WEEKLY MAGAZINE, APRIL 13, 2014 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times
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New TV shows, new characters to like, love and hate. It’s Season 3 of our awards for Hindi serials. Grab your popcorn!
For some added flavour, we’ve also awarded our favourite (and not so favourite) foreign shows
indulge
VIR SANGHVI
RAJIV JIV MAKHNI
The e king of rice Samsung msung versus Gionee
SEEMA GOSWAMI
Sexism at the polls
DOWNLOAD WNLOAD CENTRAL
Folk lk sounds in the Bronx
BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS
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UNDISPUTED FACTS
While we’re all too familiar with the stereotypes relating to north Indians and south Indians, we thought it would be a fun idea to walk down that aisle and list out some situations and what each community (the Punjus and the Tam-Brahms, of course) probably thinks of the other in the given situation
Situation Definition
What Punjabis think of Tamilians
What Tamilians think of Punjabis
Every south Indian is Madraasi
Everyone north of the Vindhyas is Punjabi
Disclaimer: None of this is intended to hurt any particular community
Both have tons of relatives abroad Their mornings begin
Their house looks like
Science teacher in some college in that American state nobody’s heard of At 4:30am with random south Indian (Carnatic) music blaring from the music system.
Somewhere in Canada (Kunaid-ah) driving a taxi or running a small binness Still rolling in bed at 10:30am. The first thing they do as soon as they wake up is have bed tea (Without Brushing Their Teeth Even!)
A furniture shop with So sparse. With just one big brass diya and chataais massive ornate chandeliers, velvet sofas here and there and fur bedspreads
Their language Ayyo-rama-illa-pilla-andu-pandu Abbe oye te oye hoye sounds like What you should talk about with them
The perfect spicy sambar recipe! And how do you get those dosas so crisp/soft/golden?
You eat butter chicken everyday or what?
What they Sirf padhai-shadhaai karte think of the rehte hain. Life enjoy karni aati community bhi hai? at large
Tchah! Such show-offs. Kitty parties, dance parties, birthday parties... that’s all that they do! Photos: THINKSTOCK, SHUTTERSTOCK
Brunch Opinion
by Parul Khanna
Reporting From ‘Remote’ Areas You know the drill by now, we’ve done this twice before. But if you’ve just tuned in, welcome to the third installment of our extremely popular Sari Sindoor and Glycerine Awards. This is where we go through the best, worst and most mind-numbing TV shows, so you can get a laugh out of the idiot box. The first year, we ripped apart the scheming saas, her victimised bahu, the maa-bhakt son, the jerky camera angles, and the jerkier plotlines. Savita Damodar Deshmukh from Pavitra Rishta (Zee TV) got the lock her up award, she is a saas your saas would be ashamed to know. We asked Dr Ashutosh and Dr Nidhi Verma from Kuch Toh Log Kahenge (Sony) to break up because they had
as much chemistry as shampoo and toothbrush. Ram Kapoor from Bade Achche Lagte Hain (Sony) got the big fat Indian husband award. For the second edition of the awards, TV still had saas-bahu headaches. But Chandramukhi Chautala from FIR (Sab TV) had enough b***s to win the she’s got a pair award. Shiva from Devon Ke Dev... Mahadev (Life OK) won the hot, hotter, hottest award. We still think he is the hottest. Edition 3, we’re happy to report, sees a slight improvement in Indian TV. There’s more romance and a few period dramas. Koffee With Karan is back, and English TV, on close watching, has as much to make fun of. Find your favourite spot on the sofa, keep the remote handy, and read on...
THE BRUNCH BOOK CHALLENGE #BrunchBookChallenge HOW TO The Brunch Book Challenge is an @HTBrunch Th READ 24 initiative to get readers to read at least 24 books in initiativ S K O 2014. Read anything you like, just keep us posted. 201 BO ) E R Tweet your progress to @HTBrunch with the Tw (OR MO hashtag #BrunchBookChallenge ha IN ONE R A YE FOR ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT National — Sanchita Tyagi: sanchita.tyagi@hindustantimes.com North — Siddarth Chopra: siddarth.chopra@hindustantimes.com West — Karishma Makhija: karishma.makhija@hindustantimes.com South — TS Bharat: t.bharat@hindustantimes.com
APRIL 13, 2014
On The Brunch Radar
by Amrah Ashraf
n Flipping through old photo albums
n Pelting stones at Yuvi’s house. Seriously guys, it’s
just a game n NaMo’s PR. Stop already! That guy is everywhere – TV, radio, billboards, FB timelines and bhajans n Expensive flea markets. What a waste n What on Earth is ‘Ayurgenomics’, BJP? n Dog lovers who don’t adopt because strays are ‘ugly’. WTF!
n HBO’s Game of Thrones Drinking Game is really cool but we did it first! Cheers @GreaterBombay n Three-panel comics of Shakespeare’s plays. They are stick figures and hilarious n The Gangs of Wasseypur animation film by Aaditya and Ashutosh Yadav. Yeh toh brilliant hai, bhaiyaa… n Watching reruns of your favourite TV show
Front Row
NAAM TOH SUNA HOGA? Good Boy When Tusshar Kapoor’s goodBad Boy boy avatar Rajan Malhotra must (2007) deal with Emraan ‘Serial Kisser’
SHOVE IT
2 STATES
by Shreya Sethuraman
LOVE IT
Apples And Oranges
by Shaoli Rudra
We make 800 films every year. Here are some epic films that you may so far be anjaan about
Zulm Ki Hukumat (1992)
Ghar Mein Ho Sali To Pura Saal Diwali (2001)
Believe mat karna if anyone tells you that Sarkar was our first Godfather remake. Before that we had Dharmendra Brando and Govinda Pacino. This classic ‘main apne bhai ka badla loonga’ saga is a mustwatch, especially since the third desi Corleone, aka Kohli brother, is played by Shakti Kapoor. Yes, you are expected to believe ki Dharamji, Chi Chi and Crime Master Gogo are brothers from the same mother. Need we say more?
Hashmi’s bad boy Raju No, it’s not a movie Malhotra, it’s time to settle name they made up just down with the popcorn. Bad for Dumb Charades! tries to be good and good Edited and directed by the very tries to be bad… the originaluniquely named Pappu Sharma, ity is mindblowing! And it’s a tragic love triangle between like all great stories, there is a great lesson a touch-me-not wife, her let-meto be learnt. In the words of Principal Paresh seduce-my-jijaji sister and Rawal: “There is nothing well, the husband/jijaji. It Khushi (2003) like good boy or bad boy. may be ‘B’ grade but epic They are all smart bwoys.” This movie features some doesn’t even begin to Ooooof… maar dala. of the best overacting cover this. Oh and the film you will ever witness. starts with the chartbuster U R My Jaan (2011) Incidentally, this movie also Kya hai gori maajra? Tere has THE song that inspired kamar se phisle ghagra... I, rich tycoon Rebecca Black to come up Naach Govinda from NYC. with Friday. “It’s 6am. I love Naach (1992) Show me the you mom. I’ll have some $$$. You, Govinda plays Govinda, an cornflakes. Mujhe milega middle-class dum.” You aspiring dancer. Fooled you wannabe with the title, na? He’s always got nothing actress. in the middle of dance offs with on Sonu, We in luv. arch nemesis Rocky (reigning Rebecaa, Choose between $ n champion of dance, of course) to nothing! <3. Shits! collect money for his boodhi maa. Govinda is clearly good at multiSunil Shetty, Aditya Ek Tha Raja tasking (and just like all of BollyPancholi and Saif Ali Khan (1996) wood says, so good at heart, you are trying to kill/get rid of know!). We think the Sarkar title their papa. Isme drama hai, suspense hai, track Govinda Govindaaaaaaa… emotion hai… aur isme Alok Nath hai and might have been better used in he’s not Babuji. Oh the horror! #Sanskar this movie.
