Baz Luhrmann: Amplifying Emotion

19 Friday Mar 2010

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

Tags

Australia, Baz Luhrmann, Hollywood, India, Interview, movies, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, International Edge, March 2010
Photographs: Aparna Jayakumar

Award-winning Australian director of films Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet and Australia, Baz Luhrmann arrived in India expecting a “creative adventure”. In the midst of dipping his fingers into paint, warding off curious eyes, responding to over-enthusiastic banter and driving a bike through Rajasthan taking photos, Sitanshi Talati-Parikh gets an insight into his artistic mantra

An elderly Indian gentleman (probably inebriated) asks Baz Luhrmann at a recent art soirée, about the size of his pants. Luhrmann replies politely and retreats to probably punch the wall or take a deep breath. He has, in the correct manner of famous people especially of international origin, been generously accosted. His voice is scratchy from replying to the same – or inane – questions, his face is showing more lines than it should from smiling politely to profusely talking strangers, and he is undeniably tired. It is not surprising then, that he chooses a late start, armed with coffee, the morning of our meeting. “Not all of it is joy,” the veteran director admits, “Some of it is overwhelming. But something keeps telling me to ‘surrender’ and be in the moment.” An agreeable disposition and genial self-deprecating humour on his surprisingly slight frame make him a very real person who likes making larger-than-life movies that tend to hit the spot.

It is a creative visionary’s brush that picks up on the nuances of life, emotions and true-to-life characters with a flourish to create the ‘big’ film – full of flavour, drama, vibrant colours and melody – whether it is the garish realism of Romeo + Juliet (1996), the Parisian kitsch of Moulin Rouge! (2001), or the ochre-hued drama of Australia (2008). “It is amplification. You take realistic human emotions, realities or problems but you use an expressionistic canvas.” And this is what led to what is popularly known as Luhrmann’s Red Curtain Trilogy (Strictly Ballroom (1992), Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!) – the concept of an “overtly theatrical musical work”.

Australia announced a departure from Sydney-born Luhrmann’s previous musical format and moved towards a more sweeping epic form. “There is no way that Australia is of the then-current naturalistic vernacular. It is heightened, much like Gone With The Wind is heightened. Instead of music, I tried using landscape to amplify emotion. It is operatic in that sense. Naturalism is like looking through a keyhole and you are apparently looking at reality; but this form is where words fail us – sometimes we just can’t express in words what it is like to truly be exalted or truly be in love or truly lose your child over a cliff.” Instantly, in the mind’s eye appears the stunning visual of the herd of cattle racing towards the brink of a cliff pounding a dust storm. “What may seem to us to be a small event, to a person in the village, it is operatic at that point of time. ‘You-can’t-marry-that-boy-moment’ internally feels like Tosca. As an artist you want to use devices to help the audience empathise. And that doesn’t mean just reproducing the way it apparently is. I try not to show the way things are, rather the way things would have felt for the character.”

The once-aspiring actor has often given credit to Hindi cinema for influencing his cinema. “India has always been an extraordinary serum for my soul. Fifteen years ago – it is quite serendipitous – I made a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1993) set in colonial India. I was really fascinated by the connection between the Elizabethan spiritual world and the Hindu spiritual world. The production is very distinctly making those visual translations in the time of the Raj – the lovers are all European Raj characters and the Hindu spiritual world plays with them.” It went on to be a hugely successful show, winning the Critic’s Prize at the Edinburgh Festival. He recalls the defining moment being his visit to India at the time, with his award-winning production-designer wife, Catherine Martin, where in Rajasthan, they saw their very first Bollywood movie. Unable to remember the title or the cast – except that it was about two brothers going to Oxford University, and fighting over the same girl – Luhrmann found it remarkable that there was, “intense tragedy, next to very broad comedy and then a burst of song. Two thousand people were spellbound, including us who couldn’t speak the language, for three hours. What we got out of that was the value of exaltation. In that sense Bollywood films are Shakespearean. Different people can have different experiences at different levels. That sensibility became the Red Curtain Trilogy and has stayed with me ever since.”

Characters and sensitivity to their emotions is a trait that can be traced back to his youth working at a gas station observing people. At 47, he admits, “I’m addicted to people. And, it’s shocking, but I’m just getting started. I haven’t begun to meet all the people and haven’t begun to make all the movies. Maybe one day I’ll make a really good film, won’t that be good?!” There’s a light chuckle. “People are derided for it…being enthusiastic is uncool, so I would think, be as uncool as you possibly can. There is nothing sadder than getting to a certain age and sleepwalking through life, marking time until the curtain falls. I don’t want to surround myself with that energy.”

His own vigour (despite the weariness) is paramount, and you would expect him to have enthralled us with more work than he has. He has a bunch of projects lined up, including that of a cinematic production of The Great Gatsby. “There is no such thing for me as lying on a beach and saying, ‘The cocktail’s good!’ Creativity has always instinctively been for me the pursuit of a rich and extraordinary life, out of which creativity grows, as opposed to the pursuit of a successful career. I did that, and all of the Red Curtain came out of the instinctive urge. It has to be personal to begin with. For instance, I love Paris and Bohemia, hence Moulin Rouge!” The first Harry Potter film was offered to him: recalling that, he mutters, ‘Idiot!’ and smacks his forehead in mock disapproval at missing out. “That might have been a brilliant career choice once, but the work I do comes out of my life’s journey. Recently, I lost sight of that. So between films I’m doing things just like this.”

And this is exactly where we are. At the newly-opened Le Sutra art concept hotel, Bandra, Mumbai, that has a mural painted by Luhrmann and Australian artist Vincent Fantauzzo. Appalled by the recent negativity in Australia that he’s afraid will mar the formative years of Indian students, Luhrmann decided to partake of this “creative adventure” to use the artistic medium to speak out in a way that politicians cannot. “It is a genuine leading experiential artwork, what we used to call in the old days, ‘a happening’ and a platform to express the positivity to counter the negativity. As old as India is, it is young again. It is youthful, it’s finding new creativity – Australia connects with India on that level. Without getting too clever or complicated, it was adventurous for us, but also symbolically and creatively a positive gesture. So far it has been intense, and it hasn’t let us down.”

Whether it is playing himself on an American TV show, directing a ballet, painting a wall or making a film, Luhrmann has never been judgemental about ‘high’ and ‘low’ art. “It is just expression…the adventure in pursuing it and the personal gain in your internal journey. What does it do for you?” While painting the mural – quipping that he merely held the can of paint – he finds that he has, “received the invisible lesson – one that you don’t know where to look for.” Accustomed to a zillion people following his directives, he suddenly found himself floundering with the language barrier, helping young children paint the embroidery on the mural. “There aren’t 15 people here to say ‘Yes Boss!’ I was reminded what directing is – to know what you want and engage people and help them release their fear, be the very best they can be.”

Mark Anthony Luhrmann, “a tiny kid with an Afro”, was very young when he ran away from his father, whom he describes as a “loving disciplinarian”. The long, “crazy” hair, left Luhrmann with the derisive nickname ‘Baz’, which he decided to defiantly hold on to, particularly after it was used affectionately by his father, a little before he died. His brand, Bazmark, has a crest with a motto, ‘A life lived in fear is a life half lived’. It defines the way Luhrmann thinks – against a formula that’s any but his own and one that is constantly being redefined by life’s experiences. “As you become successful in any way, little switches have turned where you increasingly become disconnected with yourself and you think you’re doing stuff, but you are not. It’s harder to not be your brand. You get tired…of stepping outside your comfort zone. Being here is awesome, but it’s not like I’m 25 and haven’t gone to India before and it’s not like stuff isn’t thrown at us. But the effort, already, has given me hundred-fold back. I could leave today and know that I have been woken up in a way that I wouldn’t have had I not stepped outside my comfort zone. You tend to regret not finding out.”

Imran Khan: The Quiet Romantic

19 Friday Feb 2010

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

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Tags

Avantika Malik, Bollywood, Bushido, I Hate Luv Storys, imrankhan, indiancinema, Interview, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Marriage, romance, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Verve Men, February 2010
Photograph by: Colston Julian

Recently, Imran Khan got engaged to Avantika Malik after a seven-year relationship. The poster boy of romantic cinema, in his upcoming film I Hate Luv Storys, produced by Karan Johar, plays a true-to-life character that is completely unromantic. On a set of the film, staying in reel and real avatar, the young actor talks candidly to Sitanshi Talati-Parikh about relationships past and present, the insecurities and trials, and the importance of chivalry…peppered with intermittent reflections on what he thinks (or doesn’t think) about romance demonstrated by funny pie charts, graphs and comic strips that he has saved on his laptop

I’m honestly the least romantic person you can find, really. By conventional definitions, and by my fiancée’s definition, that is. But if she’s lasted out this long, clearly she sees something in me!

It’s not that I don’t like romance…I just don’t think it’s feasible. When you are wooing someone, you put on your game face – bathe regularly, cut your nails, take her to fancy places, buy her flowers…all of the drama. It’s a mating dance…but rather short-lived. As time goes on, how you feel about each other as people, how you treat each other as people, will determine whether your relationship will last.

