SUNDAY MAGAZINE, JULY 3, 2011 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times
JALANDHAR
A hub for sports equipment, this town in Punjab has over 400 luxury cars
RAIPUR
The Chattisgarh market accounts for at least 12 luxury cars per month
JAMSHEDPUR
A 38-year-old hotelier was the first buyer of the Jaguar XJ in East India
MEERUT
High-end cars are the newest craze among those who can afford them
SMALL TOWNS
BIG WHEELS About 30 per cent of luxury cars in India are roaring down the dusty roads of tier-2 cities
PHAGWARA
This small town in Punjab is home to over 50 luxury cars
LUCKNOW
One high-value car is not enough. Gimme more, says Lucknow
KANPUR
Doctors too drive fancy cars here, despite the city’s traffic snarls
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BRUNCH QUARTERLY: THE SECOND EDITION GRAB YOUR COPY TODAY. R100 ONLY! APPETISERS Dive right in with our savoury, bite-sized appetisers! From food to fashion, travel to tech, there’s everything you could ask for on the menu!
MAIN COURSE
It’s time to settle back, take a deep breath and tuck into rich, sumptuous fare: why Sonakshi and Imran love being movie stars, how Yuvraj Singh put his past behind him with the World Cup victory, India’s fashion dictators and much, much more!
BACK OF THE BOOK
Fitness, beauty, holidays, drinks... there’s always room for dessert!
HE NT O S T OU ND
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FEED BACK
We’re Logged On Akshay Iyer I just cannot thank you enough for featuring one of my alltime favourite writers Mr. Amitav Ghosh on the cover page of HT Brunch. It was a pleasurable read learning how Hindi cinema helped craft similar stories. My sincere wishes for him on the release of his book and I'm picking up a copy from the bookstore. Animesh Kar your two special editions were awesome and also the information i got about the new mobiles was too good. Thankssss.. Joanna Isaac Thank u for the lovely article on Mr A Ghosh. I just love reading his novels and now I know a bit about him too.
Calling All Tweeple twitter.com/HTBrunch @manishalakhe Today’s HT brunch has @danhusain and mahmood talking of Dastangoi! must read! @rupagulab Hilarious – Rajiv Makhni on Twitter in Brunch today. Haven't laughed so much in a long time! @Mittermaniac @rajivmakhni's column in @HTBrunch today is arrogant. Very arrogant. If he has so many problems with 'twits' why can't he call it quits? @HappyHandsF Loving the fact that Dastangoi is finally getting the recognition it deserves. #HTBrunch, awesome issue!
CAR-NAMA! 28-year-old Shaibi Farooq from Lucknow bought his BMW III series last September. Next up? An Audi Q7 SUV!
FROM BAELGADI TO BUGATTI
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Sleepy tier-two cities wake up to the roar of super cars! BRUNCH DATE 6
‘You cannot survive on non-film music!’
Says Subir Malik after 20 years of forming rock band Parikrama VARIETY 8
Dial W for Women Friends
PERSONAL AGENDA 26
Mona Singh
INDULGE EAT
The vivacious actress talks about why she could be lost in her house, what could make her cry – and reveals her real name!
Walk like a fan
THIS IS with reference to your cover story (The Ghosh Who Walks, 26 June). It was good to see Indrajit Hazra’s write about Amitav Ghosh’s new book. And apart from what Ghosh has written in his book, the way Indrajit put it was close to encyclopedic. Amitav Ghosh is a profound observer of the changing levels of consciousness in societies and raises questions about our social system. He sometimes even answers his own questions in part by repeated inclusion of the influence of seas/water bodies. — DR ANAND MAANOCHA , New Delhi
LIVE
I JUST finished reading Indrajit Hazra’s piece in Brunch. Like all his other columns which I read regularly, I liked this story too. I am a devoted fan of Amitav Ghosh and as Indrajit rightly points out, his books always linger in the mind. What I love most in his books is a sense of real history, even though he says he is a novelist and not a historian. That and some random gyaan, like chai is a Chinese word and Shroff comes from sharafat.
