WEEKLY MAGAZINE, JULY 7, 2013 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times
From a genius on the fringe, he has evolved into Bollywood’s favourite filmmaker and a production powerhouse. A glimpse of the man behind the Anurag Kashyap myth
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B R E A K FA S T O F C H A M P I O N S
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The Brunch Bollywood Collector’s Edition is Out! Photo: Avinash Gowariker, exclusively for Brunch Collector’s Edition
This special issue brings you the top 50 Bollywood stars of today. We got interesting people from the film industry to talk about them, and we have exclusive photographs by Mumbai’s best photographers. Naturally Shah Rukh Khan is part of the ON STANDS Top 50 list. And here’s what Rani Mukerji NOW! has to say on King Khan: “When he GRAB IT FOR R100 ONLY! [Shah Rukh] is with you, he is with you completely. SRK is truly the badshah of love and romance. He can make your mother, your grandmother, your daughter and you feel he is in love with each one at the same time. His affection and heartfelt respect for women make him their Hero No. 1.”
AVAILABLE AT LEADING BOOKSTORES AND NEWSSTANDS
But it didn’t make it because... Anurag actually wasn’t here. ■ Boss said, “Cute, but we can’t really use it.” ■ Using Shawshank Redemption references isn’t cool anymore! ■
Brunch Opinion
by Parul Khanna
Deconstructing Anurag Kashyap It’s not easy to catch Anurag Kashyap – he loathes interviews. So, when we got him, we decided we had to know him, all of him. Here’s what we gleaned On movies
His kind of wom en
On his to-do-list
He loves
He drives
Cover design: MONICA GUPTA Cover photograph: HARIKRISHNA KATRAGADDA Cover image location: ANURAG KASHYAP’S HOME IN MUMBAI
The cushion was gifted to Anurag by ‘Yes, Why Not?’ a funky store in Versova! It’s not an indulgence EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Rachel Lopez, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna, Yashica Dutt, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain, Shreya Sethuraman
JULY 7, 2013
DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Payal Dighe Karkhanis, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh
Maxim: Audi alteram partem Meaning: No man can be condemned unheard Whom to use it with: Next time your wife accuses you of not paying enough attention to her while you’re glued to your favourite sport, use audi alteram partem in your favour – but make sure you come up with a good explanation when she asks for one (women love explanations). Maxim: Res ipsa loquitur Meaning: The thing speaks for itself When to use it: When after an abdominal surgery, the surgeon leaves a scalpel in your tummy, his/her negligence would be res ipsa loquitur.
Photo: HARIKRISHNA KATRAGADDA
He cooks
Since we all loved Anurag’s cushion so much, we decided to use it to deconstruct him
Why? Because lawyers are hot. And sometimes they talk in another language. We decided to teach you some. It’s a hit at the bar (pun intended)
Maxim: Volenti non fit injuria Meaning: No injury is done to someone who has consented; it is a voluntary assumption of risk Why to use it: You know your boss has: (a) had a fight with his wife this morning; (b) cancelled his vacation due to work; (c) abused a demanding client over a call forgetting to put the phone on mute; and you still walk in to his office to negotiate your raise. He throws out your demand and you cannot complain – this is a classic case of volenti non fit injuria.
Relationship status
In his DVD drive
5 legal maxims that should be on your fingertips
Maxim: Caveat emptor Meaning: Buyer beware Where to use it: If your favourite place to buy antiques is Chor Bazaar, do remember caveat emptor before you lighten your wallet by a few thousand bucks.
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It Could’ve Been The Cover
by Vinita Sithapathy Jhaveri
Drop us a line at:
brunchletters@ hindustantimes.com or to 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001
Maxim: Nemo debet esse judex in propria causa Meaning: No man can be a judge in his own cause How to use it: You’ve just polished off an entire packet of potato chips and wonder whether your growing love handles can deal with a second one. You decide they can. You just violated this maxim. WARNING The readers are advised to use their own discretion while using the above maxims!
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STYLE FILE
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Your Hair Will Thank You
Stop fighting your hair this monsoon. Here’s how to make it work for you by Yashica Dutt
Y
OU CAN dry your clothes; you can air your cupboards and even fix the mould on the walls. But try fixing your hair in this season and you’ll end up with nothing less than an animalistic urge to chop it all off. There’s no reason for you to have a whole season of bad hair days –
omb The Back-Care back men of elegance
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few face shapes, so you can go ll as a we as e tim in decades back with this her hig ps ste ial tor sar few slick style. lake SEEN ON: Justin Timber Suit & , um (below) and on his alb t en’ hav l stil you Tie. And if ts. noticed, Mad Men and Sui iously. obv ts, Sui : TH PAIR IT WI and rs use tro p cris h wit also But well-cut shirts. or wax. WHAT YOU NEED: Gel all you at’s Th EXPERT ADVICE: h. oot sm le sty this p need to kee the hair Along with regular trims d at the needs to be neatly croppe layers g lon h wit k, bac and es edg ate it cre also on the top. You can ade pom old m-h diu me g by workin t. we l stil into the hair while it’s
The Loose Side Curl
The Pompadour
are still stuck in the spikeIhelmof you hawk-rat-tail route, then here’s p.
Expert: Ity Aggarwal, celebrity hair
stylist
The Faux Bob
gle up? This style lets you shorten your hair withou t a trim. And has a cool insouciance to it. SEEN ON: Freida Pinto (rig ht), Vanessa Hudgens and eve rybody looking for a new look in the rains. PAIR IT WITH: Polka-dot tops and cropped trousers to cha nnel your inner ’60s vixen.
’t a fan o you know any girl who isn are t tha ls cur ch of wispy bea vintage adequately grown-up and to do for gor too? So make this you so It’s . out g nin eve id a hot, hum easy. Amy SEEN ON: Taylor Swift, pers. flap 0s 192 , ht) (rig s am Ad ood llyw Ho A : PAIR IT WITH obe. rdr wa pet car red ty’s celebri w! ew Aim for elegance, not s, WHAT YOU NEED: Curler holding spray. style EXPERT ADVICE: This e don be can and e inin fem is in r hai t we r by braiding you small sections with some styling lotion. Let it dry, untie the braids, massage them loose and softly pin the hair up to the side. Make it look like you haven’t tried too hard.
D
The pompadour offers the smooth edge of a sexy dev il and the charm of an ’80s pop star – the kind the girls worshipped. SEEN ON: Bruno Mars (ab ove) and the original cool cat, Elvis. PAIR IT WITH: A huge dose of confidence. st styli hair brity cele oo, Sab ar Expert: Asg WHAT YOU NEED: Gel , roller brush, holding spray. EXPERT ADVICE: Crop the hair close on the sides and bac k, leaving the top longer to blow dry into a quiff. You can even gel the sides and back. Or just use some holding spray for one min ute, with your fingers holding the hair up in place if you have rou gh hair. It gives you better contro l.
ow awesome does long, flow ing H hair look? And how quickl y does it tan
when your hair falls between some version of sticky, matted, damp, frizzy or plain old limp and lifeless. That’s why we asked the most trusted names in the hair business for some easy rainfriendly looks that are good for both your hair and your peace of mind. And look, the celebs are doing it too!
WHAT YOU NEED: Ab out 2,567 hair pins and shine spray. EXPERT ADVICE: Smoot hen out the top with a blow dry er and add a few curls below for texture. Pull your hair into a bun and tuck it loosely under the volum e of your hair using hair pins. Leave a few strands around the face for softness.
