Fair Ground

27 Wednesday Aug 2008

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Art, Literature & Culture, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Indian Art, International Art, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Features, August 2008

Over 100 artists, 34 art galleries, critics, curators, collectors, delegates and speakers from across the world will come together in the very first art fair of its kind and biggest art exhibition to date in India this month. Sitanshi Talati-Parikh constructs a discussion between some of the top attendees, in an exclusive Verve sneak preview

For all the people out there who get intimidated by art galleries and their mysterious interiors that presently abound with pots, pans and acrylic that sell at stupendous prices, and for all those who don’t, comes the leveller of all levellers – an art fair in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. Reminiscent of melas and tousled gatherings of intellengisia on hot dusty evenings, the ‘fair’ is somewhat a more accessible term. And accessibility is the aim of the Indian Art Summit 2008, put together by Hanmer MS & L.

Going Public
Dr Robert Storr, Dean, Yale University School of Art, USA, who is one of the people flying in specially for the occasion, is interested in the “opportunity it affords to make crucial distinctions between commercial formats for showing art and exhibitions and formats such as museums, alternative spaces, biennials and the like.” He elaborates, “I have nothing against dealers and galleries, but they primarily reach an already engaged segment of the public – collectors especially – whereas large exhibitions and small ones in venues more readily accessible to the non-art world public represent the long-term hope for Indian contemporary artists – or for contemporary artists anywhere – of making a lasting mark on their country, their culture and their time.”

Why Now?
What makes it the right time, keeping aside the fact that art is the new mantra and one of the biggest money-spinners? Renu Modi, of Gallery Espace admits that about a decade ago, she had tried to bring about such a fair at Pragati Maidan and it fell through then. She believes it is the right atmosphere for an art market – it is happening elsewhere in the world, why not here?

The Outcome
Renu Modi feels that such a summit that brings together like-minded people discussing issues and ideas will automatically see things and trends materialising. That is not to say that there haven’t been seminars and symposiums in Delhi, where not much has come out of the discussions – it is important to implement these ideas in the long-term, stresses the gallery owner. Echoing her thought, Dr Storr believes that “just getting a group of active, committed people in any field into one room – artists, art professionals in this case – can throw sparks and have a profound catalytic effect on the scene if everyone comes prepared to listen as well as to speak.”

Philip Hoffman, chief executive, The Fine Art Fund Group, considers the Indian art market to still be in its emerging phase. He specifies that the size of the market has grown from $2 million to approximately $400 million in seven years alone. “An art fair could really help boost the growth rate by directly involving galleries and artists alike, getting collectors and investors on site and by generating general interest.”

Going Global
Dr Hugo Weihe, international director, Asian Art, Christies, sees Indian art as becoming increasingly global, India and all things Indian occupying a new pride of place, while Peter Nagy, Nature Morte, feels that the best of Indian art is already truly global, but also thinks that Indian culture, as a whole, is becoming more relevant and important to the entire world. Nagy deliberates that while this also has to do with economic and political influence, interest in contemporary Indian art is also a natural extension of the increased globalisation of the art world.

Philip Hoffman, who agrees with Nagy in the sense that the Indian art scene is already global, believes that modern and contemporary Indian art has long been undervalued as compared to other areas of the art market, and with the boom of the financial markets, real estate and all other asset classes in India, many new art collectors are establishing themselves and purchasing works from artists of similar heritage. “We believe there is a high level of creativity and talent in India, which is going to make this market move even further, and with continued global exposure in 2008, we think that this is the right time to invest in Indian art.” He continues, “Prices are continually rising and are much higher than they were, say, five years ago. However, when compared to the Western contemporary art market there is clearly potential for an increase in prices.”

International Recognition
Dr Storr, who has an unmatched résumé in art as critic, curator, artist, academic and writer, chronicles the need for international recognition to validate art. “This has been true throughout the history of the modern era – which is a history of great powers and empires. Once upon a time, artists from my country went to Paris or London to get recognition. Now they stay home and the world comes to them. This will happen in India too – indeed it is has started to happen in measurable ways. The point is that the institutions in India must do the right things for artists so that when the world comes they see the best under the best circumstances, and that includes not just contemporary classics or hot new market stars but those artists who challenge art, art institutions and the public in the liveliest, most inventive and the most pertinent ways. Once that process starts – and Indian artists, critics and curators have started it already – there is no standing pat, and above all, no going back.” On the other hand, Peter Nagy, who made the move from New York to New Delhi in 1997, finds that, “the powers-that-be within India are still too timid and insecure about contemporary art to take many of the risks necessary to properly champion the avant-garde.”

ANJOLIE ELA MENON
ARTIST
“I think it is a great idea, and have backed it from the beginning. Galleries couldn’t get their act together to do this, so it is better to have a neutral agency taking the initiative. Like Hanmer’s Khushi art auctions earlier, one hopes that this will be managed to those same high standards. It is a young, enthusiastic team, which brings together good presentation, an interesting mix of people from abroad and India. Many of the top people in the art world have accepted the invitation to attend the summit. It is clever on the part of the organisers to have galleries taking stalls as opposed to individual artists. This event also brings together diverse publications on art under one roof for the first time.

The triumvirate of artists, gallerists and critics coming together is unique. Increasingly critics and curators add a theoretical dimension to the understanding of art, both interpreting and endorsing various trends. Gallerists represent the market. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that it is upon the creative genius of artists that the whole edifice actually rests.

One hopes that the venue (Pragati Maidan) will bring art to a wider public in a forum that is not intimidating, for those who are habitually drawn only to food, fashion and films! The summit will be an important milestone as young new artists will get a chance to be showcased along with the veterans.

Indian art has been around for a long time, it is only now that it is being accepted internationally. Today there are Indian galleries abroad dedicated specifically to Indian art. It is INDIA TIME now. India is IN and Indian art rides on the crest of this wave.

Indians do not buy international art in significant numbers. But it is equally difficult for our artists to enter the global market. It is largely expats abroad who buy their country’s art. The Indian art boom is fuelled by investors and NRIs and not so much by foreign buyers. More importantly, for the first time Indian art is finally being acquired by foreign museums. I was fortunate in being given a six months solo at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco last year and several artists have followed in various venues. It is a shame that the government has stopped sending artists to the Biennales and art fairs. Before the Venice Biennale last year, I went to see the Indian Government with the then director of the Venice Biennale, Dr Robert Storr. I just got a bureaucratic excuse, and no entry was sent officially. A wonderful opportunity for India was lost. It is the private players who have put Indian art on the map and this event will prove this beyond a doubt.”

ART CRITIC AND CURATOR
“The summit is important in the sense that it shifts the focus from normal areas of art activity like the gallery circuit into a more public space. The place at which it is being organised (Pragati Maidan) is where industrial or government organised fairs are generally held and attracts hundreds of thousands of footfalls. It is the first time a summit of this kind is being held – it changes the level of exchange, where there is a social and public address rather than merely a controlled group of people. The summit will hopefully grow and become more structured, gaining authority over a period of time. It is also a way by which pressure can be brought upon government art and culture circuits to be more active in the field. I am very optimistic about the venture.