Forty And Counting
— VIJI VENKATESH, Mumbai
Scrambled Eggs Unscrambled
Once perfected, a good egg can become your party piece
Call your pals now and engage in a good old chin-wag
Write to brunchletters@hindustantimes.com
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PHOTO: DHEERAJ DHAWAN
facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
The tell-tale signs of incipient middle-age; how many do you identify with?
Download Central and Techilicious will be back next week
EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Kushalrani Gulab (Deputy Editor); Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna Tewari, Pranav Dixit, Yashica Dutt
DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor Design), Swati Chakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh, Saket Misra
HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 3, 2011
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CLARIFICATION The story Super Power in the last issue incorrectly credited Ajith Pillai as the owner of the tech blog onlygizmos.com. The blog is owned by Kratee Ecommerce And Consulting Ltd. The error is regretted
Cover design: PRASHANT CHOUDHARY
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‘You cannot survive on non-film music...’
BAND BAJA Founder and manager of Parikrama, Subir Malik says his band is his top priority
...But with rock-solid determination, you can headbang through 20 years as India’s best-known band by Veenu Singh
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WENTY YEARS ago, six teenagers came together to pursue their passion for rock music. Their parents gave them four months to prove themselves. After all, it was 1991. No one imagined any rock band would survive. Today, Parikrama has just celebrated its 20th anniversary and is still going strong. The founder and manager of the band, Subir Malik, complete with retro style ponytail, John Lennon glasses and brightly coloured T-shirt, meets us for a chat over thin-crust pizzas and pasta at the newly opened Italian restaurant IT, at The Grand New Delhi.
Choudhary is also an audio and video producer and plays the guitar for Mohit Chauhan. Srijan, the youngest band member (he is only 22), is a full-time musician who performs with various other bands too. Parikrama is our passion and our priority, but all of us have various responsibilities and are mature enough to not think of this as our main source of income. All band members have the freedom to perform with other bands, but Parikrama remains our top priority.
You’re best known for doing covers. Is it easier to pull in crowds with covers than with original music? Several people have made this allegation, but let How easy or difficult is it to survive only on music, me tell you, this is not quite true. Initially, after the especially non-film music? band was formed in 1991, we performed covers of It is not really possible to survive only on non-film bands like Deep Purple and other hot favourites music. In all these years, Parikrama has never like Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin). But for been a source of income for any of the band memthe last four to five years, we have been performbers. I had my family business till 2006 and since ing a lot of original songs. In fact, almost 80 per then I have been managing Silk Route and as cent of our concerts now are with original songs. many as 53 new bands that mainly perform as At the same time, we have no qualms playing corporate bands (they play at corporate dos). I covers in places like Bhatinda where, apart from also manage individual performers like Mohit our originals, we get requests for covers and we Chauhan and Aditi Sharma happily oblige the crowd. We (of Dilli Dilli fame). have as many as 150 shows a AN OLD PASSION Nitin, my younger brother year and are still the highest I LOVE collecting old things. I am and the lead vocalist of paid band. Incidentally, when very fond of LPs – I used to listen to Parikrama, had earlier Iron Maiden heard our perthem on my wife Anu’s father’s worked with BiTV as a formance at Bangalore and turntable. Once in Kolkata I saw an music producer and now signed us for a seven-city old man’s shop that was full of LPs, runs his own studio that tour of the UK including the and I started buying from him. I handles music for documenmighty Download Festival at have almost every single song I taries, ads and jingles. Donnington Park, it was on love on LP. Soon I’m going to build Sonam Sherpa runs the the basis of our originals. We my own library. Parikrama School of Music have recently returned from I also collect old Indian currency in Delhi, while Chintan Kalra a successful Canada and notes. I have a good collection of also runs his own school as USA tour, where we played old 100-rupee notes and one rupee well as an audio and video to a standing ovation at the notes. production unit. Saurabh Kennedy Centre.
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In recent years, several independent bands have come up. It’s 2011 now. Do they have a future?
