Brunch 01 02 2015

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 1, 2015 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

Rewriting The Formula

How did this smalltown guy, with no filmi background and no movie-star looks, become a hero, lyricist and musician? Ayushmann Khurrana chronicles his journey in a book that’s a cheat sheet for anyone with a dream

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BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

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The Brunch Book Club

by Saudamini Jain and Amisha Chowbey

Read these before the films are out

Sometimes the film is better than the book. No, seriously. But most of the time, you just wish you’d read the book first! And because 2015 is going to be a glorious year for film adaptations of all kinds of books – none of that Fifty Shades of Nonsense here, though – we picked out some you may like – to read, that is. There are plenty more because really, every other film is based on a book it seems! Read these, and tweet to @HTBrunch using the hashtag #BrunchBookChallenge

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy Published in: 1874 Slated release: May 1 Mid 19th-century England: The relationship between the beautiful Bathsheba Everdene, and her three suitors: a rich bachelor, a strong sergeant and a hot shepherd.

Notes on the film: Carrey Mullingan plays the protagonist The Martian by Andy Weir Published in: 2011 Slated release: November 25 This is a geek retelling of Robinson Crusoe. Astronaut Mark Watney gets stranded on Mars and has to improvise to survive, while NASA tries to rescue him.

Notes on the film: Matt Damon plays Mark, Ridley Scott is directing. Irrfan Khan turned down a role

Serena by Ron Rash Published in: 2008 Slated release: March 27 In 1929, a newly-wed passionate couple builds a timber empire in the North Carolina woodlands. But when the wife finds out she can’t conceive, she sets out to kill her husband’s illegitimate child.

Notes on the film: Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper <3 Paper Towns by John Green Published in: 2008 Slated release: June 5 Girl meets boy. Boy falls in love with girl. It’s cute. Then one morning, she disappears and leaves several clues for him to find her.

Notes on the film: It’s written and produced by the same team as The Fault In Our Stars

n All things overheard at #JLF n All those Obama-Modi/ POTUS-Lotus jokes n Common Man tributes n Getting a standing desk – because sitting is the new smoking n Making flowcharts to make life’s most important decisions

Cover image: R BURMAN Cover design: PAYAL DIGHE KARKHANIS

n How Jaipur Lit Fest is where you meet people you haven’t seen all year, despite living in the same city n Capital punishment n When newly-married people keep trying to prove they’re still having sex n Dry Days n WhatsApp for Web. Say whaaaa?

EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Rachel Lopez, Aastha Atray Banan, Veenu Singh, Satarupa Paul, Saudamini Jain, Asad Ali, Nihit Bhave, Atisha Jain

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Payal Dighe Karkhanis, Ajay Aggarwal

by Asad Ali

Lessons In Intoxication From AB, The Master Sharaabi

There’s many a life lesson at the bottom of a Patiala peg. But it’s only the discerning drinker who learns. So for all the non-perceptive drunks and the non-drinkers (the horror!), Amitabh Bachchan is the most reliable guide to life’s higher, harsher truths. And he’s always been drunk too while expounding on his philosophies.

And with Shamitabh (“Hai koi paani jo chadti hai whisky ke bina?”) right ’round the corner, we figured we’d run you through ’em all Amar Akbar Anthony (1977): If you’re going to get yourself embroiled in a big fight, better be sober so you can at least land a decent punch.

(Tu agar daaru nahin piyela hota, toh kya woh *** tereko maarne ko sakta?)

Hum (1991): There is a difference between vermin you can kill (using Flit) and vermin that can cause widespread damage to society (Iss duniya mein do tarah ka keeda hota hai...)

Sharaabi (1984): Always call a spade, a spade.

(Sharaabi ko sharaabi nahin toh kya pujari bulaoge?)

Satte Pe Satta (1982): Drinking alcohol causes liver damage.

(Daaru peene se liver kharaab ho jaata hai...)

Naseeb (1981): Alcohol helps alleviate pain.

(Iss ko peeke chot ka pata hi nahin chalta… na andar ki chot ka… na bahar ki chot ka)

Stuff You Said Last Sunday Losing it over Leto had me in splits... nihit u have an answer to everything... hahah - @ mich_banz

SHOVE IT

LOVE IT

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Published in: 1818 Slated release: October 2 If you think the monster is called Frankenstein, you need to read it.

This is the story of Viktor Frankenstein, a scientist, who makes a grotesque monster which sets out to destroy the world of the creator.

Notes on the film: The perspective of Frankenstein’s assistant Igor (Daniel Radcliffe). A side

by Saudamini Jain

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín Published in: 2009 Slated release: TBD A lovely little book set in the 1950s about a young Irish girl who moves to New York, and is torn between her new American life (and boyfriend) and her family back home.

Notes on the film: Nick Hornby wrote the screenplay, and the reviews from Sundance Film Festival are all good Me Before You by Jojo Moyes Published in: 2012 Slated release: August 21 A 26-year-old small-town girl lands a job as a “care-assistant” to a rich and rude 35-year-old quadriplegic man. You’re going to howl through the last 100 pages.

Notes on the film: Daenerys Targaryen of Game of Thrones plays the lead

The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks Published in: 2013 Slated release: April 10 The stories of two couples – a 90-year-old man and his deceased wife, and a pair of college kids – which eventually merge. If you’re a Sparks fan, you’ll like it.

Notes on the film: Scott Eastwood, Clint Eastwood’s unbelievably hot son…

On The Brunch Radar

note for the Harry Potter fans, Radcliffe as Igor looks like Lily and Snape’s son

Ab Tak Aapne Dekha

Kya Boss, ekdum mast raita faila diya is baar apne! @Unchain_ Melody

A one-ofits dictionary -kind , much ne very ed Got me c ed!!! ra and I rolle cking d over the floor, lite - Pearl R rally! apose

Hah Hahaha!

I’ve got Street ‘SMARTER’... bole toh.. Dhaasu Enthu Cutlet! @janice_pearl

uestion erpetual q ers to a p r autobiography w sw n a e h T line of you genda (‘The last d..’ ) in Personal A do not s a e re e w ld u ie o w . The interv written annoy me autobiography is e ann th a d , n e a , lis lf a re n! rson himse by the pe ld be in first perso u o sh r e sw tiaz - Azania Im Find Hindustan Times Brunch on Facebook or tweet to @HTBrunch or

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COVER STORY

The Hero Without Heroics

In his book, Cracking The Code, actor Ayushmann Khurrana traces his journey from small-town nobody to big-city star, and recalls how he’s always taken the unlikely route to making it

by Nihit Bhave

T

THE YEAR was 1988. Tezaab had just released.

And people were waking up to a new star: Madhuri Dixit. A sweet girl from a middle-class family of nobodies, who had never dreamed that she would make it in Bollywood. But here she was, dancing away to Ek Do Teen, and unknowingly inspiring millions across India.

One of them was a four-year-old boy called Ayushmann Khurrana, from another family of nobodies in Chandigarh. For Ayushmann, Tezaab played out in a dingy single-screen theatre where he sat between viewers who whistled, cheered and threw coins at the screen. In the balcony of this darkened hall, Ayushmann was mesmerised by the grandness of cinema. He loved the euphoria, the loyalty of audiences chanting “Mohini…

Mohini…” while clapping.

He grinned, looked at Madhuri all wide eyed and started making up a dream of his own.

“When I think about it today, that was my first Bollywood moment. It’s the first movie memory I have,” Ayushmann says.

Today, at age 30, he is sitting in his plush dressing room. His spot boy is hovering with some fish preparation. His manager is lining up meetings for the next day. And he has a three-film deal with YRF, Mumbai’s biggest film studio. That young boy’s dreams, it seems, have come true. And he has written a book about his troubles and triumphs, a cheat sheet for stars in the making. As Ayushmann’s book Cracking The Code (Rupa) hits the stands, he tells Brunch about achieving success as an outsider in Bollywood, where so many fail every day.

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

TU HERO BANEGA?

Coming from a small city like Chandigarh and an unassuming family that valued education above all else, the struggle was as bad as it could get for Ayushmann. “I loved attention. I was the class clown,” he recalls. “But in Punjabi households, singing, dancing and acting are referred to as kanjarkhaana, which means all things useless. My Maths teacher used to say, ‘Tu toh sirf naach aur gaa sakta hai, aur kuch nahi kar sakta’. When I told my grandmother that I wanted to act, she slapped me.” A few years later when he admitted his dreams to his girlfriend Tahira, she laughed at him. But Ayush-

Photo: R BURMAN

twitter.com/HTBrunch

ARCH SUPPORT

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Ayushmann’s bushy brows have their share of critics. Here are others who’ve been praised and trolled for theirs

KAJOL: Debuted with an almost unibrow in Baazigar (1993). Keeps them groomed but still strong today

CARA DELEVIGNE: The most famous brows in the world today. They’re keeping her in the modelling business, almost

mann wasn’t giving up so easily.

Thousands of aspiring actors, singers and dancers flock to Mumbai every year. Some to audition for film roles, some to participate in reality TV shows. Ayushmann was one of them in 2001. On his first trip to Mumbai, he participated in the Channel [V] singing reality show, Popstars. He was eliminated about seven weeks from the finale, and went back home to continue with college. But he came back in 2004 to participate in MTV’s Roadies season 2, which he won at the age of 20. And surprisingly went back home again! “Most contestants had moved base to Mumbai to cash in on the Roadies fame,” says Ayushmann. “My dad told me that I wasn’t prepared. There was no dearth of talent in Mumbai, but there was a dearth of intelligent talent. He asked me not to skip my education.”

Ayushmann’s decision, it would seem, was right. None of his Popstars and Roadies contemporaries stayed in the spotlight for too long.