Expert: Dianne Commissariat, b:blunt Mumbai
JULY 7, 2013
Expert: Rod Anker, Monsoon
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C OV E R STO RY
The Godfather Bullied in school and a drifter in his teens, smalltown boy Anurag Kashyap has scripted a success story fit for a Bollywood blockbuster text by Parul Khanna, photographs by Harikrishna Katragadda
The youngest boy in class is bullied by his peers. Forlorn and dejected every day, he stands near an imli tree. The boy aims stones at the low-hanging imli fruit. One day, while he is taking aim, one of the bullies happens to be passing by and the stone hits him. The principal decides to let the boy go – ‘He was seen trying to get the imli every day. He didn’t mean it.’ A simple story. Right? But now comes the Anurag Kashyap twist. The boy was actually practising to miss the imli every day – hoping to hit the bully one day.
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NURAG KASHYAP, godfather to aspiring filmmakers, a writer-producer-director whose stature has reached almost mythic proportions among his fanatic fans, was just a little boy when he wrote this story. He was the youngest in his class at the Scindia School, Gwalior, didn’t have enough facial hair to prove his machismo, wasn’t confident enough to speak in English and was often at the receiving end of severe ragging. Sexually abused and bullied as a child, he brooded over his anguish – for years. Kashyap created a whole parallel world inside himself. He wrote stories with unexpected twists and surprises, stories that would one day come to define his style of filmmaking. All of it has shaped him into the man that he is now. “My survival instincts were always very strong. To avoid the bullies, I would go to places no one would go to. I would read. And till a student fell ill and I stepped in and won a school race, nobody even knew I could run. That’s about all my achievements in school,” he says grinning. For his father, he was always the
prodigal son. He was brilliant, but he never studied. He could have done so much, but he drifted. Till he found himself. “And today, my father (Prakash Singh) is very proud of me”, says Kashyap.
A troubled childhood
All of 41, with a life studded with enough twists, turns and struggles to give filmmaker Guru Dutt material for an epic tragedy, Kashyap is nonchalant about all that fate has thrown his way. “Sexual abuse is common in schools, especially residential ones. It’s not the children’s fault, it’s the system that’s faulty, but that I realise today. Back then, I was deeply affected by it,” he says, sipping French coffee in his Versova home. He bought the coffee from Cannes, where four of his movies were at the festival this year – Monsoon Shootout, Ugly, Bombay Talkies and Lunchbox (they were either directed by him or from his production house.) The Mumbai rain hammering on the drawing room window pane picks up tempo, from a mellow treble to a forceful bass, as Kashyap goes back in time. The walls of his no-fuss home are covered with posters of films he has loved all his life. Movies from America (Black Swan, West Side Story) and Belgium (Man Bites Dog), along with snapshots of iconic New Wave French-Swiss filmmaker JeanLuc-Godard. Photographs of Kashyap with wife Kalki Koechlin, and with daughter Aaliya, sit on a side table. Originally from Varanasi, since his father worked in the Uttar Pradesh
Power Corporation, Kashyap spent a lot of time in little towns like Obra and Saharanpur, though he did his schooling in Gwalior. After school, he came to Delhi in the late ’80s, because that’s what everyone around him was doing. “As a direct effect [of the abuse in school], I built muscle in college, started playing sports, and would often be seen with a hockey stick. I got out of oppressive college cliques, forming my own parallel world, all the while protecting those who weren’t strong enough,” he says. In 1992, after finishing a BSc in Zoology from Hansraj College, Delhi University, he was lost for a while. He cleared the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) exam in Delhi – because the college girl he loved (but who didn’t love him back) had got admission there. But he backed off, and got through the Short Service Commission of the Army, though he didn’t join. In the midst of these existential dilemmas, Kashyap discovered international cinema. A new world opened up to him. That’s when he decided he’d go to Mumbai. With dreams of becoming an actor, Kashyap came to Mumbai in 1993 with R6,000 he took from his father. That’s all he’d need, he thought. But he soon ran out of money.
Struggler in Maximum City
A friend offered to let Kashyap stay with him at his cousin’s place. But the cousin turned him out. Some days were spent on the streets of Mumbai, at forgotten nooks of Andheri where cars were less likely to run over him.
Anurag was brilliant, but he never studied. He could have done so much, but he drifted. Till he found himself JULY 7, 2013
On other days, the same friend (‘a predator in a good way’) would hook up with a girl who had a place to stay and would often ask Kashyap to stay over, or invite him for breakfast. “The days she would refuse to let me in, I would just sleep on the roof next to the paani ki tanki in her building,” he recalls. On better days, when he had R30, he would sleep in a lodging house, outside Dadar station in a room that already had several people in it. Belongings were to be kept in the pocket; for even underwear would get stolen. But Kashyap loved these experiences: “They are now a part of my filmmaking. In Murabba (his story in Bombay Talkies, which included short films by three other filmmakers), I recreated that world.” Kashyap’s experiences often find a way into his movies. Dev’s alcohol induced trips in Dev D, his walking around the city, his sudden realisation he didn’t love Paro are phases he has gone through too. Kashyap was a natural at writing scripts. “Soon after I arrived in Mumbai in the ’90s, cable TV had just come in, and there were these shows – Superhit Muqabla etc – for which votes were counted a day before, and the script had to be turned in fast. I became known for churning out scripts for two episodes in a night. So writing started to sustain me,” he says. Kashyap would write for everyone, without remuneration and often even without credit. This irked his brother, director Abhinav, known to be better with money. By the time he’d begun sustaining himself with writing, Abhinav too had arrived in Mumbai to prepare for the IIM exam. The brothers took up a flat on rent and Kashyap realised there was a lot of money in writing. “Though I would often refuse people whose script ideas didn’t excite me.
Disclaimer: Smoking is injurious to health. These images are pictorial representations and we do not promote smoking
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JULY 7, 2013
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C OV E R STO RY
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WHAT’S COOKING, ANURAG?
The filmmaker tries his hand at preparing a chicken dish for guests
Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi, Richa Chadda – overnight stars, and rebuilding flailing careers, Kashyap is ‘The Man’ to go to. During the four hours I was at his place, he was inundated with calls from people who wanted something or the other from him. Gangs of Wasseypur was a commercial and critical hit. Iconic Hollywood producer Martin Scorcese wrote to Kashyap, saying how much he loved Gangs… and Dev D. The two will be spending 15 days together at the end of the year. Kashyap’s first big-budget film, Bombay Velvet, starring Ranbir Kapoor, being co-produced by Fox Studios, went on the floors in July. He’s directing Amitabh Bachchan, whose movies of the ’70s influenced him, for a fiction TV show. “An Amitabh and a Ranbir working with me means they don’t want to be slaves to their image,” he says. The production houses Kashyap floated to maintain creative freedom, Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt Ltd (which he co-owns with producer Guneet Monga) and Phantom, that he runs with directors Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane and producer Madhu Mantena, run like well-oiled machines. “I’ve spent many years trying to get other people’s films out. Now, I want to focus on directing. In the production houses, I focus on my strengths. My weaknesses are taken care of. I am not taken for the money meetings. I am a liability there,” he says.
Breaking The Jinx
But Abhinav figured it was R10,000 for a night’s work for me. He would accept them on my behalf, and write the scripts himself.” Abhinav bought a house in Mumbai 15 years ago, but Kashyap did so only recently. His father still worries about his finances. Kashyap’s business partners put a salary in his bank account, enough for his expenses every month. “They know that any extra money I get, I’ll just give to
someone to make a film,” he says laughing.