It is heartening to see so much talent coming to the forefront and also to see how parents’ mindsets have undergone a massive change. Now, most parents are very encouraging and this helps the children in a big way. However, singing in English is not that easy and you see a majority of such bands fizzle out in no time. That’s why it is essential for them to be financially secure in other ways. They should also give full attention to their education. In fact, there are very few promoters of non-commercial music, there’s hardly any music in MTV either. Parikrama has recently joined ArtistAloud.com, which is one of the most organised efforts I’ve seen in promoting non-commercial music. Do Indian bands have any recognition abroad? Very few of them. One of the biggest reasons is that bands singing in Hindi can’t really survive. Secondly, you need an agent abroad to get the right kind of shows. A Bangalore-based band The Raghu Dixit Project does nearly 30 shows a year abroad mainly because they have an agent out there. Parikrama had toured the Indian metros with Saif Ali Khan. What was that like? It was an experimental tour that paid off very well. All of us hit it off very well as we listen to the same kind of music. Our first concert was a big hit and thousands of people came to hear us. Yes, a majority of them had come mainly due to Saif, but in the end they were listening to our music. This kind of association really helps the music industry. And I must say that the kind of music being created in Bollywood today is far more versatile and experimental than it was in the last decade. In fact, both Nitin and Sonam in their personal capacities are in talks with some music directors. veenus@hindustantimes.com
MORE ON THE WEB
Hungry for more? Read the complete interview on our site! hindustantimes.com/subir
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PHOTO: SANJEEV VERMA; LOCATION COURTESY: IT AT THE GRAND NEW DELHI
Brunch Date
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Variety
Jaishree Misra, Author
Dial W for women friends
“Women feel better after a good chin-wag”
Bestselling author Jaishree Misra discusses women and dosti. She should know. Her book Secrets & Lies celebrates four friends.
Now it’s official. Female camaraderie ups the body’s happy hormones. Girls, call your pals now for a long talk and some bitching by Parul Khanna Tewari
W
HEN CYNDI Lauper wrote Girls just wanna have fun, she was just half-stating the truth. It’s true that girls want to have fun when they are together, but there’s more to their camaraderie than that. Female bonding is about sharing, talking, comforting each other and a whole lot of listening. “Friendship between women is a mix of the feel good factor, a feeling of emancipation and a whole lot of ‘being yourself’,” says Anchal Ghosh, a corporate professional who swears by the group of women friends in her life. And now scientists have made it official. UK’s The Daily Telegraph recently reported that scientists believe the sense of closeness that women friends feel for each other comes down to happy hormones. A girly lunch, watching a chick-flick together or a
BIG SCREEN BONDS
Hollywood movies on female friendship
Steel Magnolias
About the bond among a group of women from a parish in Louisiana.
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What is female friendship all about? Most women tend to think in terms of sharing and giving when they talk about friendship, whereas men think in terms of having fun.
PHOTO: THINKSTOCK
gossip in the powder room all help increase the level of progesterone (the hormone that drives mood changes) in the body. In other words, nothing can replace girl bonding, except perhaps sex (another activity that increases progesterone)! “Female friends share a very strong bond with each other,” says actress Mahie Gill. “You could have the best job, a steady boyfriend and all that money can buy, but nothing can replace a good group of girlfriends.”
LOOK WHO’S LISTENING
Talking to another woman, whether she’s a close friend or even an acquaintance, is much more therapeutic than than talking to a man. Don’t believe me? Try it. “Women listen to each other and just venting to a
woman makes one feel so much lighter and less stressed,” says actress and model Gul Panag. “That’s because women go through similar situations. You may be hassled about house hunting. A woman would immediately know what you are going through, whereas a man would wonder what the big deal is. Even a mad hunt for brown rice is something another woman can relate to. Only another woman could participate in an hour-long discussion on the stress of finding the right brand. Men would think you are crazy.” And as Anchal says, “Beyond a point, men become dismissive of over analysis of anyone or anything. Their approach is ‘we’ll cross the bridge when we come to it’, whereas women would discuss every brick and molecule of mortar in that bridge, even if it is in another continent.” This is why it’s easier for women to converse with their female friends than even with their spouses. Social analyst Dr Syed Moubin Zehra says that it’s a woman’s intuitive ability
Women listen to each other and just
venting makes one feel so much lighter and less stressed – GUL PANAG, actress Now And Then
Four childhood friends reminisce about when they were kids.