An event like this should be a public event, and that also depends on the marketing of such an event. Art shouldn’t be a traded commodity – or evaluated in terms of asset to the portfolio. It should be a means to enrich the public consciousness. Before this, there was no single event that rallied together critics, gallerists, artists, media and promoters. In that sense it is a step forward, a call to the world to come and take a look.

The current growth is a long overdue recognition due to the Indian art scene. It has to solidify, look at including better art education, institutions and also a professional gallery structure. There is no reason why the world shouldn’t be interested in Indian art, an art which draws from and is an amalgam of varied sources: literary, political, the social polity. Intellectually and artistically it will grow, but much more radical investment in institutional support is required. The place of art at the level that is societal and civilisational, must be better recognised.”

Travel blog: California Dreamin’ – Napa Notes

22 Friday Aug 2008

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Publication: Verve Magazine, Travel Stories

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California, Interviews: Travel, Napa valley, USA, Verve Magazine, vervemagazine, Wine, wine tasting

Published: Verve Magazine, Travel, August 2008

Jazz evenings, vines dripping fruit, cheese on a platter. Verve goes on two languorous road trips

As sleepy as a cat curled up on a furry rug by a crackling fire, as mobile as fresh wine that slowly slithers down a crystal glass, Santa Rosa is a town that is just barely half-awake. Eating an authentic Mexican meal at a local restaurant, the town reminds me of something out of an old Western film. We had just arrived here, driving up from the foggy centre of San Francisco into the hazy dustiness of Santa Rosa, which is the perfect spot from which to navigate wine country, the sprawling wilderness that is absolutely enchanting and completely at one with nature. We start off on the drive with my friend’s Ecuadorian fiancé, our designated driver.

My mind drifting away, I recall Mr. Big from Sex and the City, who randomly buys a vineyard in Napa and leaves NYC to set up shop in sunny California. Or maybe I am thinking of Sideways, the Alexander Payne movie about two middle-aged men who take off on a trip through wine country – drinking a lot of wine and trying to get lucky with the ladies. Wine country has a dramatically different meaning for anyone who has been there, or wants to go there – it stands for a mystical sense of escapism – an alternative to beaches and hills. Expansive flatland stretching longer than the eyes can see, winding roads through vines dripping with fruit that lead to a manufacturing unit for eternal intoxication.

I wonder if it is the lazy meandering or the breathless anticipation for that new flavourful taste that attacks your palate, or the simple desire to unwind in a lengthy road trip that gives wine country a charm that raises eyebrows and nods of approval. Exploring wine country however, takes more than one sunny afternoon. It is possible to consider days, even weeks of enchantment, drifting languorously from one vineyard to another, from one valley to another, polishing off the best cheeses and dining at some of the finest restaurants. Think Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

With sultry sounds of Simon and Garfunkel to take us back to an era beyond the electronica of today, the car rolls smoothly on, zipping past the dusty vineyards, as we sit armed with a map, chocolate-covered pretzels and excited gossip galore. Turning into our first stop we pour out like excited teenagers, dying to get a first look at a real-life winery. Where entertaining visitors and tourists is as much a business as is producing the famous wines.

Our introduction to the art of tasting starts with the Robert Mondavi winery. Opening a ‘fresh’ bottle of Reserve wine, we let the wine breathe to absorb the natural flavours from its first breath of fresh air. As we watch the ruby red liquid slide down the wide-bottom glass, the server, with an artful twist of his wrist, explains the clarity and quality of the wine. Observing it is like knowing the difference between a crystal and diamond – the different grades and the uniqueness of the one with crystal-clear clarity. With a degree of reverence, the glass is held before us, with its splash of precious nectar and we are encouraged to take in its flavours. Is it woody or musky? Cherry or Meaty? Do we sense a dash of burgundy? As our inexperienced noses start to give up and get confused, the knowing demonstrator quickly picks up a petri dish of fresh coffee beans and swishes it before our twitching nostrils. That will break the sense of smell and once we go back to smelling the wine, the aromas start to become sharp and more distinct.

Barely have we reached the starting phase of sensing aromas and mentally tuning into flavours that would hit our senses, is it time to take that first sip. Tentatively, we stand queued up ready for the hit. Holding the first sip while swirling it about with our tongues and breathing in the aromas, we close our eyes to experience the multitude of flavours that flood our palate. It is then that we can actually realise how numb our taste buds are with the daily overdose of packaged foods, condiments and spices that we have forgotten to really appreciate basic tastes.

Back in the car, heady with the rush of excitement with a new sense of awakening, we plot our journey. While the other wineries along the way are more of jolly experiences and a great way to experiment with the crash course on wine tasting, it is the rustic beauty of Rubicon Estate that really takes our breath away. On the way to Rubicon, we encounter the cozy groves of Ravenswood in Sonoma County, where we are encouraged to be bolder – not surprising given their motto of ‘No wimpy wines!’ We come face-to-face with Zinfandels, surrendering to a rich, full-bodied and intense experience, that I don’t think we are ready for, yet!

Ready for the lunch break though, we stop at the family-owned V. Sattui winery, known for their gourmet deli and cheese platters. Refuelling, we decide to take a turn through the gift shop and museum (I succumb to buying a wine country poster) and the chilly barrel aging cellars, getting a taste of the actual process. Italian winemaker Vittorio Sattui arrived in San Francisco in 1882 with his new bride, Kattarina, to begin their life in America. A trade baker, making wine in his spare time, Vittorio’s reputation grew until Prohibition. Daryl Sattui took his great-grandfather’s passion to fruition, and in the late 1900s V. Sattui Winery became a beautiful stone structure amid the venerable 250 year-old oaks, reminiscent of the late 19th century wineries in Italy and France. The walk back in time filled me with a sense of warmth that no amount of wine could.

From the Italian rustic story, we reached that glamourous Italian connection – the Coppola family. Francis Ford Coppola has spent nearly as much time making wines at his Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery (now called the Rubicon Estate) in the Napa Valley as he has making movies. As we walk into the grand estate with creepers and moss-covered stone, we are overwhelmed with a sense of something larger-than-life. Just dropping the name Coppola, leads one to feel in the presence of power, something very different from the quaint homeliness of V. Sattui. As if it is not enough to feel this power, we are thrown amidst a deeper significance of this estate – something that makes this less about wine and more about a marking of history and experiences – a part of a greater sociological significance – about two immigrant families (Gustave Niebaum and the Coppolas) who came together to ‘establish a wine estate rivalling those in France’. As the Godfather of filmmaking put it, he was a part of the two great art forms key to the development of California. The hoity-toity demeanour of the estate’s caretakers make us want to scurry back out into bright sunshine and the reality of everyday life – where crystal chandeliers and grand staircases are left to the reel life rather than real life.

