLESS NO DOUBT
Unlike Kalki Koechlin (born and brought up in India to French parents), most actresses of foreign origin struggle with the language issue. Hindi – or any Indian language – isn’t easy to learn. It isn’t remotely like any other foreign language and tends to form a natural barrier to success in Indian cinema. Brazilian model, Giselli Monteiro, played the role of an Indian in Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal (2009) because she had no major speaking role. Ali points out: “Speech makes a huge difference; while feelings are much the same way in any part of the world. Punjabis felt that Monteiro really looked like a local girl.” The success of this casting probably led Ali to offer Pakistani-Czech model Nargis Fakhri a chance to play the lead role in his next venture, Rockstar (2011). A complete unfamiliarity with the language and culture led to Fakhri floundering in the lead role and facing a lot of flak. In the recent Madras Café though, she moves forward to play an English-speaking Indian girl from London, therefore with an admissible accent. Lisa Ray, born in Canada to an Indian father and Polish mother, had her stint in Hindi and South film industries, but her inability to speak Hindi possibly deterred her from moving further, leading her to English-speaking cinema, including working with director, Deepa Mehta (Water).

Except for South Indian cinema where dubbing is more acceptable – British model, Amy Jackson, regularly has her lines dubbed – it is likely that language will continue to play a major hindrance until Indian films are made in English. As Koechlin points out, “It is fine in the beginning, a beautiful face and then somebody else’s voice; but it becomes tough to relate to the celebrity who doesn’t speak your language and that’s when they lose contact with the audience.” Born in small-town Germany to a German mother and Indian father, Evelyn Sharma, who didn’t know a word of Hindi when she came to India, underwent exhaustive Hindi training to know it well enough by the time she started her first movie, From Sydney With Love (2012).

And what about body language? In an inherently visual medium like acting, the body language plays an important role in conveying the character’s emotions. Imtiaz Ali admits that the criticism he received on casting Fakhri – while he still stands by his casting decision – is that her body language was innately Western. “She wasn’t Hindustani. The way her mouth shaped and moved when speaking the local language was innately alien and disconcerting. When she was talking in English it was fine, but the rest of the time, the cultural heritage was missing. So in general, a foreigner can’t be as believable when speaking in a foreign language. Janta can’t accept ki yeh hamari ladki hai.”

AH, KATRINA
A British model who spoke not a single word of Hindi and couldn’t dance at all now reigns supreme in the Indian film industry. Born Katrina Turquotte, the arresting girl began her modelling career in Hawaii at the age of 14 and made her debut in Kaizad Gustad’s box-office dud, Boom in 2003. (Incidentally, a year after, Kaizad Gustad faced jail time for the accidental death of British-Pakistani crew member Nadia Khan, on the sets of his film Bombay Central).

Working in South Indian films and in Hindi cinema, Kaif clawed her way up the movie reels through sheer grit, determination and – if such a thing exists – luck. And yet, while she has turned detractors into admirers, is considered a bankable star, has made it to Power lists (including Verve’s 2013 power cover) and has heavy endorsements; industry insiders (like director, Imtiaz Ali) doubt that she can hold her own against an Indian Kareena Kapoor Khan when it comes to the quality of roles offered, because Khan is a local girl who gets all the local nuances.

There has been speculation of Kaif’s origins – despite being a gorgeous brunette, there are talks that the Kashmiri link doesn’t actually exist, it’s just a clever marketing ploy to not alienate the Indian audience and create a foundation of acceptance. Which may be why there is a surge of Eurasians attempting to try their luck in Indian cinema. Even Ali admits that Fakhri’s Pakistani lineage played a significant part in casting her as the lead in his movie, Rockstar (2011).

With support from her then boyfriend and industry stalwart, Salman Khan, and a fierce desire to succeed by observing her co-stars, Khan and Akshay Kumar, Kaif has the learnt the ropes and knows how not to drop the ball. She has a fierce regime – exercises brutally, never stops her dance practice, has managed to master Hindi far better than Sonia Gandhi in a far shorter time and is her own best PR manager. So is Kaif an anomaly or an inspiration? She is both. There possibly will be many years before another Katrina Turquotte may become the Indian superstar Katrina Kaif, but she will serve as inspiration to many aspirants until that happens.

REALITY-SHOW DIVAS
Foreigners undoubtedly add the great masala element and exotic appeal to reality television and hope to have it kick-start their celluloid career – in much the manner that Shilpa Shetty managed to work the British Celebrity Big Brother 5 television show in her favour. While Indo-Canadian adult film star, Sunny Leone’s racy presence in the Bigg Boss house led to her being cast in Hindi films, Yana Gupta became a household name after Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khiladi (2008) and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa – 4 (2010) despite being introduced way back in 2003 with the Babuji song in Dum.

But the greatest success story in recent times is possibly that of professional dancer and choreographer, Lauren Gottlieb, a finalist in Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 6. The hit American reality show, So You Think You Can Dance (2005) star and Hollywood actress got a break in Bollywood with UTV Motion Pictures emailing her to play the lead in Remo D’Souza’s 3-D dance film, Any Body Can Dance (2013). She hasn’t had a moment to look back since.

BEST FRIEND, VAMP OR ITEM GIRL
Jerry Pinto’s Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb examined the unequivocal charisma that the Burmese dancing sensation brought to the fore. ‘Helen was the desire that you need not be embarrassed about feeling…because there was something about her that transcended the tawdry clothes, the bizarre make-up, the invasive camera angles, the inane lyrics and the repetitive choreography and suggestive movements.’