Wajahh: A Reason To Kill (2004) Arbaaz Khan, Gracy Singh and Shamita Shetty’s combined acting prowess gave us this award-winning film. Seriously, it won an award! Plot: someone is trying to bump Dr Aditya Bhargava’s wife off. Kon hai woh? PS: It is the winner of the ‘When did this come out?’ category at the 2009 Golden Kela Awards. Applause.
PS: Watching these films may be hazardous to your health. Sometimes Bollywood can cause irreparable damage to your mental health. Brunch does not take any responsibility for any damage to your sanity
Said The Men In White Coats
Decoding Our Election Speeches
by @HTBrunch
What does a politician really mean when he’s handing out a sickening, sweet or sickeningly-sweet speech?
When they say: Let’s empower women and I believe in RTI They mean: I don’t know what’s happening around me. This is what Mummy told me to repeat often When they say: We will clear the state of all kinds of corruption They mean: Except of course the kind we are going to spread!
Cover photo: SOUMYA KHANDELWAL, SHUTTERSTOCK
When they say: We have developed the state so much They mean: We have no idea what we have been doing When they say: People know what I have done in the last 4 years
When they say: Equal distribution of resources for one and all They mean: First dibs for me, then my khaandaan, then the guys keeping me in power, then the people I owe money to, then for my foreign trip, then if anything is still left, we can figure out what to do!
They mean: If there was actually something substantial, I’d have said otherwise
EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Rachel Lopez, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna, Yashica Dutt, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain
DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Payal Dighe Karkhanis, Rakesh Kumar, Ajay Aggarwal
When they say: We don’t believe in dynasty politics They mean: But please vote for my son – he knows what it takes to be a politician, he’s been living with them for years now! Drop us a line at: brunchletters@hindustantimes.com or to 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001
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WELLNESS
MIND BODY SOUL SHIKHA SHARMA
GUT INSTINCT Your intestines play a key role in your overall health, and not just the digestive process
T
HE SMALL and large intestines, those coiled-up loops that sit right under the stomach in textbook diagrams of the digestive system, do a lot more for your body than simply process food. In fact, some of their functions are plain awesome. Intestines can think and feel; some scientists call them the second brain! The organ has almost as many nerves as your spinal column. It communicates with the brain about the digestive system, but can function even when disconnected from the brain. So if something toxic (stale food, the wrong bacteria, even too much food) enters the gut, it’s the intestine that will isolate what’s wrong and try to fix it. You’ll end up ejecting it from your system (by throwing up or a visit to the toilet) primarily because of your intestines.
STOMACH THIS
Intestines also listen to cues from the brain. If you’re anxious, the stomach will react as a cramp and tummy contractions will increase when you’re making a decision you’re not happy with. Our intestine also knows what’s going on in the world outside your body – a world it has never seen. A lot of people who work in high risk areas – fire fighters, soldiers and policemen – learn to read how their stomach feels before their mind or
Tummy cramps often indicate a tough decision ahead
THE ABS HAVE IT
Your intestines have more bacteria than you have cells in your body
eyes understand a situation. A big part of emotions could be linked to what’s happening in the gut. Longer-term hunger turns people aggressive, angry and hostile. Quick eaters report feeling satiated faster. And a much-loved dish can easily trigger a feeling of bliss once it reached the stomach.
BELLY OF THE BEAST
Most people know that it’s the billions of intestinal bacteria that process our food and send signals out to the brain. What few know is that the bacteria in our guts is 10 times more than the cells in our body. The kind of food we eat influences these bacteria. A lot of diseases begin from the intestine, which explains why ancient medicine gave so much importance to the region. So the next time you’re faced with a plate of unhealthy food, think of the many, many, many little workers in your stomach and how your choice will affect them (and ultimately, you). You might just be better prepared to fight common food temptations. ask@drshikha.com Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK, THINKSTOCK
MORE ON THE WEB For more columns by Dr Shikha Sharma and other wellness stories, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch APRIL 13, 2014
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COVER STORY
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...an theyd a BACre K!!!
Babaji Ka Thullu Award Character/Show: Kapil Sharma (Bittu/ Comedy Nights With Kapil), Colors We’d like to inform Mr Bittu Sharma that sexist jokes, like the ones he makes about his on-screen wife, sometimes hit close to home. ‘Beware of wife’, warns one such ‘joke’ and though this may seem stereotypical, wives tend to have easy access to belans and kitchen knives (see the award for Ishq Kills on the next page). And by the way, Mr Bittu – babaji ka thullu to you too.
Screaming Banshee Award Character/Show: Vishavpreet Kaur (Bansuri Balwant Singh, Veera), Star Plus In the olden days (like waaaay before television), Roman cities used flocks of cackling geese as an early warning system against raiders. Today, we have TV’s own Bansuri doing the job for us. Screeching every night on television, she’s the best burglar alarm anyone could possibly have. (Also, her decibel level could alone wipe out the Prritampura pind!)
We’re A Smart Couple Award
New shows, new characters. How could we not do a Season 3 of our Sari, Sindoor and Glycerine Awards? And there’s a new section this time: the Firangi Tadka! by Team Brunch
W
HEN WE began the Sari Sindoor and Glycerine Awards three years ago, our TV screens were awash with bad-saas-good-bahu soaps. Everything was so ridiculous and regressive, we couldn’t help but laugh. This year, tucked into the pallus and hiding amidst the polki, is some watchable programming. Indian TV is finally growing up, getting a conscience, getting a life! Don’t worry. There’s still plenty to laugh about, plenty to pull your hair out, even in our new section on firang TV (we’re equal-opportunity shooters). TV knows where it wants to go, and we know where it’s been. Ab, aage... APRIL 13, 2014
Character/Show: Harshad Arora and Preetika Rao (Zain and Aaliya/ Beintehaa), Colors Ooooh! Evil mothers-in-law, watch out. Because their sons aren’t wimpy, what-will-mummy-say types any more – at least if you go by Zain and Aaliya. Sure, wife and husband can’t stand each other, but that’s okay. While they spend much of their time trying to put each other down (really, where do these TV couples get the time to think up these plots and plans?), they are united against ma-in-law’s machinations.
Karan Johar's show on Star World hosts enough crazy on that couch for their own mini awards. Let's begin...
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What Was I Thinking Award Character/Show: Dolly Ahluwalia (Mango Dolly/MAD in India), Star Plus Why, oh why, when the sky is so high, did Dolly Ahluwalia have to sign up to be a part of this show? With a name like Mango Dolly (not funny), playing a loud mother to the (not funny) Chutki (Sunil Grover), she wasn’t going to go too far in this show. But we’re told it’s now going off-air soon, so that ought to offer some comfort to our eyes and ears!