As the hours and the wineries roll by in hazy delirium, we decide that it is about time to turn back to the foggy bay area, where strolling down Fisherman’s Wharf, watching the sun set, we could sit back at a little Italian bistro, replay the day’s escapades over a glass to wine that we have just learnt to appreciate. After all, I think, as the Golden Gate Bridge appears in the horizon, the experience does make one thirsty for more.

Travel blog: Turkish Rites

22 Tuesday Jul 2008

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Publication: Verve Magazine, Travel Stories

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Europe, Interviews: Travel, Istanbul, Laveda Spa, Ritz Carlton, Spa, Turkey, Turkish bath, Verve Magazine

Published: Verve Magazine, July 2008

Stepping away from the modern spa techniques, Sitanshi Talati-Parikh sets off to explore the ancient baths and ritualistic cleansing therapies in two very exclusive Turkish locations – the Kempinksi Hotel at the Mediterranean beachside Bodrum, and the Ritz Carlton in Istanbul

I knew a little bit about Turkish baths – the fact that they have been a source of inspiration especially for the Victorian Era, (think Titanic); and have been a confluence of Roman, Byzantine tradition merged with the influence of the Turks of Anatolia. I decided to keep an open mind in the five-star version of the local baths as I was duly escorted into the impressive facilities of the Six Senses Spa at the Kempinski Bodrum.

Stately and expansive, the rooms spilled into one another, with a spectacular view over the Aegean Sea from the angled glass windows. With a sense of trepidation, I wound the pestemal (a simple woven cotton fabric) around my waist – and clonked over the hammam carpet into the first chamber in the nalin (special wooden shoes embellished with mother-of-pearl). I had been forewarned by the spa director, Lisa, that the hammam could be a little rough – it has been known to leave a jarring sense of loss of skin! Feeling particularly protective towards my own supple skin, I nearly had second thoughts about going through this experience, but faced the first room with the courage of one entering a torture chamber.

Clear white marble from floor to ceiling greeted me, in the vast octagonal room, with an octagonal raised piece of marble directly in the centre. Having sat in the steam room for fifteen minutes prior, I was already feeling misty and breathless. As I lay down on one side of the central piece, I shot up straight when a hot stone nearly scalded my back. Quietly amused, the bikini-clad masseuse, also with a pestemal wrapped around her waist, motioned me to lie back down and relax, as she poured cool water all over me from one of the myriad stone wash basins, with a metal bowl. Alternating warm and cool water, she was opening and closing the pores of my skin, before beginning the lengthy exfoliation.

Wrapping a kese (a rough mitt) around her hand, the masseuse began to vigorously scrub my skin, leaving a brisk, burning sensation. As I frantically motioned her to keep the scrubbing down to a minimum, she smiled enigmatically, leaving me with a sense of a lost cause. Gritting my teeth through the exfoliation, I finally found myself drenched with the soothing water once again. Getting a moment to catch my breath and wince, I could smell a fragrance wafting towards me and saw the masseuse from the corner of my eye swaying and blowing into a big bag. Curiosity piqued, I sat up and craned my neck to take in the surreal scene.

She was filling a large soft bag (specially woven out of hair or plant fibres) with soapy water, blowing into it and shaking it until it began to overflow with soap bubbles which she then emptied all over me! I was lying in a cloudy haze, covered in soap bubbles, as she then slid the soft bubble bag in a light rub all over my body. It was the most wonderful sensation after being roughly scrubbed from head to toe! Drifting away, I caught myself imagining this room filled with laughing, gossiping local women of yore, bathing together and socialising with a strong sense of familiarity that is possible only in a community bath. After all, they gathered here for all cultural occasions – ritual cleansing, wedding ceremonies, a new born baby’s fortieth day, hospitality bathing, circumcision… uh, need I say more?

While the community bathing concept has reached all parts of the world, I believe it is the exquisite engraving and mosaic, carved marble and gold embellishments of the Ottoman Empire that has made Turkish baths really famous. It is easy to feel like royalty, being bathed on marble and gilded patina. Brought pleasantly back to the present, with the advent of a soft massage with silk moisturisers, I realised that though this was a complete pampering experience, a true hamam needs the company of friends or acquaintances to make it an authentic one. I wasn’t complaining though – lying back and getting bathed is generally restricted to when you are a baby!

As the 45-minute bath drew to a close, she helped me up, dried my hair and body, wrapped me up like a little child and took me into the last chamber, filled with lanterns, lounges and muted music – in which you could relax and cool off. Sip a little tea, lie down and even take a nap after the massage or marvel at the baby-like softness of your rejuvenated skin, smelling fragrantly of the traditional attar of rose.

As I arrived in Istanbul, the land of harems and their pampered traditions, I was ready for a deeper experience. Little did I know what was in store, at the ultra-luxurious Laveda Spa at the Ritz Carlton. I found myself getting ready for a 50-minute traditional Turkish massage by one of their most experienced masseuses, Sema. As I lay back scrubbed and dried, I wondered why they have a massage after a bath – apparently, a massage is the best way to relax your body and skin after the exfoliating hammam. Starting with a slender wrist movement, Sema loosened the stiff muscles of my body before she embarked on a stronger kneading and arm roll technique. Like the Indian Ayurvedic massage, the Turkish one also tends to use a generous amount of pressure and ancient therapeutic techniques as it is a invigorating and stimulating massage rather than a relaxing one.

As Sema quietly worked away, I found myself finally getting the knots out of my wound-up body. Suddenly, I found a strange hot sensation run through my back, a growing circular heat and I stirred and asked her what was wrong. With a self-assured demeanour, she explained that noticing some stress-related pain in my back, she had reverted to a bio-energy massage, which was excellent at drawing negative energy out and flowing positive energy into the body, creating the heat waves. This was the first I had ever heard of a bio-energy massage – I asked her to tell me more. Not proficient in English, like most of the people of the country, she tried to communicate her response in broken English. Endowed with highly intuitive fingers and a heightened sense of touch, Sema, apparently could sense the ailments in her clients’ bodies and could also sense blocked chakras and energy fields. I found her telling me things that only my doctor would know and I was bowled over by her insight. And then, she made predictions that only a soothsayer could. From the certain present to the relatively ambiguous future, we were now treading ground that left many questions unanswered – that only time would prove accurate. As the massage drew to a close, I sat up feeling lighter and emotionally moved. It was as if her energy fields had managed to channelise positive fuel into my body….

From ritualistic cleansing to a therapeutic Turkish massage, the experience, even if not exactly in the populated ambience of the bygone era, was by itself truly spectacular. There really wasn’t much else to say, except, maybe, Masha Allah!

