Tag Archives: vervemagazine

Does Mass Culture Have Meaning?

10 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by in Art, Literature & Culture, Publication: Verve Magazine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Vervemagazine.in November 2014

2

From an organic site-specific installation by architect-turned-artist, Asim Waqif to an exploration of structure and space through Aditya Pandey’s abstract paintings, Rajorshi Ghosh’s photo montages and video, and Vishal K Dar’s robotic lighting ensembles (crafted out of automotive parts sourced from the grey market), The Science of Speed explores the ‘immersive environment of pictures, objects, lights, colours and sounds.’ The title of the exhibition draws upon French philosopher Paul Virilo’s concept of ‘dromology’, describing how society is referenced by and revolves around mass media, which the philosopher considers to be a form of modern warfare.

Much like their observation of the movement of images in mass media and culture, the artists in the exhibition acquire and recycle images and objects without a reference to the original context or function. Check it out for the ability to step away from a burgeoning digital culture and question the endless consumption of information that after a point becomes seemingly meaningless.

The Science of Speed by Nature Morte is on view at Famous Studios, Mumbai from November 6 to 16, 2014.

Artist Profiles

Asim Waqif Hyderabad-born and New Delhi-based architect-turned-artist, who has had four solo shows in Paris, Delhi and Mumbai. He recently showed at the Marrakech Biennial. He has been associated with many research and development programs in Badrinath, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.

Aditya Pande Lucknow-born and New Delhi-based artist has a degree in graphic design from NID-Ahmedabad and has had five solo shows in Mumbai, Gurgaon, London and New Delhi.

Rajorshi Ghosh Calcutta born Ghosh now lives in New Delhi and Ohio, where he teaches at the School of Art at Ohio University. Also an NID-Ahmedabad graduate (Visual Art) he also did his MFA from the University of California-Los Angeles. He’s exhibited internationally, and in received the Jury’s Recommendation Award at the 11th Japan Media Art Festival in Tokyo.

Vishal K Dar New Delhi-born and based artist studied architecture in Gugaon and later did an MFA from the University of California-Los Angeles. He’s exhibited internationally and was awarded the ‘Promising New Artist’ award by the India Habitat Centre (2006).

Angry Bashers

15 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by in Humour, Publication: Verve Magazine, Social Chronicles

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Published: Verve Magazine, December 2012, Musings
Illustration: Wyanet Vaz

For the guests to be left dry and not high would be the death wish of a host trying to throw a successful party. 

At a very chic soiree on Malabar Hill recently, we arrived bearing gifts, an appetite and a desire to while the day’s annoyances away with a quencher. As we air kissed and settled into the plush little seating arrangements dotting the landscape, we pecked on a canapé (corn and mushroom tartlet, if you must know), as a waiter arrived with a tinkle of delicate glasses, swirls of orange rind and whiffs of lemongrass. The eyes of the general populace lit up in anticipation – wine or pink champagne is generally the order of the day, after all we were toasting the arrival of someone special – but if our hosts meant to serve up a unique cocktail, so be it. After all, many hosts try to create a unique stamp of their own. In their personalised branded brandy glasses come concoctions of intoxication brewed under their eagle eye – a special mix that can only be served in their home. We reached out for the glasses filled with pale grey liquid in unison, swishing about with promise; and as we touched it to our lips I could see eyes widen in confusion, shock and then distaste in one fluid motion.

Musings02

Coconut water! In whatever way it is served up, in however a fancy method of presentation, it isn’t rum. And as much as one pretends, one can’t get buzzed on it. The unfortunate truth about the parties of today is that it is less about the delicately-flavoured food and sharp repartees and more about the strength and calibre of the inebriating substance preceding or accompanying it. I could see the rumble of restlessness float through the guests, shifting eyes darting for an escape, some disbelieving glances flickering around for the host to come out and cackle, ‘Gotcha!’ and bring out the real stuff with a flourish. The men, whose throats suddenly went dry without their favourite tipple, found that their ability to hold the bejewelled lady next to them in witty conversation also faded away. A sudden appalling silence filled the room – and the brave ones continued whispering as they do when someone has passed away. The ambience of celebration and merriment became one of stilted sentences and uncomfortable silences. The charming hosts flitted from one gathering to another, in complete oblivion.

Bruschettas! They became the saviour of the party. Without the safety net of a drink in hand, the harried attendees began to stuff their faces. It would keep them safe from awkward conversations, for no polite company will talk with food in their mouth. If the servers appeared surprised that their trays replete with tasty little servings were getting depleted before they even reached half-way across the room, they were well-trained enough to not show it. And of course, they ran out of starters.

Meanwhile, as the older gentlemen bravely bore the no-show of their favourite buddies, Jack, Jim and Johnnie, and their wives tapped their arms comfortingly, the younger lot assumed that the youth of the house would have a bar tucked away in their part of the apartment. In fierce determination, the skinny little things and the six-pack guys flounced to the other side of the house in search for a better life. Their astonishment wasn’t quite as well masked, as they discovered that there weren’t even any miniatures tucked away under a silk cushion somewhere. After all, they were all game to pretend they were drinking nariyal paani – this was the generation adept at deception. At this stage, I could sense the beginnings of a rumbling – the signs of a no-booze-brawl were all there. The girls shifted uneasily in their sky-high strappies, the boys muttered angrily under their 8-o’clock-and-no-drink shadows.

The remonstrative voices seemed to get louder and louder until I was sure even the neighbours would soon realise that there was a teetotaller party happening on the premises. What if they called the cops? We wouldn’t even have a bottle of alcohol to gift them with! (In case you aren’t aware, the good man will meekly look the other way if you hand him a nice one over the security grill.)

As reality set in and everyone realised that there wasn’t much left to this party and even the toasties had run out, dinner was a quick affair. By 8:30pm dinner was served and by 9:00pm dinner was wrapped up. Everyone was now on a mission, with all the BlackBerrys and iPhones out and frantic messages being sent back and forth to find a place to drink to make up for the precious hours lost. Those who could bear eating on an alcohol-free stomach, piled their plates up high and freely commented on the delicious food. The hostess beamed with pleasure – she felt that she had, once again, nailed the party. The irony was possibly lost on her.

I salute the host who attempts to bring in a certain amount of sobriety to a social gathering. It’s become too much of the norm of polite society to have alcohol-laden veins to muscle butterfly evenings. Are we unable to conduct a decent conversation or enjoy the company of friends without generous splashes of booze? Is it our own inadequacies we need to overcome or are we suggesting that people around us are so intolerable that we need the crutch of intoxication? Shouldn’t it be the choice of the host to serve or not serve? Is a successful party one that lasts into the wee hours of the night where guests teeter and titter on pointlessly? Is it one where you can discuss the shenanigans of the evening with great zest all of the next day while nursing hangovers? Or is it popularly one where you can’t recall anything from the previous night, even how you got home?