And yet, I’m big on the proper proposals. I proposed to Avantika a month after we met, asking her if she would be my girlfriend – lighting her room with candles – the works. Somewhere in me, there is a classical streak – I was brought up with values of chivalry. You have to do it the right way – go down on one knee…it just doesn’t work otherwise.

You do some things because you know that they are important to someone. I’ve been working on my last four birthdays, because I couldn’t care less. To Avantika, a birthday is really important – the excitement starts to build a month-and-a-half in advance. So, I put in an effort to make a big deal about her birthday. The diamond engagement ring, the surprise proposal – while I know it’s something created as a marketing concept by the diamond company, De Beers – I knew it would mean something to Avantika, it would make her happy, so I did the whole deal. I planned the surprise proposal on her birthday (last July) at her farmhouse with a bunch of friends, complete with a red herring to throw her off course. And then, as I pulled out the ring, while going down on one knee…the expression on her face was priceless.

Avantika would want me to be more expressive. When you are in a relationship with someone for an extended period of time, you tend to take on characteristics of the other person. She’s taken on my characteristics, I know – and I have done the same. She’s calmed down a lot. All her emotions are just below the surface, and sometimes on the surface. At a moment’s notice she will erupt with love or anger or violence. My anger is more frigid – the angrier I am, the calmer I get and the softer my voice gets. It’s very brutal and it really shrivels people up. When I’m livid, it takes two sentences to bring the other person to the brink of tears. But it takes something monumental to get me angry.

I have never been jealous – particularly in this relationship with Avantika. Even right in the beginning, it never occurred to me that at any point, if she is somewhere without me, something would happen with another guy. If you’ve been messed with a few times in life, you would imagine it should, but it didn’t. I’ve cheated on one girl in my life and broke up with her the next day – couldn’t deal with the guilt. More often than not, I’ve got the raw end of the deal; it took me a very long time to get over it. There was a grand break-up, followed by extremely short-term relationships – measurable in hours – and in the aftermath of that, I met Avantika.

I had not the slightest clue when I entered the relationship that it would be for keeps. I was 19. What do you think at the time? ‘Pretty girl, I am interested in her and she in me; let’s just see how it goes.’ It started off without any specific intentions and just coasted along. It speaks for itself that we are still in it.

I think the wisdom is false that in this industry it is an advantage to be thought of as single. If you are in a committed relationship and honest about it, people respect you that much more. Emotionally, they like you more, it makes them think, ‘This is a good guy, an honest guy.’ There are enough people out there who think all Bollywood relationships are a sham. And some of them are. Avantika believes that if she were in this ‘circus’ with anyone else, it wouldn’t have lasted.

Avantika isn’t insecure, but there’s something else…. She doesn’t worry that I might get attracted to an actress or model. What I think bothers her is the fact that people talk to her because she’s my fiancée, and if she were not, they wouldn’t even look at her; or there are others who just look through her. There is a tendency in these circles to talk to people without having things in common, because you are a part of the same fraternity – and anyone not in that immediate circle gets left out.

We’ve been through two major trials recently – the first when we started shooting Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na. It involved people who had nothing to do with her life. Generally, your friends are common, but suddenly I’m spending days and nights with people whom she has never seen. That was a very difficult time – she had to come to terms with the fact that I suddenly had less time to spend with her. And the next was when Jaane Tu…had just released – suddenly I became famous and the whole world wanted a piece of me.

I’ve lived my life believing that you decide who you want to be and you can be that person. You look back, learn and move on. I don’t have any regrets about my current or past relationships. If I had done something differently with Avantika, perhaps we wouldn’t be here today. Things wouldn’t be the same.

If I fall prey to the ugliness that is a part of the underbelly of this industry, it won’t be because I am a part of this industry – it would be for the reason that any man in any job would…which is that he is done with the relationship. It certainly won’t be because I get tempted by some girl who thinks, ‘I want to sleep with an actor.’

The rumours that tabloids pick on for sensationalism can so easily sully a clean relationship. It happened to me once – and because of all the drama, all the sudden awkwardness, it has soured some friendships.

I don’t want to be in a position where I give Avantika any cause for discomfort. If I had to choose to cut a person out of my life to give Avantika that security, I would do it – I did it. The very fact that I have done this, and the fact that I have acknowledged her as my girlfriend from the beginning, gives her that kind of security. I don’t know whether she would expect this of me in the future, or as a result of my having done this, her faith in me would be stronger and I would not need to do something like that again.

I live my life by a very strict code of conduct – I believe that I must behave in a certain way, be a certain way. Everything that I do must be righteous. Commitment means a lot to me. So, hypothetically, if I was to be tired of my relationship, I would not cheat, I would say, ‘End this, and then go find another girl.’

You read about chivalry. Bushido is the samurai code of conduct – the way of the warrior. They have certain principles, where ‘to say is to do’ – your word is your bond. I was probably eight or ten when I read about these things. I loved the King Arthur legends. It was cool – armour, swords, rescuing damsels in distress, leading chaste lives…and I decided I wanted to be like these guys. It always got them into trouble with the girls – and I still get suckered by damsels in distress. It’s an inbuilt thing…every guy falls for it!

I believe if you do the right things, you don’t need grand gestures of romance. Men use these smokescreens to cover up their relationship inadequacies. I can neglect my girlfriend all day and turn up with a bunch of roses – that doesn’t make it okay. Instead, if I call her twice during the day, we stay connected. The candyfloss idea of romance is just that – paint and gloss. Paint is all very well, but it is not going to keep the rain out – it is the unglamorous bricks and mortar that will. The good guys don’t need showbiz.

Vidya Balan: Sense and Sensuality

19 Friday Feb 2010

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Bollywood, Ekta Kapoor, Guru, Hum Paanch, indiancinema, Interview, Ishqiya, Paa, Parineeta, Pradeep Sarkar, vervemagazine, vidyabalan

Published: Verve Magazine, Cover Story, February 2010
Photographs by: Atul Kasbekar

She is undeniably sexy. While it is not a raw in-your-face sexuality, it is a deep passionate sensuality that emanates from her captivating smile and smouldering eyes. Vidya Balan is as much of this time as anyone else, but you get the feeling she may have been better suited to the era of the Romantics or the cinema of the ’70s. Worthy of being a muse, the man who gets her, will totally get her. Sitanshi Talati-Parikh woos the audaciously role-playing star of Parineeta and the just-released Ishqiya into talking about romance, men, career lows and what turns her on

I’ve seen you somewhere,” she says looking directly at me. We trace the connection back to our common alma mater, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. (She admits wanting to study there simply because Shabana Azmi is an alumnus.) I can’t deny I am surprised by Vidya Balan’s refreshing directness and razor-sharp memory retrieving faces seen more than a decade ago. Her smile reaches up to her eyes, rare in someone from the industry of make-believe. You don’t want to tell her that her eyes are in fact (as she suspects) looking weary, because you are afraid the captivating smile will disappear. You can’t exactly blame this diminutive powerhouse of talent for the fatigue factor – she’s run the marathon for Nanhi Kali, besides working round-the-clock promoting her latest film Ishqiya (2010), where she essays an author-backed role of a femme fatale, Krishna, opposite two thieves (Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi).

“I always felt that I could be a temptress and a seductress, but people didn’t really want to see me like that.” Balan launches into Krishna’s character with gusto. “Here’s a woman who’s unapologetic about her sexuality. She will not take things lying down…no pun intended,” she laughs a gusty, full-throated laugh. “She’s leading two men on, getting drunk and violent. She’s everything that, on a superficial level, I am not.” She actually thanked director Abhishek Chaubey for considering her to play a role for which she would not have been the natural choice. “People don’t want to take a risk casting against type. I have done some challenging roles, but they have been pretty much in one zone. As a character I relate to the fact that she lives life on her terms. But beyond that, the way she deals with situations is very different. I was doing everything that I had never done. This was exciting!”

The spirited eyes, the full smile and the expressive face all suggest a latent sensuality. “What you feel is what you exude. I enjoy being a woman! After all, I came in with Parineeta (2005). I revel in everything that is feminine, beautiful and sensual. When working on a weight loss regime, I told my trainer, ‘I want to lose the excess not the essentials.’ I love a woman’s curves! I find that ‘flat thing’ very asexual. Ethnic clothing from any part of the world is a lot more feminine. I like clothes that make me feel like a woman.”

Standing in a burgundy georgette-and-net gown-kurta while the camera takes position, her fingers unconsciously pinch the sides, and lost in thought, she gracefully twirls back and forth, looking like a wistful young girl waiting to be taken to the prom. When the camera is on, she slides her hand up to her slim waist, leans forward, a suggestive hint of cleavage visible, hair billowing, transforming into a Victorian temptress who can turn a good man into a sinner. “A man is a man is a man in every situation. A woman, however, transforms according to the role that is demanded of her at that point in time. You will find Krishna (in Ishqiya) playing the tanpura like Meera in one scene and in the next having a passionate affair with a man without any emotional involvement. She is in complete control of her life and truly the progressive woman of today.” She confesses that like Krishna, her feelings are fervent. “I am a very passionate person…I have come to accept that now. There is no midway for me. I love ardently. I don’t hate – one goes through anger; prayer gives me the strength not to hate anyone – but yes, that person ceases to matter for me.”