Larger Than Life

27 Friday Jun 2008

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Art, Literature & Culture, Interviews (All), Interviews: The Arts, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Art and Design, Indian Art, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Nerve, June 2008

Inspired by ‘life’, 30-year-old installation artist Ranjani Shettar has created a buzz among the art circles, particularly in the US. She draws inspiration from deep-rooted Indian culture and traditions and finds a spiritual cognizance with the wispy installations that she has unwittingly made her signature style, incorporating simple materials like coconut fibres, resin, terracotta, wax, twine and metal in her work. Sitanshi Talati-Parikh talks to the artist from Bangalore who refuses to keep track of the marketability and rates of her works

Entitled Sun-sneezers blow light bubbles, Ranjani Shettar’s first solo show in a US museum is currently on at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts, where suspended sculpture made with steel, tamarind powder and muslin is fashioned into organic shapes reminiscent of soap bubbles, containers of light or multiplying cells, creating a dreamy ambience. The artist, also concurrently showcasing at the prestigious 55th Carnegie International, Pennsylvania, isn’t sure of who has influenced her works through time. “The answer keeps changing every time someone asks me that question!” she remarks. Currently, she holds weight by William Kentridge, Martin Puryear, Eve Hesse and Tim Hawkinson.

Shettar prefers to use simple materials like thread and wax to car bodies and silicone rubber. “Ranjani Shettar’s use of materials both organic and man-made suggests the complex cultural associations of India and the collision of tradition and modernity,” opines Jill Medvedow, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art.

She was very clear about her choice of installations over paintings. “My visualisation is in three dimensions and so it is much more natural for me to sculpt than paint.” She finds it more comfortable to work in space rather than on a flat surface, where she enjoys the act of involving herself physically and completely in the making of the work.

Originally trained as a sculptor, she started off in a classical way, with figurative sculptures in clay, wood, plaster and stone, where she learned to use the materials and her hands. It was a slow and gradual transition from the figurative to the abstraction. “Somewhere along the way,” she realised, “I needed to expand my choice of materials to be able to express myself better and that’s when I started using materials from my own surroundings.”

Shettar’s works straddle urban and organic forces. This is not surprising as she believes that, “each one of us is a reflection of our own surroundings, upbringing and our own mind. I have grown up being close to nature in a rural set up with my essentially urban family.”

The Born Again Opera

18 Sunday May 2008

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Art, Literature & Culture, Features & Trends, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Bollywood, Opera, Padmavati, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Features, May 2008

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati has brought operas in the Indian context into the forefront of every coffee-table discussion. Sitanshi Talati-Parikh examines the relevance of operas and their place in society, and discovers that India has a long-standing operatic tradition

Opera is music drama,’ said Richard Wagner, the famous German composer, conductor, music theorist and essayist. Suddenly, the world of sung-drama or musicals falls wide open into the purview of what is commonly considered ‘opera’. Musicals are not to be confused with operas – the former are closer to plays interspersed with singing, and the latter a dramatic art form wherein singers and musicians combine text with a musical score.

India has a distinctive sung-drama tradition, from the sentimental lyrical tales, Sufi poetry and the Ramlila of the north, to Chakyar Koothu and Ottamthullal of the south, even if the classical operas in the European style are a far cry from our own operatic form. In India, Dip Chand introduced the importance of voice-culture and voice-modulation and an emphasis on emotion in music, incorporating music, dance, verse, ballad recital and pantomime. From plays drawn from legends to current themes like women empowerment and AIDS awareness, this form of theatre serves a social purpose as well.

Luciano Berio, experimental Italian composer, spoke about the birth of the opera in the 16th century: ‘Opera once was an important social instrument, especially in Italy. With Rossini and Verdi, people were listening to opera together and having the same catharsis with the same story, the same moral dilemmas. They were holding hands in the darkness. That has gone. Now perhaps they are holding hands watching television.’

It leads one to question whether television has made performances into a commodity and if live acts have lost their artistic place in society. When at one time, in lieu of TV, people would gather together in a community to watch live performances; now it is a delicacy left for the elite or the tamasha of the poor.

‘Opera is an 18th and 19th century art that must find a 20th century audience.’ The late Goeran Gentele, Swedish empressario and director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, pondered on the challenges of modern opera. The same question applies to us. Will this century witness a resurgence of this art form in the cosmopolitan theatres of India, or will it be marginalised as local tradition, simply splurged upon when visiting the Continent?

Omung Kumar and Rajesh Pratap Singh, who have worked on Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s flamboyant production, Padmavati, on the sets and costumes res–pectively, both agree that to bring larger-than-life performance in the shape of a grand opera to India is a challenge and not necessarily commercially viable. With exorbitant sums required in funding, they wonder if anyone would touch an opera. Also, it serves to satisfy the aesthetic palette of only a minute slice of the theatre-going audience. It is not surprising, seeing that Padmavati, at the Theatre du Chatelet, had an excellent infrastructure – a pit in the stage that went down 25 feet – the budget and ability to throw in a few live animals (elephant, horse and tiger, no less) and a flying Ganesha, to top it all.

Indian films that follow the song-and-dance routine come closer to musicals than operas, but serve to remind us that given a chance, our audience may not balk from a truly operatic experience. Recently, Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly was recreated by the National Centre of the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai where The Symphony Orchestra of India worked in tandem with an international troupe. This sparing visit left the theatre-going audience craving for more. As Padmavati moves to Italy and may plan to visit India at some point of time, it leads us to hope that sophisticated operas on an international scale may find a place in our weekends. Sitting through an opera is like taking a bite of caviar and relishing it. With elitist appeal and an expensive price tag, can this art form become a trend in India or remain a luxurious delicacy?

India Abroad
Padmavati – Albert Roussel, sailor and composer, after a trip to South Asia in 1909, wrote this opera, which was well received in Paris in 1923. It was recorded twice after – in 1969 by Jean Martinon and in 1982 by Michel Plasson. The latest version is by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, in 2008.

Les Indes Galantes – The Orient has served to fascinate French composers since the 18th century, the greatest period for the opera-ballet. Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes is an example, depicting the love life of ‘noble savages’.

The Sorcerer – This 2006 Gilbert and Sullivan light opera was advertised with the tagline ‘Opera Meets Bollywood’ and performed in Stanford University’s Dinkelspiel Auditorium. The story is set in Victorian India, where the protagonist, Alexis Iyangar, follows love to countermand worldly unhappiness. Bright silks and Bollywood choreography are set to Gilbert and Sullivan’s original score.

The Fakir of Benares – The opening show in April 1922 at the Mandador Theatre in Paris, became the talk of Europe. Priya Wacziarg, soprano and daughter of French author and historian Francis Wacziarg resurrected this opera nearly 80 years later, under the direction of Muzaffar Ali. The opera incorporates Bharat Natyam and Kalairipattu, along with Indian musical instruments. This was the first time an opera was screened in India with the help of Indian and French artistes, before taking it abroad.