The Making Of Brand Anurag
Today, Anurag Kashyap has arrived. He completes 20 years in Mumbai, and finally Mumbai is giving him his due. Strong in content, casting, music and visuals, he’s known for breaking the myth that audiences only like films with big stars. Credited with making unknown faces – Nawazuddin JULY 7, 2013
Aaj Anurag ke paas bangla hai (a duplex to be precise), gaadi hai (a recently bought Mahindra XUV, his first car, which his brother Abhinav teases him about – ‘Class nahi hai tere paas,’ he chides,) aur biwi bhi hai. But mention his tales of struggle and he says, “Who doesn’t struggle? Those are the experiences that I bor-
row from now. If Paanch (the first movie he made in 2000, but which didn’t get any backers and still remains unreleased) had been released, I wouldn’t have been half of what I am today,” says Kashyap. “People believed I was jinxed. I had to sit on Shani pujas only to give people around me some peace,” he adds, without a trace of residual hurt. His first release, (the third film he directed) Black Friday, got tremendous critical acclaim. Dev D made India sit up and take notice of this director who could give an old tale of love and loss a gritty touch. Then there was the over-indulgent No Smoking and the not-so-great That Girl in Yellow Boots. Gulal released in 2009, seven years after it was made, to rave reviews. He’d had his revenge.
Poster Boy To Mentor
It was time to break the pattern, again. Kashyap noticed others like him who were new to Bollywood. Brilliant freethinkers fighting to get their films out to an audience that existed, but who faced rejection by distributors and producers. He came across debutant director Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan. “No one was willing to touch it. It got picked up by UTV only after it went to Cannes. I wasn’t a producer but I backed it,” he says. Since then, he’s become a talent-churning factory. There’s Michael, Peddlers, Monsoon Shootout, Shahid, Haraamkhor, Lunchbox and Ugly. Kashyap became the poster boy for the indie film movement, breaking through the stranglehold of star-studded films and family-run productions. Though that’s coming to bite him back now. Kashyap groupies are crying foul that he’s sold himself out by agreeing to do the big-budget Bombay Velvet. Kashyap, a little irked, says, “I didn’t ask anyone to make me a poster boy. Because poster boys always end up as dart boards. Once people see the film, they will calm down. I tell fans who say, ‘make a Gulal 2 or Gangs 3,’ that I am living my dream, not theirs.” Thousands of DVDs line one of Kashyap’s rooms. A connoisseur of noir, with a craving to discover newer places and experiences, he picks up films and books on his journeys across the world. “I love travelling and most
The most unalloyed form of movie lover, Kashyap’s agenda is to to watch films, make them and let others create them
AN AUTEUR’S REPERTOIRE
His body of work includes the sensational Black Friday, the gritty Dev D and the two-part cult hit Gangs of Wasseypur scripts have been written while I have been travelling. Dev D was partly written on a plane, Gangs… was written in Madrid in a hotel full of transvestites. They reminded me of Bihar’s ‘launda naach’ which I re-created in Gangs ..,” says Kashyap, before he heads to his room for a bath and hands me a copy of Persepolis. “Read it, you’ll start to love graphic novels.” A natural at what he does, many label him as a ‘genius’. Actor-lyricistmusician Piyush Mishra says, “He has that something extra. One Anurag Kashyap is a necessity for us, but two would be too much.” Once out of his bath, Kashyap rolls a cigarette, then goes to the kitchen to check on the chicken dish he’s making. Cooking is a big de-stressor for him. He lures friends to his home on the pretext of giving them food, and then bounces ideas off them. “Even his office boy can tell him, he’s made a f**k all movie,” says Bahl.
Inside The Aesthete’s Den
He has changed from shorts and Tshirt to denims and a black shirt. “I only dress up when Kalki is around,” he smiles. The women of his films are like the women in his life. They are strong and give men direction. Sardar Khan, a trigger-happy criminal in Gangs of Wasseypur 1, pisses in his pants in front of his wife. Paro (Mahie Gill) in Dev D and Durga (Reema Sen) in Gangs of Wasseypur 2, are sexual, sensual creatures. From a shy boy, for whom holding a girl’s hand was tough, Kashyap has grown into a man who respects women’s sexuality. “My education from women started with sex, and then it went on to other things. Today, I can’t be around boring women or people who take on this mantle of judgment.” All the struggle he underwent couldn’t dampen Kashyap’s spirits, but his marital separation from film editor Aarti Bajaj did. He sought refuge in alcohol, which led to his divorce. He discovered jazz, on which Bombay Velvet is based, while on a trip JULY 7, 2013
to America after his divorce. That’s where he fell in love with a jazz singer. “She made me see a world I have been dreaming about recreating in India,” he says. And after that, just like it happens in the movies, he met to-be-wife Kalki, and things were never the same again. “When you have a void, you fill it up with everything external. I drink now too, but it’s controlled. Love did that to me.” Love, good wine, single malts, movies, movies, movies, travelling and freedom matter to Kashyap the most. But some things keep changing. “I want to spend time with my daughter Aaliya, who, when she turns 13, will no longer want to see me. Kalki nearly dumped me last year because I was so busy with films. Now I want to just direct and be a hanger-on when she’s shooting, just sit in her room and read,” he says. “And travel and discover,” he adds. It’s this child-like enthusiasm for discovering that keeps him doing 10 things at the same time. Running a Bollywood empire is not part of his dream. His captive audience is here. Meanwhile, his chicken is nearly done. He’s still not taken out his iPad, which Rabia Chopra, his manager, says, is a sign of Kashyap getting bored. What’s been the big learning of his life? “Have conviction in yourself, because otherwise nobody else will. And take responsibility. I do that for all the people who believe in me.” parul.khanna@hindustantimes.com Follow @ParulKhannaa on Twitter
MORE ON THE WEB For the full story and more exclusive pictures, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch.
indulge
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SUNNY SIDE UP
HERE IS nothing I love more about hotels than a roomservice breakfast. It seems so wonderfully decadent to lie in bed, with a plate of French toast (or eggs and bacon; waffles; aloo parathas; medhu vadas; you can choose your own poison) balanced precariously on your pristine white sheets, a cup of coffee within easy reach, and the newspaper crinkling crisply as you turn the pages. I can’t think of a better way to start the day. Or, indeed, to end it. Because, seeing that they are on to a good thing, some hotels have started to serve breakfast around the clock. So now, if you are so inclined, you can both start the day with a hearty breakfast and then end it with yet another slap-up breakfast. (And yes, I often do.) Hoteliers will tell you that the round-the-clock breakfast menu is meant for jet-lagged travellers who have flown across time zones and have such screwed-up body clocks that they want the comfort eating epitomised by a good breakfast no matter what
Who is to say that breakfast should only be eaten in the morning?