From the gentle lovemaking in Parineeta to the unabashed sex in Ishqiya, the 31-year-old actress hasn’t held back from giving roles her best. “Initially I felt very conscious, especially in Parineeta, my first film. But I had faith in Dada (director, Pradeep Sarkar) that the scenes would be done beautifully, that they wouldn’t look sleazy. I knew I would be well taken care of. The first thing that crosses your mind when you think of your lover with someone else is the physical aspect: it was important to the story in Parineeta. It is not a comfortable situation, but if it is justified and if I have faith in the people I work with, I am not going to be a prude.”

And being a perfectionist means going that extra mile. When playing a character afflicted with multiple sclerosis, in Mani Ratnam’s Guru (2007), she underwent rigorous training to understand the mental state of the character. Meeting patients, watching films on the subject and even roaming around her building at night on a wheelchair…all of it took a psychological toll on her. To the extent that one night, when trying to get out of bed to get a glass of water, she found herself unable to do so – having lost motor control in her limbs. “It scared the life out of me! At that point Mani sir suggested that I should stop – having prepared enough for the role. But despite that, when you do that kind of work – which challenges you, requires you to push the envelope, push yourself beyond your limits – it is deeply fulfilling.”

She looks exuberant when she talks about cinema and acting. About yearning to have been born in the time of a Jai Jai Shiv Shankar, wearing saris that marked individual style and holding forte with actresses like Shabana Azmi, Mumtaz, Sharmila Tagore, Rekha, Jaya Bachchan and Hema Malini. She knew she wanted to be an actor since she was 11 years old. “If I hadn’t become a movie star I would have perished! Being an actor defines me. I think I am a schizophrenic and want to be another person every day.”

Without having a filmi crutch, she has fumbled and only recently, through perseverance, faith and hard work, found sure footing. While opportunities came her way, many a door was rudely banged in her face. She landed her first TV show when just a few months into college. Balan got her pictures clicked at a local photo studio, with her sister in charge of hair, make-up and a winning bio data. At the time, barely over 15 years of age, she made the cut from 900 applicants. “I owe my sister my career,” she chuckles.

After eight months of filming, the show was shelved because the channel went bust. The producers sent the actors to Ekta Kapoor, who was making her first daily soap. Eyes filled with mirth, she remembers how taken-aback Kapoor was with Balan’s placid response, when offered the role of Radhika for the popular show Hum Paanch. “The cocky thing that I was, I turned back to Ekta and said, ‘I always take everything with a pinch of salt.’” Kapoor has to this date never let her forget it.

After a year on the show, when it began affecting her attendance at college, her parents insisted that she quit working. “I come from a traditional South Indian family, where education and academics take precedence over everything else. I was terribly upset…I grudged them that for a while, but today, I am so grateful to them.” Balan continued to do ad films on the side, going on to do 90-odd commercials. “It was perfect! I could enjoy college life, while pursuing my passion and making money. That’s how it really started….”

While in the South shooting for an ad film, the actress – who can speak five Indian languages – was approached by a model coordinator to star in a Malayalam film. The cockiness resurfaced with a question, ‘Who’s in it?’ When informed that it was her favourite star Mohanlal, she tested and was signed on immediately. While doing her Masters (in Sociology) from Mumbai University, Balan began shooting for the film. Halfway through, the director and Mohanlal had a fall out, and the film was shelved. But by then, there was a positive buzz about a Malayali actress from Mumbai, and Balan had already gone on to sign six films, while in talks for 12.

What she didn’t realise was that in the midst of the problems between the director and Mohanlal, she had been labelled ‘jinxed’, and was rapidly being replaced in all the films she had just signed. They didn’t even bother to inform her – her mother would get the Malayalam papers and discover that the film her daughter was supposed to be a part of had already started without her. Balan was unceremoniously thrown out of a Tamil film as well, after being told that she couldn’t act or dance and didn’t look good. “I didn’t know what it was that I was doing wrong. It was extremely painful. They made me feel really worthless. It had dented my confidence to the extent that I had stopped looking into the mirror for a while. When you are badly hit, you begin to believe what people are saying. In those moments of self-doubt though, I think somewhere my faith in myself and in God got strengthened more than ever. I was relentless.”

At a point of particularly low self-esteem, while working on an ad film, her path crossed that of Pradeep Sarkar’s, who wasn’t very impressed with what he saw. When he was casting for a music video, Euphoria, he was reluctant to call Balan in for the screen test. She relates, “It was at this stage that I had begun to pray…and begun to pull myself out of this negativity.” She got selected, and after shooting for the video all night, was rewarded with Sarkar’s words, ‘Ay ladki, tere saath main film banaonga. (Hey girl, I will make a film with you.)’ While not sure how to react – the bitterness of past experiences still fresh in her mind – she found Sarkar to be as good as his word. “Without sounding dramatic, if I am sitting here today, it is because of that man’s faith in me.”

She went on to do more videos and ad films with him, even assisting him. “That is why people began to talk rubbish about him and me. It was literally like a mentor-student, a guru-shishya relationship…where I wasn’t living in his gurukul, but I was spending a lot of time there. He would show me movies and performances and we would discuss them in great depth. He was constantly teaching me, honing me.” And then, Parineeta happened. “All the things that didn’t work, didn’t work because I was meant to do a Parineeta. That fire wouldn’t have been there….” Balan has been known to share great onscreen chemistry with her co-stars. “I wasn’t nervous even though it was my first film and I was facing Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt. It could have been George Clooney or a tree for that matter. I would have made love to the tree if I had to, because I was driven by the passion to prove a point. I had to prove it to myself…for every moment that I had considered giving up on my dreams. Something gave me the strength to go on…I wasn’t going to get intimidated by anything or anyone.”

The passion was there for all to see, and that drove the media to a feeding frenzy. “I thought it would never happen to me, but I was shocked to find myself linked with everyone, starting with Pradeep Sarkar. I didn’t know why I was being linked, and people would say that ‘there’s no smoke without a fire’.” Could it have been a publicity stunt to promote the films? “You can dance around naked if you have to, but if your film is not good, it won’t work. I am very proud of the fact that Paa (2009) and Ishqiya are the kind of films that don’t need this kind of publicity – they haven’t had to resort to such things. Story is king and enough to garner interest in it.”

Two movies that lacked the Vidya Balan energy and drive were the ones to not do justice to the audience’s expectations – Heyy Babyy (2007) and Kismat Konnection (2008). “Those were the only films that I did without scripts. I wanted to work with Aziz Mirza (director, Kismat…). Whatever the criticism might be, I am proud of all my work and happy with each experience. The film didn’t turn out the way it was meant to. As human beings we are not consistent, in fact, that kind of consistency almost takes away from creativity! Having said that, I lacked passion in these films…I’m very transparent.” Why would someone so driven not give it her best shot? “I thought I could go through those films without much effort and I was mistaken. I admire those actors who do the regular roles so beautifully. After Kismat… my eyes opened to the fact that what we look upon as regular may actually be a lot more challenging. There are very few times that I have fallen prey to being indifferent towards my work…and both those times it showed. Today, even if I do less work, I want to do work that I believe in.” It is evident that this belief has worked for her. Balan’s mother, who is normally not the “weepy sort”, found her eyes welling up after seeing her daughter’s portrayal of a strong single mom of a progeria-afflicted 13-year-old in Paa, and her father – deeply impressed with her performance – spontaneously gifted her a Mercedes, something she had been eyeing for a while, with a note ‘From Paa for Paa’.

Vidya Balan writes a diary every day, however late it may be. Music pulses through her veins – eclectic, more instrumental than vocal – think Sufi, Asian Underground, Nirvana, Buddha Bar, and that of RD Burman and Gulzar from the ’70s and ’80s. She can talk on the phone endlessly with someone she’s interested in. Even after seven days of no sleep. But you can’t talk to her when she has just woken up. And an undercurrent of silence really gets her buzzing. “There is nothing more romantic than standing in a room full of people and there is silent communication taking place between the two of you. You can be in two different corners of the room, but it feels like you are right next to each other. I’ve experienced it…wanting those 100 people to disappear and somewhere in your head they have actually disappeared.”

While she wants to get there someday, she is not ready for marriage and kids yet. “You are constantly role-playing when you act. I don’t know who I am going to fall in love with. There are no limitations, about loving someone from within the industry or outside it. I know I can still be genuine, but it takes a lot. But, if I can help it, I wouldn’t want to be with an actor – two people constantly fighting for the mirror is just bad news!” She laughs, obliterating the opportunity to probe further.

There is a faraway expression in her eyes as she rattles off qualities in a man that turn her on. “Long and unruly hair can be so sexy! A man’s voice – it has to have a certain base to it. Not a baritone, but a certain lingering quality; and of course interesting conversations. Being self-assured, I find that extremely attractive. A little bit of arrogance for a while can be fun. Definitely someone who likes me the way I am. I don’t have a vision of a man I’d get attracted to…it’s never about the looks for me, it’s always about personality. I have never been able to tell my type – having fallen for radically different, even unusual men.” Anybody I know? I counter. And no, I’m not buying that George Clooney line. She lets out a peal of mischievous laughter. “We shall talk about that later.”