Raj Kapoor’s first introduction to opera was Fiddler on the Roof, performed by Topol, famous Israeli theatrical and film producer. At this time, Topol was said to have announced to the audience: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, there is a misconception that I am Israel’s most popular actor. That’s wrong. I am the second most popular man, the first being Raj Kapoor of India, who is present here with us today.’

Operatic Genres
Operetta – Considered the precursor of the modern musical comedy.

Comic Opera – English-language operetta, reached its peak under the hands of Gilbert and Sullivan during the Victorian era.

Rock Opera – Singers sing a story while acting it out.

Metal and Rap Opera – The latter also called hip-hopera; is a strain of Rock Operas.

International reactions to Padmavati (2008)
‘If the Theatre du Chatelet was hoping for a spectacle on a scale seldom seen these days, this work – staged only once since its Paris premiere in 1923 – offered endless potential. Bollywood director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, making his first foray into opera, obliged with a flamboyant production attentive to authentic detail.’
Lynne Walker for The Independent

‘Some of its dark colours are undeniably attractive, and the vocal writing is elegant. But something more is needed in a 100-minute stage work, and the thinness of the action, combined with the lack of detail in any of the characters, even Padmavati, is only emphasised by the long stretches of ballet music in which nothing happens.’ Andrew Clements for The Guardian

‘The result looks like a Bollywood movie – colourful, endearingly naive, picturesque…. Don’t expect thrilling arias or dramatic climaxes. Padmavati is essentially a decorative work. You watch it like an exotic painting or a religious ceremony.’
Jorg von Uthmann for Bloomberg News

Opera in Bollywood
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s parting scene in a grand opera house.

Dil Chahta Hai – Preity Zinta takes Aamir Khan to an opera in Sydney.

Aaja Nachle – An operatic picturisation of the Laila-Majnu story.

Devdas (2002) – Lawrence Foster, Opera Music Director, Padmavati, considers it ‘opera ballet;’ while David Chute, writes in the LA Weekly, ‘There were sequences in his 2002 Devdas that played like long-lost snippets of Verdi.’

Saawariya – In the same article, Saawariya (Beloved), is described as ‘a lavish road-show revamp of La Bohème.’ Shree 420, Awara, Mera Naam Joker – Raj Kapoor is known to have visualised films in operatic style, with pathos and melodrama. Shree 420, an iconic film is actually considered to be more performance than film – a ‘brilliant melodrama’ where everyone sings and everyone dances, including the homeless and the wealthy!

Homespun sung-drama
Origin – 3rd century BC with the Rigveda and the Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni, where plays were written in verse form, commonly under royal patronisation.

North India – Swang is a popular folk dance drama consisting of theatrical mimicry (nakal) accompanied by song and dialogue, in kirtan or nautanki style.

Punjab – Heer Ranjha is performed as an opera-ballet and Mirza Sahiba is sung in long pensive notes.

Kerala – The satirical Ottamthullal finds a single actor reciting dance songs, acting and dancing; while the humorous Chakyar Koothu mixes prose and poetry.

Fashionista Baby

18 Friday Apr 2008

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Publication: Verve Magazine

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Baby Shower, Designers, Fashion, Motherhood, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Fashion, April 2008

Fresh out of a designer baby soirée, Sitanshi Talati-Parikh contemplates the exclusivity of a generation soon to be born, who will probably never feel the warmth of a granny-crafted bootie or bib

I gasped the very instant I got a formal, evite to a baby shower. The little brats were crawling into my inbox now? The cutesy, ballooney, floral evite exploding with colour was reminding me that the clock was ticking – my grandmother-in-law’s reproving face hovered before my eyes, and I sighed, replete with the knowledge of the irrefutable truth that the pressure would mount and until I either became one of those aunties-that-never-had-kids-but-kept-attending-baby-showers, or even worse, one of the radiant, peachy-pink mothers that had cutsey baby showers thrown by a bunch of excited girlfriends. Ick. This was what life was reduced to. Shopping for babies and attending haute couture baby parties.

Mustering up courage, and looking like this was just another day, I spent my only free day of the week shopping for the tiny tot. As I entered the shop that held promise and words of encouragement for the little-somethings soon to bless your life, with absolutely adorable Anne Geddes’ baby pictures floating enticingly on the walls (wreaking havoc with your sanity if your baby dared to look any less cute), I was accosted by long counters that stretched before me and I suddenly felt a strange discomfort. Sliding down the nearest aisle, my jaw dropped as I looked at a myriad range of baby products that seemed to leap at me from the shelves. Juniper bath wash and serendipity powder, fluorescent rattles and luminous baby oil; help!

Flash forward into a chic SoBo home, where a baby shower is being organised – with larger than life helium balloons in every kiddie shape, little soap bubbles floating around, and guests floating around in bandana bibs sipping passion fruit champagne from Vera Wang crystal flutes. The celebration is under way! As I sit down, I am accosted with large 24-carat gold-tipped diaper pins, and told to get in the groove with all the baby games that have been cleverly concocted by the discerning would-be mama’s coterie. I can only think of the fact that as the baby enters this world – she is certain to be a part of the imported Russian-performer-and-celebrity-lion-birthday parties and potentially even worse, salon-and-spa bashes for the precocious five-year-old.

Nudged into sipping some sugary concoction out of baby bottles and match-ing baby names against celebrity mamas, in a test-your-celeb-prowess-contest, I quietly conceal my ignorance by downing one more flute of the bubbly and practising recently acquired knowledge of a yoga relaxation technique. My creative friend concocted a time capsule for the baby – all the invitees arrive with something of a landmark nature and surrender this to a little capsule that will keep time stagnant – until the baby is old enough to figure out what shattered the earth in the Year Of Her Birth. Bless the child that discovers that just as she was about to step into the world, daffodil yellow rocked Spring-Summer catwalks and Tamil Nadu gave way to the third sex, ForceIndia came into being and SRK got his own IPL. Whoo-hoo!

Literature: Second Comings

26 Wednesday Mar 2008

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Art, Literature & Culture, Interviews (All), Interviews: The Arts, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Interview, Interviews: Travel, Literature, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Features, Travel, March 2008

With 27 novels and 14 books of criticism and non-fiction under his belt, Paul Theroux, American travel writer, who has spent extensive time in Asia and Africa, is ready to release his latest travel chronicle later this year. On his recent visit to the city, the writer of the best-selling The Great Railway Bazaar, and the winner of many an award, regales fans in Mumbai

I wonder what a prolific travel writer would be like – well read and engaging? Paul Theroux is all of that and more, poetic at heart, and likely to espouse on his literary influences rather than his own work. Able to look at himself with humour and reticence, he remarks after being warmly introduced to the audience at a panel discussion, “Now, I begin to believe in myself.” Visiting Mumbai by chance when the Calcutta Book Fair got cancelled at the last minute, Theroux decided to tour the country for three weeks as a guest of the State Government.