Seema Goswami
spectator
time they check in. But I know better. The truth is that they have put breakfast on the round-the-clock menu because it has such scrumptious options that it seems a shame to restrict them to just one meal of the day. And who made up these stupid rules anyway? About how you can only eat certain things for breakfast and others for lunch and dinner? If you ask me, it makes no sense. Anything that tastes good first thing in the morning will taste just as good last thing at night. To misquote Shakespeare, a blueberry pancake would
HEARTY GREENS
In Italy, salad is served at the end of the meal rather than at the beginning
Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK
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taste just as sweet if you ate it at 8am or 8pm. So, who’s to say that it is best served with your morning tea or coffee? For that matter, why can’t you have a bowl of crunchy muesli with milk for dinner rather than breakfast without being seen as a bit of an eccentric? Or even a full English fry up of eggs, baked beans, sausages, hash browns and toast? It’s not just breakfast options, though. How about tea-time treats? Why should they only be reserved for the evening? A couple of crisp samosas or a plateful of pakoras (or bhajias or whatever you call them in your part of the world) with some spicy chutneys on the side would make for a delightful lunch or even dinner. So why do we always eat them as snacks or ‘naashta’ rather than at meal times? Part of it, of course, is down to social conditioning. More often than not what you eat and when you eat it is a cultural thing. For instance, in Italy, salad is served at the end of the meal rather than at the beginning. So instead of stuffing yourself full of greens at the start of the meal and feeling too full to enjoy your main course, you relish your main dish, and then cleanse your palate with a salad dressed with olive oil and a dash of balsamico so that you can truly appreciate the cheese and dessert to follow. Makes much more sense, doesn’t it? And yet, for some reason, when you eat out in India, you are always served the salad first and then the main. Result: by the time the dessert is served, you are far too sated to really enjoy it. (Now don’t be a spoilsport and say that that’s just as well; you know as well as I do that it’s the high point of the meal.) Talking of dessert, why is it taken as a given that it will be served at the end of the meal rather than at the beginning? Why is ice-cream presented to us as a reward if we are good little children and finish our greens first? Why does chocolate cake have to wait until the cheese has been cleared to make an appearance? Yes, I know that delayed gratification is supposed to be good for you, but you are talking about chocolate cake here! Some people have the right idea though. Some years ago, I ate at a restaurant called Ente Keralam A FULL MEAL in Chennai and was surprised to be Why do we always eat samosas as snacks or ‘naash- offered a sweet as the beginning of ta’ rather than at meal times? the meal. Chef Reji Mathew explained that in his Syrian Christian community, it was usual to start a feast with a sweet rather than a savoury dish to prepare the palate for the treats to come. And I have to say that it worked like a charm. So now, after many decades of following the dictates of food fascists, I have decided that when it comes to eating there is only one rule: that there are no rules. Or better still, that you get to make your own rules as you go along. If you feel like having a bread and butter pudding for breakfast, go right ahead (nutritionists will tell you that this is the best time to have high-calorie sweet treats, anyway). If you fancy an almond croissant and not much else for dinner, that’s fine too. And if you want to have breakfast at all three meals of the day, dig in. Bon appetit! MORE ON THE WEB
WHAT’S A FIXED TIME?
Anything that tastes good first thing in the morning will taste just as good last thing at night JULY 7, 2013
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
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WE SERVE BEST We should value our own hotels more; they really are among the best in the world. Many of the others in Europe and Asia are not just horrifically expensive; they are plain horrific
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EGULAR READERS of this column will know that I have spent much of this year on the road. Quite apart from the trips I have undertaken within India, there has been a fair amount of foreign travel as well. Over the last few months I have been to France, Switzerland, Monaco, Singapore, America, Canada, Thailand, Turkey and several other countries. As a consequence I’ve stayed in many hotels, ranging from the famous and the luxurious to the basic and comfortable. My head reels as I try and recall all their names. But here are some: The Four Seasons Bosphorus in Istanbul, The Royal Monceau
Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK
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service the room but we expect that he or she will not examine our personal effects or disturb anything. When it comes to foreign hotels, this is not always a reasonable expectation. One instance: at a deluxe hotel somewhere in Europe, I returned to my room to discover that my DVD (the latest season of The Good Wife) had been removed from the DVD player and was now missing. Further, the onscreen controls for the TV had been switched from English to a European language. I called housekeeping and reception. Both claimed to know nothing about it. I said to check who had serviced my room. Could it be, I suggested darkly, that the housekeeper had taken out my DVD, had put in one of her own and had settled Vir Sanghvi down to watch a movie in my room when she should have been servicing it? (This would explain why the language had been changed). If so, I said, I did not really care but could they at least return my Good Wife disc? After many hours of denial in the face of my impassioned protests, a duty manager came to my door. There had been a misunderstanding, he said. A and The Westin (the wonderful old DVD technician had come – by building that used to be the mistake – to my room to remove the player. When he InterContinental) in Paris, realised that he had the wrong room, he had left without The Martinez and The taking the DVD player with him. Somehow though, he Carlton in Cannes, The had removed the disc and taken it away. But, said the manHermitage in Monte Carlo, Le Centre ager, they had now retrieved the disc from him. And so, I got Sheraton in Montreal, The Pierre in New York, my Good Wife DVD back. The manager was very sweet and I had my disc The Dolder Grand and the Sheraton in Zurich, back so I did not persist in making a fuss. But was Lebua, The Oriental and The St Regis in Bangkok, PRIVATE ACCESS the Regent in Singapore and innumerable others. In Indian hotels, we take our his explanation about how the disc had gone missprivacy very seriously. ing convincing? After so many nights in international hotel rooms, When it comes to foreign I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine. I’ve come to some conclusions about hotels in gener- hotels, this is not always a al. In the interests of discretion I will not name the reasonable expectation FACILITIES hotels where each of the incidents listed below occurred. At Indian hotels, we take certain things for granted. At European These comments are not meant in indictments of specific properhotels, nothing can necessarily be treated as a given. Take Internet ties but as observations about the hotel industry in general. access. At a business hotel in Europe, I found I could not access the hotel’s network. I called Reception. Oh yes, they said. The PRIVACY hotel had no Internet. But, if I liked, I could access the public In Indian hotels, we take our privacy very seriously. We accept Wi-Fi service and pay the operator using my credit card. The that somebody from housekeeping will have to come in to
rude hotels
JULY 7, 2013
15
twitter.com/HTBrunch
NOT A SUPER START
WORTH A STAY
hotel would not be involved. At a luxury hotel in Asia, many of the things we expect in India were not available. I asked for a hot water bottle. They did not have one, they said. And though I was there for three days and a rubber hot water bottle is hardly expensive, they made no attempt to procure one. No Indian hotel would have taken that attitude.
reservation within seconds. At another European hotel, the girl at Reception greeted me warmly when I went to check out and said “I have printed out your bill, sir and already charged it to your credit card.” She handed me the bill in an envelope and directed me to the porch where my taxi was waiting. I was a little surprised: normally you are supposed to give the guest an opportunity to review his bill but as the taxi was already there, I took the envelope and departed. It was only when I got into the cab that it struck me: I had not given a credit card impression when I checked in. So how could they have charged it to my card? I tore open the bill. It was for somebody else in a completely different room – an American woman, in fact. I stopped the cab and rushed back to the reception desk. Oh right, said the girl, I may have made a mistake…
At the vast majority of European hotels, breakfast was always disgusting. For such a grand hotel, the Dolder should be ashamed of its breakfast
COMPLAINTS Within the hotel industry, there is a concept called service recovery. The idea is that sometimes things will go wrong. But as long as the hotel makes it up to the guest, there is a good chance that there will be no hard feelings. But service recovery counts for less and less in the global hotel industry. So don’t be shy of complaining. Often, it is the only way to get service. At a hotel in South East Asia, I found a cockroach in my room. I called Reception. They were unconcerned, I called Housekeeping. They said the pest control guy came only twice a week so there was nothing they could do. I called Reception again. Okay, they said grudgingly. If I liked, they could shift me to another room in the same category. Still no apology, though. Enraged, I tweeted about the incident. By the evening, the general manager had called to personally apologise and to offer to move me to a suite. (I said no to the suite but thanked him for the effort). Would anyone have cared if I had not tweeted? I doubt it. SERVICE Hoteliers used to say that you got the best service in Asia and in Switzerland. I won’t mention specific hotels but take my word for it: this is no longer true. The service in Singapore and Switzerland sucks and even Thailand is not what it used to be. One problem in Europe is the reluctance of locals to join the service industry. So hotels are run by immigrants (often illegal ones) and recently-arrived foreigners willing to work for rock-bottom wages. The general rule is that brown and black people are put in the back of the house and white people in the front. Many, if not most, of these white people are Eastern Europeans who speak poor English or French and have little hotel industry experience. In Singapore, the Indians and the Malays are hidden in the back of the house (or perform menial tasks) and the Chinese who meet the guests are too arrogant to bother with service. Two instances: I am paranoid about hotels losing bookings or forgetting to send cars to the airport, so I always call before I board my flight to reconfirm. At one of Europe’s most famous hotels, it took them 20 minutes to trace my booking and they kept me on hold (on an international call from India) till somebody senior finally came on the line and found the
Of all the international hotels, I’ve stayed in this year, the two best are The Pierre in New York and The Royal Monceau in Paris (above)
FOOD Many of the hotels I’ve stayed at have had Michelin-starred restaurants (Hermitage, Royal Monceau, Dolder Grand, Martinez etc.) and naturally the food at these restaurants has been exceptional. But outside of these restaurants, hotel food in Europe is almost uniformly poor. Even if a hotel has a gourmet restaurant, all the other food – except for the cuisine at that restaurant – may well be terrible. Indian hotels will tell you that the one meal that every hotel must get right is breakfast. Guests can eat lunch or dinner anywhere but they will all eat breakfast in the hotel. But, to my surprise, at the vast majority of European hotels, breakfast in the dining room was always disgusting, usually cooked by a dishwasher while the chef slept late. (I will take one name: for such a grand hotel, the Dolder should be ashamed of its breakfast.) If you do what I tend to and order a basic breakfast from room service, then be prepared to pay very high prices for really bad food: leathery waffles, cardboardy bread, congealed eggs etc. And no matter whether you order two coffees or one, you’ll get the same single pot even though you will be charged for two coffees.