Pati Ho To Aisa Award Character/Show: Rafi Malik (Rajveer Raghuvanshi/ Desh Ki Beti Nandini), Sony As a brilliant counterpoint to Bittu ‘beware of wife’ Sharma from Comedy Nights With Kapil, we are pleased to present Rajveer Raghuvanshi. While wife Nandini, all fired up, is out to save her building, colony, mohalla, state, nation, world, solar system, Milky Way and universe, Rajveer, smouldering with passion, is out to save his marriage to Nandini. He may be slightly hampered by his privileged Rajput royal upbringing, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to be the common man. If only more such men were more common.
Hari Puttar Award Character/Show: Rajbeer Singh (Hatim, The Adventures of Hatim), Life OK Tackling monsters and solving riddles, the emperor of Yemen’s son, Hatim, wants to spread the message of peace and goodness. There is magic, defence against the dark arts, good v/s evil and the search for some sorcerer’s stone. All very good, but why do we have this feeling of déjà vu? Could it have anything to do with those old Harry Potter movies?
Bahadur Abhineta/Abhinetri Award Character/Show: Rajat Tokas/Paridhi Sharma (Akbar/Jodha, Jodha Akbar), Zee
Show Me The Real Punjab Please Award Show: Bani – Ishq Da Kalma, Colors Come on now! In this day and age, when we are shooting on location, can we please not have tacky sets to represent the beautiful state that is Punjab? From the khets to the tabelas, from the garish salwar kameezes to the forced Punjabi language, Bani – Ishq Da Kalma is quite a caricature. The storyline has merit (it’s about the lives of hundreds of girls in Punjab who marry for that elusive NRI dream), it’s too bad that they can’t pull off a better-looking show. Watch a Yash Chopra film now!
I-ME-MYSELF
Undoubtedly Sonam Kapoor. For claiming that if you’re badlooking, you’re like a great actor? You know what I mean? And for claiming that critics have appreciated her performances, like every time? Oh and for saying that it was like Robert De Niro who said “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Like, really? You know what I mean?
This goes out to the lead pair (actually full cast and crew) of Jodha Akbar. Look at their clothes: Akbar is always in full-sleeved velvet/brocade/God-knows-what robes over angarkha-type outfits (did someone say frocks?), complete with embroidery, headgear and a few million strands of pearls and beads. Jodha is in heavy, heavy, heavy (okay, you get the drift!) lehenga cholis with so much jewellery that Jaipur’s Johri Bazaar would get an inferiority complex. And they wear all this in the sultry, sticky Mumbai heat (the show is shot in Karjat, we’re told). If this isn’t bahaduri, we don’t know what is!
Aankhon Ka Tara Award Character/Show: Saurabh Jain (Krishna, Mahabharat), Star Plus In the olden days when the whole nation watched Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, Arun Govil changed the face of Lord Ram
QUITE A REVELATION!
Juhi Chawla. People usually imagine Bollywood actresses to be stuck-up and diplomatic. But Juhi Chawla came across like a breath of fresh air! She spoke candidly about how she let success get to her head, made some wrong career decisions, fought with Aamir Khan and so on. Not what one expected. But more power to Juhi and her frankness!
forever. Cut to the 21st century and bow down to Saurabh Jain who is clearly the God of all actors. He did a great job as the sometimes smiling, sometimes sombre Vishnu in Devon Ke Dev... Mahadev and, with just the right amount of mischief in his eyes, he’s also a good Krishna in this version of the Mahabharat.
SHARAM KARO, BHAI, SHARAM KARO
RD BURMAN WHO?
Deepika Padukone. For looking so blank when asked to sing a song composed by RD Burman. Seriously? You couldn’t even think of one song by the legendary Panchamda?!
Sonakshi Sinha, for saying she hadn’t watched Sholay. Ever. Not even once. And for not looking embarrassed about it. Aren’t you in the Hindi film industry?
HASSNA MANA HAI
PAANCHVI CLASS FAIL
Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt, for saying that Manmohan Singh/ Prithviraj Chauhan is the President of India. Go back to school right now!
Kajol. Why, oh why, and what IS with that laughter? Whether it was laughing when Karan Johar sang mera pati mera devta hai, or when Ayan said people alleged he had to do ‘all sorts of things’ to come on the show, or Kajol herself saying she always thought she looked ‘rich’, her laughter just went on and on. Please stop!
APRIL 13, 2014
THANK HEAVENS FOR SOME SENSE
Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor, for being the sanest couple to have graced the couch. They’re good singers, they knew what they were talking about, and also seemed so normal. Phew. – Shreya Sethuraman
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COVER STORY
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Hotter Than Hot Award
Character/Show: Ashish Sharma (Rudra Pratap Ranawat/Rangrasiya), Colors He’s hot. Sexy. Sizzling. Don’t bother to read any more about Ashish Sharma
aka Rudra of Rangrasiya. Here is his picture (with the heroine, played by Sanaya Irani). Look at it. (Heterosexual men, please excuse. Heterosexual women, now, now, please behave!)
Hum Bhool Jayenge Award Character/Show: Aishwarya Sakhuja (Shikha Gupta/Samaira Seth, Main Na Bhoolungi), Sony This is supposed to be a psychological thriller – aapke dimaag ko sochne par majboor kar dene wala show. Lekin... The leading lady falls in love with a man, marries him and has a baby too. But her husband tries to kill her, and then, Khoon Bhari Maang ki Rekha ki tarah, the leading lady comes back with a new name and nicer looks with a vow ki main badla loongi. But woh badla apne pati se nahi, viewers se le rahi hai. Why, why? All we did was switch on the TV. What psychological games are the producers playing on us?
Apart from desi shows on Hindi entertainment channels, we’re also addicted to foreign shows on English channels. So how could we leave them out? Mummy Ke Superstars Award
Daenerys’ three dragons from Game of Thrones, HBO They respond only to Mummy’s call. They spread terror everywhere they fly, and spew enough fire from their mouths to flambé all the crème brûlée in Westeros. Give a big hand to the only three living dragons in the world. Give them a hand even if you don’t want to, because it takes only one word from Mummy – Dracarys! – for them to reduce you to crispy fried chicken.
Sharpest Object On Screen Award The cheekbones of Benedict Cumberbatch on Sherlock, AXN
Holmes is sharp, but by God, his cheekbones are sharper. Look how they dominate the screen in close-ups when the great detective gets thinking. See the hundreds of Tumblrs dedicated to them. Look up the word Zygoma, which he’s single-handedly made popular. Those cheekbones are a high point of TV, and everything below them is quite lovely too.
Dustpan And Mop Award
All the vampires who died the true death on True Blood, Zee Cafe
Forget that this is a spectacularly camp show featuring the world’s prettiest people. True Blood gets our award for the most spectacularly gory vampire deaths. Vampires explode in a shower of blood and stringy flesh, viscous ooze stains the carpet, bodies smoke and bubble before they melt into deep-red molasses. It’s all gloriously messy. Bring your own bleach.
APRIL 13, 2014
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Please Get A New Job Award
Jiyo Aur Jeene Do Award Character/Show: Ruslaan Mumtaz (Dhruv Goel (DV), Kehta Hai Dil Jee Le Zara), Sony
Character/Show: Mohit Malik (Samrat Singh Rathore/Doli Armaano Ki), Zee
The older woman-younger man riff always makes for a good story, so when Kehta Hai Dil Jee Le Zara hit TV, we were just primed for romance. But oh dear. There is no chemistry between the lead pair. The man hasn’t a clue about love. He bribes the mehndiwali to incorporate his initials in her mehndi, etc. Time to rename the show Kehta Hai Dil Romance Toh Dikha Zara?