Dreams of India began in the early 19th century, in the neighbourhood where Theroux grew up and are alive to this day. Ralph Waldo Emerson circulated copies of the Bhagwad Gita amongst his friends. Henry Thoreau and Mark Twain were both inspired by India. Twain’s Following the Equator, in turn, was a great source of inspiration for Theroux. Richard Henry Dana served as his role model, the perfect travel writer – bold, brave, uncomplaining, with an ability to survive discomfort. “When I thought of my first travel book, I thought of going to India and in the most interesting and unforgettable way – by train instead of plane.” Wanting to connect it to where he lived earlier–London–Theroux, studying a map, figured it was as simple as joining the dots. The journey turned out to be memorable enough to make for a fascinating travel book.

Paul Theroux’s recent visit to India is all about second comings. As he often notes, there are exceedingly few travel writers who have been able to return to a destination after having made a journey there once. In fact, all the great ones haven’t been able to do so. “When you get older, the world changes – in ways you cannot guess – it is possible to make predictions, but one cannot see into the future.” He remarks, tongue-in-cheek, that he had a choice – to take his own trip again, or leave it up to some 20-year-old in search of a book, who would write it, probably, not as well!

Theroux points out, ironically, in the age of globalisation and in a flat world, what was possible the first time around is often, impossible in the next journey. This was particularly the case with India, where it was no longer possible for him to take the Great Train Journey, like he did many a year ago, with the problems in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He jokes about a time in Chennai when everyone there could tell him how to get to New York, but not a soul knew whether the ferry to Colombo was running! Taking a realistic perspective he notes, “The world isn’t a village you can go to, and not everyone are brothers and sisters! Over time, some countries close up and others open up.” While Vietnam and Burma may still have oppression, Laos is booming, and Singapore is heralding the brave new world. Taking a ‘prison tour’ in the ‘free world’, however, was enlightening – Theroux chose to see a Stalinist Labour Camp from the ’30s instead of Swan Lake or churches.

Travelling overland, one can really see how people are living, how they are displaced – and it’s many hours (over the quicker air route) well spent. China is unrecognisable – there are ‘ancient charming towns in a big fat city’. According to him, China is the difference between cultural revolution and money, where history hasn’t been kind: ‘Get out of the way, or we’ll run you over – a road is coming up over the pagoda!’

Theroux feels that India is not in the same boat. Attached to its past, there is a certain ‘changelessness’ about India – like the three-legged dog that will eternally roam the streets of the country. “It is like a hall of mirrors, looking down to see if it is continuous.” And the change is positive – the traveller determined to see the new India is certain to visit a call centre to meet Tarun aka Tony from Vikhroli.

As any traveller realises, their perspective of a place they visit is entirely different from that of the locals, or people who live there for long stretches of time. Vociferous about the subjective role of travel writers, Theroux agrees that the experiences could have been very different for any of the travel writers (including himself). Quoting Henry James, “The house of fiction has many windows,” Theroux insists that he is not an objective traveller. “I leap to conclusions and make wild generalisations for a living!” Travel writing isn’t a geographical survey – it is a ‘strange beast’ – its very false and speculative nature is what makes it amazing, autobiographical, and in a sense akin to life.

Words flow easily, as Theroux remarks on his role as a travel chronicler, “I wander aimlessly like a dog, but the writing has to be truthful. A travel book isn’t a love letter – it is the truth as I see it – reconstructed ‘above all to make you see’.’’

Travel blog: The Greek Dozen

23 Sunday Mar 2008

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Publication: Verve Magazine, Travel Stories

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Athens, Europe, Greece, Interviews: Travel, Verve Magazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Travel, March 2008

On her wanderings in the Greek capital, Sitanshi Talati-Parikh zeroes in onto 12 hotspots in Athens

1. Sunbathe in Plaka
How does one describe the ultimate tourist spot in Athens? Commercial, crowded, pricey, but a lot of fun! In the warm sunny weather, there is nothing like sitting back in one of the courtyard cafés that dot the area, watching the crowds go by, gawping at the local architecture (with some ancient Greek and Roman ruins and several Byzantine churches scattered around), dawdling over lunch or sipping a cappuccino fréddo (Greek iced coffee) and feeling the tourist buzz settle somewhere within you.

2. Party at Psiri
Psiri is the village to Plaka’s Manhattan, though in a microcosmic scale. Psiri is a small bohemian area just off Plaka, where boutique hotels happily co-exist with graffiti-ridden walls, bands play at night and ouzeries (local taverns), especially those at Platia Iroon, spring to life with the onset of the locals. As music throbs through the narrow streets, I am taken aback as the hardware and supply stores from the day convert into makeshift taverns by night, where you’re likely to spot the bloke from the block lounging, smoking or grilling an octopus.

3. Sing a song at Syntagma
Syntagma sings a completely different tune, with the change of guard – who stand under the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. As the sun’s rays mark time, the stiff-lipped guards unflinchingly swing into their hourly change. Try as I did to stand uncomfortably close while taking a picture, I couldn’t for the life of me, sense even the bat of an eyelid.

4. Taste Adrianou
One of the exits from the famed Acropolis winds its way into the lively Adrianou Street, where street lamps play peekaboo with the tea lights flickering on the myriad tables that line this street. Chairs practically touch each other at some of the most charming outdoor family dining restaurants in the city (names that are truly Greek to me), replete with charismatic musicians. Hang around long enough to witness wedding merriment in one of the delightful restaurants.

5. Get high
The Acropolis literally means ‘high city’. Packed into the admission price of the Acropolis of Athens, you can visit the Parthenon (a symbol of Greek democracy and one of the world’s most famous cultural monuments), the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Theatre of Dionysious, Hadrian’s Library and the Ancient Agora, amongst others. The steep walk up leaves you breathless, but reliving history and checking out the magnificent view simply takes your breath away.

6. Scale new heights
Standing atop the Acropolis, facing the city, I stare at the green mountain rising from the midst of a sea of buildings, I wonder if it is worth my while to climb it after a truly long day. Later, as I reach atop Mt. Lycabettus (aboard a funny little train), I feel no regret, as a spectacular view unfolds before me, and I feel awash with a sense of depth. A nice café and amphitheatre (great shows held in the summer) make for a good break from the regular city spots.

7. Unravel history
Not surprisingly, Athens has over 130 museums, so either one has to make a judicious choice or move there permanently to explore them all! The first private museum, Benaki (housing the vast collection of Antonis Benakis), the Byzantine and Christian Museum, the National Archaeological Museum and the National Art Gallery are my picks.

8. Knock on Heaven’s door
The 12th century Church of Agios Eleftherios in Plaka is one of the most remarkable examples of Byzantine architecture. Also in Plaka is Agios Nikolaos Rangavas (part of the palace of the Rangavas family). The little 11th century Church of Kapnikarea bang in the middle of Ermou’s shopping street and the Church of Agii Theodori in Syntagma are worth checking out, for their lovely friezes and distinctive architecture.