Don’t be shy of complaining. Often, it is the only way to get service
FINALLY Don’t get me started on laundry and the rest – or room lighting, for that matter, especially in newer hotels – because I could write three more pieces on this subject. But two final conclusions. One, we should value our own hotels more; they really are among the best in the world. And two, of all the international hotels I’ve stayed in this year, the two best are The Pierre in New York and The Royal Monceau in Paris. Many of the others are not just horrifically expensive; they are plain horrific. JULY 7, 2013
Photo: THINKSTOCK
BASICS MISSING
At a luxury hotel in Asia, many of the things we expect in India were not available. I asked for a hot water bottle. They did not have one
NO WI-FI!
At Indian hotels, we take certain things for granted. At European hotels, nothing can necessarily be treated as a given, such as Internet access
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16
indulge
hindustantimes.com/brunch
BANDS ON THE RUN Fitness bands track your health and much more. But which one is the best?
SOME GOOD SENSE
The Basis Band can scan your heartbeat in real time
I
’M VERY obsessive! I’ve been doing some introspection and this is the conclusion I’ve arrived at. Not just mildly obsessive but over-the-top manic obsessive. The perfect example of it is my experience with personal fitness trackers in the last two years. OVER-THE-TOP OCD I began with the First Fitbit (very accurate but as it’s a clip-on, I lost two of them. One while running and the disappearance of the other is remains a mystery), moved BODY MEDIA CORE to the Fitbit One (better as it could track Pay a monthly charge to how many times I took the stairs instead use their website of an elevator), tried the Body Media Core armband (amazing technology but it straps inconveniently to the upper arm, plus you have to pay a monthly charge to use their website), then strapped on the Nike Fuelband (my favourite despite the slightly obtuse ‘Fuel’ metrics) and gave a fair chance to the Jawbone UP (before it killed itself by self-destructing in the first week). IT GETS BETTER (OR WORSE) If this wasn’t proof enough of my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with trackers, let me add the in-between I tried – the Scosche Rhythm – a very accurate heart- beat zone tracker and
Rajiv Makhni
techilicious WITHINGS PULSE
Measures heart beats and analyses two weeks of history on the device itself
FITBIT-ARIA
Reads weight, body fat and BMI
trainer that straps onto the forearm and displays your heart training rate on your phone, and the Polar H7 Bluetooth, a chest strap that does the same. This while using both the Fitbit Aria and Withings Smart Weighing scales on a daily basis. Both read weight, body fat and BMI and send it wirelessly to a website and app for analysis, while the Withings also reports your heartbeat and air quality around you. Now that I’ve proven beyond a shadow of doubt that my obsession is off the charts, let me add that things have become even more intense recently. Three new devices have been released to torment and tease me and these take fitness tracking to a whole new level! THE BASIS BAND BASIS BAND The waiting list to get this band is as long Take fitness tracking to as the feature list on this sensor laden a god-like level device – it takes fitness tracking to a godlike level and it can do what no other can dream of. That was the hype before I got my hands on it. (Disclaimer: I borrowed this from a friend who still lives under the impression that he will get it back). As I opened the box and took this amazing device out, I was hit by a thunderbolt! In my hand was a cheap, plasticky digital watch that resembled what is sold by the kilo on the backstreets of Bangkok. Heartbroken, I set it up, strapped it to my wrist and touched one of the four tiny touch-metal buttons on the JULY 7, 2013
screen. A dim, impossible to read, low-res, transreflective LCD screen greeted me and told me what the time was. This was getting worse by the minute. FINALLY, THE MAGIC I touched another button and then the POLAR H7 magic hit me. My real-time heartbeat This chest-strap has a showed up and that in itself makes it worth heart-rate sensor the price of admission. This can scan your heartbeat in real time from your wrist, track every step and movement, read your galvanised skin temperature (very important when you’re working out), traces your perspiration levels every minute as well as your sleep pattern! In fact it’s the only fitness band that doesn’t need to be ‘put’ into sleep mode. Just by reading your heartbeat and movement, it knows when you go to sleep, when you’re in deep restful sleep, how many times you woke up and how restful your sleep was. It’s uncanny to discover that this device knows the difference between you watching a movie in bed, taking a short 20-minute power nap and sleeping for seven hours FITBIT FLEX through the night. This also has some This tracker is the intelligent gamification built in as it next big contender tries to change your habits and how you handle fitness in your mind. It creates habits for you (wear the band for 24 hours, go for a run in the morning, complete 10,000 steps, make sure you don’t sit for more than 20 minutes at a time and gives you points when you achieve them to unlock more habits) and the analytics on JAWBONE UP Track how you sleep, the website are nothing short of move and eat breathtaking. It combines all the readings from all the sensors and gives you deep insights into your daily life, finds patterns and correlates them on some excellent graphs. Currently, the mobile app on this is bad but I’m sure they’ll get there soon. All in all, the Basis Band is the holy grail of fitness trackers. It may look like crap, but what it does once you strap it on makes it super beautiful. Could the other two come anywhere near this awesome device? TWO TO GO The next contender is the Fitbit Flex. When I first saw it at CES in January I thought it was horrible. Why would you want a band that had no display? After using it for a while, SCOSCHE RHYTHM I have to say I am truly impressed with This is a very accurate how smart this is. And the final contender heart-beat zone tracker for the crown is the Withings Pulse, a little wedge that can do a whole lot including measuring heartbeat and analyse two weeks of history on the device itself. The shootout between the new big three will conclude next week. In the meanwhile, I’m going to go feed my obsession! As I type this, I’m wearing three trackers on my left hand and the Withings on my waist. Do I look like a total prat? Absolutely! Do I love my manic OCD? Oh, yes! Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3
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WELLNESS
17
MIND BODY SOUL SHIKHA SHARMA
CLEANSING, The inside story
Ridding your body of toxins is easier than you think. Just choose these foods to detox
I
N CITIES, where pollution levels are high and you subject your skin, hair and body to the vagaries of urban living, the only solution is to fight toxicity. An internal cleanse at least once a month can lead to clearer skin, better health and enhanced energy levels. Here are the most convenient and effective foods to aid detoxification.
COCONUT WATER
The refreshing drink helps counter dehydration. It is packed with detoxifying and hydrating sugars and electrolytes like potassium and minerals to balance the pH levels of the body. Drinking coconut water on an empty stomach shows significant anti-ageing, anti-carcinogenic and anti-thrombotic effects. That’s why it is given to patients as the first drink after surgery. It is also the best drink during diarrhoea to replace fluid loss, particularly for kids.