We get that Mohit Malik’s character Samrat Singh Rathore is the kind of man any woman with even half a brain cell would prefer to avoid: he’s arrogant, moody, chauvinistic and sexist. What we don’t get is his poker face. Is he, by any chance, auditioning for a lifetime role as an Egyptian mummy case?
The Hatke Show Award
Show: Ishq Kills, Star Plus
We have to admit this: We like, in fact, sometimes come close to loving Ishq Kills. Though we hope that now we’ve confessed this, Vikram Bhatt doesn’t come after us with a kitchen knife. After all, that’s the basis of his show: that love can often kill, and Bhatt does a good job of getting us to empathise with these love stories gone bad.
Knitting Needles Award
For most convoluted plot, Lost, Zee Café Plane crash, mysterious island, smoke monster, backstories, love stories, alternative realities, time travel, ghosts, strange numbers, Korean dialogue, people called Others, and lots and lots of dirty clothes have resulted in what? A yarn no one could keep up with, let alone unravel, and an anti-climax for an ending. Thanks, JJ Abrams, for keeping us invested through so many seasons only to crash our expectations into the sea.
Two Tight Slaps Award
Character: January Jones (Betty Draper/ Mad Men), Star World
The awards were given by Veenu Singh, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Parul Khanna, Shreya Sethuraman and Abhilasha Gupta. Send us your feedback at brunchletters@ hindustantimes.com
Shaadi, Aur Tumse? Award
Robin Wright and Kevin Spacey (Frank and Claire Underwood/House Of Cards), Zee Café He’s ambitious, so is she. He’s ruthless, it’s her best quality too. He cheats, she cheats – and they both tell each other about it. He’s pushed her career forward, she’s had three abortions to advance his. And they both share a cigarette every night, talking about their day like they’re in the middle of Happily Ever After. He says he loves her “more than sharks love blood” and yet seems to be prepared for a breakup.
Needs Some Roughage Award
Oh, Betty Draper, we get that the ’60s were difficult. But do you have to be such a whiny, selfish, crybaby through it? You had the guts to shoot down the neighbour’s pigeons in Season 1. But since then, you appear to have smoked away any redeeming qualities – you’re a terrible mom, a needy girlfriend, a very vengeful ex and those slow blinks are really getting on everyone’s nerves. Take off your hairband and grow up!
Character: Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully/The X-Files), FX The truth is quite far out there. You’re hired by the FBI to investigate mysterious phenomenon. You’ve seen enough of this phenomenon yourself. Are you telling us you’re still a stoic sceptic, lips pursed in constant constipation about paranormal activity? Lighten up. If you think there’s a reason for everything, find a reason to smile!
APRIL 13, 2014
– Rachel Lopez
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indulge
Photo: GETTY IMAGES
STEEPED IN AMERICANA
Small Town Heroes (left) is made up entirely of Segarra’s own compositions and the music on it, while still economical, is far more textured than her previous work
Beyond The Riff Raff Born and raised in the Bronx, Alynda Lee Segarra has a backstory which doesn’t fit with the kind of American country folk music she makes Sanjoy Narayan
download central T
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
AKE A SINGER of Puerto Rican descent who was born and raised in the Bronx; who hung out in her early teens in New York’s gritty Lower East Side; and then, just a day after she turned 17, ran away to New Orleans to make that city her new home. With such a backstory, you wouldn’t expect Alynda Lee Segarra to make the music she does – Americana, country and folk – but that’s what she does. Her band, Hurray for the Riff Raff, was new to me when I heard them recently, but they’ve got a discography that comprises six full-lengths, including the latest, Small Town Heroes, a collection of a dozen upbeat, downbeat and genre-straddling tracks. Even before I heard the new album, I tried the one that preceded it. It’s called My Dearest Darkest Neighbor and has 14 songs of which 12 are covers. There’s one of Joni Mitchell’s River, another of George Harrison’s My Sweet Lord and even John Lennon’s Jealous Guy. Segarra does them with confidence and flair, adding her own, understated, flourish. The range and versatility of her vocals – she can handle a Billie Holiday song, a Gilian Welch song and even take a stab at Leadbelly (check out her version of Western Cowboy). The music is sparse, the covers do justice to the originals and the two of her own compositions, a six-minute ballad and a shorter song, blend perfectly with the other great songs she’s covered. So by the time I heard the latest by Hurray for the Riff Raff (a great name for a band!), I’d made up my impression
APRIL 13, 2014
of Segarra and her music: her music was minimal; she had a voice you didn’t tire of easily; and she, going by the musicians she covered on the older album, had rather good taste! All of that was based on listening to My Dearest Darkest Neighbor. I clearly wasn’t prepared for what was coming. The new album, Small Town Heroes, is made up entirely of Segarra’s own compositions and the music on it, while still economical, is far more textured: there’s a fiddle, an occasional electric guitar, a banjo, non-intrusive drums and bass, besides Segarra’s vocals oozing the same confidence that they exude on the covers album. On Small Town Heroes, the songs range from the gentle (Blue Ridge Mountain) to the patently New Orleanesque and Cajun-influenced (End of the Line), to the sad (Good Time Blues), to the understated (Small Town Heroes). There is even a moving ode to the late Levon Helm, the drummer and soulful country-inflected singer of The Band, who died a couple of years ago. Although Segarra’s adopted city shows up in bits and bobs in her songs – St. Roch Blues, on the album, is named after a scene of a spate of murders in the New Orleans – her album is steeped in pan-Americana and songs take their cues from all over.
TAILPIECE
My friend Hemant, who lives on an island outside Mumbai (I envy him), recently sent me a gift of an album that has been on my playlist for the past week. The band: Cymande. The album: also Cymande. They couldn’t be more different from Hurray for the Riff Raff. The self-titled album is the London-based band of West Indian musicians’ first and was released in, wait for this, 1972. Cymande makes music that has elements of funk, reggae and soul, and is also influenced by the rock music of that era. On the album, which Hemant cyber-gifted me, there are 11 songs and all of them funky enough (think saxes, congas, gui- POUR A DRINK AND SIT BACK tars, bass and drums) to Cymande (above) is funky enough groove on at anytime, but for a relaxed Rastafarian evening especially when you want a happy and relaxed Rastafarian evening. “Put it on, turn it up, pour a drink and sit back. It’s insanely cool,” said Hemant’s message with the gift. I did exactly that. He was, as usual, absolutely right. Oh, and the best rack on Cymande is the nearly 11-minute Dove. Don’t miss it. Download Central appears every fortnight
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A TAle Of “Greed And CheAp plAsTiC” PART - II
Can a oneyear-old Chinese brand be competition for Samsung?
THIN IS IN
The Gionee S5.5 measures only 5.5mm, is very light and has razor blade-like sides
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ILLIAM STOOD on stage and pronounced with delightful glee to more than 1,500 people that his company (Gionee) would soon overtake Samsung in a few years and become the number one mobile phone brand in India. While I had come to expect bombastic statements from the company’s CEO, even I was stunned. On stage, I asked him if Samsung would sit around and not fight back. His answer: they couldn’t, as they were a “greedy” company that wanted premium prices for phones that were made for people that loved “cheap plastic”, and thus couldn’t compete anymore on price or build quality. This statement was from a man whose company has been in India for barely a year. A Chinese brand that no one had heard of, a few months ago. Somehow the claim sounded a little far fetched. The confidence though seemed to be emitting from the phone that had just been launched here. This was the world’s thinnest phone and was called the S5.5 (almost the same as Samsung’s flagship phone. Coincidence?) and was being launched within days (intentionally?) of Samsung launching its Galaxy S5 in India. Thus a battle of the two S5s is in order.