Still there were other challenges. For starters, Ayushmann looked nothing like a “Punjabi gabru jawaan”: the stereotypical fair, wellbuilt Punjabi boy. He was scrawny, short and awkward. But the inspiration still came from Bollywood. “In Darr, SRK says that his height is 5’9” or 5’10”, so I wanted to be 5’9”, at least,” he recalls. “I used to pray to God every day, ki bhagwan meri height 5’9” kar do. My father is 5’5” and my mother is about the same. So my hopes were really meagre. And then, I grew to five-nine-and-a-half ! I was over the moon. I always knew that I had the talent, but height was a bit of a gamble.”

The gamble would continue in one form or the other even after Ayushmann moved to Mumbai in 2006. By now, he was a famous radio

FLYING HIGH

In his upcoming film Hawaizaada, Ayushmann plays Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, the man who constructed India’s first unmanned plane

FRIDA KAHLO: The artist loved her thick growth enough to paint herself featuring them prominently KARISMA KAPOOR: Her debut Prem Qaidi (1991) had plenty to dislike. Those scraggly strands were just one of them

“In Punjabi households, singing, dancing and acting are said to be useless. When I told my grandmother that I wanted to act, she slapped me” jockey with a Delhi radio station. But while most struggling actors stick to a routine of working out and auditioning round the clock, he continued working from the station’s Mumbai studios. “When I auditioned for TV, they used to tell me all sorts of things. Some said my eyebrows were too thick. Others said my accent was too Punjabi,” Ayushmann says. “But I also knew that, being an outsider, merely auditioning for film roles wouldn’t have got me a film.

You have to prove your mettle as an actor on TV or in some other medium. Be it me, Sushant Singh Rajput or even SRK and Vidya Balan – everyone has proven their worth on television [before entering Bollywood.]”

BALANCING ACT

In Cracking The Code, Ayushmann recalls moments of naiveté: he had tried calling Karan Johar for a role after meeting him briefly at an awards show. “Karan gave me the landline number to his office when I met him,” he says.

“I should have taken a hint there and then. But I was so excited! I even planned exactly when I would make the call: sometime around 11:30am, so he’d be done with breakfast and available to talk.” For a Bollywood hopeful (and more so, with no connection), having found a contact in KJo’s Dharma Productions was a big deal, so he pursued it doggedly. Dharma of course turned him down, much to his disappointment. He didn’t even get to speak to KJo. Dharma bluntly told him that they only worked with stars.

Ayushmann, however, kept working. He now had two jobs (as an RJ and as a host on MTV’s youth show Wassup), while auditioning for roles simultaneously. He even tried for a supporting role in Dharma’s production, I Hate Luv Storys (2010). He kept auditioning with complete conviction, knowing well that most TV actors and reality stars didn’t have much credibility in the industry. They were typecast as over-enthu over-actors.

But someone was watching. “I needed a face which could translate innocence and honesty,” recollects director Shoojit Sircar, who had spotted Ayushmann on MTV’s Wassup.

Sircar was casting for Vicky Donor (2012),

AUDREY HEPBURN: Hollywood’s casting people told her to pluck her flaws away. Instead, she turned them into an iconic feature JOEY TRIBBIANI: Remember that Friends episode in which Chandler groomed his buddy back to normalcy after an ‘accident’ at the wax salon?

his film about sperm donation, a subject so removed from masala Bollywood that two Bollywood stars had turned it down. “The film wasn’t a slapstick, below-the-belt comedy. If the actor wouldn’t have been charming, the film could have gone wrong. I was hooked to Ayushmann at the first glance. What I liked about him was his friendliness with the camera.”

Ultimately it was his gig on television that proved most beneficial. He didn’t have the bag-

“I just wasn’t in control of my life” Ayushmann says that stardom has been strenuous, too. In his book, he mentions how his new-found fame distanced him from his wife: Suddenly I became Suddenly, everyone’s property; I wasn’t hers alone. From the shy boy-nextdoor Ayushmann Khurrana, I had transformed into ‘Oye Vicky!’ or ‘Ae sperm donor!’. Since neither my wife nor I had been exposed to such a drastic change in our lives, she didn’t know what wa happening was and neither did I. We were totally clueless about how to react or respond to my sudden fame I just went along with the flow instead of trying to control it, leaving Tahira behind.

It was not a conscious decision to revel in the newfound glory. To be honest, I didn’t even enjoy as much, because I knew I didn’t have my wife along to share it with. I was as lost as a teenager buying his first packet of condoms at the chemist’s.

In fact, I didn’t even realize when, at the first public event we attended together, I accidentally let go of her hand as I was accosted by the press. After about twenty minutes of jostling into the flashing strobes did I realise that I was not holding the hand of the person I had come with. When I turned around frantically to look for her, I saw her standing just where I had left her, with tears welling up in her eyes. I felt so miserable. I just wasn’t in control of my life.

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

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COVER STORY

“This is the era of unconventionals in Bollywood.

Films like Queen, Haider and PK are doing well” gage of lineage, nor was he so dashing that it would eclipse his acting skills. “It was like, he belonged to the gang of the young MTV audience,” says Ayushmann’s former boss from the channel Ashish Patil, the head of YRF’s talent management wing and Y Films. “You know, he was like the coolest guy in the group. But not so cool that isko toh dur se hi dekho, dost mat banao.”

This quality resonated with the viewers in his debut film. He even co-wrote, co-composed and sang the chartbuster, Paani Da Rang in Vicky Donor. The film became a sleeper hit. And so did Ayushmann.

IN WITH THE NEW

His first film set the tone for the kind of roles he would pick in the future. He was next seen in Nautanki Saala! (2013) in which he played a theatre actor (he was touted as the best part of the movie). Then in Bewakoofiyaan (2014), he played a corporate-type who loses his job in a bad economy. “I did have six pack abs in Bewakoofiyaan, and that’s my only film that hasn’t done well. So these things don’t matter,” he says.

He continues choosing films that are out of the ordinary. His next film is Hawaizaada, a fictitious take on the life of Shivkar Bapuji Talpade: the man who constructed India’s first unmanned plane. And the one after that, Dum Lagaa Ke Haisha, will see him as a helpless man who is forcefully married off to an obese girl. “I’ve realised

VICKY CROONER

After singing Paani Da Rang, Ayushmann has released two singles

something: Either you have to be a superstar, or your script has to be one. So till the time I’m not a superstar, my scripts should do that job,” he says, speaking of big-budget potboilers and sexcomedies that have been offered to him before, but he has politely declined. “This is the era of unconventionals in Bollywood. You have [films as varied as] Queen, Haider and PK, all doing well.” Sircar concurs, “Experimentation is the most important thing today. Most young actors will not want to talk about the movies that have made money; they talk about the movies that have given them credibility.”

Even off screen, he has managed his career in a way no other young star has. He isn’t in the news for torrid affairs or controversies or his bulging biceps. On the contrary, he talks openly about the downside of stardom, his wife Tahira and his two children. “If I played Dad to 50 kids in my first film [Vicky Donor], what’s the harm in owning up to the fact that I’m a father of two children in real life?” he points out. “I’ve never really thought that I’m losing out on a fan base by not portraying the image of a hunk. I enjoy my bohemian lifestyle; I live out of a suitcase while shuttling between two cities [Mumbai and Chandigarh]. And I’m the only actor/composer/ lyricist/singer in the industry. I’m very happy with it.”

And while people might not be whistling, cheering on and chanting his name in theatres yet (like they did for Mohini in Tezaab), he’s getting that craving fulfilled elsewhere. “I’m forming a band called Ayushmann After School and starting with a Valentine’s Day gig in Ahmedabad,” he says. “The space of the unusual hero, that of an actor/singer is empty, so I want to keep at it.” nihit.bhave@hindustantimes.com Follow @misterbistar on Twitter

UNDERDOGS UNITE

Just like our cover star Ayushmann Khurrana, these small-town strugglers jumped over hurdles like bad modelling assignments, crappy TV shows and blink-and-miss film roles to reach their goal: Bollywood.

IRRFAN KHAN

From: Jaipur, Rajasthan Struggle stories: After graduating from the National School of Drama, Khan struggled for over two decades working in television (Chanakya, Chandrakanta, Banegi Apni Baat, etc) and doing small roles in films like Salaam Bombay! (1988) and Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1990).

Breakthrough: Maqbool (2003)

KANGANA RANAUT

From: Surajpur, Himachal Pradesh Struggle story: Ranaut rebelled against her family’s wishes, dropped out of school and moved to Delhi. She struggled as a model before moving to Mumbai. She then auditioned for the Bhatts and landed a three-film deal with them at the age of 17.

Breakthrough: Fashion (2008)

NAWAZUDDIN SIDDIQUI

From: Budhana, Uttar Pradesh Struggle story: He worked as a watchman in Delhi while auditioning for roles in theatre. He then graduated from National School of Drama in 1996 and played small parts like a waiter in Shool (1999) and a thief in Munnabhai MBBS (2003).

Breakthrough: Kahaani (2012)

NIMRAT KAUR

From: Pilani, Rajasthan Struggle story: After living in small towns like Bhatinda and Patiala, Kaur moved to Mumbai. She modelled for print ads and later dabbled in theatre and had a small role in Shoojit Sircar’s Yahaan (2005). She was discovered by Anurag Kashyap, and cast in his indie film Peddlers (2012).

Breakthrough: The Lunchbox (2013)

RANDEEP HOODA

“I almost dropped the thought of going to audition” MTV Roadies was the show that brought Ayushmann his initial fame. In his book, he remembers how he became part of the reality show: I had auditioned for a television serial by Balaji Telefilms called Kitni Mast Hai Zindagi, the first fiction show on MTV, which didn’t do so well. However, I was noticed in that audition but, to my surprise, by the Roadies team in Mumbai. I remember when I got a call from Mumbai I was attending a lecture and had to bury my head under the desk and take the call. I was super excited when I recognised a Mumbai number.

‘Hi, I’m Raghu,’ said the voice on the other end. At that time, Raghu wasn’t ‘The Raghu’.

And I had the audacity to ask, ‘Who Raghu?’

Not many had seen him on television yet. He asked me to audition for Roadies but I wasn’t

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

interested. That kind of show didn’t suit my aspirations. After all, I wanted to be an actor.