At this particular one, I ate with great relish, enjoying the first party I had been to in a decade that actually laid out its meal at an earthly hour. At most others, we bravely nibble at the hors d’oeuvres trying to quell the loud hunger pangs that must surely be audible to all and sundry. Being soberly full is so much my choice of gathering than inebriated and hungry. But, as I observed with some amusement the various reactions to this party, I grimly made a mental note to pack in a punch at my own little do. Salt-laced Margaritas, I’m thinking. And apparently, nowadays, no one likes a virgin.

Musings01

 

Storytellers of 2012

15 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by in Art, Literature & Culture, Publication: Verve Magazine

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Published: Verve Magazine, January 2013, Features.

Evocative novels, edgy film scripts, gut-wrenching plays, gripping small screen plots, eye-catching ad campaigns, soulful inspired music and more…. A look at the ‘tales’ that hogged the headlines last year

JUHI CHATURVEDI
Dialogue, story and screenplay writer, Vicky Donor

The summer release, Vicky Donor, was set for disaster at the box office, with a bunch of unknowns and has-beens gathering together to talk about a subject like sperm donation and infertility, using humour as a base. The latter has never been a strong point with Indian cinema – either it ranges from the atrociously caricaturish and slapstick to the deeply offensive and crass. Vicky Donor’s scriptwriter, Juhi Chaturvedi, hails from an advertising background – and maybe that’s what gives her an edge and the confidence to tackle something different in a clever way. The humour in the film is nuanced and keeps in mind the sensitivity of the topic; it is never over-the-top or annoying. In fact, it manages to make a naturally taboo topic into a coffee-table conversation piece. The audience who fails to understand where a sperm donor is coming from is as close-minded as the girl who slaps Vicky when she discovers what he does for a living, and yet you sympathise with her state – because she has to date a sperm donor. Every situation is dealt with, with depth and a realistic understanding of human nature. The characters come alive as true and believable, identifiable even in their Delhi-Punju-ness. The local area becomes relevant to any metro, the dialogues have punch, the story has character and every character tells a story. For a big screen debutante, this is no mean feat.

ADVAITA KALA AND SUJOY GHOSH
Storywriter and screenplay writer, Kahaani

An unexpected hit at the box office, the primary factor in favour of this movie is its thriller of a story with a gripping screenplay. While there may have been enough people who could have predicted the end – and it’s shocker of a twist – it can be safely said that this is a film that will be remembered for some time to come. A pregnant woman roaming the by-lanes of Kolkata in search of her missing husband sounds scary in itself, but the very fact that no one appears to remember her husband pushes the suspense up many notches. This could have gone wrong in so many areas – the pace could have been just too slow, not enough happening to hold interest, too much violence, too few characters…but the script kept a tight grip on the correct formula and produced a good film, ably brought to life by the cast, particularly the lead, Vidya Balan.

SALMAN RUSHDIE
Author, Joseph Anton

‘“How does it feel,” she asked him, “to know that you have just been sentenced to death by the Ayatollah Khomeini?” It was a sunny Tuesday in London, but the question shut out the light.’ This, in a nutshell, is what Rushdie’s latest offering is about. After taking us through the sordid world of religion and life, weaving wands of historic fiction and magic realism, he has now turned autobiographical, talking about the years of his life following the fatwa that had been issued by the ‘spiritual’ and political leader of Iran. Angered by Rushdie’s apparently blasphemous novel, The Satanic Verses, Muslims had been ordered to kill Rushdie in 1989. The moments that followed, the incidents that transpired and the breathlessness with which he lived has been documented, rather unconventionally, in the third person. Including a rather sharp account of his marriage to the American novelist Marianne Wiggins and a glimpse of his married life with model and TV star Padma Lakshmi, which was after he came out of hiding, the memoir with a Conrad-and-Chekov-inspired alias, makes for fascinating – if sometimes depressing – reading, in no less part due to Rushdie’s evocative flair.

ANJUM HASAN
Author, Difficult Pleasures

Anjum Hasan’s collection of short stories is full of interesting snippets of time, tipping – without warning – into the surreal. The flavours of the cities and places – ranging from Mumbai’s Promenade to Paris’s Rue de Seine – are so sharp, and yet, you feel the characters’ sense of loss and desperation to belong. Can you live in a place that you feel, understand and can describe in the minutae, and yet not feel like it’s your own? Are you always looking for something? Her characters are mysterious, sliding between the known and unknown, and a metaphor for modern living. Hasan’s snapshots are powerful, and a lens into the world as we know – or are attempting to unravel – today.

ABHISHEK MAJUMDAR
Playwright, The Djinns of Edigah

Early this year, Verve carried a review of this edgy and gut-wrenching play about the manic situation in Kashmir. From the story of 12-year-old Ashrafi, who is shattered emotionally and psychologically when she travels with her dead father in her lap to the football-playing dreams of her brother Bilal, the mediating force of Dr. Bilal and the senselessness of the soldier, we come to terms with the reality that lives in our country and its violent and horrific face. While battling her own demons Ashrafi manages to help her doctor deal with his own. The angst of the battered land folds together in a story that is evocatively written and brought to the stage by Richard Twyman, a British director who has never been to Kashmir, but can visualise its tragic impasse. The play was selected to perform at the Royal Court last month. The Bengaluru-based playwright, who has previously acted in theatre, said in a recent interview with a daily, ‘Writing a play is a bit like travelling. One really has to enjoy the journey.’

SWATI KAUSHAL
Author, Drop Dead

After writing two novels, Piece of Cake and A Girl Like Me, Swati Kaushal set her sights on creating a detective fiction heroine, Niki Marwah. Smart, savvy, a good looker and dresser, she sounds suspiciously like a character inspired from American Television – Castle’s Kate Beckett. Kaushal’s writing is crisp and refreshing – and while it’s set in an Indian milieu, she pulls from the classic detective tradition. It’s not an Agatha Christie suspense, but it is a story that’s fun to read, and a promise of many more – as Niki Marwah has a lot more detecting to do. What Kaushal does well is master the popular fiction category, or maybe it’s time we had our own grown-up, Indian, Nancy Drew.

MUSICIANS OF THE DEWARISTS
TV Series

Soulful, inspired and constantly evolving, The Dewarists, the musical series running currently on national television (in its second season), is part music documentary and part travelogue. Musicians hailing from different parts of the world jam together to create fresh beats and lyrics while travelling through India. By itself, it’s a concept that popularises the creativity of the Beat artistes. The Cannes Lions award-winning series is hosted by Monica Dogra and packed with musicians like Anoushka Shankar, Trilok Gurtu, Salim-Sulaiman, Shafqat, Amanat Ali and Shaa’ir + Func. With a sense of the culture of the world, nuances and fragrances of India and the strong musical foundation brought by the various musicians, the show makes for the unfolding of a great musical story, with satire, political barbs and the crises of society today finding their way into the chapters, for example the one a few weeks ago titled, Tom, Dick and Harry (Piyush Mishra feat Akala).