Today, the foreign girls that are a part of Indian cinema often get relegated to risqué roles, or the best friend, or the vamp with one sensational item number. In the recent Prakash Jha film, Satyagraha, Eastern European model, Natasa Stankovic, is introduced in a dull number and an equally dull performance. A choli, a bare midriff and gyrations do not a successful item girl make. Actresses like the Arab-Brazilian Bruna Abdullah have been relegated to smaller roles – the hero’s fling in I Hate Luv Storys (2010) and item numbers like the popular Subah Hone Na De from Desi Boyz (2011); while the Mumbai-born, foreign-raised Indo-Australian Lisa Haydon got recognition as a model and is now finding small roles in movies like Aisha (2010), where she plays a New-York return to explain away the accent.

Through popular demand, Sunny Leone gyrated to Laila, an item number in this year’s Shootout at Wadala. Even the Sri Lankan beauty queen, Jacqueline Fernandez, does a choli-and-ghaghra number with Jadoo Ki Jhappi in Ramaiya Vastavaiya, in an attempt to woo over the local audiences. Is an item number a foolproof method of instant recognition, or does it relegate them to sleazy status? It’s a fine line between maryada and besharmi that very few manage to get the better of.

GOING BIG TIME OR STAYING SMALL
Are these women being relegated to item girls because they have a particular kind of body and are more likely to wear skimpier clothes? Does it appear that they would more easily be cast as the lead actress’ best friend or the girl the hero has a casual fling with, because our version of Western morality being such, Indians are likely to be more convinced that the foreigner is of easy virtue? Indian actresses aspiring to become leads may also be less willing to ruffle the feathers of the audience’s ethics – they would like to be thought of as pavitra; leaving a greater opening for foreigners to capitalise on to become the audience’s fantasy.

Evelyn Sharma initially wondered whether people would accept her in Indian cinema – “Even though I had signed five different movies I was worried people might slot me into the ‘foreign girl’ role.” Even Koechlin admits that she had to refuse a lot of film offers that had come her way because they were the background dancer or the vampy extra white girl. It was only after proving her acting prowess in edgy and risqué roles in movies like Dev D (2009) and That Girl In Yellow Boots (2010) that Koechlin began to play strong character roles in mainstream Indian cinema like those in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani (2013). In a move that suggests that she is the only actress to successfully shuttle between playing Indian, semi-Indian and foreign roles, she is soon to essay the role of Victoria Ocampo, Rabindranath Tagore’s Argentine writer muse, on stage in Manav Kaul’s Colour Blind, speaking in five languages.

CAN ANYONE MAKE IT HERE?
Whether you face judgements from the audience or you have to work doubly hard to prove your mettle, it isn’t as simple as talent reaching great heights. Lauren Gottlieb, who probably has had to counter more challenges than others, says, “I don’t think anyone can make it anywhere. You have to view everyone individually. You have to have the guts, determination. It’s one thing to be a good-looking face and try to make it but when you have dedicated your life or career to something and studied for it, that’s when you rise. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world; I was rising in Hollywood – I didn’t know I would rise over here! You have to be fearless. I’ve been challenged with rapidly adapting culturally, language-wise, dance-style-wise…. It’s scary sometimes, but if you tackle it, you can succeed.”

Geographical barriers are one thing. Culture and language is another. The former is pretty much redundant; the latter can be circumvented. In a country that is exorbitantly heterogeneous with an inherent love for things foreign, there can only be more opportunities for the ones that strive to make it here. Maybe all that’s required is what Raj Kapoor popularised in Shree 420:

‘Mera Joota Hai Japani,
Yeh Patloon Englistani,
Sar Pe Laal Topi Rusi,
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani’.

SHORT-TERM IMPORTS
A brief moment in Indian cinema

1. While Uruguayan-Mexican model and actress, Barbara Mori set the screen on fire in Kites (2010), there was no room to have her back because she was introduced as a foreigner.

2. British roses Rachel Shelley (Lagaan) and Antonia Bernath (Kisna) only served to play a specific foreign part in their respective films.

3. British models Aruna Shields (Prince) and Sofia Hayat (Diary of a Butterfly), South African model and Playboy cover girl Candice Boucher (Aazaan) debuted in Bollywood but have yet to make their presence felt.

4. The Norwegian-born, Iranian actress Nigar Khan known for the Chadti Jawaani video and the Australian actress Tania Zaetta (Bunty aur Babli and Salaam Namaste) haven’t had any takers so far.

5. The British model with an Indo-Mauritian mother, Hazel Keech, who acted in Bodyguard (2011) and Tamil film Billa (2007), popped into Bigg Boss 7 last month; but beat an early retreat.

AMY’S WAY
Verve cover girl, British model, Amy Jackson on becoming a desi heroine

“It is unbelievable that I was asked to play top lead roles in films where my lines have to be dubbed!”

She’s petite for a British girl, has stunning eyes and a persistent sniffle at the cover shoot in Kashmir. When she turned 21, she felt she was growing old – and yet, she’s just embarking on a journey in Indian cinema.

The fresh-faced Amy Jackson got noticed in Hindi cinema for her role in Ekk Deewana Tha (2012), where she played a Christian girl opposite Prateik. While the movie didn’t make waves, it served to bring Jackson, a British model, to the attention of the local audience. The 22-year-old equestrian was discovered by model scouts at the age of 15, soon after which she became a Miss Teen World (2008) and Miss Liverpool (2010), seeing her modelling career track across UK and Europe.

South-Indian-cinema director, Vijay (who thought she resembled Kate Winslet in Titanic), spotted one of her pageant images on the Internet and traced her to London. She was auditioned for the Tamil film, Madras Town/ Madrasapattinam (2010), in which she played a British girl. The movie was a super hit. It led to another film, Thaandavam and Jackson is now doing Telugu films, Yevadu (due to release soon) and Shankar’s Ai. “Ever since I got the taste of acting as the leading lady, I’ve never looked back,” she says.