Raghu told me to think about it and get back to him. When I told my father he said, ‘Zaroor jao’ (You should definitely go). I still don’t know what my father foresaw, but he pushed me into it. At that time, I was rehearsing for my theatre group Manch Tantra’s production called Painter Babu, in which I was playing the lead.

I told my group about my audition. They dissuaded me to such an extent that I almost dropped the thought of going to the audition.

But I knew I had to go and, in retrospect, I’m glad I did.

From: Rohtak, Haryana Struggle story: Hooda gave up a marketing job and started struggling as a model in Delhi. He then played a small part in Monsoon Wedding (2001), though he didn’t sign any film for a long time after that. He worked with Naseeruddin Shah’s theatre group and conducted workshops simultaneously.

Breakthrough: Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (2011)

SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT

From: Patna, Bihar Struggle story: Rajput abandoned his engineering studies to pursue acting. He joined Nadira Babbar’s theatre group and then bagged a role in Ekta Kapoor’s show, Pavitra Rishta (2009).

Breakthrough: Kai Po Che! (2013)

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VARIETY

Photo: KALPAK PATHAK

H

ER BODY gleams in the blazing lights, the muscles so clearly defined that they could be an anatomical chart for students of medicine.

Her figure is taut as she turns and bends her arm, hunching her shoulders to make her muscles bulge and ripple on command.

You’ve seen them on TV, at bodybuilding challenges around the world. But female body builders tend to be mostly from the West. That could soon change though, as awareness in India about this sport grows. Chetan Pathare, secretary of the Indian Body Building Federation, says that there are already seven or eight international-level female body builders in India. If more women take it up, then this sport too can be an option for them.

“While women in several countries are encouraged to take up sports that require physical strength and endurance, there is no such encouragement in our country,” says 35-year-old Mamota Devi Yumnam, the first, and so far the only female body builder from India to win medals at interSteffi D’Souza 25-year-old national competiai Steffi from Mumb tions. “That’s why r he th wi d rte sta at I decided to take fitness training to up bodybuilding, 17. She decided in go professional to break all stereorts the physique sp otypes associated tegory where ca with gender issues.” you need to be The mother absolutely fit a of three children, without having bulked-up body Imphal-born Mamota moved to Delhi in 2003 to work with her husband Borun, a professional body builder with several Mr India and Mr Asia titles to his name.

The couple opened a gym, but when Mamota first began working out, her motivation had less to do with bodybuilding and more to do with self-defence. “I wanted to be strong enough to handle untoward incidents,” says Mamota. “Then, one day, I saw a 52-year-old international female body builder on TV and I was fascinated with the way she looked.”

So from November 2011, with the help of her husband, Mamota began training seriously. Aside from bodybuilding exercises, Borun made sure Mamota had the correct diet. “To build muscle, Mamota increased her intake of proteins and had lots of eggs, chicken, milk and even dal – but boiled dal only,” says Borun.

Slowly, Mamota’s petite feminine form became much more

Breaking The Body Barriers

Most women hit the gym for that perfect size-zero figure. But some women believe that bulk is beautiful

by Veenu Singh

muscular. And her facial features turned more masculine too. “Before I started my training, I was fond of using makeup, but today I don’t even feel like applying kajal.

I also enjoyed going to malls and to Sarojni Nagar to shop, but gradually I stopped that too, because people stare at me,” says Mamota.

But in exchange for these changes in her life, Mamota has the distinction of being the only

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

bai, 31-year-old Natasha Pradhan is a keen body builder, determined to do well at the sport so she can support her 13-year-old daughter.

A single mother, Natasha tried to earn a living by babysitting, before a friend suggested that she try bodybuilding instead.

“Since I had been kickboxing earlier, I decided to start working out to build my body,” says Natasha. “I joined a friend’s gym and it wasn’t easy. Initially, every squat I did was very painful, and it wasn’t easy to comprehend the changes happening to my body, but I just wanted to prove myself.” Now Natasha and a friend run a gym in Santa Cruz.

Unlike Mamota and Natasha, 31-year-old Leena Phad has hidden her bodybuilding ambitions from her parents. A fitness freak who played kabaddi in college and then participated for six years in state and national-level powerlifting competitions, Leena is a gym trainer whose only goal in 2015 is bodybuilding. “I even turned down a job as sales tax inspector after passing my Maharashtra Public Service Commission exam,” says Leena. “But my parents are conservative and though they know I am a trainer, they don’t know I want to be a body builder. They are angry that I have not taken up a secure job.”

BODIES BEAUTIFUL

Leena’s parents can’t be blamed for being angry. It isn’t easy for a woman to bulk up. The deterrents aren’t restricted to the usual ones, such as money for trainNatasha Pradha n ing. The problem, mainly, is 31-year-old Natahormonal. sha from Mumb ai used to do kickb “Women need to work out oxing earlier. A sin gle harder than men if they want mother, she took to be body builders,” says up bodybuildSagar Pednekar, fitness exing to gurantee a pert, Gold’s Gym India. “This secure future for her daughter. Sh is because of their physical e also runs a gym structure and hormones. at Santa Cruz along Their testosterone levels with a friend are lower. Also, unlike men, women are built to store fat, so their diet needs to be strict.”

There are social issues at work as well. For one thing, points out Indian female body builder to win Pathare, bodybuilding as a sport bronze medals at the World Women means displaying that body in a Bodybuilding Championship at bikini and most Indian women Bangkok in December 2012 and (and lots of Indian spectators) Asian Bodybuilding Championdon’t think that’s acceptable. And ship at Vietnam in 2013. She also for another, the world is not used won the gold medal at the Women’s to bulked-up women. Fit is one Bodybuilding Championship in thing, muscular is another, which Pune in February 2014. is why the World Bodybuilding & THE POWER AND THE GLORY Physique Sports Competition has a Mamota has competition. In Mumphysique sports category as well.

Photo: SANJEEV VERMA

13 Mamota Devi Yumnam 35-year-old lhi Mamota from De ree is a mother of th children and the only Indian body won builder to have era medal in an int national competi ok tion. Mamota to to up bodybuilding n me wo at th e ov pr are no less than men in any way Photo: GAURAV KUMAR

“This category is not only about bodybuilding, but also about fitness and modelling, something which is new in India,” says Mumbai-based Steffi D’Souza who participated in this category when the championship was held in Mumbai in December last year.

“Women here don’t really want a bulked-up physique, Jinnie Gogia Ch but this kind of fitug 38-year-old Jinnie h ness looks beautiful from Delhi has wr and also feminine.” itten 21 books inc ludSteffi is the ing one on fitne ss. granddaughter of The mother of an 8-year-old girl, sh body builder Tony e also trains and D’Souza, a former competes in the Mr Bombay. Now physique categor y 25 years old, she where posture an d has been training stage presence matter a lot for the last eight years. She began BUILD IT UP training simply to keep fit, ean mass building or bodybut later realised she could go building is a sport of discipline, professional. “You have to build courage and dedication,” says up muscles, but with a lean look,” Sagar Pednekar, fitness expert at Gold’s Gym India. says Steffi. “So the diet is not only Men generally find bodyheavy on protein, but also on good building easier than women do, fats and food rich in Omega 3.” because they have higher levels Like Steffi, 38-year-old Jinnie of testosterone than women.

Gogia Chugh from Delhi believes Women, on the other hand, have more of estrogen and progesterweight-training can make women one, the hormones which tend to more beautiful. Author of 21 promote fat. books, including one on fitness, But it isn’t impossible for Jinnie was encouraged by her women to build their bodies. business partner, Gaurav Kumar, When a woman wants to build muscles, she needs to combine a former Mr India participant and a good workout under a trainer’s fitness expert. guidance with a balanced and “Aside from diet and training protein-rich diet that includes for three to four hours a day, parlots of green leafy vegetables too. ticipating in the physique category Non-vegetarians should eat meat three times a week. means paying special attention Load-bearing exercises are to posture as well, because stage vital for the first three or four presence and posing abilities are months of training, but then you required,” says Jinnie. need to stop as they affect the Married for more than eight abdomen and back. Then the focus has to be on stretching years, Jinnie has a daughter who exercises to keep the body mobile loves the way her mother looks. and maintain the flexibility of the Mamota’s three children are inner thighs and muscles. Lower proud of her too. “The only thing back strengthening exercises are important, because as the my seven-year-old son is worried stomach starts stretching, there is about is that one day I may change pressure on the lower back too. into a man completely, considering To train in bodybuilding after the way my face has changed over childbirth, extra precaution needs the years,” she laughs. to be taken. In normal delivery, veenus@hindustantimes.com workouts begin after two weeks.

L

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FEBRUARY 1, 2015

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REEL WORLD

The Rain Ragas

PHOTO: Getty Images

Iceland-born Canadian filmmaker Strula Gunnarsson’s soon-to-be-released 106-minute documentary on the Indian monsoon is creating quite a splash

by Anirudh Bhattacharyya

I

N EARLY 2015, Monsoon will make its way through Canadian cities. That, of course, isn’t the annual phenomenon that powers through large expanses of India. Rather, it’s the feature documentary that bears the same name – a sprawling biopic that charts the travels of the monsoon during the 2013 season.

That 106-minute long documentary feature is the creation of award-winning filmmaker Sturla Gunnarsson. The 63-year-old director was born in Iceland and moved to Canada at an early age and now lives in Toronto. In fact, his home is barely a handful of blocks from the Lightbox, the headquarters of the Toronto International Film Festival or TIFF, where Monsoon premiered in September. In January this year, it won the People’s Choice Award at TIFF’s annual selection of Canada’s top ten films of the previous year. It heads into a wider theatrical release in late February and will, potentially, play at film festivals in India.