Men she may choose to postpone; success she can’t. Paa has already begun garnering wins for her, and Ishqiya promises to take her to a new high. “Success is something that is personal. Its definition changes every day, if not every moment. When you accomplish what you want to do, that’s success. You know that if people are accepting you, then you need to continue doing what you are doing. It gives you the courage to be who you are, more than ever.”

‘Following’ the Stars: India’s Celebrity Twitter Story

17 Wednesday Feb 2010

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

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Abhishek Bachchan, Bollywood, Celebrity Journalism, imrankhan, indiancinema, Internet Generation, Interview, Karan Johar, priyankachopra, Rajeev Masand, Rangita Pritish Nandy, Sonam Kapoor, Twitter

Verve Magazine, Social Chronicle, January 2010

In 2009 the most popular word in the English language was Twitter. This online space has seen marriage proposals, scandals and ‘status updates’ at the altar, but by far the most exciting thing to hit Tweeple-world was the advent of the celebrities. As movie stars, film-makers, opinion-makers and news people took their loves, lives and peeves online, there was an automatic creation of the ‘twitterazzi’. The web crawlers – cyber voyeurs – have made famous people their ‘friends’, innocent people infamous, nobodies into celebrities and the offline media into silent, hapless observers. Sitanshi Talati-Parikh tweet talks, to see what kind of bird brings the top movie stars and opinion-makers out to play

From exclusive scoops and candid camera to Twitter
Voyeurism is one of the world’s deep failings. We can’t help wanting to know what’s happening in someone else’s life. The desire to live vicariously keeps the tabloids, gossip columns and celebrity buzz alive – people have made a living (or killing) out of it. There was a time when celebrity journalists were at a premium – privy to the most private boudoirs and most exclusive soirées. With the advent of television, the paparazzi took an ugly, invasive turn, with visuals of celebs being sold for top dollar, candid cameras trailing them at every step – crawling into their homes, even into their bathing suits. There have been fistfights and media bashing – for simply not knowing where to draw the line.

Then, the Internet changed everything. Vicious MMSes, scandalous sex tapes and politically incorrect tweets aside, celebrities have found a way to access a world of fans (and potential fans) hailing from all nationalities, without having to actually meet them face-to-face. After all, one person’s voyeur is another person’s fan. The anonymity of the Web appeals to the celebrity that is willing to stay connected to the point of involving strangers in their lives: voicing their opinions, sharing titbits about their day, their frustrations and joys, and responding to (often inane) questions. While Rangita Nandy (creative director of Pritish Nandy Communications) may believe that, “It (Twitter.com) is a new fad and people are over-assessing it,” it is an undeniable fact that celebrities are ruling roost over cyber world and we have no choice but to ‘follow’ them.

Mysterious inaccessibility or real charm?
Deepika Padukone may cling onto the good old-fashioned sense of celebrity mystery and power couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor may think that anyone with a life would not be on Twitter, but others are quickly finding that accessibility is more important today than it ever was. Early last year, when I first met actor Imran Khan, he remained easily accessible only to those fans that populated his unofficial fan site. Recently, he decided to dive into the vast anonymity of Twitter. We know when he’s awake, if he’s shooting or just playing X-box. He admits candidly, “A huge part of my appeal is my accessibility. I’m the universal ‘bro’ – their college buddy who made it big. It’s different from a star.” He continues with a deeper thought, “My mom couldn’t bear the thought of anyone not liking me. She brought me up in a certain way to ensure that – and I go out of my way to be nice to people to ensure that people will like me. A lot of people feel that mystery increases star appeal – and in a certain sense it does. I try and find a balance.”

Shaima, Leha and Saan, the 20-something-year-old creators of Imran Khan’s unofficial fan site, voice a definitive opinion, “If it’s a nice person, it makes him more attractive, because then fans are not just attracted to a picture or a character but to the real person. In this day and age, if any public figure chooses to remain mysterious, it doesn’t give out a good vibe.” Abhishek Bachchan would easily agree. He believes that “more is better”: “I think that age is gone where mystery sells – today if you are a bit of an enigma you are almost forgotten. Your audience wants to know you, your thoughts, your feelings and they want an interactive relationship – more tactile and approachable – with their actors; not just one of watching them on the big screen.”

Film critic and CNN-IBN entertainment editor Rajeev Masand, who prefers his global film-loving community on Twitter to the “boring incestuousness” of Facebook, seconds the thought: “It is a competitive age – there is a strong need to be quick rather than accurate with the news. It is important for a celeb to stay connected, and to put out information, correct information.”

The rules of interaction have changed
Priyanka Chopra is the queen bee of social presence: she has the most powerful social outreach programme, born initially out of “curiosity and interest” and later powered by Team Priyanka (spearheaded by Natasha Pal, chief operating officer, Vitcom Consulting). Think an active fan base of over 1,30,000 fans which is growing by the day. She posts pictures of herself while chatting, of the view from her room and scenes from her travels. “These kind of platforms do increase accessibility, but you have to put it into the context of how technology and social media networking have redefined relationships, including that of a personality and his/her audience,” she says.

“My appeal lies in my accessibility.”
– Imran Khan

Private people, public lives
Most of these movie stars are not naturally the kind of people who would get attracted to social networking tools. Admits Chopra: “It’s actually quite strange! I am a very private person and to be honest I did find it a bit difficult initially to open up.” So one wonders, what makes these people take time out of their busy schedule and bare their lives – many times a day – to anonymous people online? Of course, at the most basic level lies a desire to directly reach out to global fans, whom they may not have been able to connect to otherwise. Says Chopra, “I now actually know the names and faces of so many people who have reached out to me on these platforms. Many of them are regularly in touch with their viewpoints, questions and sometimes just lovely words of encouragement.”

Or in another exchange, Pritish Nandy and daughter Rangita often discuss their personal lives on Twitter – with public tweets running back and forth: about feeding the dog, coming home, catching a flight, etc. Rangita doesn’t find it invasive: “We choose how much personal space we want to share online. It is about being yourself, not always having to put opinions out there. We are, after all, a society of Peeping Toms. Twitter is not for an asocial person. If you can barely converse with the person sitting opposite you, then you can’t say anything on Twitter. You have to be a milder version of an exhibitionist to be on Twitter.”

Pritish Nandy clarifies, “I am cautious about what I say on Twitter, more for reasons of security than privacy I guess. After all, when we go on a social networking site we know what to expect. There will be serious intrusions: the odd crackpot who comes at you with a slingshot, hysterical ideologues jumping out of the screen at you. There will be a whole bunch of humourless people taking offence to what you say. But that’s all pretty much compensated for by the warmth and friendship of thousands of genuine tweeters having a great time out there.”

Sonam Kapoor gamely accepts it as a professional hazard: “I understand that in my profession privacy is a rare commodity and I am comfortable with these new mediums of interactivity. If Mr. Bachchan, who is reclusive, can do this, then I guess anyone can!” It actually seems to be a case in point that Amitabh Bachchan was one of the first to generate a buzz with his online presence. Often eliciting doubts about whether he is actually the blogger, die-hard fans continue to believe that the Big B is blogging daily into the wee hours of the night, from whichever part of the world he may be in. He has an avid fan base called the ‘extended family’ – to whom he directs his thoughts, angst, stress and pleasure.

The anonymity of the online space creates a great deal of confusion about whether the online tweeter is the real star or not on Twitter. A flurry of tweets are sent back and forth, with an external party confirming that Abhishek Bachchan, for instance, has been merrily tweeting to the wrong Neil Nitin Mukesh, with the fake Neil Nitin Mukesh getting a kick out of pretending to be the actor. (It’s high time the celebs all got a ‘verified account’ from Twitter.

“If you are a bit of an enigma, you are almost forgotten.”
– Abhishek Bachchan

Greater online buzz around a movie: an agenda
As we begin to wonder about stars like Abhishek Bachchan and Shahid Kapoor taking time out to get online on Twitter suspiciously around the time of a big movie release (Paa, Chance Pe Dance respectively), Bachchan apparently felt the online tug from his director-friends Tarun Mansukhani and Rohan Sippy. He suggests that, “people do end up promoting a lot of their work over there and that’s fine – but that should not be the only reason you are on Twitter. It is nice to share your life with the audience, too!” While Sonam Kapoor insists that there is “no larger plan” to her online presence, we cannot miss the fact that during the good-natured online banter between Imran Khan and (Sonam) Kapoor they are unconsciously recreating the characters of their upcoming film I Hate Luv Storys, which they happen to be shooting for at the time. Inadvertently, a buzz is created surrounding their films – and what the directors and producers hope will lead to more eyeballs on the first weekend. Not surprisingly, a fan recently tweeted to Khan, ‘I’m excited to watch IHLS becoz you give us day to day updates…I feel somewhere I am also connected with it.’

Rajeev Masand may not be off the mark when he suggests that a larger weekend turnout for the movie Wake Up Sid was because of Karan Johar’s (and Konkana Sen Sharma’s) tweets. What would have happened had Ranbir Kapoor found the time or the inclination to twitter talk?

Khan, on the other hand, thinks it’s debatable, pointing out that Twitter can actually damage collections from the first day with the spiralling effect of a bad review.