HAPPY CREATIVE SERVICES
FlipKart Ad Campaign

You start by thinking, ‘Are they serious – are those kids with a bad voiceover and too-big clothes?’ And then you get drawn in, and are slightly incred
ulous, wondering who thinks up this stuff? And then, bam, you are cackling with laughter at the campaign from ‘No Kidding, No Worries’ to ‘Shopping ka naya address’. In a world of jaded ads and Katrina Kaif’s mango-flavoured lips, the innocence of this campaign is refreshing. The worldliness of the children – so much like the tech-savvy kids of today, the simple wants, the back-to-the-basics sort of philosophy all comes together in a clever way in the FlipKart trust-building ad campaign that started with ‘No Kidding, No Worries.’ The third installment released last September and in keeping with the flavour of the previous ones, continued the story of two kids dealing with adult jobs, dressed like adults and with child-like wish fulfillment wants. Of course, FlipKart can make that happen; it’s as easy as child’s play. The Bengaluru-based agency acquired the account last year and has continued the saga to make it memorable.

SABYASACHI MUKHERJEE
Fashion designer, Spinning yarns through textiles

He’s become a household name, and his threads are distinctive, classic and woven with nostalgia. But what really makes his fashion ideology iconic is the fact that he carries it forward into the distinctive ambiance of his stores. With the clocks and the traditional cluttered tiles, his stores make time stop, and make you retrace your steps to a time forgotten – of knotted hair, big bindis, the feminine grace of beadwork, delicate gold and bold contrasts in a classic palette. Keeping up with the tradition of his other stores, Sabyasachi has recently launched a new store in Hyderabad: with hundreds of clocks on the walls, evidence of his art foundation and beautiful lampshades. It’s as if he wants time to stop and rewind every time one enters his store.

MILBURN CHERIAN
Artist, Story Weavers, series of paintings, Acrylic on Canvas

Milburn Cherian’s detailed works build narratives of life, pulling from relationships, religion, carnival and daily life. There are textual narratives in every minuate, woven into the brush strokes. In a world of abstract expressionism and post-modern art, Cherian’s works are reminiscent of Peter Brueghel, Dali and German expressionism, with bold colours, slanted lines and strong perspectives. And through these strokes, lie truths – masked or otherwise – that reflect upon religion, society and the mundane rituals of daily living. While Cherian pulls from her own life, in her works one sees the recurrence of certain faces, with differences – possibly denoting the afterlife and rebirth, which the artist is known to believe in, creating a strong central narrative that binds her works together, despite the carnivalesque mise en scene and distorted brush-strokes.

Verve Man: The mysterious appeal of these men…

16 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by in Features & Trends, Publication: Verve Magazine

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

Published: Verve Magazine, October 2012, Verve Man supplement

The Mysterious Appeal of These Men: Salman, Chetan, Rahul, Karan and Sachin. (Admit it – you knew their last names as you read it.)
In a perfect world, we want to see people who are famous because they know their craft exceedingly well – the ones who are untouchable because you can’t surpass their talent. It puts them on a pedestal of excellence and it silences detractors. Sometimes there are those who may or may not have talent, but have an x-factor, which makes them incredibly appealing to a large number of people. Sitanshi Talati-Parikh decodes the controversial appeal of five successful men across industries

 

Salman Khan, actor
In a recent TV interview, Salman Khan said something that sounded ridiculously ostentatious. But if you take it in context of who he is as a person – simple and direct – you would understand that he was just stating the obvious. Ek Tha Tiger’s release and people’s reaction to that movie and others before it, Dabangg and Bodyguard in particular, lend complete strength to the fact that Salman Khan exists in the industry for his fans. (And he has many of them.) As he points out, if you need an actor to play a role, there are many people to choose from. A director and producer will think of Salman Khan, only when they want the full Salman-Khan-ness in a particular film. He’s unapologetic about who he is or what makes him popular among the masses. He’s also matter-of-fact about his popularity, without being self-propagandizing. It doesn’t matter whether the movie has a story, or whether the film is completely OTT, or even that the character does the strangest things – like manage to pop the buttons of his shirt as he struts. His style of dancing – not updated over the years, but true to form with certain pelvic thrusts or iconic hand gestures; his action sequences, where he isn’t a hero, he is a super hero; his romancing – which is stilted and subdued; are all aspects of the Salman Khan phenomena that his viewers expect. It’s suggested that he dresses like James Dean and picks nuances from Dharmendra; two actors he believes should be closely watched. And in his smile, lies his resemblance to Dean, though he doesn’t smile enough – off screen and on it. While his cinema may be regressive in it’s form, it’s appeal – rather his appeal – remains eternal. He has consciously chosen to be a performer and entertainer, and removed himself from being an actor. And yet, maybe it was his cleverest move, the secret formula to being one of the biggest movie stars of the Indian film industry. Behind his rather simplistic appeal, quotes and choices, lies a sharp brain that has managed to find a bankable spot in the industry. He has, very possibly gauged his strengths and weaknesses, and put his money in just the right place.

 

Chetan Bhagat, writer
Some time ago, on an episode of Love2HateU, the celebrity guest was Chetan Bhagat. The poor girl – the ‘hater’ – stood no chance against Bhagat’s generous Gandhi-ism, so beatifically patronizing and condescending. But that’s Chetan Bhagat – a huge icon and idol to some and an even huger eyebrow raiser to others. Bhagat’s success – and he is astonishingly successful – is because he has crawled through the cracks and found his target audience. And what a target audience that is. The non-readers. Instead of churning out a highbrow book filled with beautiful metaphors and aiming for the Booker-reading intellectuals, Bhagat does what he does best – appeal to those that have admittedly never read a book before. And therein lies his claim to fame. Bhagat has automatically found his safety in numbers. While Bhagat makes no pretentions about his literary aspirations, he basks in his own stupendous success, often lying on a raft of self-appreciation. And what irks people is that his raft never, ever capsizes. Top models can have a bad hair day, brilliant directors can have a box office flop, the Sensex can crash, but Chetan Bhagat only goes from strength to strength. As he smugly states, ‘I’m happy to be on this show (Love2HateU) because my new book has just released and I want to know that there are people who don’t like what I do, not just people who enjoy my books.’

 

Rahul Gandhi, politician
Is it possible to bank a country’s future, its political aspirations on a set of irrepressible dimples? While our democracy is far more discerning than that (we hope) it is true that as the younger Gandhi scion grew up, a great deal of hope was vested on his future. He had the political pedigree, and most importantly he looked the part. It didn’t really matter what he said – or didn’t say – he was just so easy on the eye. Every woman could imagine him at the helm of India, attending the topmost international discussions and global summit roundtables looking stupendous representing India. And yet, that hasn’t really played out well for him – while remaining a member of Parliament, he hasn’t proven himself as a strong candidate for the topmost office of the country – despite the looks. Whether he manages to get any further, we can only wait and watch, and hope that there is more depth to him than his dimples, or India may end up having her own frat-boy-politician in the making, served up American style.