Jackson travels all over for her shoots but has set up home in Bandra, Mumbai. She has made friends from the fashion industry and regards the South directors as her mentors. “When I first arrived I’d just turned 17…I missed my family and friends. I’m very lucky to have a supportive family: my mum travels everywhere with me, my dad has flown over to watch me shoot. For my first ever movie, my friends organised a premiere in my hometown, Liverpool, and that was the first time they ever watched an Indian movie…they loved it!”

She finds scripts from the South to be more exciting as they offer lead and meatier roles. “While they are beautiful actresses and great dancers, I wouldn’t like to be known as merely an item girl. Maybe after I have established myself as an actor I would consider it.” The young girl who turned vegetarian overnight enjoys a dash of Indian food – minus the spice. “On a Sunday I like to chill out and watch movies all afternoon. My Indian favourites include Jab We Met, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Ghajini.” While she offers that she is currently single, she laughs, “Male attention is the same world over.”

India has been “life-changing” for Jackson. “India excites me. There’s no place like it in the world, and my favourite part about it, is the people. The energy; the fact that Mumbai is constantly alive and buzzing. Even if it’s 3 a.m., I know that when I look out of the window I’ll never feel alone. It’s exhilarating! It’s such a welcoming place; I love calling it my home. When I am away, I also miss the sun…after all, we don’t get much of it in England!”

“I don’t see how an actress’ race or origin determines getting ‘propositioned’. I believe that things like that happen based on your character and how you portray yourself.”
– Amy Jackson, model and actress

Cover Girls: Kalki, Drashta & Natasha for Verve’s Annual Best Dressed Issue

10 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Fashion & Style, Interviews (All), Interviews: Cover Stories, Interviews: Lifestyle, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Best Dressed, Fashion, Style, Verve Magazine

Published: Verve Magazine, October 2013

KALKI Koechlin
For her unconcerned, quirky sense of fashion. And her enviable midriff

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WILL NEVER WEAR An animal print leotard.

STYLE SOULMATE Gwen Stefani.

SENTIMENTAL INHERITANCE My paternal grandmother was very stylish and a model when young. She introduced me to style when I was 14 and had tons of cool stuff from the ’50s. I particularly love this burgundy-coloured velvet suit with big, puffy shoulders.

BANISH FROM BOLLYWOOD Sequins! My eyes are getting blinded!

FAVOURITE FASHION MOMENT Last year, in Cannes, when I wore Sabyasachi with a headpiece. It felt very elegant and original.

INTIMIDATED BY THE FASHION OF…. New York. I went for the first time this summer. Everyone looked stunning…so effortlessly cool, straight out of a magazine cover.

SOMETHING WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU…. I have fat ankles and chubby calves. No matter how much I run, it’s like God put cotton in them. Sabyasachi’s tight churidars simply won’t fit!

PLANNED DRESSER OR NOT? Not! I am a designer’s nightmare – I call them 24 hours before my appearance…asking for something amazing.

QUICK TRICKS TO ALTER THE LOOK OF THE SAME OUTFIT One popping out colour – red or pink shoes; a jacket; a bright bag. And I love hats! While I don’t much care for jewellery, I have one statement piece – a big Mother Mary cross, that’s like a piece of clothing in itself.

INDIVIDUAL DRESSING VERSUS TRENDS You can’t escape trends. It helps you discover new things – but it shouldn’t make you uncomfortable. And yet, your personality comes out in your styling – people judge you by the way you dress.

FAVOURITE DRESSING UP SONG OF THE MOMENT Bad Girls by MIA. It’s such a cool video – really gets me going.

A YOUNG DESIGNER YOU ARE IMPRESSED BY Nimish Shah. At his recent show, I loved his opening outfit – a burgundy velvet dress with white lace.

AN ETERNALLY FAVOURITE DESIGNER/LABEL Sabyasachi…and Urban Outfitters.

SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T WORK FOR YOU, BUT YOU WISH IT DID Sporty clothes, tracksuits…I wish I could be like Eminem!

SARI ESCAPADES I wear a lot more saris than people know – in my theatre circle. I like hand-woven, khadi and natural fabric.

SOMETHING NEW IN YOUR WARDROBE An army jacket with big pockets from Zara.

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DRASHTA Sarvaiya
For her combination of girlish femininity and androgynous toughness of spirit

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WILL NEVER WEAR An anarkali kurta.

STYLE SOULMATE Caroline Issa of Tank magazine and Because London.

SENTIMENTAL INHERITANCE My maternal grandmother’s jadau earrings made by a local jeweller in Palitana.

WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE IN BOLLYWOOD Garishness. I prefer old Hindi cinema – the ’60s films were stylish; today we consider their styles to be retro. In the future, our kids won’t consider the styling of films today retro or iconic. The character and originality is missing.

FAVOURITE FASHION MOMENT When Sarah Jessica Parker happened to see my collection in Paris and liked my clothes. She took my number from my agent – I missed meeting her, but loved that it happened.

SOMETHING WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU…. I am a foolishly romantic person.

DRESSING EXPERIMENTS My dressing style depends upon my hair! With long hair I prefer bifurcated garments and trousers; with a short pixie cut I prefer more feminine silhouettes.

ETERNALLY FAVOURITE LABELS Lanvin, Etro (for their paisleys), Mary Katrantzou (for artistic prints) and Vivienne Westwood (for wedding gowns).

SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T WORK FOR YOU, BUT YOU WISH IT DID Micro-minis!

NEW IN YOUR WARDROBE A Marc Jacobs bag.

COMPLETELY AVOIDABLE Monogrammed bags!

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NATASHA Chib
For being a restaurateur with style

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SIGNATURE STYLE Somewhere between androgynous, street and tailored simplicity.

A FASHION NO-NO Clothes that are too tight.

STYLE SECRET THAT ALWAYS WORKS A scarf, an oversized light sweater and the colour black.