Sitting in his living room, the Emmy-winner and Academy Award-nominated Gunnarsson explains his fascination with this peculiarly Indian experience, the monsoon: “It’s kind of the product of a long romance that I have with

India. I made a film there 14 years ago called Such a Long Journey, with Naseer and Om Puri and Roshan Seth, Soni Razdan. I married into a big Punjabi family. So, I’m a son-in-law (of India).” Gunnarsson, who was raised in Vancouver, met his Indo-Canadian wife, Judy Koonar, there and they have two children. Koonar, in fact, worked as an associate producer on Gunnarsson’s 2008 documentary, Air India 182, about the 1985 terrorist bombing of the flight from Montreal to Delhi which claimed 331 lives.

A frequent flier to India, Gunnarsson often heard tales of the monsoon and sought to create a film that would capture the sheer majesty and mayhem that it defines: “Over the years, I got so romanced by the notion of the monsoon.

This very powerful force is a grand spectacle, but has a very intimate human impact on everybody.

It’s something that arrives with joy but can turn into disaster on a dime. I felt that by making a film about the monsoon, I could make a film about India in very high relief because the monsoon is a very

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

intense, dramatic time of the year in India.”

The opening sequence of the film underscores this force of nature. Dark, threatening clouds crowd the screen, and at first, they appear to crawl and suddenly, they careen. “When you see these clouds, they appear to be moving very, very slowly, and then as they get closer, they’re rushing at you like a herd of elephants,” says Gunnarsson. It reminds him of Kalidasa’s epic Meghdoot, that has a stanza that riffs on this resemblance.

While Gunnarsson captures the geographical and chronological progress of the monsoon, he does so through the device of individuals and the personal stories married to the monsoon: From viewing its arrival in Kerala through the eyes of

Gunnarsson describes his film Monsoon as his “love letter to India”

WET, WET, WET...

Gunnarsson (above) captures the chronological progress of the monsoon through individuals and their stories 12-year-old Akhila, to former Bollywood actress Moushumi Chatterjee’s romance with it in Mumbai, in life and in celluloid, to a bookie in Kolkata, a warden in Kaziranga and even the former director general of the Indian Meteorological Department, Dr Ranjan Kelkar, who described the monsoon as “the soul of India”.

Since he had devised this narrative arc, Gunnarsson could not include the devastation caused by the 2013 monsoon in Uttarakhand (just as it did in 2014 in Jammu and Kashmir). As he explains, “I totally felt the temptation but with a film like this you make your choices at the beginning. If we got on a plane at that moment, we would have been just another news crew and this is not really a reportage film.”

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MAXIMUM PLEASURE

Whether it’s a dabbawala (top) enjoying monsoon showers, or actress Moushumi Chatterji’s romance with the rains – in life and in celluloid– Mumbai is central to the documentary’s narrative This feature presents perhaps the most powerful vision of the monsoon yet, using Red Epix cameras delivering 4000 scans per second, equivalent to that of an IMAX experience. Gunnarsson says, “There was a lot of timelapse photography, and there was a lot of high-speed and ultra-slow photography to get the dancing rain. We did off-speed shooting, in order to capture the movement of the clouds, the water, and the rain.”

And the visuals are enhanced by the score, composed by Bombay Dub Orchestra’s Andrew T Mackay, who based it on Malhar ragas, but brought in electronica and “a contemporary vibe.” As he says, “That was a perfect starting point.” Mackay wanted a soundscape that would match the monsoon’s magnificence: “The film shows the beauty of India from another dimension.”

Gunnarsson describes Monsoon as his “love letter to India.”

It comprises a palette as vivid as Gunnarsson’s own career, that includes documentaries, features like Beowulf, and television work.

Monsoon, however, is his most ambitious project yet, one that tries to match the grandeur of this most magnificent of all seasons. brunchletters@hindustantimes.com

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

TOP OF THE DOCS Several well-received documentaries with India-linked themes have been released recently.

Here are three of the best: 1. Beyond the Edge: Rarely does a cinematic experience leave you with a sense of vertigo. But this aptly titled 3D documentary from Kiwi director Leanne Pooley, does just that. It recreates the arduous journey that culminated in the first-ever conquest of Mount Everest by New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepali sherpa Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953.

2. Faith Connections: From Indian-origin director Pan Nalin, this Franco-Indian production visits the Kumbh Mela, and over a period of 55 days, tells its tale through five characters, from a nine-year-old runaway to a sadhu who gets high, not only on spiritual ecstasy, but also ganja.

3. Radhe Radhe: This film by director Prashant Bhargava is part of a larger multimedia project from New York-based jazz artist Vijay Iyer, and was made to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Filmed during the celebration of Holi in Mathura, it’s a performance piece in itself.

PHOTO: Craig Marsden/Prashant Bhargava

A still from Radhe, Radhe, which was filmed during Holi in Mathura

indulge

An AffAir To remember Why do certain celebrity relationships continue to engage our attention long after they are over?

W

HAT IS IT about some love stories that they simply refuse to fade from public imagination? I asked myself this question yet again last week as Jennifer Aniston began doing the usual round of publicity interviews for her new movie, Cake. Actually, make that ‘poor old Jen’ who lost her husband, the great love of her life, Brad Pitt, to the evil machinations of that sultry siren, Angelina Jolie. Poor thing, she never found love again, moving from relationship after relationship, grasping for the same magic she had with Brad.

But no, that wasn’t to be.

Watching Aniston answer the same questions (about Brad, Jolie, their many kids, her striking lack of them), you could be forgiven for thinking that Brad and Jen had split a year ago. Actually, it’s been ten years. And still the

Seema Goswami

spectator HUNG OVER

Jennifer Aniston may have moved on from Brad Pitt to Justin Theroux, but we’re unable to do so

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

18

same questions keep cropping up in every interview Aniston does.

She and Brad may have moved on, but we are unwilling – or unable – to do so. We seem more committed to the eternal love triangle of Jen-Brad-Jolie than Brad ever was to Jennifer, trying to tease out some meaning from it, puzzling over what went wrong, and sighing about what could have been. So, every couple of months, a fresh crop of stories surfaces in the media. Brad is back in touch with Jen. Jolie is livid because she doesn’t trust Jen. Brad is so unhappy with Jolie. Jen is going to break up with her fiancé Justin Theroux (because she never ever got over Brad, you see). And so on…

Why should this be so? I must confess that I am stumped. Yes, all three protagonists are A-list celebrities so some amount of media attention on their relationship (and lack thereof) is inevitable. But this sort of obsession about something that happened a decade ago? Does it make any sense? Of course not. Nonetheless, the breathless media coverage goes on.

But even if we can’t really work out why this should be so, there is no denying that there are some star pairings that live on in our imaginations, more vividly than ever, even though the couple in question has long since ceased to exist.

And we continue to obsess over their relationship – why did it end; who was to blame; whose side are you on? – decades after it has been dead and buried.

If our generation had Brad and Jen (and Jolie), then the one before had those eternal star-crossed lovers, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Their coming together on the sets of Cleopatra was a bit like an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. Sparks flew, passions were ignited, and a very public affair began despite the fact that

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

NO LOVE LOST

In India, there is still only one celebrity couple who attract obsessive coverage and buzz – Amitabh and Rekha both were still married to other people. They divorced their then-spouses in a spectacular blaze of publicity, and generated even more headlines when they got married to one another. The fiery relationship saw them get divorced, get off with other people, and then with a certain inevitability, gravitate back towards one another. Another wedding followed, and then, another divorce.

After the final split, Taylor went on to re-marry twice even as Burton notched up two marriages of his own. He was married to Sally Hay when he died in 1984. But as far as the media were concerned, it was Liz, not Sally, who was the rightful Burton widow. All the coverage was about Burton and Taylor: the passionate letters he had written to her through their long and complicated relationship; glamorous pictures of them on set or dancing the night away at some club.

And much the same thing happened when Taylor passed away in 2011. It was the tragic, tumultuous love story of Burton and Taylor that dominated the obituaries, with her six other husbands meriting merely a passing mention.

In India, there is really only one celebrity couple that I can think of who has attracted this sort of obsessive coverage: Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha. Even though their ‘relationship’ (always rumoured; never confirmed, despite the many coy hints Rekha threw around about ‘Him’ in her many interviews) allegedly ended in the ’80s, the myths around it continue to circulate.

The two have never worked together in a movie after Silsila, which was released in 1981, but even more than 30 years later, the presence of them both at any film function is bound to create a frisson. If Rekha is giving away an award, the cameras will focus closely on Amitabh’s face to see how he reacts (with a poker face, if you must know). If Amitabh is on stage and Rekha in the audience, then it is her reaction that the camera will look for (adoring look, paired with mysterious smile). And so, the dance continues even though both are getting a bit long in the tooth now.

Now, of course, there is a new angle to explore in this ‘triangle’ for the ages: Rekha and Jaya in the Rajya Sabha.

Both women are members of the same House of Parliament, so their paths are bound to cross at one time or another. And the media are lying in wait for just such a moment.

When Rekha takes her oath, the camera pans to Jaya; when Jaya makes an intervention in a debate, the camera closes up on Rekha. And thus, it goes.

Why do these love stories that ended decades ago continue to engage our interest? What is it about these people that makes their ‘relationships’ the fodder of gossip columns, years after the event? Why are we so obsessed with these triangles for the ages? If you can work it out, do let me know.

MORE ON THE WEB For more SPECTATOR columns by Seema Goswami, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami. Write to her at seema_ht@rediffmail.com The views expressed by the columnist are personal

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Step Up To The Plate

Are we finally developing a modern Indian cuisine that Indians and foreigners can appreciate?

It sure looks that way

T

HESE DAYS, upmarket Indian food is big in Dubai. The city has always had its share of Indian restaurants but rarely have people been willing to pay much for Indian cuisine. But now, Vineet Bhatia packs them in at his restaurant at Grosvenor House; Atul Kochhar has made an impressive splash; the Armani Hotel has its own fancy Indian place. And, a few weeks ago, Rajesh Bharadwaj’s Michelin-starred Junoon arrived in the city, travelling all the way from New York.

(This is the restaurant that made Vikas Khanna famous.)