I won’t promote myself online, someone else will
Twitter can easily become polluted as a space for blatant promotions and in-your-face marketing. Rangita Nandy battles with using the domain as an area to promote the films she is producing. “The noise on Twitter is revolting people. We need to clear the clutter. Marketing should be done intelligently.” Actors like Priyanka Chopra, Imran Khan and Abhishek Bachchan have kept the demarcation pretty clear, with a separate handle for their personal tweets (managed by themselves via their mobiles), and a promotional fan handle for their marketing tweets (managed by their staff or fans).

“I understand that in my profession privacy is a rare commodity.”
– Sonam Kapoor

Podium to direct public opinion
Speaking directly to this young global audience is also a perfect platform to generate public opinion or voice their own on important issues. Like voting, for instance. Chopra tweeted a picture of herself and her brother showing their voting mark, while Khan (who also lends his voice to being environment-friendly) and Sonam Kapoor urged the youth to get out and do so. Newscasters like Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt, opinion-makers like Pritish Nandy and political leaders like Shashi Tharoor inform us about their opinions (some more strongly than the others) and thoughts on a daily basis. Gul Panag, considering herself “more of an opinion-maker than a celebrity”, believes her credibility and integrity comes from not mincing words – despite who may be ‘listening’.

Pritish Nandy believes that the dynamic online space is not just about interaction, but about sustained interaction, and prefers to watch to see whether these celeb tweeters will stick. “Film stars can get a huge and instant fan base on Twitter, true. But can they sustain an interesting dialogue Currently I see only Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Gul Panag, Riteish Deshmukh, Mallika Sherawat and Imran Khan reaching out to their fans through Twitter. Some are succeeding. Some are already getting boring.”

The good, the bad, and the ugly…
An autograph is so 1950. A mobile photo is dependent on being at the right place at the right time. An online chat is a rarity. But being ‘followed’ by a star is the new mantra for young fans who throng Twitter-world. Lording it over their friends when they get a response, fans are incessantly demanding and movie stars are responding to their demands. It takes a lot of courage for celebrities – despite the fact that they are gathering brownie points and a huge online fan base – to engage an audience that can be as fickle as they are loyal.

Privy to some of the disturbing hate mail that Khan got after simply requesting people to avoid air and noise pollution via firecrackers during Diwali, leads me to see how people misuse the platform to lash out with personal angst and impolite criticism. “The downside of accessibility is that you’re also open to abuse and negativity. It takes a lot to not snap and react,” says the young actor, who chooses to concentrate on the landslide of positive responses. “I do feel overwhelmed, that’s why I go off Twitter for a few days. There are weird people out there; people who feel that you owe them something – ‘why aren’t you replying to me?’ or pleas of ‘please follow me!'” Creators of Khan’s fan site agree that even on a moderated forum, the space is deeply invasive. “The weirdest one was a guy, spamming our mailbox everyday to pass the message that Khan was in great danger and that only he could save him!”

Personally-intrusive negativism aside (Celina Jaitley and Mallika Sherawat have had to fight off online pursuers); through this medium, work criticism (and praise) also finds it way easily to the eyes of actors. But maybe, as Masand suggests, the bitter pill is better digested when coming from a fan rather than a critic “The celebs are happy to respond to the praise and the criticism – they take to criticism from fans better than from critics. After all, you are doing it for them, you have to lump it!”

The changing role of media
The big question is where does the media fit in? Chopra believes in its continued importance: “Platforms like this present the opportunity to connect one-on-one with the audience, with a two-way direct dialogue, with no one else in between. Currently and for some time in the future, I believe that both will continue to co-exist. The only difference is that, as with the Internet, information dissemination on these platforms is immediate, creating, in a sense, an alternative source of news and information, as many recent world events prove.”

Khan finds that there will always be a space for deeper interactions. “There are some people – I am one of those people – who want to know more about people they admire in some way. There are some things I won’t find out through Twitter or online chat. Besides, you don’t realise how many people are in places that don’t have the Internet – they wouldn’t know Twitter if it jumped up and bit them. It is arrogant to ignore the fact that newspapers and magazines, particularly in the Hindi language, are immense in scope.”

Panag has found that talking directly online means not waiting to be interviewed to share an opinion or a thought. Besides, it is an optimum place to make an announcement – replacing a press release – she finds herself quoted straight from Twitter on many occasions.

One form doesn’t need to be different from the other, though. The definition of media can be all-inclusive, as Abhishek Bachchan points out: “We are all part of the same medium which is media. A film at some level is also a form of media. Yes, I think artistes do have a new conduit to reach their voice, their opinion to the audience but I don’t think that means they should do without the media – it is a conscience of a nation and it should forever be there.” Pritish Nandy adds another dimension to the thought, “The media is a great intermediary. But intermediation does not always improve or enhance communication. Sometimes, in fact, it distorts it. For me, both media and social networking sites are crucial in today’s world. They support each other and correct each other’s failures.”

I can’t help but agree. Being fatalistic about the future of media is irrelevant. Factually, we have no choice but to embrace newer forms of interaction – whether we chose to be early adopters, or the grudging lot who will squeal, drag their feet and find themselves lost in a sea of information; go online we must. Maybe for the media, the fear stems from a loss of control, even a missing sense of ownership – at a point of time the intermediary remained of paramount importance, now it becomes a bystander in more transparent proceedings. For the others, it’s a whole new world out there – brave and demanding. Sharing your thoughts; and getting to know your ‘neighbourhood’ celeb can be deeply gratifying: find that voyeur in you, and you may surprise yourself by enjoying it.

“I am a very private person and I did find it a bit difficult initially to open up.”
– Priyanka Chopra

Desi Tweeters (Follow the Verve references online…)

Abhishek Bachchan Tweets vary from merely prolific (around the time of the movie release) to interesting and erudite, sometimes including the ‘mrs’ in his personal anecdotes. Twitter: @juniorbachchan Twitter followers: 22,263 Tweets: 1620.

Amitabh Bachchan On his blog, he truly connects with his ‘extended family’ and talks to them, even replies to them on a regular basis. It’s only when the media aggravates him that he starts a bit of a rant online. Blog: http://bigb.bigadda.com/

Gul Panag Ranking among the top tweeters of India, she was asked to be the official tweeter for Delhi Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week. Her views on everything sometimes get lost in the info about her personal life. Twitter: @gulpanang Twitter followers: 32,439 Tweets: 10,307; Website: www.gulpanag.net

Imran Khan It’s his deadpan replies to some of the quack questions he gets (on Twitter) that are really the icing. To really get who he is, read his weekly column in Hindustan Times. Twitter: @1mrankhan Twitter followers: 30,072 Tweets: 1764; Unofficial fan site www.imran-khan.org

Karan Johar His Koffee-time brilliance is missing. No great insights – rather one begins to feel it’s a task he’s keeping up, wishing tweeples good morning and good night, with info about missed flights and problems/ stress while shooting. Twitter: @kjohar25 Twitter followers: 46,992 Tweets: 418.

Neil Nitin Mukesh Engages with his activities and polite replies to his fans. Twitter: @NeilNMukesh Twitter followers: 3,782 Tweets: 287.

Pritish Nandy He has serious views on everything – and right after reading his seven daily papers, there will be a barrage of tweets online. He regularly links his weekly column to his tweets with a ‘try this’ – so you can’t miss it. Twitter: @PritishNandy Twitter followers: 12,459 Tweets: 11,658.

Priyanka Chopra Always her vivacious self, with a powerful branding machine behind her and an ever-growing fan base, it is unlikely that she will stop tweeting any time soon. Facebook; Orkut; YouTube; Official website: www.iampriyankachopra.com;
Twitter: @priyankachopra Twitter followers: 102,640 Tweets: 1182.

Rajdeep Sardesai Twitter: @sardesairajdeep Twitter followers: 19,323 Tweets: 1086; and Barkha Dutt Twitter @bdutt Twitter followers: 39,580 Tweets: 4165. Are as newsy as you’d expect. It’s easier than watching TV.

Rajeev Masand He has managed to engage an audience of film-lovers. Watch out for his never-easy quizzes, updates on his interviews and most importantly, film preview reviews. Twitter: @RajeevMasand Twitter followers: 13,729 Tweets: 4699.

Rangita Nandy Twitter’s her “online diary” and the space is “a world adda for gossip and fun”. Twitter: @RangitaNandy Twitter followers: 1767 Tweets: 2059.

Shahid Kapoor A new advent on Twitter, sneakily close to his film release (Chance Pe Dance). The news leak of Genelia being his first Twitter mate reeks of the true purpose behind getting online. Twitter: @shahidkapoor Twitter followers: 21,009 Tweets: 486.

Shashi Tharoor Claim to fame is the apparently incendiary tweet that sent cows racing. After which we only hear of his comings and goings. Twitter: @ShashiTharoor Twitter followers:525,298 Tweets: 2488.

Sonam Kapoor Can be soulful and fun. Never opinionated, more musings. Check out the bravely untouched pictures of her that she uploads – always managing to look ravishing. Facebook; Twitter: @sonamakapoor Twitter followers: 33,916 Tweets: 1014.

Sitanshi Talati-Parikh: @sitanshi; Verve Magazine: @vervemagazine
(Listing in alphabetical order. Data current at the time of printing.)