STUFF OF WONDER
MORE ON THE WEB For previous columns by Rajiv Makhni, log on to hindustantimes. com/brunch. Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com/RajivMakhni The views expressed by the columnist are personal
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is certified waterproof and dust resistant to make payments using PayPal. Then there’s the ultra power saving mode. If you are low on battery (even 10 per cent), enable this mode and you can get almost another day of power. How? The phone switches to a black-and-white display and runs only critical pre-chosen apps. Download booster combines your 3G/ LTE and Wi-Fi speeds for faster downloads. Then there’s the kids’ mode, where the camera interface looks ‘cuter’ with colourful icons and different picture effects, and apps that can be restricted. There is a 16.0-megapixel camera and a virtual shot feature than can give you a 360-degree view of an image. The big deal is that this phone can also record 4K ultraHD video. It runs Android 4.4 Kitkat OS, has a 2.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, supports a micro SD card slot and has a 2800mAh battery. The other draw is that it comes with a heart rate monitor, a sensor I found to be gimmicky. You have to stand absolutely still to measure it and it cannot track heart rate on the go. Totally defeats the purpose. The S5 is priced at about `51K.
THE GIONEE S5.5
The world’s thinnest phone has an impressive history of how it has been crafted. From a solid aluminium slab, the metal body of the phone has been crafted with CNC milling and metal crafting technology. Then the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 sheet gets embedded onto the body and goes through eight hours of 420 degree heat strengthening. For Gionee, this is a phone that is being proRajiv Makhni duced to become a testament to its design and production prowess. Gionee obviously wants to prove to the world that it is ready to break out from its ‘cheap n Chinese’ lineage. The Ergonomics: The screen is dazzling and has a lot of colour because of its 5-inch full-HD display. Its razor blade-like sides and thin silhouette is obvious as it only measures 5.5mm. The phone is very light, at 130grams SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 with a surreal feel. The size totally doesn’t This is the series that truly catapulted match what you think it should weigh. MaSamsung into the big league, made them terials are metal and glass on the front and NOT GIMMICKY the number one phone brand in the world, made The Gionee S5.5 is all back, and it comes in multiple metallic hues. them a formidable force in Android phones, put metal and glass, with The Big Features: Surprisingly, the sleek body them in a position to take on Apple’s iPhone, and multiple metallic hues packs in a beast of a processor. This has a 1.7GHz helped to launch more than 70 different Galaxy octa-core chipset within its petite innards. The sub-branded phones down the price chain. Galphone runs on Android Jellybean 4.2 OS and is axy S series is a very serious wheel that churns profits in layered with Gionee’s self-developed Amigo UI, one I am their smartphone division. The S5 needed to be a true leap not a fan of. A 13.0-megapixel camera at the back showcases forward in mobile phone innovation to keep that flag flying some of the advancements the company has made with its high. optics. This is coupled with an interface and camera UI that The Ergonomics: Unfortunately, the design story doesn’t is very easy to use and gives it a slight DSLR feel. It has start well. They’ve continued with the almost four-generaa 2300mAh battery, 16GB in-built storage with no memory tions-old ‘soap bar’ styling on this one too. After the midcard slot and is priced at about 22K. dling sales of the S4 and the fact that almost every Samsung That Gionee S5.5 blows the Samsung S5 out of the phone looks the same (people have issues with the fact that water in terms of design and materials, and the craftsmana `5,000 and a `50,000 phone have the same design philosoship will be obvious to anyone who holds the two phones phy), it was critical for Samsung to make this a showcase together. The specs are pretty much at par too. But the design. Also, the materials used are still predominantly plaSamsung flagship steals a big march in the big features sticky with a perforated leather look at the back. department. Will that be enough to counter the ‘greedy, The Big Features: It’s now a 5.1-inch full-HD screen, is cheap plastic’ taunt is something only time and future marcertified waterproof and dust resistant like Sony’s Xpeket share can tell. Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget ria series and much like the iPhone 5S, the home button Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3 works as a fingerprint scanner. Swipe to unlock or even
techilicious
Samsung S5 has a 5.1-inch full-HD screen and the home button works as a fingerprint scanner
MAKING A SPLASH
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An Explosion of frAgrAncE Basmati is India’s great contribution to the world of gastronomy. It is as delicious as truffles, foie gras or any of the so-called luxury ingredients you pay a bomb for
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AM NOW beginning to rediscover Basmati rice. The way it usually works for most foodies is that we are brought up to regard Basmati as the gold standard of rice. Then, as we expand our gastronomic horizons, we discover other kinds of rice: the nutty red rice of Goa, the many wonderful rice varieties of Kerala, and even the great Italian risotto rice breeds or Thai jasmine rice. We decide that perhaps we have been too restrictive in our approach by worshipping Basmati. There are many other
Vir Sanghvi
rude food BUTTER UP
The smell of freshly-cooked Basmati rice improves when you add a little clarified butter or ghee (above). And traditional Muslim chefs flavour a biryani with kewda (below) to accentuate the fragrance of good quality Basmati
Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK
interesting rice breeds all over the world. Even in India, we tell ourselves, there are rice varieties that are easily the equal of Basmati. But eventually, I think we all come around to one inescapable fact: Basmati is very special. It may or may not be the king of rice. But it is one of India’s great national treasures, on par with saffron from Kashmir, pepper from Kerala or tea from Darjeeling. And it is crazy for us not to value a rice variety that is the envy of the world. What makes Basmati so special? After all, there are thousands of rice varieties. Why is Basmati deserving of special attention? Well, first of all, Basmati is an Indian rice, that we’ve grown in the foothills of the Himalayas for many centuries. (Don’t pay any attention to that old fable about Dost Mohammad Khan bringing Basmati to the Doon Valley.) Secondly, the best kinds of Basmati, such as the Super Basmati (from Dehradun) have very long grains that stay separate and distinct even when you cook them. And like fine wine, really good Basmati needs to be aged. The older the rice, the more refined the taste. (There is a scientific reason for this: the older the rice, the lower its moisture content – and rice with less moisture cooks better). Great Basmati needs to be several years old. The real reason most of us prize Basmati so much, however, is the fragrance. Ask Indians to describe the smell