 

Karan Johar, director
You watch Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and you see that plump friend of the hero, put there so that the hero can shine. A school misfit, no one would have guessed that Karan Johar would become a phenomenon. Johar has lived his high school misses through his films – creating the candy-floss make-believe world that he would have liked to be a part of, making his protagonist (more often than not played by his buddy Shah Rukh Khan) the popular kid in school. The kid Johar should have been, going by his current personality. What he may have been unable to achieve in his school years, he’s more than managed in his adult life. He is the force behind one of the biggest production houses in Hindi cinema, Dharma Productions, his movies do record business, he can make or break an actor or director, and often can control the future of a movie star, as evidenced by his power over the future of one top actress who wound up in his bad books. His talk show became an iconic talking point at every Koffee-table conversation. His rapid-fire questions allowed for his sharp wit, humour and personality to shine through, even if he did demonstrate that he lives happily in his own industry bubble. Only on Simi Garewal’s show did any of his vulnerability come to the fore. Johar is a complex animal, but his success is because of these complexities and layers to his personality. With Student of the Year in the offing, we wish we would move beyond the chasm of his youth to the brilliant success of his grown-up years in his directorial offerings. But would that be a cathartic story worth telling?

 

Sachin Tendulkar, sportsman
The Master Blaster. Anything said against him is akin to blasphemy. How did a supremely talented teenage kid manage to bear the weight of a nation’s hopes on his young shoulders? One who should just concentrate on the game is made to feel like the savior of the country. Every poor man’s hopes, every rich man’s dreams are with Sachin Tendulkar as he takes strike after strike. As if that were not enough, he had to attempt captaining the Indian cricket team. It’s a wonder he didn’t retire early, just to find inner peace. He has dealt with it all with equanimity – reminiscent of great players like Roger Federer in tennis – where nothing sways him. Victory brings a smile
, and when he’s down, he’s generally outwardly calm. Children are named after him in quick succession, he is revered to the point of blind faith, and he can do no wrong. Even if he gets out in duck thrice in a row, it’s okay because he has given us many centuries before. People cannot be logical around Tendulkar, he is more than human, he is God. With anyone else it would be dangerous, this blind idolization. As Wright Thompson in an insightful study on his charisma pointed out – Tendulkar’s meteoric rise took place in parallel to India as a country and economy opening up. He symbolizes everything we dream and wish for, all that is balanced and good. He steadies our racing hearts; he lives our greatest hopes. And he does it all with a clean chit. He makes people feel good – about themselves and their country, and he gives people a sense that we can be better, that we can be the best. And he forms the bridge – between the insecurity of the past and the brash confidence of the future.

Verve’s Best Dressed Issue 2012

15 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in Fashion & Style, Interviews (All), Interviews: Lifestyle, Publication: Verve Magazine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

India’s Best Dressed List 2012
Text and Interviews by Sitanshi Talati-Parikh
Published: Volume 20, Issue 10, October, 2012
 

The eagerly awaited annual Hall of Fame for India’s Best Dressed women is finally here! There are some new entries on the list, some have been here before and then there are the Perennials – those who rarely put a sartorial step wrong.

(For the complete list of the best dressed women with interviews including the ones done by Shirin Mehta see Verve’s site.)

PAYAL KHANDWALA
For reinventing herself, but remaining true to form

 

A FASHION NO-NO
Wearing clothes that are two sizes too small, too tight, too short, too uncomfortable and especially with the wrong type of undergarments. Clothes have to work for you, not the other way around. It’s always nice to leave something to the imagination, a little mystery is nice.

 

WARDROBE STAPLES
Well-fitted pair of blue jeans, a long multipurpose scarf I can wear many ways, one comfortable pair of heels and a pair of flats, a Benarasi sari, palazzos, colour blocked separates to mix and match so I can curate my own wardrobe, one wide leather belt, aviators, a string of beads and some vintage silver jewellery.

 

STYLISH ICONS
Audrey Hepburn, Gayatri Devi.

 

YOUR FAVOURITE FASHION ERAS
The grace of the ’20s, the freedom of the ’70s with the androgyny of today.

 

KIND OF ART (ERA/STYLE) THAT YOU CONNECT WITH YOUR FASHION STYLE
Without a doubt abstract expressionism and minimalism. Dramatic but subtle at the same time.

 

AN OVERDONE TREND
Evening gowns, ballroom dressing and the eternal princess/doll hangover.

 

YOUR FASHION SOUL CITY
New York.

 

YOUR FASHION INSPIRATIONS
Orchestrating a palette of colour is central to my designing process, therefore especially art and some architecture. Tribal costumes and jewellery from across the world, origami and the minimalism of Japan, weaves and colours of India, flea markets and street fashion.

 

DO YOU LOVE DESIGNER LABELS OR HATE THEM?
I think it’s pointless being a slave of any brand. You must be your own brand. I don’t see the point in wearing something because someone made it, you must only buy it because you love it and it speaks to you in a special way.

 

===========

 

ANUSHKA MENON
For standing tall in her boots

 

YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE
Skinny jeans (jeggings) a loose tee and a pair of military boots.

 

YOUR CURRENT WARDROBE FAVOURITE
Faded and ripped denim shorts from Zara.

 

THE KIND OF ART/PHOTOGRAPHY YOU WOULD CONNECT WITH YOUR FASHION STYLE
Strong and edgy.

 

BLACK AND WHITE OR COLOUR?
Both, but I prefer black and white.

 

YOUR FAVOURITE FASHION ERAS
Now.

 

DRESSING RULE FOLLOWED BEFORE LEAVING HOME
Try not to look like you are going to the gym!

 

AN OVERDONE TREND
The geek look.

 

YOUR FASHION SOUL CITY
New York.

 

YOU’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT
Living.

 

=========

 

IRA DUBEY
For switching over from rock chic glam to just chic

 

YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE
Comfy stylish with a statement accessory, less is more. I play with bright colours or lots of whites, nudes and blacks, depending on the season. I don’t like figure-hugging clothes so I generally wear looser silhouettes teamed with tights or skinny jeans.

 

A FASHION NO-NO
Fur in Mumbai! Sequins from head to toe. Red lips and red nails with a red outfit.

 

A FASHION EXPERIMENT THAT WENT WRONG
Palazzo pants (wide leg trousers) that I tried elongating with sky-high heels – which still looked all wrong because of my petite frame.

 

FITNESS MANTRA
Yoga three to four times a week, a walk twice a week, eight hours of sleep, lots of water and a happy healthy positive state of mind.

 

A FASHION SECRET
A statement accessory on only one body part. Keep the outfit simple and focus on letting that accessory shine, balance the look with killer heels and an embellished clutch and you’re good to go.

 

DRESSING RULE BEFORE LEAVING HOME
Perfume, well-ironed outfit and quick hair fix (which needs nurturing as it is wavy, thick and long).

 

CHANGES IN YOUR DRESSING IN THE LAST YEAR
Simpler, cleaner, lot more nudes, hint of sequins, longer silhouettes, more feminine. Three years ago I was more rock star chic/glam – now that’s changed!

 

PRECIOUS INHERITANCES
A beautiful topaz antique ring my mother bought with her first pay cheque when she was 18 and my nani’s pearl and diamond earrings.