9. To market, to market…
The famous flea market of Athens in Monastiraki Square is where a decidedly odd selection of items turns up on display. There isn’t much that can’t be found here (especially during the Sunday sales) – vintage vinyl and rare CDs, funky t-shirts, cheap jewellery, wrought iron items and Africans bootlegging DVDs.

10. Rock in style
The annual Hellenic festival runs from May through October, with an action-packed line-up of international music, dance and theatre, generally in one of the three places: the Athens festival at Odeon of Herodes Atticus by the floodlit Acropolis, a Greek drama festival at the Ancient Theatre of Epidavros, and the Musical July at the 4th century BC Little Theatre of Ancient Epidavros. From the international Rockwave Festival, to the August Moon Festival, from Jazz to Electronica, Athens is buzzing with live activity in the midst of history. In the summer, outdoor cinemas located in gardens and on rooftops, with modern sound systems, throw open their doors; bringing to the audience a movie by the moonlight with a glass of wine and a view of the Acropolis to boot. A movie date doesn’t get more romantic than that.

11. Splurge at Ermou
August-September is great sale time; it’s when the post-summer tourists have left and the bargains kick in. This is the perfect time to land up at Ermou Street to catch a neat deal with some excellent Italian leather and soft Greek cotton. Here, fake goods line the pavements in front of designer stores. For curios, walk the bylanes of Adrianou, that offer everything from memorabilia and paintings to make-your-own beaded jewellery. A little tram conveniently shuttles between Adrianou and Ermou via the market.

12. Ride the coast
It’s easy to forget that Athens is actually a coastal hub, with easy access to some great and well-organised beaches. Sparkling new resorts and spas (including those reminiscent of an ancient Roman Bath) have sprung up in the Athenian Riviera to cater to the well-heeled Athenians ready to take a break from city life. Or, about an hour away from the city, you could spend the afternoon by the busy port of Piraeus, buzzing with activity, dotted with gusty white sails and enormous steamers. Inhabited since 26th century BC, the name Piraeus roughly translates as ‘the place over the passage’, and is known to have been home to some famous local sportsmen, artistes and politicians. And what better high than to jump onto a ferry and zip off to a remote Greek island. Just on a lark!

Travel blog: Ouzo and Meze (Greece)

23 Sunday Mar 2008

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Food, Publication: Verve Magazine, Travel Stories

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Athens, Europe, Feta cheese, Food, Greece, Greek salad, Interviews: Travel, Olive Oil, Santorini, Verve Magazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Travel, March 2008

Basking in the Mediterranean warmth, Sitanshi Talati-Parikh, in a local tasting sojourn, cruises through culinary lairs in Greece

Virginity represents the epitome of purity. And a dash of extra virginity is purity magnified. Something so basic has been turned into the lifeblood of a country, into an industry and into a staple. Olive oil, spectacularly virgin, blessedly enhanced with features that are the true test of nature, denuded from the bountiful olive’s original sourness, marinated in herbs like fennel and finally spiked to culinary satisfaction. Olive oil is to Greece, what wine is to France. Drench a traditional Greek salad with it, observe it slide down the hefty chunk of feta cheese, creating rivulets around the oregano seasoning and watch it play a merry hide-and-seek with the folds of crisp lettuce, mountains of cucumber, mounds of olives and soft hills of ripe tomatoes until it arrives peacefully at the bottom of the bowl, waiting to be swished back up with flecks of freshly ground pepper. Ah!

Tourists come and tourists go, and they always leave with a distinct sense of Greece, emblazoned in her cuisine, and the pride with which the locals present their food to the hungry-eyed. With some grudging leeway made for Continental preparations (Greek with a French twist, dashed off with a healthy serving of Italian), it is tough to find truly international cuisine in Greece. Rightly so, for, would one wish to eat paneer tikka or sushi whilst basking in the Mediterranean?

Strolling down Athens’ Adrianou Street, a merry pedestrian path, in the vicinity of Plaka, I am spoilt for options. A host of family-run restaurants and street cafés vie for attention, as lissome Greek men prowl around attempting to charm a wayward tourist into their culinary lair. Uncles, brothers and nephews are all out in full force, with wickedly greasy smiles pasted on for the unsuspecting visitor who hovers expectantly at the entrance, flipping pages of their laminated menus, and once the walk has been made towards the table, they flit quickly to the next victim; I can only assume that the omnipresent mothers, wives, aunts and nieces are all back in the kitchen cooking up something truly divine!

Choosing the restaurant with the cosiest ambience and flickering candles, we slide into one of the crammed tables, and order ouzo – local anise-flavoured alcohol. Likened to the absinth or local fenny, ouzo is so strong (80-proof) that even the local Greeks chase it with water and always eat some meze to lighten the impact. Nothing fancy – something simple like bread doused in olive oil accompanied with a homemade dip, or feta and olives, works. (Beware the tricky ‘cover’ charge, that every table is inadvertently slapped with – for water and bread – whether ordered or not!)

If alcohol isn’t your cup of tea, then try the local Greek coffee, a chilled foam-topped drink popularly known as frappé or fréddo. For those who believe that Starbucks invented frappés, think again! Discovered by an employee of Nestlé way back in 1957 in Thessaloniki, the Greek frappé has its own variations in the iced espresso or cappuccino fréddo. In Greece, the local iced coffees are so popular that the trademark tall, slim glass, brimming with dark brown liquid swirled with pale froth is the drink of choice on sunny beaches, in lieu of fancy cocktails.

Food is a strange thing – even months, or years after having eaten something delectable, it is possible to conjure up, in the mind’s eye, the very taste, the flavour and aroma… In how many places though, is it possible to savour the changing hands of the season? The Greeks are purely seasonal eaters – the horiatiki salata (Greek salad), popular in summer, gets replaced by some version of lachano-marouli salata (cabbage-lettuce salad) at any other time of the year. The healthiest food in winter is the horta or wild greens, steamed or blanched and deftly made into a salad, with a dash of lemon juice and olive oil, eaten as a light meal with potatoes (in lieu of fish or meat). Watching the locals spend hours bantering or watching a community TV over the appetisers and salad, we begin to feel right at home.

As the moon lights up the Acropolis, our main course is served in steaming platters. From a freshly baked spanakopita (spinach and feta stuffed filo pie) to moussaka (a minced lamb and eggplant casserole), stuffed peppers, and pastitsio (a baked meat dish with béchamel sauce) there is much to choose from. Meat is in abundance in Greece – grilled lamb chops, pork and meatballs, and not forgetting game stew and grilled octopus. We look for kat which identifies frozen items on the menu, as the Greeks, by law, must make mention of anything that is not fresh. These baked dishes are great on the mainland, but the islands have their own specialties, though olive oil remains an ubiquitous ingredient across the country.