Tweets Buzz

@Imrankhan (replies)
‘the thing to remember is, no one ever starts out thinking “this time, I’m going to make a REALLY bad movie. A real stinker!”‘
‘I take compliments where I can get them!’ (in response to: After all, you don’t look like a liar)

@juniorbachchan
‘We actors are a weird lot. Out of the thousands of well wishers and compliments and good things said to us, it takes just one negative… To ruin it all. Why are we so myopic? Wish we could focus on the positives. Takes a very strong person to block out negativity and focus.’

@kjohar25
‘i woke up feeling restless today…wondering if only my work defines me…do i really have a personal life?’
‘Saturdays and i have a strange relationship!! they always get me down for some reason! so..’

@priyankachopra
‘one of those nights… decisions???!! why do we even have to take them…’

@PritishNandy
‘We cant afford to have both dying on us together. The integrity of media n the integrity of our art n culture. Tweeple must be vigilant.’

@RajeevMasand (reply)
‘Lol..we shd all be allowed our own opinions, don’t u think? If u hated it, why shd I be expected to feel the same way. How foolish.’

@sonamakapoor
‘Feeling very lazy. Very comfy and relaxed. Sometimes being single is fun. Watching TV series and vegging out alone is really rejuvenating.’

Dialogue between @kjohar25 and @Imrankhan
kjohar25: ‘hey tweeple…at the office…feeling terrible for my best friend and CEO apoorva mehta…he is a huge pile of work everyday to tackle…’
Imrankhan: ‘I believe that’s called a Freudian slip.’
kjohar25: ‘sorry…i meant he HAS a huge pile of work to tackle’
kjohar25: ‘ha! ha! trust me it was a genuine language slip!!!’
Imrankhan: ‘I’ve met very few people with better grammar than you. I ain’t buying the story!’

Art and Conversation

27 Friday Nov 2009

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

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Art and Design, Charles Saatchi, International Art, Interview, Kay Saatchi, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Features, November 2009

Photograph: Ritam Banerjee

Former wife of advertising magnate and art collector Charles Saatchi, Kay Saatchi has been following the path to international curating. At the Art Expo in Mumbai, she talks to Sitanshi Talati-Parikh about watching Damien Hirst as a student, living with unliveable art, and being Kay Hartenstein Saatchi

In the maze of people at Nehru Centre, it took a while for us to find each other. Once I did, it took but a moment for me to realise the lady embodies resilience and vulnerability. There has been much said and a lot more not said about Kay Hartenstein – former wife of the reclusive art collector and advertising magnate Charles Saatchi, who after their divorce in 2001, married celebrity chef Nigella Lawson.

American-born Kay had moved to London to start an art gallery of her own, but not long after ended up curating around 30 shows in eleven years at Saatchi gallery (and a dozen more after) while being Mrs. Charles Saatchi. All through she concentrated on “mothering” young artists. “I like watching them develop their career along the way. I’m not really in it for financial reasons, but you can’t help but feel clever when you buy an artist when they are terribly young and discover that you have made a good investment 20 years later.” She met the now internationally-renowned English artist Damien Hirst when he about 19, an art student going around the degree shows. “I saw his very first show…when I was married to Charles Saatchi, we gave him big shows – I’ve known him always and forever.”

How does she pick up on who will be the next big art sensation? “After all these years of going around shows, your gut instinct becomes the strongest factor. Artists have to have skill, and conviction about what they are doing. I spend a lot of time talking to them about why they want to be an artist and what they’re trying to say with their art.”

The 56-year-old Southern belle with a clipped British accent maintains her interest in art began when she was a baby. “I am quite creative as a person – I paint and draw and take photographs. Every Saturday I would wander into art galleries – it’s always been a part of my life. The process was that we (Charles and I) would go see everything. We would travel to Zurich, New York…that was the fun bit, I loved that. I have behind me 25 years of learning – meeting and talking to dealers, collectors. If I see a work of art in a degree show, I will immediately know if it connects up to something I’ve seen before. Artists tend to copy other artists – they tend to be greatly influenced by the work they admire…until they find their own voice. I can sift through that.”

She has seen all kinds of art – beautiful, outlandish and even macabre. Can she live with the things she buys? “I do! But also, I have had the incredible privilege of having a gallery with my ex, where we can exhibit things that would be of too big a scale or too demanding to have at home. I have had some wild things at our house (think Damien Hirst). It changed for me when I had a child in 1994 and I thought, ‘I don’t want this little toddler growing up and looking at rather shocking art.’”

If people are going to think twice about housing a work of art, what purpose does it serve? There is an idealistic spark in her eyes as she warms up to the topic. “It’s the creative process,” she emphasises. “Whether or not it sells! It’s good for the artist if it does, so they have the money to pay the rent and keep making more art. Some people like living with very shocking art…art is less about shocking now than it once was. Lately there is a trend towards beautiful craftsmanship and beautiful sculpting. In the English art world people wanted attention and publicity and that worked very well. There would be huge headlines about artist Tracy Emin’s ‘unmade bed’ (from the series My Bed) and that’s good up to a point. It’s not what the real meaning should be.”

As she winces at the state of her hair in the local post-monsoon humidity, she confesses that she is very partial to India. “Art is born out of the culture and this is a culture that I am very interested in. Some of the Indian artists are fantastic – I love Anju and Atul Dodiya’s work.” She pauses and as an afterthought adds, “The Indian art market has developed very quickly – it has had to slow down like the rest of the world because of the economy, and that is probably not a bad thing. A little correction and not everyone thinking they can start a gallery without doing their homework!”

“It’s okay not being a part of the Saatchi gallery anymore. At the end of the day, speaking about owning things, they are just things. I buy art all the time. I don’t want to have a gallery again – neither commercial nor private. I buy small things, emerging artists, things I can house. I try to get my other friends that are collectors to buy what I love! What I liked about doing things at the gallery was getting to know the artists, handling the shows, introducing art. When we started doing this, there wasn’t too much contemporary art being shown in London. It was just the excitement of it all and the memory of that which keeps me going. I like to look forward, not backward.”

I delicately broach the topic of the love of art bringing two people together and then suddenly realising that the love for art is all that’s left. That, and a teenage daughter (Phoebe) she talks fondly about. She seems perturbed by all the “rubbish about her past life” that has perpetuated on the Internet. While she considered going back to her maiden name after her divorce, she found that people remembered her as Kay Saatchi – “besides, it helps to get a table reservation!” she quips. On a more serious note, “I hope I am defined by my efforts in the art world and not by my name.”

Deepika Padukone: Killing Them Softly With Her Smile….

20 Friday Nov 2009

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

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Bollywood, Deepika Padukone, indiancinema, Interview, Love Aaaj Kal, Prakash Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, romance, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Cover Story, November 2009

Photograph by: Prasad Naik

She responds to questions with wide-eyed innocence. She will giggle and toss her head, even shriek with laughter. But to get her to reveal her innermost thoughts is a real job, discovers Sitanshi Talati-Parikh as she engages Deepika Padukone, voted the ‘Hottest Girl on Earth’ by a men’s monthly, in a freewheeling chat

There has to be a sense of mystery,” she intones, weaving her charm around us, zapping us with those smouldering doe eyes. She is the antithesis of the ‘socially networked generation’ that keeps fans enthralled with their hour-by-hour updates. A child-woman combination: the dimples in a captivating impish face reach out to you as if wanting to say something, but with firm, resolute determination, Deepika Padukone keeps interest at bay.

I look squarely at the long-limbed, quietly self-assured girl and wonder why she constantly holds back – doesn’t let herself be understood. “Having a guard or barrier up, not telling all, is a good thing.” She flashes that 100-watt smile. I don’t melt. I’m angling for a peek. “But that peek will never end. Today you’ll peek and tomorrow someone else will say I want to peek a little more – and then there’s no mystery left!” She continues animatedly, “There’s only that much we want to share with people. We are also human beings leading normal lives. You have to keep some things – nice and not-so-nice – to yourself. Even normal people don’t share everything with their friends and family. It’s important to have people wanting to know more.” That must take some effort – being consciously ‘normal’, constantly enigmatic. “It’s not an intentional thing. It’s automatically created. I’m not someone who makes the effort to create a particular aura around myself. I mean, how do you create something like that? It’s important to just be you and be real.”

She is Meera Pandit from Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal (2009): the strong, silent type, simmering with emotion within. “Like Meera, I absorb and understand a lot without having to say anything. Even the way I react to certain situations. In the film, Meera is silent, as she wonders why Jai has waited until her wedding day to tell her how he feels. Only people who have understood the character have understood the silence in that scene – and that’s how I am. A lot of things are better left unsaid.”