CURRENT WARDROBE FAVOURITE A floor-length grey cotton dress and the rediscovery of a red silk cape from Paris that is eons old.

RECENT SPLURGE A mini cream-coloured Chloe bag from Harrods.

FAVOURITE FASHION ERA I love the 1920s. It was so sophisticated while being completely frivolous at the same time. I’m a huge fan of Josephine Baker and she was an absolute icon and in her prime during that time.

AN OVERDONE TREND Oversized headbands and headpieces. I’m totally done with faux punk rock studs as well.

FASHION SOUL CITIES Paris and New York.

WARDROBE STAPLES A tailored jacket and a favourite white blouse for each day of the week.

WARDROBE TREASURES I only buy things that I absolutely love; it is rare that I pick stuff up out of need or necessity. For instance, I admire the way Balenciaga fits me, the unbelievable craftsmanship of my Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla pieces and the originality of prints of a David Szeto piece.

SENTIMENTAL INHERITANCE A very vintage emerald ring that my grandmother gave me.

To The Manner Born: Sonakshi Sinha

05 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Interviews (All), Interviews: Cinema, Interviews: Cover Stories, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Bollywood, Imran Khan, India, Interview, Interviews: Cinema, Sonakshi Sinha, Verve Magazine, Vikramaditya Motwane

Published: Verve Magazine, Cover Story, August 2013

Sanskaar is a word often associated with her, she says. Sonakshi Sinha is unabashedly confident, reclusively shy and riding a wave of professional good fortune. The homegrown actor is uncomplicated and easy-going…and quintessentially Indian…

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She is always excruciatingly punctual. Apparently, on set she’s the first one in – ready before even the lighting guys have set up. At magazine shoots, she’s there with at least a couple of minutes to spare. Sonakshi Sinha crashes on the bed of the hotel suite we are shooting in and experiences a ‘lazy’ moment. Indigo skinny jeans, fitted tee and a smart cropped black leather jacket, a faint hint of lipstick and reflector shades complete the biker-chic look.

We chat lightly. Her grilled cheese sandwich and fries are on their way. While she agrees that an Indian woman is meant to be traditionally curvy and voluptuous, you find that she looks surprisingly slimmer in person than she did recently on screen, and her stomach is enviably flat – but her face is as captivating when she breaks into a smile. That smile reaches her large, expressive coffee-brown eyes that are immersive and can sparkle with a mood of their own. When her lip curls in dissatisfaction, it takes you back to her recent role of Pakhi from Vikramaditya Motwane’s Lootera, seared in our memory, as she transcends the elongated scenes in the movie with her emotiveness. She speaks easily, points out that she keeps getting asked certain questions – answers to which she’s “rattoed” (memorised by rote) and admits she enjoyed our little conversation.

The largely well-received Lootera was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I felt it was written for me”. People kept telling her not to do the film, that it was meant for a more mature actress, but she figured it was a dream role. And, she admits, the very fact that people were advising her against it goaded her to go for it. While she makes no pretense to high cinema, the 26-year-old girl, who’s taken on masala blockbuster movies head-on and won the heart of the hinterlands, feels that a slow, period romance like Lootera has given her recognition as an actor.

She comes on the set, gets ready with her lines and awaits the director’s instruction. Opening each day with a clean slate, she prefers to be moulded according to the director’s vision, believing that no one understands the character better. In her upcoming release this month, the Akshay Kumar-Imran Khan starrer, Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara, she plays a girl who makes the move from Kashmir to Mumbai to act. The first Milan Luthria film was a gangster thriller; the sequel has a stronger love angle, requiring a different chemistry for each character (Akshay and Imran), and balancing that became a challenge for her. “I was never a movie buff – I watched very few movies. I like to observe people and their nuances. I meet so many people every day – there is so much variety.”

“Sonakshi is professional, dedicated, fearless and magical. She has a wonderful presence – if she chooses her roles well over the next few years she could be one of the all-time greats.”
– Vikramaditya Motwane, director

Standing tall at five feet and eight inches, she’s comfortable in her own skin, but remains a quiet person. “I am a Gemini – two sides of a coin. I’m a shy person; I like to be by myself sometimes. I don’t overindulge in conversations with people I wouldn’t know.” She knows she’s here to do a certain job and that’s all that matters. “Some people are just meant to do what they are meant to do. I’ve inherited it from my father (actor-politician, Shatrughan Sinha) – he’s a very confident person. Besides, I don’t have anything not to be confident about – I’m very happy, I’m doing well; I’m working hard.” But it’s an industry of insecurities. “That’s what a lot of people tell me. I don’t know. I don’t want to be the centre of attention, I’m not insecure, I’m very comfortable with who I am, with what I’m doing, I don’t poke my nose into other people’s business. I guess that makes me a misfit!”

Sonakshi has her life cleanly compartmentalised. “I switch on and switch off with the camera. I don’t like to take my work home, I don’t like to talk about it; at home it’s a completely different life.”

Preferring to hang out with her school and college friends rather than fraternising with industry people, she says, “Going out for events and promotions, crowds of people yelling and shouting your name – that’s where it ends. At home I’m not a star, I’m my parents’ daughter and my brothers’ sister. If I do something wrong I’m reprimanded for it.” Having lived an unabashedly sheltered life while growing up (not being allowed to go abroad to study or to join her brothers at Kodai International boarding school), she admits, “I still have to be home at 1.30 a.m. when I go out! I have a deadline…it’s always been like that.”