TULSI & ALOE VERA JUICE
TRIPHALA
Colon cleansing is an ancient Vedic technique for rejuvenating the body. It helps detoxify and remove toxic food residues and other accumulated substances in the intestine. And triphala is considered the safest and most effective natural colon cleanser. All three herbs in triphala are mildly laxative. Not only will they tackle constipation, haemorrhoids, parasites, flatulence, acne and bad breath, but they have also been shown to prevent colon cancer. Colon cleansing also helps relieve headaches and irritability, and is the first step towards acquiring a glowing skin and healthy hair.
WHEATGRASS JUICE
Wheatgrass contains about 30 beneficial enzymes that detoxify the liver, cleanse the colon and remove toxins from your body. Most enzymes are destroyed when we cook food. Wheatgrass, being fresh, retains almost all of its enzymes. These improve digestion, purify blood, help combat colon problems and boost the formation of red blood cells and white corpuscles. As an alkaline food supplement, it also balances the body’s pH.
The combination is high in natural vitamins and minerals. It contains vitamins A, C, E, folic acid, choline, B1, B2, B3, B6 and B12. Some of the minerals found in a mix of tulsi and aloe vera juice include calcium, magnesium, zinc, chromium, selenium, sodium, iron, potassium, copper and manganese. This makes it a good source of natural amino MILK THISTLE acids and fatty acids, apart Milk thistle extracts from being a digestive can significantly help reTOXINS BE GONE detoxifier and an aid in duce the toxin load on Milk thistle extract achieving an alkali balthe liver. It also strengthcleans the liver ance in the body. It also ens new liver cells and boosts the immune sysreduces inflammation (which is why tem. Tulsi and aloe vera juice are it is recommended to people with great for skin and hair. That’s where liver inflammation or hepatitis). their effects will be the most visible.
ask@drshikha.com Photos: THINKSTOCK
MORE ON THE WEB
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JULY 7, 2013
18
NINE TO FIVE
#1
SITUATION
WHEN A COWORKER REFUSES TO COOPERATE
Why So Angry?
This happens often. You want your colleague to perhaps read the draft you’ve prepared, or maybe you want them to fill in for you because you filled in for them last time they asked. But you’re shocked when your colleague refuses outright. THE IMMEDIATE REACTION Unless you’re the epitome of patience, you’ll be irritated. “The typical human psyche will first turn to irritability and, for those who are slightly volatile, anger,” says Rachna Singh, lifestyle expert and psychologist with Artemis Hospital, Gurgaon. You could also feel helpless at times.
With tempers flaring easily in most workplaces, what can you do to stay calm when you really want to blow up? by Shreya Sethuraman
HOW YOU SHOULD REACT It would be wise, perhaps, to let it go the first time it happens. Everybody has bad days, and there’s no way to predict which way their mood will swing. “The people concerned should work harder on role allocation and communicating clearly what’s required of a situation,” says Tarun Chandna, founder and manager of Exper, a behavioural training organisation. So how does one control one’s blood CUBICLE rushing up to the OOL TIP C brain? “Take a few at deep breaths. I “Understand th a know it’s difficult each person is or product of his and might not work t. en m on vir en r he at first, but you need ts bo ro t no ’re They beto train yourself to who’ll always you do this,” says Singh. have the way “Even having a glass of want them to,” says life coach water helps.” mba. Ramon Lla
DAMAGE CONTROL “At times, if a person is going through a tough time personally or professionally and you are aware of it, it is best to handle the situation with empathy,” says Payal Mukherjee, senior consultant with Spearhead InterSearch, an executive search firm. WHAT YOU DEFINITELY SHOULDN’T DO “Don’t make matters worse by immediately going to your superior or HR,” says Chandna. Singh adds: “If you are screaming, don’t do it in a place where there are people around. It becomes hurtful when done in front of others.”
S
PEAK WHEN you’re angry, and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” Do these words by American journalistsatirist Ambrose Bierce resonate with you, too? When you are angry, it is tough to judge between right and wrong. And at emotionallyfraught workplaces, it’s easy to lose your cool and lash
out at co-workers. However, it never leads to anything positive. Either your relationship with that person sours forever or there’s a permanent stagnancy between the two of you. Some situations call for a good loud scream. But that’s hardly practical. Let the experts tell you how you to react with civility and professionalism, when all you want to do is roar the place down.
SITUATION
#2
WHEN YOUR BOSS SHOUTS AT YOU FOR NO FAULT OF YOURS
This too, is not an uncommon incident, and could happen even outside your office. Your spouse might get angry, your parents might seem unreasonable to you, and your friend might randomly blow a fuse. At work, it’s nothing new. You slog and slog on a project, which doesn’t work out despite your best efforts. And your boss loses it. THE IMMEDIATE REACTION Shock and anger. “However, if it’s a one-off incident, we let it go assuming that the boss has had a bad day or is under some sort of stress,” says Mukherjee. “But if it becomes a routine, one tends to question the person’s capability of being the boss or of you wanting to work in the organisation under this person.” HOW YOU SHOULD REACT As uncalled for and humiliating as your superior’s behaviour may appear, you need to stay calm. “Try to logically look at why you got screamed at. There could be a genuine reason, but whatever it seems, do not take it personally,” says CUBICLE Singh. Life coach COOL TIP Ramon Llamba, who works with Since there’s business execureally nothing you can do about yo tives, advocates ur boss’s temper, an interesting the best strate gy, solution popular say ex in the West. “Called ignore perts, is to the F**k It Therapy, it’s situation. used in situations where one has no control. Just say f**k it and laugh it off. You need to move on like nothing happened,” she says. DAMAGE CONTROL “Allow your boss to let off some steam and later on, when you are calmer as well, let your boss know how this affected you. Say you didn’t feel good about what happened,” says Chandna. WHAT YOU DEFINITELY SHOULDN’T DO “No matter what happens, never bitch to your colleagues about what your boss did. This will only result in unnecessary gossip and murkier office politics,” advises Singh. “For all you know, it could be used against you later on,” she adds.
NINE TO FIVE
facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch SITUATION
#3
WHEN YOU GET A WORK-RELATED CALL ON A VACATION
You’ve been working continuously for months and deserve a holiday. When the day finally arrives, your joy knows no bounds. Just when you begin to enjoy a single malt in the hills, you get a call from work. You need to dig some CUBICLE dirt for an assignment. COOL TIP This, when people know you’re on a vacation. ning
Proper plan er and handing ov THE IMMEDIATE of your duties g REACTION before hoppin tion Frustration and onto your vaca ial. wagon is cruc annoyance. And
understandably so. “On a vacation, you’re programmed mentally to be relaxed. It’s human to feel upset,” says Llamba.
HOW YOU SHOULD REACT With mobile connectivity now spreading across every corner of the globe, it’s impossible not to reach someone over the phone. And if someone can reach you, they probably will. “Vacation calls happen all the time. That’s why you need to do your homework before you leave by sending an official email and letting people know whom to get in touch with in your absence,” says Chandna. However, if the call is urgent and you know only you can handle it, it’s wise to answer the call, advises Mukherjee. HOW TO DO DAMAGE CONTROL There’s no point in being obstinate and not answering your phone, says Singh. “And if not answering your phone leads to a goof up of sorts, own up and apologise. A simple sorry will not make you any smaller,” she adds. WHAT YOU DEFINITELY SHOULDN’T DO Regardless of the degree of your irritation, never be rude to the person calling. It could be a genuine emergency, say experts.