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of freshly-cooked Basmati and most of us will say ‘buttery’. But actually the smell is not really buttery – which is why the rice improves when you add a little clarified butter or ghee. Scientists have now isolated the compound that gives Basmati its special fragrance. It is called 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline and is found in most rice varieties. But Basmati has about a dozen times more of this compound than other kinds of rice. That is why the smell is so intense that it can fill the room. And that accounts for all our childhood memories of the smell of freshly-cooked rice. You find the same compound in the pandanus leaf, which is an important ingredient of Far Eastern cookery (where they claim the smell is similar to vanilla.) But we know pandanus in India as kewda, which we call the screw-pine. Traditional Muslim chefs will flavour a biryani with kewda. They do this – without understanding the chemistry – to add an extra heft of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline to the rice and thereby accentuate what we recognise subliminally as the fragrance of good quality Basmati. (A more cynical explanation is that they do it to mimic the aroma of good Basmati even when they are using poor quality Basmati.) So Basmati is really one of the world’s most special rice varieties. It isn’t just the flavour and the shape of the grains. It is also that distinctive aroma that few other rice breeds can hope to match. Small wonder then that in 2000, an American company called Rice Tec tried to patent a Basmati hybrid. After India objected, there has been broad agreement that real Basmati must have a geographical origin in the sub-continent. (Like Parma ham from Parma or champagne from the Champagne region of France.) My friend Gautam Anand, who is as passionate a foodie as anyone I know, was intrigued to discover that while the rice dishes of the Middle East used many different kinds of rice, Iranians loved Basmati. He did some research and found a story dating back to Humayun, the second Mughal emperor. (A version of this tale also appears in Lizzie Collingham’s Curry.) Apparently, when he was in Persia, Humayun threw a banquet for the Shah and served Indian food made by his cooks. While the Iranians were impressed with the food, they were particularly taken with a simple vegetarian dish: the Dal Khushka. (In Collingham’s version it is a khichaditype of dish made with peas.) They had never before come across a rice with so much flavour and an aroma that
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lingered for days. The Iranians fell in love with Basmati and have continued importing it from India for centuries afterwards. (They also fell in love with haldi and Iran remains a great importer of Indian turmeric.) This story accords with my childhood memories of meals in Iran in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Even at lavish banquets, where caviar was the starter and a variety of meat dishes were served, a special delicacy would be a bowl of steamed (but still dry) Basmati rice that was so aromatic that the smell entered your clothes. The Iranians would add a dollop of butter and serve it on its own without any gravy. Looking back, I sometimes wonder if perhaps we make a mistake by treating Basmati as a biryani rice in India. Of course it makes for great biryani. But by the time they have added the meat, the intense stock (jhol), the masalas and the kewda, little remains of the distinctive flavour and fragrance of Basmati. Isn’t there a way in which we can create Basmati dishes that preserve the aromas and flavours? It turned out that his research into Iranian ways with Basmati had inspired Gautam to look for the same sort of thing. It cannot be a coincidence that the menu at the new Welcomhotel in Jodhpur, which Gautam incubated, contains a dish called Thar Pulao, which is nothing like the famous biryanis of ITC, but preserves the flavour of the Basmati despite using meat and spices. Akshraj Jodha, the chef at the hotel (he is the guy who provided the Mayo Mutton curry recipe I carried here some weeks ago) sent me the recipe. Jodha says it is a Rajput dish (Jodha is a Rajput)
but given that pulao came to India from Persia (Humayun’s cooks brought the best recipes with them), I suspect that there is some Persian influence to the dish. I’ve included the recipe here even though I’m not sure it is really a recipe for the home cook. But if you like a little adventure in the kitchen, do try it. At present, it is only available in Jodhpur but I’ve seen it served at banquets at the Maurya and I’m pretty sure it is going to be one of those hit dishes you will soon find all over India. (You can dispense with the kewda in the recipe.) If you are a vegetarian and just want to enjoy the flavour of Basmati, then I have included a recipe for khushka that Gautam sent me. You can eat it with pretty much anything. And if you are a Western chef, then there’s a third recipe you might enjoy. Heston Blumenthal loves the aroma of Basmati rice and wants to add its flavour to dishes that don’t use Basmati. His recipe is for a Chicken and Basmati stock. The chicken gives it body, the Basmati gives it fragrance and flavour. Whichever recipe you choose to try, remember this: Basmati is India’s great contribution to the world of gastronomy. It is as delicious as truffles, foie gras or any of the so-called luxury ingredients you pay a bomb for. But because it is easily available and relatively affordable, we take it for granted. But let’s not repeat the mistake India made with tea: Darjeeling never gets its due in the world market. Let’s celebrate and enjoy this greatest and most Indian of rice varieties.
When in Persia, Humayun served Indian food made by his cooks to the Shah. The Iranians fell in love with Basmati
Thar Pulao
Khushka
THE OTHER LOVE
Besides Basmati, Iranians fell in love with haldi, and Iran remains a great importer of Indian turmeric
Photo: THINKSTOCK
MORE ON THE WEB For more columns by Vir Sanghvi, log on to hindustantimes. com/brunch The views expressed by the columnist are personal
Heston’s Basmati and Chicken Stock
Ingredients Lamb 1 kg, Basmati rice 1 kg, Potato 1/2 kg, Tomato 1/2 kg, Yoghurt 250 gms, Red chilli powder 25 gms, Salt 100 gms, Onions 500 gms, Garlic paste 50 gms, Ginger 75 gms, Green cardamom 10 gms, Black cardamom 5 gms, Cloves 5 gms, Black pepper 10 gms, Cumin seeds 5 gms, Cinnamon 1 stick, Bay leaves 2, Ghee 250 gms, Green chillies 25 gms, Coriander leaves 25 gms, Mint leaves 10 gms, Kewra 5 ml, Saffron 1/4 gms, Orange juice 100 ml, Dry prunes 100 gms
Ingredients Aged, long-grain basmati rice 2 cups, Water (the ratio of water to rice varies with age of rice) 4 – 4 1/4 cups, salt to taste, Lemon juice 1 tbsp, Desi ghee 2 tbsp
Method n Slice the onion and fry it in ghee until it is light brown. Take out half of it and keep aside. n Add garlic, ginger, salt, chilli powder, cloves, cardamoms, black peppercorn, cumin seeds, bay leaves, cinnamon, and yoghurt to the remaining half. n Fry this until the water evaporates and then add the lamb and fry it again. Add some water and cook on low heat until the lamb is tender and the water has evaporated again. n Peel the potatoes and cut them into large chunks. Boil until they’re half cooked. n Soak the rice in water for half an hour. n Boil the rice and drain the water off when it is half done. n To the lamb, add chopped tomatoes, slit green chillies, mint, coriander leaves, dry prunes, boiled potatoes and the brown onion kept aside. n Layer the rice with tender-cooked lamb in a pot, sprinkle a mixture of saffron, orange juice and kewda. n Keep the lid closed and cook this on low heat until the rice is done. Gently mix it before serving. Serve with raita.
Method n Clean, wash and soak basmati rice for 30 minutes. Keep rice ready for cooking. n Take measured water in a thick-walled pot and bring to boil. Thick-walled pots distribute the heat evenly throughout the rice. n Once the water begins to boil, add salt, lemon juice, stir once and then, add the soaked rice. Bring to full boil for a minute, stir gently once or twice while boiling, reduce heat to medium. Add desi ghee / vegetable oil and stir very gently once and cook. n Lower heat and then cover the pot with a tight lid (or first a wet kitchen cloth and cover with lid). For even better results, seal the lid with wheat dough or a tight seal with aluminium foil and then place the lid. n Once the lid is placed, heat must remain very low, just enough to maintain a gentle simmer. n Remove from heat and let the rice sit for 5 minutes to allow the fragile grain to firm up. Remove the lid gently and fluff the rice with a large fork.
n Make chicken stock as normal in a pressure cooker. n When the stock has cooled, add thinly sliced carrots (about 2 large carrots to eight chicken thighs); one large onion sliced, one leek, also sliced, two cloves of garlic and five whole peppercorns. n Rinse 100gm basmati under cold water. n Return the pressure cooker to the heat and put off the gas after 30 minutes. When the stock mixture is still warm, add one bunch of parsley and leave to infuse for 30 minutes. n Strain the stock through a sieve to another pan. Add basmati and simmer for 20 minutes then discard the rice. n The stock is now ready to be used anywhere you would normally use stock.