 

FAVOURITE DESIGNERS
Tom Ford, Stella McCartney, Anamika Khanna, Sabyasachi, Ritika Mirchandani, Chloe, Alexander Wang, Shahab Durazi.

 

==========

 

POORNA JAGANNATHAN
For adding a new dimension to the Bollywood look

 

YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE
Things that are really comfortable.

 

A FASHION SECRET – SOMETHING THAT WORKS LIKE A LUCKY CHARM
Double-sided tape: it lets me wear more edgy outfits without the risk of a wardrobe malfunction.

 

A FASHIONABLE MOMENT LAST YEAR
For the Filmfare awards, I wore this regal looking dress from Chanel’s Byzantine collection. The fit was impeccable.

 

YOUR FASHION CRINGE MOMENT
Delhi Belly success party. Thanks for taking me back!

 

RECENT SPLURGE BUY
A beautiful and classy dress from Drashta.

 

RECENT BARGAIN BUY
80 per cent off Charles Kammer shoes in Paris.

 

STYLISH FILMS
Hands down, the movie Grease. (Did I just date myself?)

 

FASHION ICONS/ INSPIRATIONS
I love Keira Knightly’s fashion sense. And I like Skylar Grey’s take on dark.

 

ARE YOU A PLANNED OR SPONTANEOUS DRESSER?
In my head, I’m a planned dresser, but the way it actually works out is last minute and spontaneous.

 

SOMETHING THAT DOES NOT WORK FOR YOU BUT YOU WISH IT DID
Nine inch heels. It’s not that I wish I could wear them, it’s more like when I wear them, I wish I didn’t topple over.

 

YOUR CURRENT WARDROBE FAVOURITE
Combat boots by All Saints.

 

FITNESS MANTRA
Stay calm and drink coconut water.

 

YOU’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT
Good theatre.

 

===========

 

SANA REZWAN
For treasuring chiffons and leather equally

 

YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE
Minimal with a rock chic attitude.

 

A FASHION NO-NO
Tight mini dresses showing excess cleavage.

 

FITNESS MANTRA
Yoga three times a week combined with walking twice a week.

 

A FASHION SECRET
A pair of skinny jeans and ankle boots always work for me – night or day.

 

A FASHIONABLE MOMENT LAST YEAR
A one-shoulder 3.1 Phillip Lim dress that I wore to the launch of Maison.

 

DRESSING RULE BEFORE LEAVING HOME
I never walk out of the house without applying kohl in my eyes.

 

PRECIOUS INHERITANCES
My grandmother’s very trend-forward sari that I cherish to this date, which is an electric blue chiffon with badla embroidery.

 

WARDROBE STAPLES
A pair of heels from Giuseppe Zanotti, jeans from Acne, jersey basics from Alexander Wang and a leather jacket from Rick Owens.

 

FAVOURITE DESIGNERS
Cedric Charlier, Azzedine Alaia, Rodarte, Celine and 3.1 Phillip Lim are a few favourites.

 

AN OVERDONE TREND
Bling is no more in!

 

A RECENT SPLURGE BUY
A pair of black suede ankle booties from Giuseppe Zanotti with a gold metal heel.

 

A RECENT BARGAIN BUY
Leather leggings from Topshop.

 

THINGS YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT
Food, art and my cat, Alex.

 

====================

 

PRATIMA BHATIA
For having a staple for every occasion

 

YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE
I don’t have one – imagine losing the spontaneity because you have to conform to a definition!

 

A FASHION SECRET
Really high heels, Mumtaz Deluxe Kajal, Jo Malone Red Roses, a blow dry and I could rule the world.

 

YOUR CURRENT WARDROBE FAVOURITE
A Maison Martin Margiela dress with a feather vest – it’s fashion foie gras! Also a yummy colour-block cami dress from Marni and an Abu-Sandeep sari with a peek-a-boo blouse that I wore to the launch of the duo’s India Fantastique.

 

YOUR WARDROBE TREASURES
My Jay Ahr gown, a Jason Wu Daphne satchel in ivory and Tabitha Simmons pumps. A rangkaat sari from Benaras from my trousseau, my grandmother-in-law’s heirloom laadli necklace with Basra pearls and Sabbia Rosa lingerie.

 

A RECENT SPLURGE BUY
A diamond ring from the early 1900s from a vintage boutique Au Vase de Delft on Rue Cambon in Paris.

 

A RECENT BARGAIN BUY
A 1960s fawn and coral Emilio Pucci kimono I got in a little boutique in Rome. And a jewel of a petit point little clutch I found in Chor Bazaar for a steal.

 

YOUR FAVOURITE FASHION ERAS
Today. Fashion is most empowered today – there are no rules and you can borrow bits from past eras. Imagine living with rules that dictated a whole era – how depressing!

 

DRESSING RULE FOLLOWED BEFORE LEAVING HOME
Madonna, a glass of Moët and a mambo in my walk-in closet.

 

ARE YOU A PLANNED OR SPONTANEOUS DRESSER?
I decide in the shower and it’s madness thereafter. Unless of course it’s a black tie or a sari moment. Then I plan.

 

================

 

DRASHTA SARVAIYA
For her no-nonsense attitude to style

 

YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE
Cat eye liner.

 

A FASHION NO-NO
Underwear over pants.

 

A FASHION SECRET – SOMETHING THAT WORKS FOR YOU LIKE A LUCKY CHARM
The ’50s silhouette.

 

YOUR CURRENT WARDROBE FAVOURITE
Drashta’s printed pantsuit.

 

A RECENT SPLURGE BUY
An iPad.

 

A RECENT BARGAIN BUY
None!

 

ARE YOU A PLANNED OR SPONTANEOUS DRESSER
Spontaneous!

 

AN OVERDONE TREND
Hipster glasses.

 

YOUR FASHION SOUL CITY
Paris.

 

WARDROBE STAPLES
Trousers.

 

WARDROBE TREASURES
Currency quilted winter coats from my AW2010 line.

 

==============

 

SUHANI PITTIE
For always thinking vintage and always looking inspired

 

YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE
Relaxed. Generally layered with a waistcoat or jacket or something that completely offsets it. Lots of whites and blacks. Clean and crisp. But almost always embracing India in some way.

 

A FASHION NO-NO
Skimpy sari blouses with all that bling!

 

A FASHION SECRET
An A&T waistcoat with my jewellery, laced with oodles of sense of humour!

 

YOUR CURRENT WARDROBE FAVOURITE
Two. An amazing embroidered waistcoat from Anamika Khanna that I wear with everything! And a really old charms necklace that my grandmother gave me. The charms include a lantern, horse carriage, cannon, a mini clock and a mini pen. The craftsmanship gives me goosebumps!

 

RECENT SPLURGE BUYS
I’m not a shopper. But I did buy nearly eleven kilos of Rajasthani jewellery from Jodhpur last year. Also recently, eleven books on architecture, two on bar designing, three on light design and one on the future of car design.

 

RECENT BARGAIN BUY
An enamelled eagle ring from a mela in Hyderabad. It’s brilliant!