Her mother used to be by her side all the time when Sonakshi had just started her movie career, but now she leaves her to figure things out for herself. “While she knows we are always there for her, workspaces have changed today. She’s grown up now, she understands her limits,” says erstwhile actress, Poonam Sinha who recalls how her daughter has always been sure of herself, quick to take a decision, with no qualms after. “She used to sketch much before she knew she wanted a career in fashion design. She would throw the sheets away, but I used to collect her sketches. Even her foray into films – she entered without any formal training in acting, dance or dialogue delivery. But she was confident from day one. I remember Salman Khan saying to her, ‘Wow, you are a one-take artist!’ She also has a strong gut instinct – she had a feeling about Pakhi (Lootera), that no one but she could play that role. She didn’t think twice.”

Sonakshi has wriggled into a very specific niche in Hindi cinema, quietly making it her own. Somehow, that garners the most queries from viewers who are now accustomed to bare-all-wear-nothing heroines. “It’s ironic that people keep asking me why I keep doing traditional roles as opposed to glamorous ones and no one asks any other Hindi cinema actress why she doesn’t do traditional roles as opposed to glamorous ones! We are talking about India, aren’t we,” she snips back with a smile. Playing a UP girl in Dabangg, a Bihari in Rowdy Rathore, a Punjabi kudi in Son of Sardaar, a Bengali in Lootera and now a Kashmiri girl in Once Upon a Time…she’s been captivated by the places she’s shot in. “I’ve covered most parts of India and found the interiors of the country fascinating. While sitting in the city (Mumbai) we tend to plan vacations abroad, and shooting in these locales has been an eye-opener…they are beautiful! And, I love Mumbai. However much we may crib about the mess and the roads, there’s just something about being home – about this being home,” she says with a broad sweep of her hands, encompassing the rain-tossed waves and palm fronds of Juhu beach outside the windows.

You don’t think she’ll hop off to perform a puja anytime soon, but you do think that she’s been raised to be careful of her screen presence and of her public persona. To be mindful of the way her actions would reflect upon her family. “The world has moved on, children live in a freer world, inspired by the West, but we are a very conventional family. She knew her dos and don’ts. Her father comes from that part of India, is a politician…she’s had to understand her responsibility,” says Poonam Sinha. Sonakshi adds, “There has never been any pressure from their side to do any of it – it’s just the way I have been brought up. I am a certain way, I don’t wear certain kinds of clothes, and we are a conservative family. It’s a part of my value system. My upbringing has everything to do with my rootedness and morals. It’s instinctive. Today wherever I go, when I meet somebody senior, actors or technicians, they give a direct compliment to my parents by saying, ‘I want my daughter to be just like you,’ and they use the words sanskaar a lot.”

“She’s got the swagger and attitude of Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar, and what makes them attractive is what makes her attractive: her inherent confidence and security. She’s simple, straightforward and uncomplicated.”
– Imran Khan, actor and co-star

So she sinks easily into her onscreen traditional avatar. She dons the saris and bindis and smiles beatifically into the camera. She’s mastered the art of holding her face at an angle just right, so that her sharp profile can be seen at its best advantage – she knows she can charm the audience with her warm smile and demure flicker of her eyelashes. And when I relate what her co-star and director have to say about her for this interview, you can’t miss the faint blush creeping up. She’s bashful; she’s smiling, she’s unable to look up. “The overall perception is that the youth is getting immoral – but that is a generalisation. I think India remains a rooted country, a country bound by values. That’s the basic story.”

Girl On A Wire: Cover Story with Parineeti Chopra

21 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Interviews (All), Interviews: Cinema, Interviews: Cover Stories, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Bollywood, indiancinema, Interview, Parineeti Chopra, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, September 2012, Cover Story
Photographs by Vishesh Verma

Parineeti01

She is touted as the industry ’s great new talent on the block, on the watch list of every major director and actor. Six months after her first film released, she is already working on her third. It is a rapid start for any newcomer, particularly one who became an actor because she got a return ticket to Mumbai instead of Delhi! PARINEETI CHOPRA is refreshingly easy to talk to and incredibly laidback in general, finds SITANSHI TALATI-PARIKH, as she chats with the banker who became a movie star

Parineeti05

Alive wire buzzes with an electric current that creates energy all on its own, without sapping any other source. In cinema, the screen is ripped to shreds with the power of its intensity. She has a lovely structured face, instantly appealing with its generous smile, fiery light-brown eyes, and translucent skin. She has a particularly defiant tilt to her jawline – as she speaks, she unconsciously lifts her face upwards, as if willing the world to see where she is headed. And yet, she believes it’s all just destiny. After all, that is what her name means.

“I dreamed of being a very different person – the CEO of one of the biggest banks in the world.” And clutching onto that lifetime’s vision, Parineeti Chopra found herself floundering while looking for a finance job. “Twenty-one years of my life I dreamt of being a banker. I worked all my life for it; I went to London. The year I graduated, was a recession – a financial breakdown in the world. I’d taken an educational loan, followed my dreams and gone there to study… everything finished for me.”

That’s when she picked up the bits and decided to return to India. Used to working and buying her own ticket home, she found that it was cheaper to fly into Mumbai – a city she had never previously visited – than to fly to Delhi; staying with her cousin, actress Priyanka Chopra, before returning home. The day after Parineeti arrived into the city, Priyanka had a shoot at the YRF studios. She accompanied her to see the studio, out of curiosity. “When I came here, I saw things like ‘Producer’ and ‘Director’ written on the walls – and found it so strange. It fascinated me, as a fan. I haven’t grown up on films – I used to read finance books, I was very nerdy. When I saw this place (we are currently at the very same studios), I thought about applying for a job here – in finance or accounts, maybe.”

Parineeti09

And so, using one of her other majors, Parineeti ended up doing marketing. “I started seeing the actors here, and initially I used to look down upon them – they put on make-up, go on set, earn so much money, they are in the biggest cars, best hotels in the world, everything is paid for….” Ironically, now, for her, that is a checklist with all the boxes ticked. “But with a very different frame of mind,” she insists. “Now, even if I hear that some actor is paid 25 crores, or some unrealistic figure like that, I don’t find it strange anymore – because working with them made me realise why actors are paid so much, why they are famous and so sought after, why their lives affect so many lives. I felt then that this is a creative field, requiring a lot of intelligence. Not only banking. I used to think that because I read out of a book and because I am making money for my clients, I’m very intelligent. That’s when I decided to be an actor.”