The Ya-Ya Sisterhood Siddalee re-
Sex and the City
ceives a scrapbook detailing the adventures of the “Ya-Yas”, her mother’s girlhood friends.
Divine Secrets Of
The movie talks about the coming of age of two sisters and their friend.
Four 40-something female friends deal with their lives in New York.
Mystic Pizza
HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 3, 2011
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What is it built on? Mutual trust and generosity. What do women provide to each other in a friendship? Comfort and advice. Are they mood boosters for each other? How? Absolutely. Women often confess to feeling much better after a good old chin-wag with a friend if they’re worrying about something. With age, how does friendship grow? I found it really interesting to observe the growing importance of female friendship when my own group of friends and contemporaries were approaching their forties. Probably because most of us spend our twenties and thirties consolidating careers and relationships and, of course, bringing up children, it’s in our forties that we start getting more time for friends. Besides, the very nature of life is such that, by and large, we have all faced some crisis or the other by that age. It’s quite natural to be turning to friends for support as parents are getting on a bit by then and partners ... well, they are the problem sometimes! Are women bitchy? Of course, women are capable of being bitchy and untrustworthy but I find that most never let their friends down. There is a kind of sisterhood at work and it gets better with age! What are the things that girls or women enjoy doing together? Good old ‘jawing’ must come very high on the list. And going out to movies, cafes, restaurants. I would have said shopping too but this is something I prefer to do on my own as I’m less prone to indecisiveness that way. Vis-a-vis men, how different are women friends? My men friends offer a different kind of friendship, usually occupying a more intellectual rather than emotional plane. The conversations are more factual, I think. Current affairs and politics and books play a bigger part. Define friendship among women. It’s like those safety nets used by trapeze artistes. You can go off and execute all kinds of adventurous high-flying loops safe in the knowledge that you will be rescued if you fall.
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TEENS School: Gossipy. EARLY
College: Boys, boys, boys and a whole lot of clothes and fashion. A bit of career in between. Experiments with sex.
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This is the time most women are through with their responsibilities. They rediscover themselves, their friends and friendship. A lot of the conversation is about new hobbies, children leaving the nest and ‘the past’.
What is at the basis of bonds between women? Yes, they are gossipy and they do bitch a lot, even about each other. But women are inherently compassionate creatures. This holds them together.
The response to your book? It has touched a chord with everyone. The younger lot told me they could see their mothers, grandmothers in my book. The older lot identified with the characters. At the Jaipur Literary Festival, after my A story of women in their book reading, a lady held my twilight years. Why? hand and started to cry. She Through their lives, these told me, “How did you know I women were brought up to be go through the same things? PURE SEQUENCE... perfect in their roles. They fulThe only difference is that I go A story of four friends, filled all with grace. Then they to the movies alone, unlike the their lives and losses reach a stage when they have women in the book”. The condone their bit – married off children, looked nect happened because I weaved in a lot of after an ailing husband and parents and women I know and have seen around me. had grandkids – and now they are left on The idea for the story came from? their own. That is when they discover the I grew up with interesting women – chachis, support their friendship gives to them. One nani, mother – and then mother-in-law. I had cribs about her grandchildren creating havso many tales but didn’t know how I would oc in the house, the other about the son and turn them into a book. The story came to daughter-in-law leaving her behind and gome in a strange way: I was very close ing off on a holiday and another about being to my aunt (maasi) and she was dyalone and lonely. Look around, these are ing of cancer. Before I was to go on common issues women face at some points a trip to Jaipur, she called me and in their lives. But nobody talks about them. instructed me to get her rubies. The story says, why should we expect She was exact about the size, shape women of that age to go for satsangs and and colour as she wanted to bead walks? Why can’t they live their lives for themselves? With this book, I wanted to them into earrings herself. “I push the boundaries. Many people have want to match them to my facebeen uncomfortable with certain parts of it. cut,” she told me. She was eleBut women of that generation are loving the gant even as she knew she was concept. Maybe they see what they can do dying. It struck me that as too. long as there is life, one should live it. It’s never too Do you have friends like these? late to look good or enjoy life. I have lots of friends and groups but nothThat’s the heart of the book. ing like this.