 

FAVOURITE FASHION ERAS
Men’s fashion from the Regency era. So dapper with their cravats and tailcoats.

 

DRESSING RULE FOLLOWED BEFORE LEAVING HOME
To always check myself sideways. I once walked around an entire sangeet with my skirt not properly worn. Someone asked me if I was wearing a tutu!

 

CRAZY ABOUT
Vintage things. I can spend all my money on old fabrics and old garments and history books. And also on Anamika’s clothes, but those I never have to pay for! (That’s what sisters are for.) I’m also passionate about my DSLR and Casio watches.

 

==============

 

KULSUM SHADAB
For making pretty chic

 

YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE
I tend to focus on simple elegant silhouettes and add a statement piece of jewellery that always stands out.

 

A FASHION NO-NO
Never wear an outfit that’s smaller than your size and never go for a look that isn’t your age.

 

FITNESS MANTRA
Fitness is a way of life for me: I combine my 10k run with weight training and yoga.

 

A FASHION SECRET
My smile! It instantly brightens my face.

 

DRESSING RULE FOLLOWED BEFORE LEAVING HOME
I always make sure I’m wearing comfortable shoes.

 

PRECIOUS INHERITANCES
My mom’s emerald necklace, which was passed on to her by my grandmother – it’s priceless. Also, a beautiful traditional waistband from my mother-in-law, which was passed on to her by her mother-in-law…it’s timeless.

 

WARDROBE STAPLES
A great fitting white shirt – it’s classic chic and goes with everything, a pair of well-fitted pants, a timeless black dress, a pair of sexy yet comfortable shoes… and bold accessories. They always give your outfit ammunition – for me it is a bracelet and a standout handbag.

 

TOP DESIGNERS
International designers are Alexander McQueen, Emilio Pucci, Issa and Dries Van Noten. Among the Indian designers, my favourite is Gaurav Gupta.

 

AN OVERDONE TREND
Juicy Couture.

 

A RECENT SPLURGE BUY
A stunning pair of rose-cut earrings.

 

A RECENT BARGAIN BUY
A Chloe party bag from Maison.

 

THINGS YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT
My family, exploring new cultures, food and fashion.

 

=============

 

NIAMAT BAKSHI
For knowing the difference between day and night dressing

 

YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE
I have two very distinct signature styles. Day: quite conservative; slim-fit jeans, flats and well-fitted button down shirts. Night: I love to ‘dress up’; body-conscious dresses that have sharp silhouettes and very high heels to finish off each look.

 

A FASHION NO-NO
Wearing stockings with sandals.

 

FASHION FAUX PAS
Trainers with cocktail dresses à la Kristen Stewart.

 

YOUR CURRENT WARDROBE FAVOURITE
A Haider Ackerman gold peplum jacket.

 

A DRESSING RULE FOLLOWED BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME
As Coco Chanel said, ‘Less is always more’. Before I leave the house, I look in the mirror and remove one accessory to ensure that I am not over doing it.

 

AN OVER-DONE TREND
Sequinned shorts, sheer baby-doll tops, metallic mini skirts and beaded jeans are all done to death.

 

ANY CHANGE IN YOUR DRESSING IN THE LAST YEAR
I don’t think there has been any significant change. But, I have started to wear more prints than I used to. I usually wore monochrome or two-tone dresses but I have started experimenting with designers such as Peter Pilotto and Michael Van Der Ham who are known for their digital/floral prints.

 

A FASHIONABLE MOMENT LAST YEAR
It was at a fashion show organised by the Taj for the revival of the Benarasi sari. I very rarely wear saris and here I wore a very traditional, hand-woven ethnic one!

 

YOUR WARDROBE STAPLES
Balenciaga leather jackets in black and brown, Lanvin ballerina flats (cannot have enough!), J Brand jeans in all colours, Yves Saint Laurent blazer.

 

A WARDROBE TREASURE
My wedding lehenga designed by Rohit Bal which was a deep red and covered in salma and crystal work.

 

=============

 

KALKI KOECHLIN
For establishing different looks for her on-screen and off-screen persona

 

YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE
High-waist loose trousers, T-shirt, waistcoat, brockets and hat (basically Annie Hall).

 

A FASHION EXPERIMENT THAT WENT WRONG
As a teenager, I wore really tight leopard print pants…I thought they were really cool. Disaster!

 

A FASHION SECRET – SOMETHING THAT WORKS FOR YOU LIKE A LUCKY CHARM
A little black dress I found in a flea market in London for two pounds. I’ve worn it on red carpets and to formal dinners and it always works.

 

A FASHIONABLE MOMENT LAST YEAR
I had to make an effort for Cannes this year…I wore Dior and Sabyasachi: kind of represented my French and I
ndian background.

 

A RECENT SPLURGE BUY
A dress by Thierry Colson.

 

A RECENT BARGAIN BUY
H&M shoes on sale for 15 pounds.

 

FAVOURITE FASHION ERAS
Twenties’ flapper girls and the ’60s.

 

STYLISH FILMS
A Single Man, Pretty Woman, À bout de souffle, Sin City.

 

ARE YOU A PLANNED OR A SPONTANEOUS DRESSER?
Mostly spontaneous, except when I’m very nervous about an occasion. Then I plan from head to foot.

 

DRESSING RULE FOLLOWED BEFORE LEAVING HOME
Must carry lip balm, flat shoes and sunglasses.

 

FAVOURITE DESIGNERS
Sabyasachi, Nimish Shah, Preeti S Kapoor, Marc Jacobs, Thierry Colson.

 

Girl On A Wire: Cover Story with Parineeti Chopra

21 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by in Interviews (All), Interviews: Cinema, Interviews: Cover Stories, Publication: Verve Magazine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

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

Parineeti01

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

Parineeti05

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

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

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

Parineeti09

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

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

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

Parineeti02

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

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

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

Parineeti07Parineeti04

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

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

Parineeti08

Parineeti’s wedding diary 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘A Suitable Girl’ @vervemagazine September Bridal Issue

21 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by in Humour, Publication: Verve Magazine, Social Chronicles

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Published: Verve Magazine, September 2012, Verve’s Got The Nerve

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife drawing a good ‘package’

My darling Jane Austen would turn in her grave at the unsightly events taking place in the high society of Mumbai. The patrons of SoBo who may be old or new money (after all today who’s checking how mosscovered your tijori may be?) apparently want the best for their sons. Sarva gun samparna and seva are all in their place, and dowry may be a bit antiquated even if you do expect the Beamer with polka-studded leather seats at your doorstep, at the very least, but what you do question is whether the girl is happening – career-wise or not.

There were days when girls were made to study home science, because that made them imminently eligible in their green-thumbsewing glory. They were promptly married off about the time they were to graduate – or even right before their exams, so that the timing was just suitable to learning and never applying their knowledge. As society became more egalitarian, girls were encouraged to be thought of as equal to boys – taking up the glorious path of law. It seemed so much nicer to say, ‘My daughter is ridiculously smart – she can ensure you know how to write your will even before you decide to make one.’