#4
SITUATION
WHEN A COLLEAGUE IS RUDE OR NASTY TO YOU
The first thing to do when there is a war of words between employees, is to disengage, says Suveer Bajaj, cofounder and director of HR and Operations at FoxyMoron, CUBICLE a digital ideas COOL TIP and solutions interagency. To succeed in lation“Before giving personal re rstand ships, unde your point of that we are all r cirview, it products of ou e becomes cumstances. “W to ce oi ch a ve important to ha instay calm and listen to their ently underllig te side of the stand the situa story. They may tion,” says Llamba. be in the wrong, but it becomes our prerogative to give them a chance to voice their opinion about how they have been aggrieved,” he adds. THE IMMEDIATE REACTION Many think the ‘an-eye-for-an-eye’ theory is apt for such a situation. “The instant reaction would entail you being rude and nasty to your colleague,” says Llamba. HOW YOU SHOULD REACT “If it’s a one-off situation, it is best to talk about it at a suitable time,” recommends Mukherjee. “However, if it becomes a recurring issue, take it to the higher authorities.”
#5
SITUATION
WHEN A COLLEAGUE TAKES CREDIT FOR YOUR WORK
This can be humiliating and annoying. You know you went the extra yard for a certain project – sacrificed a vacation, missed a cousin’s wedding, weren’t there for your best friend when she needed you. This project was snatched from you right under your nose and you were too stunned to react. THE IMMEDIATE REACTION Any person would feel shocked, cheated and disheartened, say experts. HOW YOU SHOULD REACT “You ought to discuss the matter with your colleague in a calm fashion,” CUBICLE says Chandna. “Tell her or him ‘I COOL TIP didn’t feel good about this or I “Be very wary of such colleagues. If will be careful they’ve stabbed the next time I you once, they can have such an stab you in. idea’. It’s impor- Don’t shaaga re any tant to talk to information with people, and not them,” advises about them,” he Rachna Singh. adds.
DAMAGE CONTROL If you want to rebuild bridges, just talk it out with your colleague. You’ll never reach any solution if all you do is bicker.
DAMAGE CONTROL “Confront your colleague and also let your boss know about what happened, albeit in a gentle manner,” says Singh. And if this happens more than once, you can also report the matter to HR. “Employees should be encouraged to route the complaint through the right channel,” says Bajaj.
WHAT YOU DEFINITELY SHOULDN’T DO Never turn around and be nasty or nastier in return, tempting as it may sound. You don’t want to be the person with a terrible temper.
WHAT YOU DEFINITELY SHOULDN’T DO Never humiliate the individual in front of everyone.
PHRASES YOU MUST NEVER USE AT THE WORKPLACE “IT’S NOT FAIR”: Avoid this. Instead, collect facts, make a case study and present it intelligently to the right audience to put your point across.
you have a genuine complaint, communicate it with tact and consideration.
“THAT’S NOT MY PROBLEM/ JOB”: If someone makes an important request, even if you’re very busy, try to look for a solution.
“BUT WE’VE ALWAYS DONE IT THAT WAY”: Leaders love people who innovate. This statement shows that you don’t follow a problem-solving approach and don’t think creatively.
“I HATE THIS COMPANY’: Don’t make such judgmental statements which reflect poorly on you. If
Courtesy: SATYA D SINHA, CEO, MANCER CONSULTING (THAT PROVIDES TALENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS)
Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK
JULY 7, 2013
#6
SITUATION
19
WHEN COLLEAGUES BITCH ABOUT YOU BEHIND YOUR BACK
Some colleagues are downright nasty. They like gossip and politics and love talking about people. Sometimes you may get carried away and join in. However, when you hear unkind words about you from your colleagues, it hurts. THE IMMEDIATE REACTION Apart from feeling shocked, you may feel ‘not wanted’ and rejected, says Llamba. HOW YOU SHOULD REACT You’ll always find people who will add fuel to the fire, so you need to be wary of them, says Singh. CUBIC
LE COOL TIP
DAMAGE CONTROL “As long as it’s “If the words being no causing you an t y uttered are harmful in harm, enjoy th e any way, it’s better to attention,” says Payal Mukherje speak one-on-one with e. the individual, else just let it go,” says Mukherjee. Simple communication can solve so many matters and so many things that are left unsaid. “Every human being has the capacity to understand and operate from a space of love and compassion, so give them a chance to justify their behaviour,” says Llamba. WHAT YOU DEFINITELY SHOULDN’T DO Never resort to name-calling or passing value judgements, say Llamba. shreya.sethuraman@hindustantimes.com Follow at @iconohclast on Twitter
20
HT INITIATIVE
The new way to get a job W
HAT’S THE best thing your friend can do for you? When this question was posted on Twitter, a host of responses (30,000+ at last count) came up, including fun ones straight out of college (“one who makes me Maggi and coffee when I am up all night mugging for a test”), practical ones (“the designated driver after a party”), snide ones (“watches Sajid Khan movies”) and what not. For Shine.com – the leading job portal – the answer is simple. If a friend gets you your dream job, he becomes nothing less than a God for you.
A FRIEND IN NEED
Shine.com puts the same idea to work, with a product that connects the jobs on its website to your Facebook network. Simply put: when a candidate sees a job on Shine.com, he also gets to see if he has any Facebook friends who work (or worked) for the same company. With a friend in a company, one can always ask for a reference or information that gives the candidate quite a bit of advantage in the selection process. So not only do you know who’s hiring, but you have a friend on the inside. A friend who can now get you a job. Literally. “The best search engine is the human mind,” says Amit Garg, business head for digital at HT Media (which runs Shine.com). “It performs complex algorithms with little data and manages to get the right answer, thanks to intuition. No search engine can find you a job better than a friend who knows your strengths, weaknesses, motivations, ambitions, and will recommend you for the position. Or correctly advise you against it.” Garg knew he was on to a good thing right from the start. “When we had a product that was able to tap into a jobseeker’s personal network – without affecting his privacy – we felt we had to make a
Scenes from Shine.com’s advertising campaign, which equates a friend with a God, someone who helps you land a job. That’s how the catchphrase, ‘Yaar, Tu God Hai’ came about lot of noise about it.” And so an ad campaign was dreamed up.
PUTTING IT OUT THERE
Extensive research among candidates revealed that this was indeed a much sought-after product and people believed friends can actually make the process of a job search easier, even if it is as simple as telling them how to dress and behave during the inter-
JULY 7, 2013
view. A large number of people who’ve got jobs through friends, agree that they felt a lot of gratitude towards that friend. Rajan Bhalla, group marketing head at HT Media was convinced that the product was great, the insight real. “The challenge was how to convert it into a refreshing, positive communication for the brand,” he says. “In the jobs category, we have only seen negative themes like boss bashing and poor pay. We wanted a take that talks about friends and how one can help the other in getting his dream job through Facebook.” Translating this insight into a memorable catchphrase was the brainchild of Dentsu Creative Impact. National creative director Soumitra Karnik and his team came up with a line straight out of everyday lingo: “Yaar, Tu God Hai”. The catchphrase was matched by a TV spot with a larger-thanlife visual of a massive human pyramid (a metaphor for the social networking site) and the
audio thump of a high-energy song based on the popular Govinda Aala Re number.
THE LAST PUSH
The TV spot – currently on air – was shot by Shujaat Saudagar (who has directed some highprofile films like Tata Docomo, Pepsi and “Haan main crazy hoon” for Coca Cola) and uses some high-end computer graphics to create a ‘sky-scraping’ human pyramid. Shifting focus from other negative visuals like bad bosses, unhappy employees and poor pay, the film creates freshness with its imagery, inspiring music and the metaphorical ‘push’ that helps a friend get a job. “While a friend’s reference is worth a lot, it needs to be layered on a capable candidate,” Bhalla points out. “We were clear that we wanted to show a candidate who is shortlisted on his own merit and probably needs a bit of help to get a dream job. And that is what the film does – with a lot of flair.” So if you are good, a friend is all you need to shine! Visit shine.com to get your dream job
Research has revealed that people believe friends can make a job search easier
FINE PRINT
hindustantimes.com/brunch
Bollywood! Read All About It!