that makes her a great listener. “Women are more proficient than men at all forms of communication, verbal and non-verbal, more socially skilled, better at spotting and ‘reading’ the nuances in people’s reactions and behaviour and generally more interested in people and relationships,” Dr Zehra says. “This makes them perfect sounding boards, even for each other.” And of course, women hanging out with women have fun. It’s a guarantee. That’s because of bitching. Yes, women are bitchy and they love it. The best bonding happens over bitching sessions, says Gul Panag, and it means no harm.
You could have the best job, a
boyfriend and all that money can buy, but nothing can replace good girlfriends – MAHIE GILL, actress 10
20s
Work. Men, men, men. Relationship issues, advice, feelings, commitment, heartache – all to do with men. Work pressure, weight, biological clock and sex.
LATE
What makes the friendship between these four women so special? Shared moments, memories and a history between the four friends are what make their bonds so wonderful. They have been together as each goes through life, hurt, love, marriage, loss, children. Sheila dresses up in her wedding saree when her husband dies. Her three friends can remember the first time she had worn it at her wedding. Satya can say that she feels relived when her grandchildren leave the home only in front of these friends. No one judges anyone. They feel safe talking to each other.
20s
Post marriage: Worries about husbands and inlaws; later on children become the concern. And yes, maids and cooks occupy a whole lot of conversation time too. Also, from now on, weight loss, gain, diets, exercises, yoga are all ‘must talk’ topics. Sex.
POST
At different stages of life women talk of different things/issues with each other
POST
“Women are inherently compassionate. This holds them together”
PHOTO: THINKSTOCK
What is the book about? Pure Sequence is a story of women in their twilight years. The four women in the book cherish their present and do not worry much about the future. The book confronts the realities that we all have to face sooner or later. Those who leave their parents to lead their own lives; those whose own children are flying out of the nest; those who are forced into believing that their life is behind them; those who admire the fortitude of their grandmothers. Pure Sequence is about the quiet confidence of women growing old gracefully or otherwise, realising that they are in yet another prime of their lives – with their circle of friends.
TALK TIMELINE
PHOTOS: THINKSTOCK
Author of 18 books for children and young adults, Paro Anand’s first book for grownups, Pure Sequence, is about four 60 plus women friends who rediscover their bonds over card games and more.
Paro Anand, Author
LIFE SUPPORT
Women are increasingly relying on their women friends – college, workmates, or even that kitty party gang – for comfort and emotional support. “It’s happening more often now because of the breaking-up of the
HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 3, 2011
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joint family system. Women bonding with each other is an old concept. Earlier, women had other women in the house to talk to, vent to and derive support from. Now, it’s the friends,” says Dr Zehra. According to Social Issues Research, US, such a link is only natural. Way back in our hunter-gatherer days, women as gatherers with responsibility for bearing and raising children, had a critical need to build cooperation and trust with other women. Their relationship was based on emotional support. Millions of years later, Alankrita Srivastav, 31year-old director of the movie Turning 30, agrees that her women friends are a great source of comfort. “I have very close male friends but I can open up more with women,” she says. “After a bad day, all I want to do is meet up with my girlfriends, chat, have dinner and I feel so much better.” Actress and TV presenter Koel Puri is Gul Panag’s 2 am friend. “I can pick up the phone and call her and even if I don’t give her any background, she would know where I am coming from,” says Panag. parul.khanna@hindustantimes.com
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COVER STORY
Sleepy tier-2 cities wake up to the roar of super cars by Abhijit Patnaik
S
EVERAL SOUNDS are associated with small Indian towns. The chatter of housewives across terraces complaining about their daughters-in-law; a knife-sharpener at work; the morning aarti bells at the local mandir and the ringing of a million bicycle bells, almost drowning out the vroom of the V6 turbo-charged Porsche Boxster driving through the streets. Say what? In the last few years, luxury car sales in towns such as Aurangabad, Raipur, Meerut, Surat etc, have shown a steady rise, turning more than a few heads as they turn those narrow street corners. “About 25-30 per cent of our customers fall outside Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata,” says Ashish Chordia, chairman of the Shreyans Group, which deals in luxury car brands such as Maserati, Porsche and Ferrari. In these 393 such cities (with a population of one to 10 lakh, according to the 2001 Census), economic growth has increased spending power, whether it’s farmers who have cashed in on the real estate boom or the rise of business barons in mining, food processing etc; or, in some cases, even doctors. “In tier-2 cities, liberalisation brought exposure to international markets and relationships with foreign clients. People visit the US/EU markets and see these cars. They also want to flaunt power. Owning a BMW or Mercedes makes you visible in the community. This helps you get even more business. If an Aurangabad businessman picks up a client from Pune in an Audi, it makes a difference,” says Nawneet Pandey of Raygain Technologies, a market research firm which has studied the growth of the luxury car segment in India.