A staffer nervously hands her a cup of her special hazelnut coffee, profusely apologising for being late, checking if it is okay. She notices my amused expression. “I think it’s sweet. I’ve done this for people. I know I’ve not done anything to deserve it, but I know it is a natural thing. This importance is what I didn’t understand earlier about actors…but I guess, now I get it.” Parineeti says it without a sense of wonderment. “You work in an office,” she gesticulates, using me as an example. “Imagine if you were suddenly made the owner of the magazine! Yash Raj treats its actors like stars: you are given that much pampering and importance, freedom and decision-making power, however new you may be. I used to coordinate interviews and order food for actors (everyone from Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Ranveer Singh to Anushka Sharma, Deepika Padukone, Rani Mukerji and even her cousin, Priyanka). I used to take care of them, be their security person when they were out in the crowd. Suddenly you are elevated to a pedestal that you only used to be a caretaker of.”

The daughter of an NRI mom and Haryana’s Ambala-bornand-raised dad, left home at the age of 15 to study, and is fiercely independent and self-sufficient. “I had a very balanced childhood. Six months of the year I used to be in Ambala as a small-town girl with a very conservative, disciplined upbringing and six months I would live the life of utmost luxury with my billionaire grandparents abroad. I am a good-mannered, good girl, yet very open-minded in life. I get to see my parents thrice a year. They let me take my own decisions – all I have to do is inform them.” And yet, the 23-year-old admits she is not a great judge of people. “I’m not naive, but with people I do go wrong. Someone needs to come and tell me, ‘Why are you saying this to so-and-so, or why are you being so-and-so with so-and-so…’ and until someone tells me, it won’t occur to me. And I’m not a big star that people need to suck up to me!”

Parineeti02

She stops, takes a sip from a glass full of green liquid – spinach juice, she reveals with a wry grin, a formula she is using to improve her near-perfect skin so that she can face the camera without make-up for her next film. It’s a big step for a girl who has a chronic weakness for pizza – averaging four a week – to watch what she eats. “I don’t want to lose a lot of weight. But I like to be fit and I like to get into a regime before my next film so that I don’t get tired on set. Sometimes the director asks for 15 takes – and if I don’t have the energy to give that I may regret it for the rest of my life.”

As she murmurs approval over my bright coral bag, I’m certain there must be a girl in there who reads the fashion blogs and watches her choices being torn to shreds with the appearances she has made – including the big one at a film magazine’s awards ceremony where she stepped up to receive the best actress debut award for Ladies Vs. Ricky Bahl. “I’m wearing jeans today. It’s a big thing – people think I’m dressed up when I wear jeans. I have a whole pile of track pants and ganjees. That’s all I wear in my personal life. My hair is always in a mess.” She takes a breath, giving a clue to the fact that this may have hit home. “I don’t care about clothes. But I know that when I step out I need to look a certain way. Unfortunately, I don’t have the acumen to dress well. I’m just not that person. So now I do have a stylist to help me. I would never want people to say, ‘She is horribly dressed; she only knows how to act!’ I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes, because I’m so illiterate about what looks good on me or what’s in fashion. I have a very tricky body – I am not a very thin girl, so it is hard to dress me. But I am going to make an effort and try and look better. Just give me that time. I don’t have the vision of me as the actor, which needs to be sold in the industry. I wish I had grown up wanting to be an actor – I would have been so much more prepared.”

Prepared or not, she’s clearly gritty and hard-working to the extent of being tenacious about her roles, her characters, her life. Her screen presence has been remarkable and yet, apparently effortless. She enjoyed Ricky Bahl… and that created ripples on screen; she “gave my heart and soul” in Ishaqzaade and received critical acclaim. “There is a rule in the industry where actresses don’t get all the good roles. I would never say it is male-oriented, but there are better roles for men, which makes men huger stars than women. There are very few huge female stars, because they have been blessed with three or four really great evergreen roles. In my films, I think both characters are memorable – in absolutely different ways. I hope I get more such characters. I want to be a successful actor, which comes with successful characters, good characters.” An admirer of Vidya Balan and Rani Mukerji’s author-backed roles, she automatically shies away from ‘package films’ that rely upon a single selling point like money or a famous actor or a director on a winning spree. She needs something to keep her interested, to keep her wanting more. “I have a very short attention span. If you put me in similar kinds of characters I couldn’t do it. Something that is not meaty enough for me as an actor bores me. I can’t work on those films – except when I’m tired and need a break between two intense films…I should use the energy I have right now until I start tiring.”

Parineeti07Parineeti04

She’s been speaking rapidly, without hesitation, with a certain amount of lightheartedness that highlights her relaxed but upbeat demeanour, even as her work life steamrolls on. “I don’t mean to sound philosophical, but I’m just really happy in life. There are people – with due respect to them – who wait years and years for this to happen to them. I’m probably one of the more thankless ones, because I just got it – instead of running after it. I’m just plain happy.” She sounds dangerously blasé. “No – I’m saying this right now, but in three hours I may be crying saying I don’t know why I am an actor. I am a very extremist person. At this point I am content. I know this has happened to me. Life isn’t the same. But I haven’t dreamt about wanting to be an actor, so what has happened isn’t do-or-die for me. It’s not the hugest thing in the world. If I am successful, great. If not, I have my degree to fall back upon. The good thing is I don’t come from a film family. Today, my parents still say – do whatever you are doing until it makes you happy. When it doesn’t, do something else. Who knows – I may get bored of it, get married someday!”