I was in Dubai for a brief trip and the first evening I was there, my childhood friend Reta Mehta (daughter of RK Karanjia of Blitz, so our family connection goes back to the 1950s, when our fathers were friends) invited me to Tresind, a new Indian restaurant at the Radisson Royal Hotel.

Vir Sanghvi

rude food It turned out Tresind is not actually run by the hotel but is owned by a couple called the Naths who rent the space from the Radisson. The Naths are on to a good thing: the restaurant was jam-packed and people were waiting for tables on the evening I went.

It turned out that the chef at Tresind was Himanshu Saini, who I’ve seen through various stages of his career.

He started out as a junior chef in the opening team of Indian Accent and within a few years had become Manish Mehrotra’s favourite, as well as his understudy.

Then, Himanshu got his big break. Zorawar Kalra hired him for first Masala Library and then Farzi Café. The spectacular success of both restaurants brought Himanshu to public attention and now, when people in the profession

DESERT STORM

Tresind (below and right) at the Radisson Royal, Dubai, is owned by the Naths (left) who rent the space from the hotel. They’re on to a good thing: the restaurant was jam-packed when I went

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

talk about the next generation of star chefs, Himanshu’s name is nearly always at the top of the list. He is to modern Indian food what Vikramjeet Roy (of Chennai’s Pan Asian and Delhi’s Tian) is to modern Oriental food: a real prodigy.

My meal was a mixture of familiar Himanshu dishes (via Indian Accent, Masala Library and Farzi Café) and new things he had created over the last year. There was a deconstructed pani puri (a cousin of Gaggan Anand’s spherified papri chaat), an inside-out pav bhaji (from Farzi, I think) and the brilliant Daulat Ki Chaat that Manish perfected in the Indian Accent kitchen, creating a recipe that ensured that this seasonal street food dessert could be made at any time because of innovative use of technology (nitrogen, mainly).

But it was Himanshu’s new dishes that blew me away.

He did a modernist chaat trolley (difficult to explain but you may find a video on YouTube) that has become the restaurant’s single greatest hit.

There was a plump scallop, with its iodine-sweetness set off by a chilli salan. Pav bhaji was transformed into a wonderful soup, khandvi became a sorbet, a dahi bhalla became an ice-cream and a mushroom galouti kabab was simply amazing.

We went back the next night and I tried to persuade Himanshu to pull out some Farzi favourites. Sadly, he refused to do the jalebi caviar made famous by Masala Library, but he did a wonderful variation on the now-famous Parle-G cheesecake from Farzi by adding a layer of tea jelly so that the dish effectively evoked the flavours of chai and the biscuits.

I asked Himanshu how he ended up in Dubai – the last time I’d seen him he was cooking at Cyber Hub. It turned out that he’d left India and gone to work at a reasonably well-known Indian restaurant in New York. He fled in a few weeks when he discovered that he was expected to keep food costs below 19 per cent (Zorawar lets chefs go up to 30 to 40 per cent with food cost) and use frozen ingredients.

Jobless, he called up Naveen Sharma, his old colleague

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INDIAN FOOD GOES INTERNATIONAL

BUBBLING UNDER

Tresind serves a mishti doi cheesecake (above) and the deconstructed pani puri (above right) from Indian Accent and Zorawar’s restaurants. It turned out that Naveen was in Dubai. Zorawar was due to open a Masala Library with the Naths (though Himanshu was never part of that venture) and Naveen had been sent there to manage the restaurant. But Zorawar and the Naths fell out.

So, the Naths hired another chef from India and when that collaboration also collapsed, they were left with a restaurant and no chef.

So, Himanshu’s sudden availability suited them as much as their job offer suited him. And this story appears to have a happy ending: the restaurant has brilliant food, is expertly managed by Naveen, and is a huge commercial success.

It was while eating at Tresind and hearing people talk about Vineet, Atul, Junoon and the rest, that I began to wonder about the evolution of Indian restaurant food. Perhaps there had been two significant shifts in the way in which Indian food was served at restaurants. The first shift came because of the restaurants in London and New York which won Michelin stars and finally convinced sceptical Western critics that Indian food was right up there with the world’s great cuisines. Even 15 years ago, no English person would have spent as much on an Indian meal as they now do every night at Vineet and Atul’s restaurants. And in New York, Rajesh gets all of the city’s top people – who never bothered with Indian food even a decade ago – at Junoon.

But there is, I think, a second shift taking place now.

The first task was to get Indian food respected. The second wave is about making Indian food hip. A younger generation of chefs (and diners) now wants fun Indian food, not just the kind of stuff that wins Michelin stars.

If you go to Farzi Café in Delhi, the demographic is new and unprecedented; young people ordering modern Indian food at affordable prices because they think it is cool. Even Monkey Bar (I’ve only been to the one in Connaught Place in

Now, when people in the profession talk about the next generation of star chefs, Himanshu Saini’s (left) name is nearly always at the top of the list

Photo: RUSSKIENTSCH

Delhi) takes chances with classic Indian favourites, reinventing them and tweaking them.

Clearly, it works: the place is packed out with young people who love the coolness quotient.

I asked Zorawar Kalra whose Farzi Café is the most difficult restaurant reservation to get in Delhi (even more than Indian Accent) and whose Masala Library has a waiting list in Bombay, whether he agreed there had been a change. Not surprisingly, given that he is one of the prime movers of this shift, he agreed entirely. Yes, he said, Indian food was becoming cool – finally!

Funnily enough, at least two of the people behind the change had their road-to-Damascus moment thanks to Ferran Adria. Zorawar went to El Bulli in 2006 and was blown away. Gaggan went there a little later, worked in the kitchen and came back to Bangkok determined to start a new kind of Indian restaurant, drawing on Adria’s ideas and techniques.

At one level, this has involved molecular gastronomy. But it has also meant other things. Both Gaggan and Zorawar were struck by the sense of fun that El Bulli brought to the food. And both realised that suddenly the balance of power in world cuisine was moving away from France. The French hate Adria and everything he represents (and he’s not too keen on them either). And the muchpraised Noma is probably the first really famous restaurant in Europe where the techniques and basics of French cuisine count for very little.

The chefs at Indian restaurants in London and New York were influenced by the top restaurants in those cities, where the chefs usually had a French cuisine background.

But the Asian chefs (Gaggan in Bangkok, Manish in Delhi and Manu Chandra in Bangalore) took their inspiration from everywhere.

So, a new kind of Indian cuisine has developed, one that is based on reinterpreting street food, rediscovering dishes from a bygone era (what Manish calls ‘nostalgia’), and one that ditches the formality of the older restaurants. Zorawar started off by taking chefs from Indian Accent (guys like Himanshu) but he says that his group is now chef-agnostic.

It is driven more by a philosophy – fun food for young people cooked with flair and innovation – and not by individual chefs and their styles. So while Masala Library once seemed a derivative of Gaggan and Manish, it now has its own vocabulary.

Which takes us back to Dubai. The most striking thing about Tresind was that it was full of Indians. All of us know that when Indians go to Indian restaurants in London and New York they always complain about the food. But at Tresind, all the Indians I saw were enjoying themselves. It reminded me of Gaggan, which Indians also love.

So are we finally developing a modern Indian cuisine that both Indians and foreigners can appreciate?

Well, let’s see. But it sure as hell looks that way.

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

NOT JUST NEW YORK

Today’s Asian chefs (Gaggan Anand in Bangkok, above; Manu Chandra in Bangalore, below) take their inspiration from everywhere

INDIA SHINES IN DUBAI

Vineet Bhatia (above) packs them in at his restaurant at Grosvenor House

MORE ON THE WEB For more columns by Vir Sanghvi, log on to hindustantimes.com/ brunch The views expressed by the columnist are personal

22

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ThaT’s WhaT I Call Flash DrIve These days, there’s more technology in a car than there is in a roomful of computers

MORE ON THE WEB For more Techilicious columns, log on to hindustantimes.com/ brunch. Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter. com/RajivMakhni The views expressed by the columnist are personal

I

N THE last few weeks I’ve been constantly discussing the collapse of the four sacred pillars of technology that drive the multibillion dollar technology industry: televisions, laptops, smartphones and tablets. These four have ruled the roost for so long, they’ve become omnipotent and have more money riding on them than any other quadrant product in any industry. Obviously, deeming them a collapsed category seems foolhardy. And yet, the writing is on the wall, just not very clear to most people. Technology is cyclic, and there’s bound to be a life and death cycle.

If some years ago, at the height of each product’s success, someone had predicted that electronic typewriters, fax machines, pagers and the CD player would die, he would have been ridiculed mercilessly. The good news is that the top four aren’t really dying. It’s just that the evolution and innovation in these categories is starting to slow down. And that very innovation is getting stepped up in four new pillars. Intermittently, over the next few weeks, I’m going to explore these four new pillars and why they will rule the roost in the coming decade. Today, the first one: Cars!

Rajiv Makhni

techilicious

A BATTERY-POWERED RIDE

BATTERY FOR ALL

Tesla and Panasonic are building a huge factory to produce car batteries

The clichés around car and tech are endless. The automobile is now the biggest gadget in the world. Unfortunately, the clichés don’t do justice to just how much technology is at play. There’s more tech in a car than a roomful of computers. There are more lines of code in a car than in an aircraft, more wire and data flowing than a computer server, and more sensors analysing conditions than any wearable tech ever built. Yet, the real story lies in what’s ahead. Two areas will have a direct and dramatic impact on your life.