Deepika was a great co-star. She suited the role of Meera in Love Aaj Kal really well and displayed a lot of depth. She is a very quiet and professional person, and seems down to earth and very attached to home.
– Saif Ali Khan, actor

While the twirly ‘RK’ tattoo on the nape of her shapely neck stares at me defiantly, expressively and even outrageously, the girl with the tattoo remains stubbornly silent about discussing relationships – past or present. Of course the letters could stand for anything – rock king, reverse karma, renegade kitten. While Wake Up Sid star and heart-throb Ranbir Kapoor and her make a very attractive couple, the rumour mills have been suggesting turbulence. “I’ve reached a stage in my life, in the last couple of weeks, where I have become a little superstitious and I don’t want to talk about it. I am guarded now. I want to keep it to myself. I think enough has been said, stories going back and forth, people saying what they want…. As long as we know what’s happening in our lives, that’s all that matters.” Does she aim for perfection? After all, Kapoor has been recently quoted in a daily, saying, ‘I don’t want a perfect life.’ “Ranbir and I come from different families – I guess what he thinks is perfect or imperfect will be different from what I think. For me, a perfect life is when obviously everything goes my way. If I am happy doing everything I am doing, happy in the relationship I’m in, with the way my career is going, my family life, if my films are successful, if I am being appreciated for my work, if I’m eating good food…that’ll make me happy.”

Surprisingly, underneath that controlled veneer, she confesses to being a die-hard romantic. “I am a complete sucker for love and romance. I love doing those perfectly romantic things. Being in love is a beautiful feeling. I’ve written lots of love notes….” In a (desperate) bid to get an unrestrained confession, I suggest, ‘Have you ever gift-wrapped yourself?’ I am rewarded by a widening of the kaleidoscope eyes and a look of shock. “Gift-wrap myself?! NO!” A moment to reconsider – “But that’s a good idea!” She chuckles – possibly planning a 5-feet-9-inch surprise in her head. “In the kind of life we lead, the best gift that you can give is spending quality time with each other. No amount of material gifts makes any difference.” How often does that happen? “You’ve to make time for it. People think that if you are in a relationship you’re distracted, but I’m very good at balancing it out. It doesn’t mean that I am not focussed or not as driven as someone who’s single. It makes it easier, because it feels more complete. Romance can’t be defined. There’s too much theory on love and romance and relationships – you can’t go by what the textbook says. Sometimes you just need to let it be – the process and experience is different for different people. When you are in love and in a relationship, everything just falls into place.”

We certainly did not expect Deepika’s dream to be a top model to be realised so soon – it’s entirely due to her determination and clarity of thought. We are extremely proud and while we want her career to continue, it is more important that she make an effort to be a better human being and remain grounded at all times. It may look charming from the outside, but it is a very tough life.
– Prakash Padukone, father

Adulation then. That must be a tough one. “It’s something I already knew would happen to me when I got into this profession. If you do well, that is. If you are honest to your work and performance, everything else will follow – fame, success, money. My family keeps me grounded. Fame is not new to me – I’ve seen the way my father has handled fame and success. Today it’s there, tomorrow it may not be there.” Will that be okay? “It would be if I’m not affected by it now.” But it’s a part of your life, you’re used to having it around. What happens when it’s not there? She hesitates. “I have no clue. It may be scary.”

Six films in the kitty – with romantic thriller Karthik Calling Karthik opposite Farhan Akhtar and comedy Housefull due to release next year – and she’s already worked with some of the top directors and actors, across genres. Not to mention handling a box office debacle, Chandni Chowk to China (2009), with equanimity. “You move on. I handle my successes just the way I handle my failures. Ups and downs are a part of my profession – there’s no point feeling bad about it. I’ve worked hard and as an actor I know where the film went wrong and I’ll be careful next time.”

Deepika is the epitome of an Indian beauty – regal, graceful, dignified and with a maturity well beyond her age. She has always been a consummate professional, the discipline deeply ingrained – probably from her modelling and sports background. She will go a long way.
– Farah Khan, director

It may be The Secret or just plain wilful resolution, but Padukone hasn’t found herself floundering through decisions like a radical career shift, moving from Bengaluru to Mumbai (which was a huge change for the Padukone family) and disassociating herself with beauty pageants that have been the ticket to stardom for many a model. “My mission for myself was that I would become a famous model – without taking part in a beauty pageant. It’s a great platform for certain people, but it’s not for me.” Hesitant to break away from her firmly adopted diplomacy, she explains, “I can’t compete with other people and be questioned about what I want to do. And being given points because I’ve answered a certain way – that’s just bizarre. I don’t get it.”

With ex-badminton champion Prakash Padukone as her father, a younger sister entering pro golf and the fact that Padukone herself used to play national-level badminton, it was just her single-minded knowledge of who she wanted to be – a top model – that brought her to where she is now. “I didn’t enjoy sports enough to make it a profession for the rest of my life. You just know that something is coming your way or something is meant to be and it all fell into place.” It’s like a fabulous dream, I suggest. She interjects sharply, “But I’ve also worked hard for it! Which is why this is happening to me. I’ve done the right thing at the right time. I also believe that if you really want something, it happens.” At 23, Padukone is the owner of a Mumbai home and a BMW to take her places. But she is far from resting on her laurels. “I haven’t done everything! I have a lot left to do. More films (an Indian period film, like Umrao Jaan)…and so much more in life too. At 60 I’ll hopefully be married, with a happy family…cruising somewhere. When I look back I want people to remember me as a good human being – not an actress or a famous person. If you are not a good human being, nothing else matters, how rich you are, how beautiful you are… whatever you’ve achieved doesn’t make any difference to anyone.”

I can see that the intent to be a good person is deeply ingrained. And it is this intrinsic goodness which may have been taken advantage of. Someone somewhere has touched a raw nerve and made her a hard-backed turtle – careful, diplomatic and withdrawn. I sense a deep-rooted distrust of the media. “Sometimes it (media) bothers me a little bit. It’s annoying when stories are fabricated. Check with me, clarify with me – that’s fine. When things just come out of nowhere – I’m not saying everything is false – but not everything is true. It is annoying when things are not true.” There appears to be something specific on her mind. Just as I feel that she may say something more, the moment has passed and she has reverted to her unflappable self: “If you look at everything positively, it shouldn’t matter. I can’t pick up a tabloid and read it. It might affect me for a bit but then I get into yoga and other things and I get my mind off it or get into work. There’s no point being upset over something. I like being surrounded by positive people and positivity. I get over things fast. I have no idea how I manage – it’s scary sometimes! My father in particular has been a very positive influence – ‘don’t let things affect you, if something is bothering you, talk about it, let it out.’” Obviously there was a footnote which said, talk, but be careful whom you talk to.

Deepika Speak
Greatest fear “To lose loved ones.”

Filmi buddies “Beginning with Ranbir (Kapoor) – you can’t get filmier than that! I’m in touch with a lot of actors like Asin and Bipasha Basu. We don’t hang out – we speak or sms each other once in a while. I’m pretty okay with everyone…Priyanka (Chopra) even. We used to meet earlier, now we don’t, but we’re still in touch.”

Quirks “I am obsessed with cleanliness. If I have to live with someone, I’d clean their mess too!”

Passions Work, food, playing sports, yoga.

Pet Peeves “None.” Not possible. Thinks. “None.”

Literature: Eat Recycle Save (Tristram Stuart)

26 Saturday Sep 2009

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

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Environment, Interview, Literature, Tristram Stuart, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Nerve, September 2009

The writer of The Bloodless Revolution, Tristram Stuart, is back with another sit-up-and-take-notice book, Waste, about how tackling the problem of waste is one of the simplest ways of reducing pressure on the environment and on global food supplies. The UK (Sussex)-based author tells Sitanshi Talati-Parikh what’s working and what’s not in India

What are we doing right?
In India the recycling tradition has always thrived – kabari-wallahs collect unwanted trash for recycling and food waste is left for animals to graze on, turning it back into meat, milk and manure. As a result, India produces meat and dairy products much more efficiently than Europe and the United States. Also Indians eat more vegetarian food and less meat than other nations, and this is a much more efficient way of feeding people than the meaty diets of the West and of China.

What should we keep in mind as we embrace a more consumerist culture?
Growing food uses land and water, so reducing food waste can help to reduce water depletion, deforestation and global warming.
Nearly one billion people are malnourished in today’s world: we can help alleviate their hunger simply by wasting less food. It means the food will stay on the market where people can buy it to feed their families, instead of the food ending up in our rubbish bins.
We have to keep an eye on food companies, who often waste thousands of tonnes of food for no good reason. When supermarkets get too powerful, they make farmers grow food that they then decide not to stock, causing harm to the land and to the farmers.
The government should help farmers keep their food fresh so it doesn’t rot before it reaches the market. Simple things like fruit crates, cool storage in markets and on farms can help a lot.
Food storage in the home is really important: keep it cool, and use up leftovers – don’t let them go to waste.
Just remember: Buy what you need and eat what you buy!

Theatre: Burning Bright (Mahesh Dattani & Lilette Dubey)

26 Saturday Sep 2009

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

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Interview, Lillete Dubey, Mahesh Dattani, Theatre, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Nerve, September 2009

After a long hiatus, Mahesh Dattani returns with Brief Candle, a tragi-comedy about love, life and death, situated in a hospital for the terminally ill. Post the first opening last month, Sitanshi Talati-Parikh takes a theatrical turn with director, Lillete Dubey and the playwright

What should one expect from this Dattani play?
Mahesh Dattani (MD): I don’t know! It is a piece of drama like my other plays except it plays with theatrical conventions. [On another note] I do seem more motivated when a director is willing to commit herself to a production of my play. Lillete announced the play even before I had written it!
Lillete Dubey (LD): Mahesh’s hallmark ability to tackle difficult subjects with humanity, humour and deep insight.