What's making an increasing number of Indian authors set their stories within the colourful world of Indian cinema?
by Sonali Shah
L
UCK BY Chance, The Dirty Picture, Fashion, and Heroine showed us how the shifty world of Bollywood works. Now, Indian authors are attempting to do the same, using the Indian film industry as a character, not just a setting, in their novels. They’re inviting readers into the filmi universe, spinning fiction out of real experiences and making Bollywood come alive on paper. And the results are a hit. Neeta Shah’s Bollywood Striptease focuses on the hopefuls of tinseltown; Kanika Dhillon’s Bombay Duck is a Fish is a story of a struggling small-town actress; the protagonists in Aparna Pednekar’s Strike @36 are Bollywood insiders; Mahi Jay’s Mills & Boon series Falling for a Bollywood Legend does what it says in the title; and Bhaichand Patel’s recent Mothers, Lovers and Other Strangers is set in Bollywood. All three novels in Puneet Bhandal’s Bollywood series have protagonists who are popular stars; and Sujit Sanyal’s upcoming novel, tentatively titled The Actress, traces a popular star’s story. Many of these books are being adapted for film.
SCRIPTING FROM REALITY
Most of these are new writers who’ve worked with the film industry in some capacity. They draw from their own dealings and the experiences of their colleagues, but cloak it under fiction’s veil. The Actress takes no names, but you won’t have to be too long in the book before you realise who is being written about, his publisher says. “Sleeping around for work is not wrong if you think it isn’t wrong,” says Shah, explaining how her book is a cautionary manual for Bollywood newcomers. “I wrote scripts and worked with a production house. So obviously, when I wanted to write a novel, I chose to
NEETA SHAH’S Bollywood Striptease weaves in the struggles of the cast as well as the crew
APARNA PEDNEKAR’S Strike@36 tells a universal tale of struggle. But it is set in Bollywood and has industrywallahs
MAHI JAY’S Mills & Boon novel Falling For a Bollywood Legend offers a sneak peek into the life of a film star
write one that involved Bollywood.” Her book not only captures the story of an aspiring actress, but also the struggle of technicians, hair stylists, set designers and assistant directors. She claims that 90 per cent of the book is based on true stories. A similar story is shared in Bombay Duck is a Fish; and in Puneet Bhandal’s Stuntman too, the protagonist dishooms his way up.
TALE SPIN
Pednekar’s book, on the other hand, fiercely opposes the formula of ‘struggling actor KANIKA DHILLON’S novel Bombay Duck Is A Fish follows a struggling, small-town actress and is based on real-life tales and experiences in Bollywood
in the big bad world of Bollywood’. “My story is more about ex-lovers,” she says. “The setting just happens to be Bollywood.” Her tales are spun from her time on the sidelines as a scriptwriter. “But it definitely is easier to sell Bollywood,” she admits. Shah, though, believes Bollywood’s struggles are more compelling than others. “No one wants to know what happens behind closed doors in boardrooms,” she says. Jay, who grew up on a diet of local cinema, confesses to be enamoured by popular heroes and larger-than-life stunts. “I wanted a sneak peek into the life of that actual person,” she says. “My story merely touches upon industry details. My protagonist is a Bollywood star, so my focus was on the hero.”
TAKING CENTRE STAGE Amrita Chowdhury, country head and publishing director at Harlequin India, has an interesting take on the Indian writer’s current interest in the film world. “Bollywood is the global face of India. Such novels appeal inter-
JULY 7, 2013
nationally,” she says. Arcopol Chaudhuri, commissioning editor at FingerPrint Publishing, adds that the audience has become more receptive to Bollywood’s inside stories. “It offers the author a great character curve to develop upon,” he believes. “Another possible motivation is that writers harbour secret aspirations of seeing their novels adapted into film!” Chowdhry also believes that as the industry keeps changing, its rumour mills keep running and its final products are so much in the public eye, there’s always room for the back story – even if it is quick fiction. “People are devouring such books,” she says. Books, fiction especially, are much better at telling an original tale than a film set in Bollywood. They’re easier to release, for one, and there’s less pressure to stick to a single crowd-pleasing formula. “And today, everybody knows everything because of the media,” Shah says. So the way a novel is presented makes it an interesting read, even for a jaded tabloid reader. But Anuja Chauhan, popular author of The Zoya Factor, Battle for Bittora, and recently, Those Pricey Thakur Girls, has another theory. “I guess it’s because writers are looking for something that’s universally recognised and has plenty of masala,” she claims. “Both Bombay and Bollywood fit that bill. They’re a low-hanging fruit.” It hasn’t stopped the writers from picking that fruit, though. Shah is busy working on her next novel, a sequel to Bollywood Striptease, in which she promises to reveal the hitherto unseen side of Bollywood. Clearly, you’re up for more! brunchletters@hindustantimes.com
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PERSONAL AGENDA
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Actress
Ileana D’Cruz
BIRTHDAY SUN SIGN PLACE OF BIRTH HOMETOWN SCHOOL/COLLEGE November 1
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FIRST BREAK
Meeting Marc Robinson, ramp choreographer, through a hotel manager
Mumbai
Goa
St. Xavier's Higher Secondary School and College, Mapusa, Goa
LOW POINT OF YOUR LIFE HIGH POINT OF YOUR LIFE
Moments of doubt on Barfi! over doing justice to the role of Shruti
Do people pronounce your name wrong or keep asking you for its meaning? Yes they do! Probably because it isn’t a a common name. I just tell people to split it up and say IL-E-ANA. Your take on your award-winning performance in Barfi! I always wanted my debut to be challenging. I knew that such a film would never come my way again. That’s why I went with my gut and just took it up. A classic Hindi film you would have loved to be a part of. Devdas.
my movies THE FILM YOU HAVE WATCHED MORE THAN FIVE TIMES?
Notting Hill. THE MOST OVERRATED FILM?
I’d get into trouble if I told you! THE MOST PAISA-VASOOL FILM?
Barfi!
A MOVIE THAT WAS A PART OF YOUR CHILDHOOD?
Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
THE FIRST FILM YOU WATCHED ON THE BIG SCREEN?
Jurassic Park. But I had my eyes closed through most of the film!
Being awarded the Best Female Debut for Barfi!
CURRENTLY I AM...
doing the Clear Nothing to Hide, Lots to Show campaign
The sexiest people in Bollywood. Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone. Bollywood’s most romantic pair. Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh are one of the most beautiful pairings in the industry. One director you really want to work with. Since I’m just one movie old, I really don’t want to restrict my choices right now. The best thing about your hair. That it is healthy, nourished and free of any scalp related issues. Three cosmetic products you can’t do without. Tinted lip balm, compact, face tint. If you were the editor of a magazine for a day, who would you put on the cover? Katrina Kaif. I admire the woman for her sheer hard work and drive. Your dream destination. Fraser Island, Australia. Who is your 3am friend? My mother. What’s on your bedside table? Family photos. Little black dress or black sari? Why choose? They are both for keeps! One song that describes your current state of mind. Singin’ in the rain! What makes your day? A good coffee, a good workout and spending time with family. What spoils it? Obnoxious, egotistical people. — Interviewed by Veenu Singh JULY 7, 2013
A DESSERT THAT DESCRIBES YOU?
A tough cookie!