There is something defiantly free spirited about her, that leaves one with the impression that she is in control, she needs to be in control, but occasionally spirals into the unknown ready to experiment at a moment’s choice. And she can surprise you with the things she says. “I’d like to believe I am very different, because nothing in this world means the world to me. Nothing. No one. Nothing. It could be my parents. People say you can’t live without your parents, but I know one day everybody is going to die and we are going to separate. I’m very realistic.” There is a moment of shock. Is there a little romantic girl? “I’m not a romantic person at all – I am very practical and realistic. Very. I will fall in love. And I know that the people that I love, I r-e-a-l-l-y love.” But these are people you can do without? “No! Not at all! They are very important to me. All I’m saying is that I don’t want anything to be the centre of my world because I’ll end up hurting myself. It’s just the kind of person I am. Whether it is money, or success in my career, or it’s my family or friends – I love everything and I want everything all the time till the day I die. But if something doesn’t work out, it’s okay. I don’t want it to shatter me. Whatever has happened to me is enough for it to go to anybody’s head. Because it’s happening so fast and happening so well. My name means ‘destiny’ and I really believe in destiny. I know that tomorrow if it is not meant to be, it will all be over, so I shouldn’t let it be the most important thing in the world to me.”

Parineeti08

Parineeti’s wedding diary 

The actor, who has so far had unrequited love on screen, is ready for a happy ending in real life.

THE GROOM “It’s a cliché, but I want my man to be like my father – I fi nd every other boy too pansy for me, because they are not brooding Punjabi Jatts.”

THE WOOING “My idea of romance is when a guy gives me no importance. I love it. I hate it when I get gifts, or when someone says, ‘Come, let’s go for dinner.’ But, ‘Just come over, we’ll watch a fi lm and order food’ – that’s fun. Just being a regular Punjabi man.”

THE RELATIONSHIP “I’m 23, I hope now I get into a good relationship. I’ve never been in a serious enough relationship to experience any kind of heartbreak. And that’s why I love Band Baaja Baraat – it says ‘Pyaar aur vyapaar ek saath ho sakte hain’.”

THE PROBLEMS “The privacy thing. Rumours in the p
apers link me up with various people – all friends; and now I can’t be seen with them! Even if I tell my mother there is nothing going on, there will be some seed planted in her mind. When I do have a boyfriend, I could never hide it. The problem now is if I am seen going on a late-night drive, or to the movies, people won’t think ‘how much fun they are having’, it will always be, ‘what is happening?’ It will always be negative, sleazier and shadier. But…it doesn’t deter me.”

THE LOCATION “A beach wedding! Water really turns me on…it could be a fake lake under a building, or even a rivulet, but I love water. Not sexually. It’s so strange; any sound of water – even a running tap – can calm me.”

THE CEREMONY “The wedding can be casual, where all my friends are bunked up in one hotel for three days. I’m not really into the ‘traditional, let’s do it the Hindu way’ or whatever. I’m not very religious. I just want a big party, with lots of food and…swimming!”

THE CLOTHES “The kind of looks we’re doing for the Verve shoot is exactly something that I would like to wear for my wedding. Something Indian, something beautiful, but not the usual traditional stuff. I think I look okay in Indian clothes.”

THE COLOUR “Onion pink. I like onion pink, a lot.”

Malaika Zayed Khan for Mother’s World Magazine

20 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Interviews (All), Interviews: Cinema, Interviews: Cover Stories, Parenting, Publication: Mother's World

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Interview, Mother's World Magazine, Motherhood

Published: Mother’s World Magazine, September-November 2012, Cover Story

“I’m an out-with-them mum”

Malaika Khan makes the parenting thing seem a cakewalk. Less Stepford and more hip soccer mum, the soon-to-be-32-year-old vivacious and soft-spoken mother of two, is in her element with her life and family well in control. And she looks fabulous. Sitanshi Talati-Parikh takes a peek at woman behind the mother….

She is struggling to get her older son, Zidaan (4), in the mood for the Mother’s World photoshoot. He is not pleased at losing his time with his cousins Hrehaan and Hridhaan (Hrithik and Suzanne Roshan’s sons) who are over for their weekly play date. Malaika Zayed Khan is playing the role of super mom – cajoling the kids, smiling for the camera, popping into the kitchen to bring cheese slices on demand to appease Zidaan enough to take a shot, checking frequently if her guests – including the Mother’s World team – need anything to eat or drink. All the whirlwind activity is managed in a lovely blue day dress and stunner heels. “I’m still on the mission of losing weight. People who know me know that this is not me. I’ve always been a 44-kilo girl. I am 5 feet 2 inches, so 44 is a good weight for somebody of my height!” She’s a self-confessed foodie – to the extent that she can stare people down when they are eating enough to make them ask her if she would like a bite, she relates, with a peal of laughter.

The real challenge through her pregnancy has been losing weight, particularly her second one, which was a C-section. “It took me eight weeks before I could actually start working out. According to me, I have still got 10 kilos to go and I’m hoping it will happen by the end of this year. The first time (my weight loss) was so quick that I don’t even know where it went – because it was a normal delivery and also, I was far more conscious about what I ate – this time I’m eating what I feel like eating, when I feel like eating.” She works out three days a week with a trainer in what she terms ‘functional training’, which is a full body workout but using her own body weight rather than external weights. “I’ve been doing it for four months and I have been enjoying it – I haven’t had to sacrifice anything in terms of my food intake. It’s also genetics – I have it in my genes to be skinny – though I missed the height gene,” she chuckles.