THINK SMALL

When you think of a battery-powered car, you usually think of giant-sized batteries taking up massive space somewhere under the hood. After all, the batteries have to drive a whole car, so they need to be enormous, right? Wrong! The real innovation is all about very small batteries getting together to form a giant grid-powered machine, something like your normal AA battery used in a torch or TV remote. Now, think of thousands of them. That’s what powers a Tesla car and many others. There are big advantages in going small. Battery failure means replacing one or two small batteries, efficiency is distributed across each cell, production is simplified and they take up far less space, so designers are not forced to build ugly cars to hide those big klunks. Tesla and Panasonic are building a huge factory that will produce billions of these so that every one will be able to afford a battery- powered car soon. The other big innovation is eradicat-

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

LET’S TALK

With driverless cars, we can look forward to lounge-like seats that allow the occupants to face each other and interact

ing battery anxiety. Think about a battery-powered car that has a range of 100 kilometres. When you leave your home and have to drive 40 kilometres, you feel fine. But on the way back you get stuck in a massive traffic jam and your battery gauge steadily trickles down to zero. That’s incredible stress.

Now think of battery pump-up station just like petrol pumps.

You drive into one on the way, take out one battery module, insert it into the charging station, replace it with another module that is already fully charged and are on your way out faster than it would have taken you to fill petrol in your car.

Now, that is real power!

HONEY, I FIRED THE DRIVER

Of late, driverless car technology has moved from secret R&D facilities and is out in the open. Mercedes, Audi, Google and half a dozen other companies are starting to let their driverless cars drive staggeringly long distances. This opens up many different real-life implications. Suddenly you can have lounge-like seats so that all occupants can face each other and interact as they travel.

What you do on your way to your destination also changes as you no longer have to concentrate on the road or pay attention to traffic rules and pedestrians. Entertainment, work, interactivity, communicating and many other things that were illegal for those behind the wheel will become legal and be encouraged. The biggest impact will be on how you view your car. Today it’s one of your most wasted assets. You drive it to work, park it, and it stands there waiting for you. Then you drive it home and park it again all night. Multiply that huge waste of a resource by the millions of cars across the world. Now think of alternate scenarios. You get your driverless car to drive you to work then send it off to do duty as a premium taxi so that it makes you money all day. Then it comes to get you when you’re done, you pocket the income it made for you. Then it drops you home and then takes off to do night duty, ferrying passengers to and from the airport. The main reason we all don’t send off our current cars to do taxi duty is that we don’t trust a driver to treat the car as well in our absence or obey traffic rules – all of which are ruled out in a driverless car. Many may be amused by this thought, but new technology always opens up new lifestyle changes. Parking, roads, traffic jams, public transportation woes, breaking of road rules – almost all disappear with one dramatic technology shift.

There’s a lot happening with cars – from them becoming Internet-enabled, data-ready, with infotainment systems that would rival a home theatre and with smarts to park and change lanes and never get into an accident. And yet, it’s the above two that may well change lives and change this world.

Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3

Photos: GETTY IMAGES

A Shot of Punk And Some Soul

THEM GRRRLS

Sleater-Kinney's (above) No Cities to Love (below) is pleasurably full-blooded.

The 10 songs are throbbingly delivered

I

Two post-hiatus albums: SleaterKinney are back with no-nonsense rock after 10 years, and D’Angelo with some neo-soul after 15

T’S AN album that’s like a straight and stiff shot of punk rock with no chaser. I’m talking about SleaterKinney’s new release, No Cities to Love, which breaks the all-woman punk and indie rock band’s 10-year hiatus. When Sleater-Kinney, which was formed by Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker (both play guitars and sing) and drummer Janet Weiss, in the mid-1990s in Olympia, a small town in Washington, USA, burst upon the rock scene in 1995 with their first self-titled album, they were part of the hardcore feminist rock movement that went by the epithet, riot grrrl. Their music was angry and dealt with gender issues.

It was also iconoclastic, full-blooded punk rock, driven by guitars, drums and an in-your-face attitude. Pretty early in their career, they wowed the critics, including renowned music journalist, Greil Marcus, who described them as the “best rock band”.

Sanjoy Narayan

download central MORE ON THE WEB To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go to blogs.hindustantimes. com/download-central.

Write to Sanjoy at sanjoy.narayan@ hindustantimes.com .

Follow @SanjoyNarayan on Twitter

In the 10 years since their debut, between 1995 and 2005, the band had seven albums out, but by the time The Woods (2005) came out, their gritty, edgy oeuvre seemed to have evolved into a brand of hard rock that was less affected with protestations but still angry. Ten years and a reunion later, No Cities to Love, is still pleasurably full-blooded: no-nonsense rock delivered without affectations.

It’s a quick listen, this new SleaterKinney album. Clocking in at 32 minutes, the 10 songs are short, fast and throbbingly delivered. They rant, they denounce

ROCKING HORSES

D’Angelo’s vocals are a big part of his appeal.

Black Messiah overflows with audio goodies

indulge

and they decry. But always with impeccable rock credentials: great guitar riffs and drum runs; sometimes snarly, sometimes sardonic vocals; and lyrics that cram so much into so little. The first song on No Cities, titled Price Tag bemoans consumerism among today’s young but in a punk, not whiny, manner; the second, Fangless, which opens with an instantly infectious drum line followed by the guitars, has a beat to dance to; and on it goes with nary a song that displeases. The stand-out track for me is the title song, No Cities to Love, with its catchy lyrics (There are no cities, no cities to love/ It’s not the city, it’s the weather we love!). Sleater-Kinney’s songs are short and punchy but they sound as though they’re massive.

This is an album that should be allowed to spin on your playlist unfettered for a while.

Before I got No Cities, there was another album on my playlist – in fact, it is (despite its disparate genre) still doing time on that list, sharing space with Sleater-Kinney.

If there’s one thing that No Cities shares with D’Angelo’s surprise new release, Black Messiah, it is that they’re posthiatus. Sleater-Kinney’s new one has come after 10 years; D’Angelo dropped his new album after 15. That’s where the similarities end. While the all-woman band that I raved about above is a gritty punk rock/indie rock outfit, D’Angelo’s music is what is classified as neo-soul. Actually, I’d call him one of the pioneers of the genre-bending music that is a meld of soul, R&B, hip-hop and funk. If you haven’t heard D’Angelo (birthname: Michael Eugene Archer), I’d suggest you quickly get hold of his 2000 album, Voodoo.

D’Angelo was 25 when he made Voodoo with The Roots’ drummer Questlove (or, to be accurate, ?uestlove) and other musicians as his collaborators and that album broke new grounds in fusing soul, R&B, gospel, funk and hip-hop. And while D’Angelo himself was influenced by many legends (notably, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Prince), Voodoo has influenced legions of musicians in that genre in the 2000s. Voodoo, D’Angelo himself had said, was an album with groove. And listening to it repeatedly, I’ve always discovered something new: whether it is funky guitar lines, gospelly organ riffs; or D’Angelo singing soul to a contemporary beat. The breakout song on that album, for me at least, is Chicken Grease, with its short funky guitar riffs and vocals that seem SFX-ed. D’Angelo’s vocals are a big part of the appeal of his music. Possessing a voice that can range from the groovy mids to endearing falsettos, D’Angelo also layers his vocals in ways where, in recordings, he is singing the lead as well as the harmonies.

Voodoo was D’Angelo’s second album (the first was Brown Sugar) but it was the one that put him on the map. And then he disappeared (not completely, because he did guest on other people’s gigs and recordings sparingly). Till the surprise launch of Black Messiah, an album that takes off from where Voodoo left off. As loosely structured as Voodoo, Black Messiah shows that despite his hiatus, D’Angelo hasn’t lost his genius. The new album has songs that range from dealing with D’Angelo’s own problems (and he had a few during the hiatus) to ones, such as 1000 Deaths, which touch upon contemporary racerelated issues to others that are just great grooves. Innovative fusions of jazz, funk, R&B, hip-hop beats and soul are a hallmark of D’Angelo’s music. On Black Messiah, that melting pot overflows with audio goodies. An album that needs to be discovered. And then rediscovered.

Download Central appears every fortnight

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24

TRAVEL

Photos courtesy: TOURISM NEW ZEALAND

New Zeal For Sport And Life This World Cup season, a trip to New Zealand promises a mix of cricket action and adventure sport activities

by Aasheesh Sharma

T

O USE a cricket metaphor, I wasn’t nervous about being in the 90s. That my weight was approaching a century didn’t deter me from dangling 122 feet high from a rope upside down over the enticingly azure waters of the Pacific. No, I hadn’t suddenly lost my head and decided to jump off the Auckland Harbour Bridge on the spur of the moment.

‘Leap of faith,’ ‘lose your fears,’ ‘you only live once’ – none of these clichés come to your rescue when you are making up your mind about whether to jump off a bridge. When the managers at AJ Hackett enquire whether I want to do a bridge walk or do the bungee as well, I have one query: Will the elastic be strong enough to take my heft? “We’ve had people weighing 150 kilos jumping with us.

You’d do just fine,” says our guide.

I need no other assurance.

And then I plunge! The blood rushes to my head and I realise

I’ve lost perspective. The yachts from the marina are suddenly on top and the volcanic mountains at the bottom. Heck, even the Auckland skyline has turned turtle!

I bob up and down at least three times before the harness begins to spin and so does my head. “It’ll be over in a few moments,” I tell myself and close my eyes.

And after what seem like the longest 20 seconds of my life, the elastic starts tugging at my chest and I begin the retreat to the jumping station. The adrenaline rush is diminishing.

Much before I visited Kiwi land, I’d heard friends and colleagues say how New Zealand was the safest place in the world to try adventure sport. During the course of a media trip, I was to discover for myself why more than 90,000 tourists had been voting the island nation the best destination for tourism in the world, three years running.

FINE PRINT: FAQs ON NEW ZEALAND How to get there: Connecting flights to New Zealand are available on Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific and Malaysia Airlines with stop-overs in their respective hubs. New Zealand’s international gateways are Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Visa procedure: Forward your application to the tourism office in Mumbai or Delhi, which will then

be directed to the High Commission. A visitor visa for NZ is processed within 15 working days. Visit www.immigration.govt.nz Within New Zealand: Fly between all New Zealand cities using domestic air services. Air New Zealand and Jetstar are the main providers, complemented by regional airlines, charter companies and other operators.