You have had a very successful working relationship with each other….
MD: Lillete and I make a great team as our creative thoughts have common ground and yet we are two very different people. It is this synergy that creates an exciting creative environment at rehearsals and even in our personal interactions.
LD: Mahesh and I both enjoy stretching ourselves down a road less travelled – both in terms of theme and structure – and we try to create pieces that push people to re-examine their lives and the world around them.

What brought about this particular story?
MD: Well, the first thought came to me after a personal loss in my family. The concept of relationships that get defined only at the time of closure seemed to grow in me. While the play is not autobiographical it has sprung from personal loss. A lot of what my mother went through, although she did not suffer from cancer, found its way into characters like Shanti, a survivor of breast cancer.

Do you believe a topic like this can be handled with humour and without a deep sense of loss?
MD: There is a very fine line between comedy and tragedy. Both stem from a sense of loss but with comedy, that loss is viewed from a great distance. I have attempted to show characters who are going through a grave sense of loss but would like to distance themselves from it.
LD: That’s the challenge – to pick a subject like mortality and see how one can fashion something moving, meaningful, affirmative and even comic out of it!

Imtiaz Ali: The Chemistry In The Script

20 Sunday Sep 2009

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

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Bollywood, Deepika Padukone, imtiazali, indiancinema, Interview, jabwemet, kareenakapoor, Love Aaaj Kal, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Features, September 2009

Photograph: Ankur Chaturvedi

He’s smart, casual, with unruly locks that women want to tame and is completely unmoved by his own success. Kareena Kapoor believes he redefined her career with the role of Geet in Jab We Met. Award-winning writer-director Imtiaz Ali speaks to Sitanshi Talati-Parikh about his disinterest in love stories and not being a good writer, hot on the heels of his latest film Love Aaj Kal

I think women are much smarter than men.” Pat comes his reply when I suggest that while women loved his latest romantic story Love Aaj Kal (LAK) starring Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone, most men were not visibly impressed. Despite how it sounds, Imtiaz Ali is extremely self-effacing, to a point where he appears not to believe in his own success. It seems to be a mere accident that he can be considered a film-maker of distinction, in a space of the simple love story.

Ali, contrary to expectations, doesn’t like watching love stories. “I prefer relationships like those in Wong Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express (1994). There will always be a man-woman relationship in my films – I am old enough to admit that I like women.” That would explain one of the strongest elements of his cinema – his deep characterisation that surpasses the situation, story or script. The 38-year-old believes that fire is not born on screen alone – that chemistry exists first in the script; and particularly if the actors are suited to the characters. And he has a bias towards actors who haven’t done much work together: “If there is a kissing scene between a couple that is kissing all the time, there is no big deal – it is almost brotherly.” While Ali’s films display the maturing of a love story, happy endings are not a prerequisite. LAK was actually supposed to end unhappily, before he realised (with some insight from director-friend Anurag Kashyap) that it would not be very profound to start and end with a break-up.

The Jamshedpur-born film-maker’s stories are not set in the midst of tamasha and great social disturbance. Rather, they examine the turbulence of the relationship itself, often caused by distinctive character traits. About his choice of genre he simply states, “I’m not very cinema-literate and not really a movie buff. I don’t know what genre I belong to or am creating, and I am not going to fight that. I am selfish enough to do stories that I enjoy most at that point of time.” At the same time, he admits to having to think practically about the film he wants to make. “There are multi-crores riding on the film, it is a very expensive medium and I am from a very middle-class family – I don’t want to take the tension of squandering away anyone’s money.”

Reports suggest that LAK grossed Rs 62 crores worldwide in the opening weekend. “I didn’t have numbers in mind. It is overwhelming, the response, but my expectation from myself is not very much.” Whether he is out to impress or not, people are more than willing to place their bets on him. “People’s faith is a double-edged sword. You get the chance of doing what you want to do, but you also lose some of the filter for your work – finding people who will be direct with you!”

While it is the crisp attention to contemporary dialogue and situations that is the hallmark of an Imtiaz Ali film, there were some murmurs about conversation over-kill in LAK. He looks piercingly back, appearing unfazed. “I am not a very good writer. I’m a director who manages to put his thoughts on paper. A writer would have more precision, more imagination in terms of dialogue. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying it doesn’t work. But, sometimes I feel that what I am writing is merely a code for the director [myself] to understand at the time of the shoot.” Writing the scripts for his previous films was a matter of circumstance, not choice. And yet, starting from school skits, the work that he enjoyed doing the most was that which was organic, home-grown and self-written. Regardless of his personal opinion, after winning accolades for Jab We Met (2007) – which he is dismissively appreciative of – Ali can’t escape his own writing.

Doing theatre in Delhi, an advertising course in Mumbai and becoming a “tape-delivery boy for Zee TV” finally brought Ali to television (think Purushetra and Imtihaan), where he spent many years struggling to find a balance between his two-hour stories and their long-term serials. “It was my mistake – TV is not looking at completion, it is looking at longevity.” Then Socha Na Tha (2005) happened, over a period of three years, “where all hell broke loose”. After Socha’s unsuccessful stint at the box office, Ali found himself floundering. “I’ve been a little irresponsible with the practical aspects of life. I don’t know how I have survived up until now. It’s a miracle. I have been broke, I am still broke, but I have got money whenever I needed it. And yet, that didn’t pressurise me to do a film that I didn’t want to, even if it looked like the most attractive proposition on earth. And then Jab We Met happened.”

Today he sits back casually, with no particular story that he plans to start work on soon. “There are stray bits floating in my mind – I don’t know which will materialise into a story. Some of them are so scary I want to forget them! The slate is clean – it gives you insecurity; but right now I have nothing. Usually I wait for myself to lose interest in my old stories. If I lose interest, I feel relieved that I don’t have to waste another year convincing people to invest in it! The best thing to do with a story is not make it. But, if it is compulsive, you have no other option – it is like a ghost you have to exorcise.” He stops to catch his breath. Does he actually enjoy making films? He chuckles, with a flash of the Imtiaz Ali charm. “A lot actually. More than anything else. It is a little compulsive-obsessive rather than a work of creative art that you enjoy with a cup of tea (he’s just finished two cups) and good music.”

A Bag For All Times

26 Wednesday Aug 2009

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

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Designers, Fashion, India, Interview, Lifestyle, luxurybrands, Style, vervemagazine

Published: Verve Magazine, Features, August 2009

A designer bag is your chance to stalk up the social ladder. Sitanshi Talati-Parikh chats with brand consultant-turned-writer Radha Chadha about the cult of luxury

It isn’t easy to talk about luxury without moralising, particularly when you see girls ready to clobber each other with their Manolos to get their hands on 16 bags at 50 per cent off at the Gucci sale. I began wondering about the craze for luxury brands. Ironically, the answer arrived in the form of Radha Chadha and Paul Husband’s book The Cult of the Luxury Brand: Inside Asia’s love affair with luxury. Excerpts from an interview with Radha Chadha:

How did the love affair begin?
I went to Hong Kong in 1997, well before luxury brands had set up shop in India, not knowing much about them. I was fresh off the plane from India and couldn’t understand how my secretary could afford a Louis Vuitton bag! Working in an advertising agency, I invariably ended up dealing with luxury brand projects, and over a point of time I simply fell in love!

You talk about the ‘democratisation of luxury’ – isn’t that an oxymoron?
Yes it is! Most people associate the word ‘luxury’ with ‘exclusive’. The way luxury brands are marketed today, there is nothing exclusive about it. Take Japan – 94 per cent of women in their 20s have a Louis Vuitton piece. There is nothing exclusive about it in that society. When the access to luxury is there for whoever can bite into it (and luxury also becomes bite-sized), then there is democratisation of luxury.

Where is India going with luxury brands?
India has a lot of luxury, but we do not have too many global luxury brands. We have tons of potential luxury brands waiting to happen. Brands exist more in the head and heart – its all about how you present it to the world. India has yet to do that. Also, in India it is only the top end of the market that is shopping. As the Indian economy grows, the use of these products will also spread, as it has in every country.

Sex and the City, the movie, introduces the concept of renting a bag….
It’s true! What is also common is buying a bag and selling it at the same store. When the desire becomes greater than the pocket – that’s when this happens.

So, the bag is the new solitaire?
The solitaire says ‘I have got money baby’, but a luxury brand says ‘I’ve got money and a certain taste’ – it has a certain ability to express personality.

Why do people buy luxury brands?
Many people buy luxury brands for the sheer pleasure, for the quality…but in Asia I have found that people buy to prove their status in society. Almost all of Asia was poor at one point of time and had ways of marking status. Luxury brands have been around for ages, but the way they were marketed was very different. With the recognition that accompanies the right branding, luxury brands become status markers.

How did the book happen?
I have this burning desire to write. I study people, and luxury brands seemed like an interesting lens with which to study countries. It is such a rich subject – you can understand so much about human beings and behaviour and a country by the kind of things people over there do and what drives them.

Does art fall into the concept of luxury?
I have defined luxury brands arbitrarily in the book to limit the scope, as stuff on the body. So many other things like cars, condominiums, private planes, yachts and even art can fall into it. A lot of these artists are like brands (try telling them that, they will be offended!) but MF Husain is also a brand!