This awareness, combined with the spread of dealerships across India and infrastructure improvements that have made driving conditions for premium luxury cars infinitely better, has meant that people are buying them by the garage full. Attitudes have also changed. People want to spend money in their own lifetime. “Older generations had a habit of putting the brakes on spending. This has been replaced by a ‘if you have it, go spend it and it’s okay to go spend it’ attitude,” says Radha Chadha, a marketing and consumer insights expert. So high-end models such as the Mercedes S-class, BMW 7-series, Porsche Cayenne and Audi’s sublime R8 are showing up in increasing numbers in various corners of the country. “In an economy where new money is created, expenditure on symbols that demonstrate money and esteem happens. Especially among men, who usually buy watches and cars first,” adds Chadha. Numbers support her claim. The overall growth of the Indian car market last year, at 25 per cent, paled in comparison to the 70 per cent growth of the premium car segment. Sociologists say such ostentatious spending is rooted in the desire to show off social mobility, partly by emulating the upper classes. Vishnu Mathur, director general, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, supports this theory. “People don’t know what to do with quick and large sums of money. Forget cars, they are buying helicopters.” It seems, for some of them, the sky is literally the limit. abhijit.patnaik@hindustantimes.com
Arshbir Singh is a fan of the Mercedes S class
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2 gh, 2 ir Sin b h s r A
PHOTO: SIKANDER SINGH CHOPRA
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AT 22, JALANDHAR-BASED Arshbir Singh, who has just joined his father’s leather exports business, owns two Mercedes S Class cars. One is the latest S350 with an on-road price tag of R85 lakh and the other is an S320 with an on-road price tag of R80 lakh. “The quality of the S class attracted me,” says Singh. “It is clean, quiet and provides pure luxury. Its sensors tell the driver about everything, from the tyres to the engine. When I’m behind the wheel, I feel as though I’m flying.” A shooter who qualified for the Nationals, Singh once represented Uttar Pradesh and aspires to represent Punjab now. “I like driving high-end cars,” he adds. Jalandhar has more than 400 high-end cars.
Soleja Mahin
‘It’s my passion’
HE LOVES WATCHING car races, but is himself a sensible driver. The owner of a Mercedes SLK convertible (his favourite among four high-end cars), exporter Mahin Soleja has been attracted to highspeed luxury cars since he first began travelling abroad on business. Watching the F1 races just added to their aura. “My convertible Mercedes has a Formula 1 finish that makes it look stunning,” he says. “And its convertible top opens up in just 22 seconds. And it has immense power that makes it a pleasure to drive.” It isn’t easy to maintain such a high-end car in such a tiny city where all cars, big or small, crawl bumper to bumper. But Kanpur-based Soleja doesn’t care. “I have to send my car to Lucknow for servicing but I don’t mind. This is not just a car. It’s my passion.”