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

RUINS TO RUNS

When the first ball is bowled for the tournament opener of the ICC Cricket World Cup on February 14 at Hagley Park, one cricket legend, a Christchurch local, will be watching from the stands with bated breath. Sir Richard Hadlee, New Zealand’s ICC cricket ambassador (see interview), says the World Cup is an opportunity for Christchurch to bounce back from the 2011 earthquake. The 6.3-magnitude quake, which killed 185 people and injured thousands, left a trail of destruction in its wake.

Hagley Park, the boutiquestyle stadium, will host the opening ceremony of the World Cup on February 12 that features former Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming and current captain Brendon McCullum, apart from Hadlee.

HEAVY-DUTY ADVENTURE

The bridge walk may look like a breeze but the bungee from Auckland Harbour Bridge (below) isn’t for the faint-hearted

HAVE A DECO

That New Zealanders know how to move on from natural disasters is reinforced a second time on trip, when we visit Hawke’s Bay. Home to the twin cities of Napier and Hastings, Hawke’s Bay is wine country. Levelled to the ground during the 7.8-magnitude earthquake of February 1931, Napier has since transformed into the Art Deco capital of the world.

Renowned for its Mediterranean climate and tree-lined promenades, the city rose from the ashes, literally, after the quake led to a fire

that razed timber buildings. Today you can see architecture in the styles of the 1930s: Art Deco, Spanish Mission and Stripped Classical, and in a contemporary touch, one of the only two Art Deco McDeco McDonald’s outlets on the planet!

Hawke’s Bay is also the fruit bowl of New Zealand. So, apart from visiting one of the wineries – they produce quality sauvignon blanc – I’d recommend a visit to the farmers’ market. Here, you can

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

‘Afghanistan Is The Story Of This World Cup’ The BBC once described him as “one of the greatest bowlers the world has seen.” After going punting with HT Brunch on Christchurch’s Avon river, Kiwi legend Sir Richard Hadlee said New Zealand is primed up to host the World Cup. Excerpts from an interview:

CHARMED BY MIDDLE EARTH

The Shire created at Hobbiton (above) is a hit with set-jetting tourists; a third of New Zealand is protected in parks and reserves (left) ; the enchanting gannet safari at Cape Kidnappers (below)

Photo: AASHEESH SHARMA

haggle with orange and banana sellers, desi-style.

THE SET-JETTERS

With one-third of New Zealand protected in parks and reserves, wilderness is never too far away.

Still, nothing quite prepares you for the sight of thousands of birds – chirping, swooping and taking off with fish – at Cape Kidnappers, the largest and most accessible mainland gannet colony in the world.

“The Australasian gannet (takapu) has been nesting at Cape Kidnappers since the 1870s,” says Graham, our genial guide, as he pours us steaming cups of coffee at a vantage point overlooking the craggy peninsula.

Set-jetting – holidaying in countries and locations where films are shot – is a phenomenon familiar to many of us. No wonder thousands of Indian tourists have been flocking to Switzerland inspired by Yash Chopra romances.

One of the biggest tourist magnets in New Zealand, too, is the movie set created at Hobbiton, home of the hairy-footed heroes of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings fantasy classics. The Shire is located on the Alexander farm just outside the town of Matamata.

The terrain is lush and undulating. Kiwi director Peter Jackson discovered the farm in 1998 during

an aerial search for locations. The countryside reminded Jackson of the ‘shire’ as imagined by Tolkien.

Today, the permanent movie set hosts tours of around 40 tourists every 10 minutes.

It is raining the day we reach Matamata. As we sip ginger beer, we make acquaintance with Pickle, the resident cat lounging philosophically by the fireplace, as if to ask what the fuss is all about.

UP, UP & AWAY

After an array of adventure experiences, including bungee, jet-boating and riding Harley bikes, a relaxing way to conclude a trip to New Zealand is a hot air balloon ride. So, with the mercury hovering below zero, we help inflate a giant balloon at Christchurch. Helming the ride, Michael Oakley, one of New Zealand’s top balloonists (never knew such a career existed!), says each of us would have to assist him in getting it off-ground. Braving icy winds, once we go up, up and away, the sunrise over the Southern Alps makes us marvel at the brilliance with which New Zealanders have perfected the art of marketing the outdoors. And then, there’s cricket!

The writer was hosted by Tourism New Zealand aasheesh.sharma@hindustantimes.com.

Follow on Twitter @Aasheesh74

As co-host (along with Australia), how has New Zealand prepared for the World Cup? Seven cities in New Zealand are hosting three games each for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. This includes some important games like the tournament opener, a quarter-final and a semi-final. My job as brand ambassador includes mingling with important guests and appearing in TV commercials.

We recently shot a video where Stephen Fleming and Chris Harris, along with Aussies Damien Fleming and Andy Bichel are playing a game of cricket on the Auckland Harbour Bridge! In the video, the ball goes over the bridge and I happen to be on a sailboat. It lands in the chilling bin and I look up and wonder what on earth is going on up there!

What does New Zealand have to offer the cricket tourist apart from the World Cup action?

A lot of outdoor leisure options.

Both the South Island and North Island have a diversity of activities on offer. The South Islands have the rivers, the coastlines, the mountains, treks and walks. Up in the North Island, there are hot pools.

Although we are a long, long way from the rest of the world, when the tourists arrive here, they’ll realise there are a number of options they can choose from.

What’s your own favourite World Cup memory?

I enjoyed playing in the first three World Cups. Beginning with 1975, 1979 and 1983, that India won.

Watching Clive Lloyd lift the trophy in 1975 – and those were 60-over games – was special. Another wonderful memory was visiting the Buckingham Palace. All the teams stood with the Queen on the stairs and that group photograph was a fantastic memory.

You were knighted in England.

People say you were recognised more in that country than in New Zealand for your efforts...

I think I was well recognised in New Zealand during my career. I had an 18-year career, a world record, 400 wickets, all those things. I played in a successful era for New Zealand cricket. The Eighties were a wonderful time.

You mentioned the 400. You’ve reached some significant milestones against India. What made playing against the team special?

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

POSE PERFECT

Richard Hadlee, the New Zealand Ambassador of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, holds up the trophy at a promotional event The records! (laughs) It is difficult to explain. There are certain players or teams against whom you perform much better than the others. The first time I played against India was at the Basin Reserve in Wellington in 1976. We won that Test match and I created a New Zealand record for most wickets and best bowling in an innings. And in my hometown, at Christchurch, I got my 400th wicket: Sanjay Manjrekar.

Which Indian batsman did you find the toughest to dislodge?

I’ve bowled against some good Indian batsmen. Sunil Gavaskar, of course, and Mohammad Azharuddin, another fine player. I only bowled to Sachin Tendulkar in 1990 for a couple of Test matches.

He was about 17. He had a lot of potential, but we did not envision what he would go on to do in international cricket. Gundappa Viswanath was also a fine player and so was Dilip Vengsarkar. But Gavaskar would have to be in the top 10 of all time. When I look back, Viv Richards has got to be there and so do Gordon Greenidge, David Gower and Greg Chappell.

How far has New Zealand come from the last time you co-hosted the Cup with Australia in 1992?

1992 was new for us. New Zealand has since then hosted many big global events. We did it with rugby in 1987 and 2010 was the last one, that the All Blacks won. But it has been 23 years since we co-hosted the World Cup with Australia. Since then, the game has gone global because more teams are participating. The participation of Afghanistan in the World Cup, bearing in mind all the difficulties that they face, is the success of the tournament. That to me is the story of the 2015 World Cup.

MORE ON THE WEB For videos of the bungee and the Richard Hadlee interview, log on to www. hindustantimes.com/brunch

26

PEOPLE

PHOTO: Saumya Khandelwal

CENTRESTAGE

Waman Kendre says Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2015 (1 February-18 February) in Delhi will help in showcasing the diversity of Indian theatre University in recognition of BR Ambedkar. He soon became the face of the Dalit Theatre movement in Aurangabad, playing the lead role in a number of Dalit productions of the time, like the 1978 production Thamba Ramarajya Yetay. He remembers how the first play he did after graduating from NSD – a Marathi play called Zulwa (1987) – had renowned Marathi writer Namdeo Dhasal in tears when he saw it. “The play is about girls who are offered to the goddess Yellamma in certain parts of Maharashtra. When Namdeo saw the production, he said tearfully, ‘Your one production has given a strong voice to a voiceless section of society... something which we strive to do over years.’”

Solo Act

OF WORK AND PLAY

Waman Kendre, the new director of the National School of Drama, on slipping out of home to watch tamasha, his roots in Dalit theatre and keeping his creative fires burning

by Asad Ali

G

ROWING UP in a tiny Maharashtrian village (which, even today, has no proper approach road) to becoming the director of India’s most prestigious theatre institution, the National School of Drama (NSD) – Waman Kendre, 57, has certainly trekked a long distance. Playing the role of a girl (his first ever role, he says, in a 30-minute school play where he just had four lines), to contributing in a major way to Dalit theatre, he’s ticked almost all the right boxes that make for an inspiring life story.

“I was born in Daradwadi, a small village in Maharshtra’s Beed district. It’s still a virgin village in the sense that there’s no real approach road. It probably has about 30 houses, and the odd television set and mobiles,” says Kendre. After studying till class 3, he moved to another small town in Beed, which was closer to a proper school (relatively, of course, it was still 20 km away). But an intimacy with his roots was all-pervasive during these childhood years for Kendre. Most families in his village depended on agriculture as a means of livelihood and Kendre’s father too was into farming.

However, his agrarian background helped Kendre get an introduction to a wide array of folk art forms: “Various folk artists would keep coming by to perform at our aangans. In the evenings there would be tamasha performances that we weren’t allowed to see as kids. It was perceived to be too obscene. But we’d slip out, watch the tamasha and return before the adults in the house could find out!” It also helped that Kendre’s father was a Bhaarud (Maharashtrian folk art) performer himself, and his uncle was devoted to the art of bhajan singing.

came, he said he knew about 500 folk songs. In front of a baffled audience, and then director BV Karanth, Kendre started off with a Ganesh Vandana, following it up with bhajans. But, recognition from peers came to Kendre much before NSD. He went to college in Navgan Mahavidyalay, in Beed district where he studied Arts.