The few parents, who understood that their girls possessed rare talent, were encouraged to take up science and dare-to-be-different medicine. A new breed of doctors emerged who then juggled clinics and medical practice along with raising a family. The wonder women: whom the fathers and fathers-in-law were proud of. They stood apart from the designers. Every alternate house had a clothes or jewellery designer in their midst, as if the world’s artistic ability had concentrated itself in SoBo. But this made the in-laws happy, because their daughters-in-law were ‘busy’ and yet, always at their beck and call.

But all hell broke loose when the parents agreed to let their daughters into what was formerly a man’s domain: accounting, business administration, marketing, banking and commerce – they didn’t know that they were unleashing a new wave of talent. As the Indian economy exploded and the multinationals came into the fray, the girls in finance (particularly those with a ‘foreign education’) became the ‘it’ girls of high society. Drawing massive salaries, often unheard of in polite company – it is rude to even mention those figures – the in-laws realised that it’s not just what you drive or what you wear that defines you as a person. It’s where you work and how much you earn. It’s the package. A school teacher stands no chance in the society meat market – even if she makes the best chocolates and candles – amongst the brainiacs that know their money and can bet on it. Happy is a father-in-law who can carelessly slide into a conversation, ‘She draws a six figure salary… every month,’ observing the jaws drop and then sitting back with a satisfied air.

As women struggle to become men’s equals, the men have decided to accept it. In fact, they find it deeply favourable. Fathers encourage their sons to ensure a suitable match – it will ensure a comfortable life forevermore, whether he works or not. Househusbands may become the new male of Indian society. The ideal scenario would be to produce three lazy sons. Get them married to a doctor, a lawyer and a banker respectively. You are so sorted. Just avoid the writer who can spill the beans.

The Reluctant Bride

21 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by in Humour, Publication: Verve Magazine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Published: Verve Magazine, September 2012

12 brides who give 12 reasons to stay single

1. I Hate What He Wears If my fiancé hasn’t got the right haircut, or won’t wear that skinny Canali tie with Ferragamo shoes, I have every right to turn away from the big day. The only allowance will be made for wearing last season’s shoes picked up on sale, just because he still doesn’t get it.

2. I Am Set In My Ways When you are young and suggestible, you may succumb to finding your version of marital bliss. Come the 30s, it’s more about do I need a man? Do I need this man?

3. Girl’s Nights Waning Pyjama parties and comfort food. . A far cry from hosting formal dos as a couple, finding the right chic dress, organising the caterer, the help and the finger foods. So antiquated and pati-vrata.

4. No More Flavours It’s also about variety. Imagine the many, many types open to a woman in the prime of her youth. And now to think about picking one man, and settling down with him…seriously? What if he becomes a crazy patriarchal monster post-marriage? Shudder.

5. The Dead-End Chase I can never disrespect the chase. When I’m single and wanted, every guy will be desperate to woo me into his life. You play hard-to-get. You attempt to thwart unnecessary advances, but the attention is flattering. And then, when you settle down, it’s all over.

6. The Dull Relationship Dates are fun! Waiting with a sense of expectation, for something different, well-thought-out, all that creative attention. The banal life of a married couple…without the mystery, the excitement, the fantasy, the effort. He stops caring about caring.

8. The Food Once the talk was about delicate course meals, fresh watering holes, popping open a new label of wine. Now married-girl conversations are about managing food – and the dreaded word of domesticity… tiffins.

9. The moolah When you are dating, it’s all very well to be a hot-shot executive making pot-loads of money. It makes you rather eligible – in that Demi-Moore-power-woman-way. But the moment you are married, it becomes an ego thing. “So if you earn so much, buy your fancy stuff yourself.” Or “Why do you need to work so much?” Less demi and more moored.

10. The In-laws Your home is your home. And however much your in-laws love you, can it ever be the same? Can I ever just throw a few tantrums coz I feel like it, or demand my favourite comfort food made just so or basically, be the kid that every woman needs to be occasionally? I need to constantly prove that I am the perfect daughter-in-law. And I don’t think I am.

11. The next generation It’s like a girl is born to be a mother. I mean, relax. If I do tie the knot, am I expected to produce the brood immediately? And then be nothing more than a cow to be milked? Gross. I think the longer I wait to get married, the less I have to worry about the kid thing.

12. The Arguments When you are dating, you live in different homes. You can have timeouts and just hang up or choose to talk on your time or take up from where you left off. When you live with that person, where do you go? The fight gets implanted in your relationship, swirls around with the morning coffee and grows into a monumental blown-out-of-proportion pressure cooker situation that never gets a chance to blow off steam. Boom. End of the road. Even the make-up sex isn’t as good when you are married. I’ve heard.

Spa Thoughts: Scrubbed, Wrapped and Polished? @VerveMagazine July 2012

10 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Features & Trends, Humour, Publication: Verve Magazine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Published: Verve Magazine, July 2012, Features

We’ve taken great strides in the personal pampering space. Gone are the days of the kashti-sari-wearing maalishwaali bais. Herald in the age of exotic, fragrant scrubs, anti-ageing wraps and BlackBerry massages. But it’s not all fun and relaxation in the spa-going netherworld…

Upper-class Indians have inherited a special gene (assisted by years of sedentary lifestyle and ghee-chawal-laddoos) that contribute to their bodies becoming so packed with soft adipose tissue that they find it difficult to withstand a good maalish. When the bai turns up with her sari tucked out of way, her glass bangles tinkling and her tobacco in place, you know you are in for one major masochistic-ride. Knots you didn’t know existed get squeezed, muscles you should have used but never got around to working out, get plummeted and your bones actually creak. They make tuk-tuk noises as if sighing under the pressure of pressure. Your skin is rubbed so hard it turns red from the friction and it automatically sheds its dead cells and self exfoliates under the angst. The bai’s hands are now hot from all the massaging and your skin gets a quick-and-ready spot sauna simultaneously. For a perfect steam-finish, keep the tropical air in and switch the air-conditioner off.

Those who can’t withstand the tender care – or sadistic advances if you please – of a home-grown maalishwaali bai, prefer to make their way to the chic spas dotting the landscape with a masala mix of herbal tea, soothing music, water fountains, dim lights and carrot scrubs or honey wraps. And nope – that’s not an accompaniment with the tea to nudge the stomach into a contented stupor, as the motherly-types of yore would have suggested. A wrap is a less layered sandwich and more be layered and sandwiched as you begin to look, feel and smell like a smoothie that no one will ever venture near. These are meant to do something clever and wonderful to your skin – on the exfoliating path – which would make you glow and shine like a beacon. It’s no wonder that soon-to-be-married girls flock towards being wrapped before they are unwrapped.