On the Cycladic islands, a few days later, as I watch the multi-toned hues of the Santorini sunset reflect onto the burgundy wine, throwing shadows onto mashed fava (split pea) puree drizzled with olive oil and roasted onions, I automatically reach for the blood red tomato balls, as if colour must match colour, in order to synchronise with nature. The melting carafe of local Santorini wine, springing from the volcanic temperament of the soil and microclimate, is as unique as the local produce, giving us waterless yet succulent cherry tomatoes, sweet and sturdy white aubergines (both owing their origins in Suez), piquant green capers and cheese cultivated at home and served fresh, daily.

Hobnobbing with the locals gets us an inside peek into some interesting tastes that grab our palette – louloudakia or stuffed zucchini flowers (a dish found in Lesvos) which can be deep fried with cheese or boiled and stuffed with rice and herbs. And a local appetizer popularised in the Mykonos taverns, louza, a deep ruby-coloured ham flavoured with spices, left to dry and sliced particularly thin.

It is simply sinful to leave Greece without having experienced the popular Greek fast food of gyro (pita sandwich with rotisseried meat, accompaniments and tzatziki sauce) and souvlaki (cubes of meat on skewers). We steadfastly maintain that neither dish tasted remotely close to the original, hole-in-the-wall version, when attempted at a fancy restaurant. It is not difficult to find a little joint in the island towns or on street corners in Athens. A corn-on-the-cob and roasted pistachios from the little street vendors work as great accompaniments.

The generous physical proportions of the Greeks is not surprising, what with a daily dose of lovingly syruped layers of delicacies – from Turkish baklava and melitinia (small cream cheese pies) to the Mykonos specialty of roasted marzipan. For a lighter dash of sweetness, there is always the local seasonal fruit (giant juicy figs, melons and pears) or my personal favourite – yoghurt doused with fresh fruit, honey and groundnuts – the famous local concoction, particularly delicious, creamy and thick.

As I sit back, sipping on the local digestive liqueur masticha, swirling the flavour of anise around my tongue, after twelve days of food tasting in the land of myth and history, I feel like I am a part of another world, a world rich in food and culture, and yet simple to the core. Maybe it is the lack of popularisation of Greek cuisine abroad, or the fact that when in Greece, get fed like the Greeks do, that I feel content. Or maybe it is all those chunks of feta swirling in extra virgin olive oil…

Verve’s Bollywood Style Awards 2008

19 Tuesday Feb 2008

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Art, Literature & Culture, Fashion & Style, Publication: Verve Magazine

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Bollywood, Bollywood Style Awards, Fashion, indiancinema, jabwemet, Saawariya, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Features, February 2008
Photographs by Manmeet Bhatti

After a long era of homegrown costumiers dressing movie stars of yore, fashion designers styling glam queens has become de rigueur in today’s Bollywood. From unique kitsch to contemporary chic, Verve awards three veteran couturiers for their distinctive Indo-retro costumes that set the screen ablaze in 2007 and recreates these trendsetting looks with model Amrit Maghera

Fantasy Mode – Saawariya
Anuradha Vakil for Sonam Kapoor
In the romantic, lyrical tale described over four fateful nights, the screen comes alive with intricate attention to detail in the ambience of Saawariya. Fantasy woven into the fabric of traditional designs enhances Sakina’s (Sonam Kapoor) mystical quality, as she flits in between the surrealistic frames. Designing with the outlook of ‘poetry in motion,’ Anuradha Vakil, known for her work in fashion design that is deeply rooted in Indian crafts, completes director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s vision. Understated designs, which shadow the intricate background sets, are actually realistic and wearable. Empire waistlines and floating anarkalis in classic colours (primarily black and white) have become the rage. Drawing from kathak and the Islamic arts and culture, there is a predominance of antique fabrics, appliqué and ikat weaves and kalabottan embroidery. Vakil shed her initial skepticism at designing for a commercial film, when she discovered the artistic vision of the film.

Authentic Recreation – Khoya Khoya Chand
Niharika Khan for Soha Ali Khan
In a film that takes the audience back to the 1950s, to the era of black and white cinema, Khoya Khoya Chand, a story of on-set romance, subtly plays with the mood of the time. Niharika Khan (along with Ashima Belapurkar) tracked back to film magazines, old movies, footage, and survivors from that decade, meticulously developing the evolution of the 50s’ silks and baggy pants to the chiffons and drainpipes of the 60s; indemnifying the teased hairdos, and svelte sari-draped divas. Khan tapped into real life sources, like those of her mother-in-law, Begum Para, her mother’s friend, Waheeda Rehman, and ’60s glamour doll, Saira Banu, making diligent use of valuable resources like old pictures (especially those of Madhubala) and her mother’s saris. It is not surprising then, that the styling is reminiscent of divas from that era – Nadira, Nargis and Meena Kumari. The movement in time is also symbolised by the colour palette: the earlier half of the film restricts itself to muted hues and black and white, while the latter half erupts with a burst of colour, as the cinema transitions to Technicolour.

Ethnic Fusion – Jab We Met
Manish Malhotra for Kareena Kapoor
As the small-town girl, with spirit and a refreshingly optimistic outlook on life, completely unaware of street corner whispers and conventional norms, Kareena Kapoor carried off this eccentric look with aplomb in Jab We Met. Manish Malhotra, exercising the artistic freedom given to him by the director, Imitiaz Ali, boldly dressed Kareena in patiala pants in a fusion concept with a mismatched T-shirt and traditional hoop earrings, which have gone on to become a cult statement. As he describes it, “The blue singlet was peeking through her shirt, and her character, Geet, is someone who would shed the shirt and jeans for a patiala and ganjee – the transition is easy, not requiring any deviation.” The outfit was designed keeping Kareena in mind – her slim figure, height and darkened hair complemented the ensemble. In the latter half of the film, when the character is in Shimla, though Kareena would have preferred dresses, both the director and designer were in agreement that a simple salwar-kameez would work best, staying true to her small-town roots.
And work well it did….

Retro Rendering – Om Shanti Om
Manish Malhotra for Deepika Padukone
Celebrating the ’70s in multicoloured tones, bling and outlandish evocations, Manish Malhotra had fun going vintage with bright colours, skintight churidar-kurtas and bouffant or long straight hair to boot. Being brought up on an intense dose of ’70s films, Malhotra got the opportunity to recreate this vision in Om Shanti Om. Farah Khan, who shares his passion for the era, didn’t think twice before selecting him as the costume designer. Khan wanted to be exact, and even modelled the looks on actresses like Hema Malini, Rekha, Mumtaz, Leena Chandavarkar and Helen, before opting for the final designs. Malhotra loved dressing up Deepika Padukone, whom he describes as, “a beautiful young actress, with a great figure. We could mould her into the look we wanted.” He is thrilled to have recreated history, particularly in the multi-starrer song, which was an exciting challenge in itself. The retro style is now so popular that a commercial line celebrating this look is soon to be launched!