As we track through her wooden-tiled living room to the marble floor bedroom, I express concern over ransacking her Juhu apartment. She reveals she is the person responsible for cleaning her house once a week. “No one is allowed to touch anything, the staff have to go wait in the kitchen. I’m a cleanliness freak…I set up my house every Sunday. Boarding school habits die hard!” It’s obvious then that she is a super active person, someone her husband refers to as one with ‘ants in her pants’. “People have this myth that pregnancy weight is so difficult to lose – in fact, it’s the easiest weight to lose. It’s how quickly you decide to tackle it. If you sit back and relax and enjoy life, it will pile on. I’m not a stay-at-home mum as much as an out-with-them mum.” She plays the role of soccer mom with ease: “trotting about everywhere”, taking Zidaan to all his classes (drawing, reading, writing), doing his kung-fu tumbles with him; simultaneously watching out for the younger one, Aariz (11 months) who is already attempting to walk – all of it becoming easier because of her naturally athletic body from years of enforced sports at boarding school.

Malaika’s a chronic planner – someone who always knew what she wanted when she wanted it, and luckily, managed to get it. “I completely planned my life – when I was going to have my first child, my second, when I was going to get married…when I was going to fall in love! It was a quick pregnancy each time, and I had planned a sufficient age gap between the kids.” I wonder if she’s got her children’s future planned as well? “No,” she laughs. “But yes, I’ve already told my son, you have to study law and you have to…” she breaks off with giggles. “My rule is that you have to complete your MBA and then you are done – you can then have the golden key of your life in your hands.” Coming from a secular household into a rather easy-going family, Malaika who is half-English, half-Hindu Jain, finds that she can even easily keep a balance culturally and let her sons experience a wide range of things.

What about keeping the kids grounded with fame surrounding them? “You have to let the child know his life, the only thing you can do as a parent is not let them think it all came easy. When we go shopping, and Zidaan wants to buy something, I never refuse. I put a hundred rupees in his pocket and tell him (with emphasis) that, ‘It is a hundred rupees – whatever comes in that money you can buy. And since it is a lot of money, you can buy at least three toys with it, so think wisely what you want to buy.’ We travel business class, not everybody travels business class. He can see it, and learn that if he wants to be somebody he has to work that hard. Just because he is an actor’s son, or has a grandfather, Sanjay Khan, or an uncle Hrithik Roshan, it doesn’t change him as a person.” Malaika admits, though, that she wouldn’t put him in a school just surrounded by celebrities – she would choose a more grounded school. Zidaan isn’t oblivious to his family’s chosen profession, however. He knows all his father’s and uncle’s films. “The other day I showed him a small episode from The Sword of Tipu Sultan, and he goes, ‘Dadu, that’s you!’” (Referring to his paternal grandfather, Sanjay Khan).

As the shots click by, we notice that Zidaan, who is known in the family as the “40-year-old man – with an old man’s soul” has settled comfortably into the nook of the sofa, clutching his sliced cheese roll in one hand and tucking the other arm around his little brother. Is it protective instinct, companionship or a sense of comfort? He isn’t in the least uneasy about having another person around sharing his parents’ time and affection, despite having got over three years of undivided attention. Malaika smiles at the thought; knowing it is something she has consciously worked towards and for which she has made an unconventional choice. “My theory was – if I give too much attention to the second one, the older one would feel the pinch. So, I focussed on the older one, because the younger was too little to know any better. When my older son was not around or asleep, I would go to my second child…to this day. I have left my second child to my mother and maid – both of whom have been wonderful – therefore not allowing my first child to feel at all insecure. Now I find Zidaan very connected with his brother, because he doesn’t feel jealously. I’m very vigilant – I look from the corner of my eye when I am hugging Aariz to see how Zidaan is reacting. This is my way of handling it – even if I may look back and find myself to have been the biggest fool for having given less attention to the younger one.”

While the baby of the family, Aariz, enjoys his toddlerhood, reaching out for things, gliding, looking at the AC vent and blowing out air with a cute rounding of his lips and a silent whistling sound; his mum proudly points out that Zidaan is thriving, with being able to spell his and his cousins’ names, knowing twenty words and framing sentences. Besides his martial arts, she’s trying to get him t
o play chess, but his father has drawn the line at pushing him into too many activities. “I’m getting him used to classes from now, so that when he needs to do more serious schoolwork later, he will be accustomed to the concept. These are not make-believe Einstein classes, these are fun activities incorporating knowledge – he enjoys doing it, I don’t force him into going.”

There is fun time – lots of it. “Holidays are just about the kids. Only twice a year do Zayed and I take off on our own and for no more than four days. We have flown back many times because I have started crying and having palpitations! Fifteen-day holidays without the kids didn’t work. Our holidays are adventurous…. In fact, I was hoping I would be charged enough to go for another child, hoping it would be a girl, but I’ll just hold on to that thought! Three boys are all I can take right now!” It does affect the time the couple get to spend together, but that’s all a part of the parenting life. “All relationships are going to have their ups and downs. Children are like kabab mein haddi – you love your child endlessly, but it does happen. The man may feel it more because he loses time with you, but it is a small phase and then you start enjoying it and it becomes three or four of you. Now I don’t even send out messages without signing off Zidaan and Aariz as well. It’s been quite smooth for us!”

Zidaan gets to spend Friday and Saturday night in bed with his parents, and he knows weekdays he’s on his own. His mom concocts creative games that he can play with his cousins on Sundays for their weekly play date. “I don’t encourage a lot of TV, it makes them feel that it’s more important that their mind gets more active than their physical body. If I watch TV, so will he. I have to make sure I’m doing the things I want him to do.” Malaika is all praise for her husband, Zayed, who’s always wanted to be a father. “He doesn’t even need me – he manages just fine, he’s just too, too good as a father. Zidaan and him are perpetually together. They go for movies and bowling, play videogames together, hang out on the iPad, he takes him to the park and sits on the bench and watches him play – that’s his time with him. Whatever time he gets at home, he wants to be with the kids. It’s been damn easy.”

 

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