There Kendre, along with his friends, put up folk performances and became quite popular: “We used to perform a traditional musical tribute to the goddess Jagdamba. It was so popular that people showered money on the stage. That helped us fund our way through college!” It was also in college when Kendre decided to take up theatre seriously – immediately after completing his graduation in 1978, he enrolled in a diploma course in dramatics at Dr. Ambedkar Marathwada University in Aurangabad. And yes, he was part of Namantar Andolan – the campaign to rename Marathwada

As a university student, Kendre became the face of the Dalit theatre movement in Aurangabad

THAT’S ALL FOLK...

The exposure to an eclectic mix of performance arts would go on to help Kendre find his feet as a young actor at Delhi’s National School of Drama. “We were asked to sing whatever songs we knew... most students sang old Bollywood numbers because that’s the only major exposure city people usually had.” When Kendre’s turn

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

Till now, says Kendre, Zulwa remains a production close to his heart. Some other productions he feels equally proud of include Nati-Goti (1989; based on the life of a differently-abled child and his family), Ranangan (1999; based on the battle of Panipat) and Jaaneman (2002; based on the tribulations of the hijra community). His most recent production is Ghazab Teri Ada (2014; based on the aftereffects of World War I) which will also be staged at the 17th Bharat Rang Mahotsav, the flagship theatre festival of NSD in Delhi (1 February - 18 February, 2015).

So how does he view his current role as NSD head? A creative sacrifice on the altar of directorial responsibility? Kendre disagrees.

“Balancing responsibilities is quite possible if one really wants to. I enjoy the duties I have now,” he says and adds, “I worked with National Centre For The Performing Arts, Mumbai, for 10 years and a lot of that also involved organisational running. At its theatre development centre, I developed my archiving and research skills. So it worked out that way.” Pointing to his desk which looks very well organised and neat, Kendre says, “Balance karna aana chahiye...

I enjoy these responsibilities as much as my rehearsals. Which is why every evening when I go home, there are hardly any pending papers on my desk!” asad.ali@hindustantimes.com Follow @AsadAli1989 on Twitter

WELLNESS

27

MIND BODY SOUL SHIKHA SHARMA

For any worries related to unplanned pregnancy: Write to us at consumercare@piramal.com or call us at 1800-22-0502 (toll free) or sms ICAN to 56070 Website: www.i-canhelp.in

The best remedies can come from nature itself. Use these herbs to take care of minor ailments

H

ERBS AND minerals often heal and cure common health problems without side effects. However, the cure will not be complete unless you avoid the offenders that caused the problems in the first place.

Here are a few herbal solutions for common ailments: OILY, ACNE-RIDDEN SKIN Apply aloe vera juice which serves as a soothing and calming gel. Tea tree oil is an excellent antibacterial cleanser. Mix a few drops of tree tea oil in traditional ubtan for a natural skin treatment.

Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK

MILD SKIN BURNS If you get burnt with a few drops of hot water or oil, use aloe vera jelly. Even allopathy recommends aloe vera-based antibiotics and creams.

RESTLESSNESS, SLEEP PROBLEMS, ESPECIALLY CONNECTED TO MENOPAUSE Many women find the menopausal period difficult due to sudden and excessive sweating and restlessness. Take evening primrose oil in capsule form once a day for a few weeks.

Valerian root reduces anxiety, decreases the intensity of headaches and is a mild sedative.

Combine it with flowers of the Hop plant to induce sleep.

MOUTH ULCERS Apply aloe vera oral gel directly to the ulcers before sleeping. A small quantity of liquorice is an effective natural balm.

BAD BREATH Bad breath can be caused by sinusitis, post-nasal drip in the mouth, gum infections, poor dental hygiene, fasting without water, indigestion or fever. Use STUFFY NOSE, FEVERISH a mouthwash made with mint FEELING AND MILD ALLERGY leaves, and chew AND COUGH cardamom or cinThe herb echinicea VERA VERA GOOD namon after meals. has been used for Aloe Vera juice acts as a Cut down on sugary ages to fight colds, soothing and calming gel for acne and burns drinks. Use few drips flu-like symptoms, of clove oil and a tonsil infections and pinch of salt on teeth that allergy-induced headhave dental caries. aches. It reduces Maintain basic dental inflammation health routine: brushin the tracts and ing, rinsing and regular assists the immune flossing. system. ask@drshikha.com

MORE ON THE WEB For more columns by Dr Shikha Sharma and other wellness stories, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch FEBRUARY 1, 2015

1. Dear Doctor, we are newly married and my wife refuses to use emergency contraceptive pill. We both don’t want a baby now but she is scared of taking pills.

Please help us.

Congratulations on your marriage. Contraception is an integral part in any couples life who wishes to delay pregnancy. However, you must know, that emergency contraceptive pills are not meant to be used regularly.

There are several contraceptive methods, other than regular contraceptive pills, which you can use to avoid a pregnancy such as condoms, spermicidal jellies, IUDs etc. I suggest you consult a local gynaecologist and take information on the various contraception methods available and choose the one that suits you and your w i f e b e t t e r. E m e r g e n cy contraceptive pills should be reserved for emergency cases in events where regular contraception was missing or failed.

2. Dear Doctor, from last few days, I find intercourse is very painful and I have also experienced higher than usual discharge with a bad

odour. I am married for 18 months and have never faced this problem before.

What could be the reason?

You may be suffering from a vaginal infection. Please consult a gynaecologist and conduct appropriate tests to determine the reason for pain and vaginal discharge. Please don’t worry, many women suffer from temporary vaginal infection which can be cured by appropriate treatment.

3. Dear Doctor, I want to know after taking an emergency contraceptive pill for how many days can we continue to have unprotected intercourse.

Please understand that emergency contraceptive pills are not meant to be used as a routine or planned birth control measure. As the name suggests you must use it only during emergency cases such as when there is a tear/split in condom or you missed taking a dose of regular pill. If you are a sexually active person then you need to opt for regular contraceptive options. Ideally, one must take precaution and not indulge in unprotected sex after taking an emergency contraceptive pill.

Queries answered by Dr Nirmala Rao MBBS, MD, DPM; a well known psychiatrist who heads Mumbai based Aavishkar - a multifaceted team of expert doctors and health professionals. Aavishkar has a comprehensive approach to mental and physical health, with an emphasis scan this QR code to visit website on counselling and psychotherapy.

Supported by:

MediaMedic ICH/Q&A/0201

NATURAL SOLUTIONS FOR COMMON PROBLEMS

28

PERSONAL AGENDA

twitter.com/HTBrunch

Actor

Ali Fazal

BIRTHDAY SUN SIGN PLACE OF BIRTH HOMETOWN SCHOOL/COLLEGE October 15

Libra

Delhi

Allahabad and Lucknow

The Doon School, Dehradun and St Xavier’s College, Mumbai

FIRST BREAK 3 Idiots (2009)

HIGH POINT OF YOUR LIFE LOW POINT OF YOUR LIFE CURRENTLY I AM...

When I decided to take up acting as a career

When Always Kabhi Kabhi (2011) wasn’t successful

Waiting for the release of my film Furious 7, and enjoying the response to Khamoshiyan

my movies

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

If not an actor, you would have been... stepped in and started doing it Running my own restaurant for her. I applied rouge all over because I love food and I love her face. She didn’t realise for serving people. some time, and when she did, Indie films or a 100-crore-club film, she chased me around the set. which excites you more?

A director you would like to work with.

A 100-crore-club film because Raju Hirani and Imtiaz Ali. I want everyone to watch Aamir or Shah Rukh, who’s the better my work. mentor?

What has Mahesh Bhatt Shah Rukh Khan.

A RACE CAR Who is your childhood taught you about movies?

YOU WISH YOU Bollywood crush?

He told me stardom is about ticket sales, Kajol.

OWNED and failure is What will we find on your your best friend. bedside table?

Mahesh Bhatt has A frame with my helped me find parents’ photo, my own space in a book and my Bollywood. phone.

What is the toughest part How did going to a about trying to make it in the boarding school shape film industry? you as a person?

It’s hard to overcome the forces It’s the reason I am an actor that try to keep you away from today. It’s why I have managed it. It’s a very possessive, closeto stand up to the intimidating knit unit. I am grateful that the world of Bombay. fraternity has accepted me.

The worst thing you have put into Theatre or film, which do you prefer? your mouth.

I can’t draw any comparisons.

I once ate two snails.

It’s like saying I like potatoes, One guilty pleasure. and then wondering if I really Banoffee pie. like banana shakes. I love both.

What would you never change about How important is it for a new actor in the way you look for a film?

Bollywood to have a six-pack?

I am ready to change anything, I don’t think it is important. except I always wear a black However, you need to be fit. ring. I may remove that Which Fast and the Furious character reluctantly. do you wish you could play?

You don’t start your day without…

I would like to play Tej Parker, Coffee, which I brew. which is played by Ludacris, If you do an item number, whom would because it’s a brilliant role. It’s you like to be choreographed by? quite an interesting character.

Ganesh Hegde. He can bring You come across as a prankster. out the best in anyone.

Have you ever played a prank on your A Hollywood film you wish you were co-stars? a part of.

On the sets of Bobby Jasoos, American Hustle (2013). when Vidya Balan was getting her make-up touched up, I — Interviewed by Junisha Dama

A FILM YOU HAVE WATCHED MOST NUMBER OF TIMES

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) and The Godfather (1972)

A FILM THAT WAS A PART OF YOUR CHILDHOOD

Scarface

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

A Bugatti

(1983) and Notting Hill (1999) THE MOST PAISA VASOOL FILM

Kai Po Che! (2013) THE FIRST FILM YOU SAW ON THE BIG SCREEN

Khalnayak (1993)