You lie down on a bed (which would have a thermal blanket) – we are back to the spas and away from the mating ritual – and then a wrap product would be smoothed onto your body. The products could be anything from eucalyptus, honey and rosemary to mud, butter or clay. Or you could have minerals or special ‘vitality’ or ‘anti-ageing’ solutions. Then you get wrapped in plastic sheets. Wraps started with linen and have ended up with plastic – much like most of the world, and to the great stress of environmentalists. (Maybe they could use this treatment to de-stress?) The great spa eyewash is all that talk about mud wraps in the same breath as weight loss – not exactly a proven fact. While the loss of bodily fluids (through the heat/sweat) makes you feel lighter, you put all that weight back on the next time you eat or drink. So – a word of advice, spa-goers – when you choose your treatments, remember that it’s about being pampered – not about losing weight. A wrap on your body isn’t going to fix the problems started by the wraps you eat. Just cotton down to the fact that you are going there to relax and make your skin feel completely moisturised.

‘Moisturising’ is the kind of term that always has so many implications. It never fails to remind me of a sensational experience, related in shocked whispers by a dear friend. She was sold on this excellent mud bath spa, celebrating the open air and nature among the undulating Californian hills. Pre-paid package for two, and terribly romantic at that. At a rather delicate stage when they were escorted to the actual treatment area, she balked at the fact that she was to get into a big mud pond, in her birthday suit. The best part being – every other person who had had the treatment previously had also been in that very same pond. Sitting in there for the better part of an hour. Maybe even experiencing an odd call of nature…or two? Shuddering as she related the tale, she bathed and re-bathed and bathed again, trying to mentally and emotionally scrape off the ‘moisturisation’ that her skin had just experienced. Maybe that’s why scrubs became an important addition to the spa-going experience?

I’ve never quite understood the charm of body scrubs. Freshly (you hope) grated and mashed edible items layered on the entire body and slowly finding their way in orifices they should never be introduced to, setting up a massive itch and tickle which you try to combat with wriggling…. Your upper limbs are of no use – they would just scatter more of the food material around if moved. So you lie there in the semi-darkness, hoping whatever the products are supposed to do to your skin are working their magic rapidly, and hoping even more that the helpful lady who quietly and gently buried you under all that food – enough to feed a few hungry children – would soon reappear and save you from this self-inflicted misery. You actually get the time away from your smart phone to think – about your life, your choices, and who you really are as a person. It is a really cheap price for so much potentially destructive self-reflection. Or maybe the whole point of a scrub is to actually work on your will power – to make you a stronger person from within, while the veggies your mama told you to eat are now decomposing on your body. Call the food police! Now!

At what stage these treatments become de-stressers, I have yet to figure out. These over-priced lie-there-and-relax spa elements are always more complicated than they look and more trouble than promised. What about all the time and effort you have to put into washing yourself after? You can’t help but imagine the spa staff – after having swiftly completed the layering and covering – all gathered in one little corner snickering about another sucker. After all, there’s nothing like a good scrub or wrap to give them a nice long tea-break – and a hefty tip. So basically, it’s all about who’s smarter. The ones who get massages obviously know how to get their money’s worth. It’s a cut-and-dry deal that requires no reading between the lines or dreaming about stabbing someone. You pay for a massage, you get a massage. The ones who choose gently exfoliating scrubs and ultra-trimming infinity wraps are the benefactors of society and the patrons of the good life – they have truly discovered the mysterious worth of paying for just lying there covered with substances that you can’t see – just feel and smell.

Massages are all about getting things just right. The room temperature, the volume of the instrumental music – they never have music with lyrics, it’s as if they want to exhume the inner poet in you as you lie there deftly putting words to the lilting melodies. And most importantly, what has to be just right is the pressure. Working out those knots developed over years of laziness and excessive use of digital devices is a painful task. As you spend hours hunched over that elusive Excel spreadsheet on your laptop while attacking your smart phone simultaneously for the night’s dinner plans, your shoulders and arms are slowly ageing – this was not the workout they expected. Technology has impacted the world in so many ways – and particularly the spa industry. Masseuses are in demand and propound the benefits of BlackBerry massages for your hands, hot stone therapies and tension-relaxer points. Ideally, they should mildly suggest more time playing a sport and less time Facebooking, but it wouldn’t quite be in their place to do so. Instead, you find, it is a great opportunity to market their annual massage and pain-containment packages. Sometimes, you miss the good old maalishwaali. She would grin with her half-broken tobacco-stained teeth and soothingly coo at your aches and pains and suggest taking it easy.

Grey Lines and Power Play

10 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Art, Literature & Culture, Publication: Verve Magazine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Published: Verve Magazine, July 2012

A new-age romance between a control-freak billionaire and a literature student crashes into bedrooms, with power play, emotional battles and raging erotica

Oh my,’ says the heroine repeatedly in the bestselling Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (2011-2012). It alternatively expresses desire, shock, despair, erotica and joy. British author, E L James, inspired by the Twilight trilogy, found her writing cast aside as ‘parasitic’ fan fiction. And then Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele’s edgy romance took the trashy reads’ world by storm, setting fire to the bookshelves, getting banned in libraries, having rioting fans get the books reinstated and finding place in Hollywood bidding war for the movie rights, with every young star clamouring for a chance to play the lead in this film.

A pale, large-eyed literature student succumbs to the mesmerising charms of a devastatingly handsome, sexually deviant 20-something billionaire. The pages are laden with expletives, orgasms, whips and BDSM erotica, and somewhere lurks a haunting resemblance to the protagonists of Twilight. Which is shocking because Edward Cullen and Bella Swan were chaste – too chaste for their day. They barely kissed in three huge volumes of text, and made love once – when she manages to promptly get pregnant. But Grey and Steele can’t hold themselves back from crashing orgasmically through James’ trilogy, dubbed as ‘Mommy porn’.

‘I can hardly believe my good fortune. I can’t believe that he’s mine.’ You would want to whip or slap some sense into the protagonist, because you are supposed to get turned on by their friction, their delicious power struggles, their unending insecurities…. And that’s the point of no return. At the base level, James’ is suggesting that every girl wants a rich, handsome, powerful guy who desperately desires her. And deep down inside she wonders why he wants her so bad. Is she worthy of him? And every man wants a woman who loves him unconditionally and can make him happy. The fact that she is strong-willed annoys him and turns him on all at once. Is he worthy of her? Should one knowingly draw one’s self-esteem from another person?

The protagonist’s weak attempts at feminism fall prey to her lover’s need for control. Screw feminism, being commanded by a powerful man, who can skillfully pull strings of desire, is enormously sexy. But bondage isn’t just physical, it’s emotional, and it’s about breaking free when it crosses the point of no return. As she discovers her own limits, she forces him to overcome his demons and become whole, feel alive and human. Through these novels that tread new boundaries, break social barriers and open up taboo sexual topics for coffee-table discussions, the awful writing is just unfortunate for the reader. You cringe through the pages – particularly through the references of the protagonist’s ‘inner goddess’, wondering how this could become so big. No pun intended. Then, you unwillingly get wrapped up in their weaknesses and plights. You begin rooting for them, painfully learning to ignore their annoyingly one-dimensional characters and cloying issues and never-ending sex. (How do they get so much energy?) Their pain becomes yours. And so you fall. Oh my.