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Photo: CHAHAT RAM
Poll Fault Sexist attacks seem to be par for the course if you are a woman standing for election
IN PUBLIC VIEW
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OU MUST have read the news reports recently. The Election Commission has decreed that all women candidates standing for election will get an extra PSO (Personal Security Officer) to escort them on the campaign trail. This PSO will be female, to ensure that close proximity protection is not a problem. The order came soon after the travails of film star, Nagma, the Congress candidate in Meerut, had become fodder for news headlines across the country. First, a Congress politician was filmed pulling her towards him and appearing to kiss her (or whisper into her ear, depending on which version you believe). Then, she was groped as she made her way through a public meeting; to her credit, Nagma planted a stinging slap on the face of the offender. Not that Nagma is the only one to suffer such indig-
Seema Goswami
spectator IN THE NAME OF CAMPAIGN
Photo: VIDYA SUBRAMANIAN
Rakhi Sawant (below) faced sexism when she announced that she would stand as the candidate of her own political party
The views expressed by the columnist are personal
HIGHS AND LOWS!
Gul Panag (far right) eschewed the conservative salwar kameez look to campaign in jeans. And Maneka Gandhi (right) hit a new low when she attacked Sonia Gandhi at a public rally APRIL 13, 2014
Take the case of Gul Panag, the AAP candidate from Chandigarh. The moment her name was announced as a Lok Sabha hopeful, media outlets vied with one another to post ‘revealing’ pictures of her – quite oblivious to the fact that all this achieved was to ‘reveal’ their own misogynistic, sexist mindset. On Twitter, trolls took to posting morphed pictures of her, wearing lingerie and an AAP cap, to portray her as a mindless bimbo. Even that noted non-feminist Madhu Kishwar tweeted disparagingly, “Gul Panag is cute but not politically astute!” A few days later, critiquing Panag’s performance on a TV show, Kishwar snorted that it did less harm “teaching women to be Barbie dolls”. To her credit, Panag didn’t let any of this throw her off her stride, eschewing the conservative salwar kameez look to campaign in jeans and on a motorcycle. Rakhi Sawant faced the same sort of sexism when she announced that she would stand as the candidate of her own political party, the Rashtriya Aam Party (RAP). The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate in her constituency of Mumbai north west, Mayank Gandhi, sneered, “Rakhi Sawant ko maja maarne wali janta vote degi.” (No, it doesn’t sound much better in English, either.) The irrepressible Sawant wasn’t taking this lying down. She filed a complaint against Gandhi at the Oshiwara police station for using ‘filthy language’ against her and a non-cognisable offence was registered against the AAP candidate. Proving that sexism is an equal-opportunity offender that doesn’t discriminate between parties, AAP women candidates faced similar sexist attacks as well. Shazia Ilmi of AAP, who is standing against General VK Singh in Ghaziabad, for instance, is routinely dismissed as a ‘pretty face’, the implication being, of course, that there is nothing of any substance behind that lovely façade. Because we all know that attractive equals dumb, right? The good General himself dismissed her as ‘childish and immature’ though it must be said in Shazia’s defence that no matter how childish she may be, at least she knows how old she is. Which is more than you can say about our former Army chief. Sadly, when it comes to making sexist remarks, women politicians can be both targets and aggressors. But even so, Maneka Gandhi probably hit a new low when she attacked Sonia Gandhi at a public rally. Drawing attention to how affluent her estranged sister-in-law had now become, Maneka wondered how this was possible given that she had not brought a single paisa as dowry when she got married (“Dahej mein toh ek paisa bhi nahi layi thi”). Small wonder then, that women are often considered to be the biggest enemies of other women. So, what is the best way to cope with such blatant, even casual, sexism? I guess, in this context, winning the election may well be the best revenge. Photo: SANJEEV SHARMA
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
nities as she campaigns for the Lok Sabha elections. Other women candidates have had similar problems, more so if they are glamorous and high profile. Across the political divide, Hema Malini, the former Dream Girl of Hindi movies and currently BJP candidate from Mathura, has refused point blank to leave the safety of her car as she tours her constituency for fear of those wandering hands in the crowds. But while an additional female PSO may well make campaigning a little more secure for these women (though I have my doubts about that) what on earth can protect them from the blatant sexism that they face from political opponents, the media, and the public at large? Sexist attacks on female politicians are nothing new. (Indira Gandhi, for instance, was routinely referred to as the ‘only man’ in her Cabinet by men who didn’t seem to understand just how offensive this description was.) But they seem to have increased in intensity as female candidates get younger, more attractive, even sexy, and less easy to typecast in the traditional avatar of the woman politician: the maa, behan, beti, bahu mould of yore.
Nagma (left), the Congress candidate in Meerut, was groped as she made her way through a public meeting; to her credit, Nagma planted a stinging slap on the face of the offender
Photo: AJAY AGGARWAL
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Game On, Partner Addicted to mobile gaming? Here’s why you can’t get away from it
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by Shreya Sethuraman
OU’VE CROSSED level 13 and dodged the tricky gelled walls that threatened to stall your progress. The three red candies have been crushed. You’ve attempted this level five times already and it’s now 3 am. Clearly, you’re addicted to a game called Candy Crush Saga. And just when you were about to download the latest craze, Flappy Birds, its maker Dong Ngyuen took it off the market earlier this month, citing the game’s fame ‘ruins his simple life’.
THE KICK, DECODED
GREAT INDIAN LEVELLER
Siddharth Jain, CEO, Spice Labs Pvt. Ltd (they make gaming apps) analyses a game developer’s mind, “If people are engaged and are enjoying the game, larger numbers usually follow.” One thing that mobile games have been able to achieve is to have gotten more people to play games. So this zone is no longer the preserve of serious gamers armed with a mission to be the winner. PR Rajendran of Nextwave Multimedia (which developed the game World Cricket Championship) says, “Mobile games are simple and can tap a much larger audience.” While most developers said they wouldn’t pull their games off the market if they became extremely addictive, Utsav Ahuja from GameShastra (they developed a game based on Krrish 3) says a small fraction of people actually do get addicted to mobile games. “Our idea when developing a game is to get people to come back to the game again and again, and not to get them addicted”, he says. Whether or not Indian developers pull their games off the market for being addictive or not, mobile games will probably keep gamers addicted for a long time to come!
Reward points are a sign of fulfilment for the mobile gamer
Earlier, the now-extinct PlayStation or Xbox had you hooked. Now it’s your smartphone that has you up all night playing games. “Mobile phones can be used whenever you’re free. Moreover, the reward points in games are taken as a sign of fulfillment,” says Dr Sameer Malhotra of the department of mental health and behavioural sciences, Max Hospital, Saket, New Delhi. In a recent news report, Mark Griffiths, director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University said this kind of addiction starts with games offering short experiences. Games that can be played during a commute or between other tasks ‘can be a massive stress relief.’American psychologist BF Skinner coined the term operant conditioning, a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behaviour. It is this thought process that goads users to spend more and more time playing mobile games.
MOBILE KE SIDE EFFECTS
makes mobile games addictive is that it is mobile. “A user can play for one minute or 45 minutes depending on his choice of game or action,” says Virat Singh Khutal, CEO of Twist Mobile, which develops mobile game apps.
Some levels in these mobile games, such as Candy Crush, are free. If you wish to play higher levels, you need to pay a nominal amount that doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket. The biggest factor however that
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Game Over
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BRUNCH DATE
Collector Of Untold Stories
Fresh from a successful show in Delhi, installation artist Sudarshan Shetty on how he is inspired by both Bollywood and Bhakti poets by Aasheesh Sharma
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HEN HE is not listening to Hindustani classical music set to Kabir’s poetry at his windswept penthouse, Sudarshan Shetty, 52, likes to walk the older neighbourhoods of Mumbai. On an average day, says Shetty, he gets out at 10am and there is no set time for his return. His preferred haunts in Maximum City, says the celebrated installation and multimedia artist, are second-hand furniture markets such as Chor Bazaar and used-toys stores near Crawford Market Many of Shetty’s works incorporate the objects he collects. The old doors that he picked up at Chor Bazaar were used to create a hut-like Post-Modernist shrine for a recent successful show at Delhi’s SKE Gallery with the inscription: ‘Even God envies my mortality’. “A lot of these doors come from broken homes and dismantled chawls. Used furniture is a device to include those untold stories in my work,” says Shetty. From executing wacky projects commissioned by fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton (see box), to exhibitions mocking the senselessness of technology, consumerism and sex, is there a common thread running through his oeuvre? Shetty insists otherwise. “I don’t have a style that is eminently recognisable and this is something
I work towards,” he says. “I draw from convention. My influences could come from the performing arts, or even cinema, apart from the plastic arts as defined in European art history.” If one looks hard enough, one can, perhaps, discern Shetty’s obsession with fallibility, a theme that also resonates with the Bhakti poets he loves. “Even in Bhakti poetry, in the idea of a doha, there is an image presented along with a counter image,” he explains. “So, when Kabir writes Lagan bin jaage na nirmohi, the emphasis is on hard work and selfless grace. I too, try to play with polar opposite notions and introduce them into my practice.”
LOOK BACK IN ANGER
Shetty’s penchant for the dramatic could be the legacy of his father, a Yaksha Gana singer, or from watching innumerable Amitabh Bachchan movies during a childhood spent in a chawl near Mumbai’s Kohinoor Mill. “I grew up in a working class neighbourhood, where a lot of people were employed with mills. It coincided with the rise of the trade unions in the ’70s. Many of us identified with the characters enacted by Bachchan. We thought there was a possibility to change things.” Even as an impressionable student at the JJ School of Arts in the early ’80s, teachers like Prab-
BREAKING GOOD
In Shetty’s shows, broken objects needn’t stay broken: like the china (left) and chairs moulded into walls
APRIL 13, 201 2014
Photo: RAJ K RAJ
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RENAISSANCE RENEGADE
The fallibility of men and machines appears to be a theme running through many of Shetty’s sculptures, installations and multimedia works hakar Kolte encouraged Shetty to push the envelope. “Also, informal sessions with Progressives such as Akbar Padamsee taught us – my contemporaries included artist Atul Dodiya – the nuances of cinema and filmmaking.” Shetty’s parents, natives of Mangalore, moved to Mumbai six decades ago. The artist says Mumbai has grown on him so much, he can’t imagine staying anywhere else. It is here that he first met his wife Seema, a classical dancer and television actress. The two fell in love and married in 2005. The couple led a bohemian, almost languorous life till last year, when they were blessed with a child. “Having a child represents a beginning of a new life. You view
things differently though the kid’s eyes,” says the proud father. When he is not playing doting dad, or the curator of used objects, Shetty likes to indulge his Siamese cats Rama and Krishna, or turns to his Hindustani classical CDs. “As a child, I became fond of Hindi film music based on ragas. Then I acquired a taste for the greats of Hindustani classical such as Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Faiyaz Khan,” he says. “For the last few years, my playlist features a lot of Kumar Gandharv. In fact, my group of friends has a number of Kumar Gandharv fans and we exchange music every week.” aasheesh.sharma@hindustantimes.com Follow @aasheesh74 on Twitter
BODY OF WORK Shetty’s wide repertoire, laced with his trademark irreverence, includes: n House of Shades, commissioned by Louis Vuitton, had 700 pairs of sunglasses, in which the viewer became the viewed. It was showcased at Milan Fashion Week. n Party is Elsewhere, had two mechanical hammers periodically smashing wine glasses at the reopening of Mumbai’s Jamaat Gallery that had been gutted by fire in 2004. It was a tongue-in-cheek comment on the culture of Page 3 coalescing with art openings.
APRIL 13, 2014
n He did an installation of the Taj Mahal resting on four penises since it was perceived as ‘Shah Jahan’s greatest erection’. n A work from the 2007 series Love (above) shows a dinosaur making love to a Jaguar car – a barb at the meaningless of sex.
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PERSONAL AGENDA
twitter.com/HTBrunch
Film Director
Gurinder Chadha BIRTHDAY SUN SIGN PLACE OF BIRTH HOMETOWN COLLEGE
January 10
Capricorn
FIRST BREAK
Kenya
London
University of East Anglia, England
HIGH POINT OF LOW POINT OF CURRENTLY I AM... YOUR LIFE Looking forward to the opening of the
YOUR LIFE A documentary, I’m British But... (1990) for When I gave birth to my twins BBC Channel 4
When my father passed away
If you weren’t a director, you would have been… A song writer. I have always admired people who can write songs. How did your stint of reporting with BBC help you in filmmaking? Being a journalist teaches you how to write scripts and edit. Romance or comedy, which genre interests you more? I like romantic comedies. Hindi films you enjoyed watching. I really enjoyed watching Mother India, Purab aur Paschim (it influenced me greatly), Bobby, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Chashme Buddoor and Ek Duuje Ke Liye. Your favourite memory about Bend It Like Beckham. The fact that people from all over the world, and not just Indians, tell me how much the film means to them. A Punjabi quirk you have. It certainly has to be the phrases and abuses they use. Even I love using phrases like ‘fitte muh’ or ‘beda gark’ at home. A piece of advice you wish someone had given you 10 years ago. Don’t drink beer, have smaller portions and don’t eat five paranthas when you can do with one. The best thing about Bollywood. I love the passion with which films are conceived and made here. Plus, the fans are amazing. The craziest thing you have done. Once, I went up on stage and gave Bruce Springsteen a big hug. Who is your 3am friend? My college friend, Beckie, and Pritam, who is my neighbour. Three things you would want if you were stranded on an island.
Bend It Like Beckham musical, also setting up the Bend It Media Fund
my movies
A FILM YOU HAVE SEEN MORE THAN 10 TIMES..
Tokyo ky Story ((1953), It’s It’ a Wonderful Life fe ((1946)) and Tootsie (1982)
THE MOST PAISA VASOOL FILM.
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) THE MOST OVERRATED FILM.
One must allow a film to be discovered on its own, without creating a hype about it A FILM THAT WAS A PART OF YOUR CHILDHOOD.
Naya Daur (1957)
THE FIRST FILM YOU WATCHED ON THE BIG SCREEN.
o the South Song of (1946)
Photo: THINKSTOCK
YOU DESTRESS BY…
Going for a w walk in Regent’s Park, being close to nature and getting a massage APRIL 13, 2014
My family, an iPod and a box of Lego to keep everyone occupied. Your favourite places in India. Being at the Golden Temple at sunset is a wonderful experience. Also, the backwaters at Periyar (in Kerala) are beautiful. Your favourite directors in Bollywood. Raj Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap, Karan Johar and Farhan Akhtar. The last line of your autobiography would read…. “And she did it all with a smile – chadhdi kalan.” — Interviewed by Veenu Singh Photo: BAPI GHOSH