For Mahin Soleja, speed is the attraction
SALES OF AUDI’S SPORTS CAR, THE R8, GREW 155% IN 2009-10, WITH 23 SOLD LAST YEAR dhan, 51 Javed Pra
‘I was always driven by the desire to own high end vehicles’
Javed Pradhan always wanted high-end cars
A SELLER OF school uniforms in Raipur for two decades, 51-year-old Javed Pradhan switched to the real estate business around the mid-90s. With success, his craze for premium cars grew. The owner of a Mercedes Benz and a Land Rover, Pradhan can’t forget how happy he was when he bought his first car, a second-hand Fiat in 1987. Now, he has eight cars including a Mercedes Benz, a Land Rover, an Innova, and a CRV among others.“I was
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always driven by the desire to own highend vehicles because of their features and special advantages,” says Pradhan. “I don’t employ a driver.” The father of two sons says he wants to own status symbols not to show off, but for a feeling of gratification. Raipur offers a good potential market to premium auto manufacturers. Luxury cars with prices ranging from R35 to R90 lakh have a market of at least twelve cars per month in Chhattisgarh. As of now, customers from Chhattisgarh travel to other states to procure expensive cars. Pradhan bought his Mercedes Benz from Kolkata and Land Rover from Hyderabad. “I travel frequently and drive for several hours every day for business purposes,” he says. “Even when I go on vacation with my family, I prefer my own car.”
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COVER STORY
‘This car is for my driving pleasure’
Sandeep Singh Wahid, 30
Sandeep Singh Wahid owns a fleet of high-end cars PHOTO: SIKANDER SINGH CHOPRA
Cars are Shaibi Farooq’s passion PHOTO: ARVIND SHARMA
AT 30, PHAGWARA-BASED Sandeep Singh Wahid (Sunny), a successful industrial tycoon in sugar and power production, owns two highend cars: a Porsche Carrera S and an Audi Q7. The Carrera S is a sports racing car and comes with a price tag of R1.27 crore. Since Wahid customised it to his specifications, the car cost him a total of R1.5 crore. “This car is for my driving pleasure and I use it only on special occasions,” says Wahid. “It’s very satisfying to command so much power with just a push of the gas pedal.” Wahid inherits his love of high-end cars from his father, Jarnail Singh Wahid, and owns quite a fleet, including a Mercedes S class car. His other premium car is an Audi Q7 which, after customisation (including a special sports kit, a Bose music system, bigger wheels and panorama roof), cost him R80 lakh. Both these cars were purchased in 2011, bringing the total of luxury cars in Phagwara to over 50. “I work for six to seven days a week and put the rest of my time in driving my cars,” says Wahid.
gh, 38 Niraj SIn
‘It was love at first sight’ HIS SON LOVES it, but his wife still wants to know why he needed such an expensive car. However, 38-year-old hotelier Niraj Singh has a very strong reason for buying a Jaguar XJ. “It was love at first sight,” he says simply. Singh saw the car at the Kolkata showroom and booked it instantly. “I had no clue that I was the first customer from East India to purchase the car that my iconic film star Amitabh Bachchan also drives. It’s an unusual car. I am still to understand all its salient features.” Driving this car in a small industrial city like Jamshedpur comes with a price. “I am often stopped by people at clubs, parties, even while travelling in the city, with queries about the car,” says Singh. He also owns a Skoda Superb, an Endeavour and a Pajero.
Niraj Singh fell in love with his Jaguar at first sight
FROM A MERE EIGHT SOLD IN 2009, THE NUMBER OF PORSCHE PANAMERAS, PRICED AT R1.8 CRORE, GREW TO 22 IN 2010 4 rasad, 5 Dr AS P LUXURY CARS are not a status symbol for Dr AS Prasad. Besides taking them on long drives Dr Prasad, a leading orthopaedic surgeon in Kanpur, uses his Audis to carry his surgery equipment. Dr Prasad’s love for sports cars was born when he was in Germany and drove a Porsche. Before long, he bought his own sports car. In 2006, he brought home the Audi TT. “I’m a music buff and the 16-speaker surround Audi Q5 lets me enjoy music in a delightful way,” says Dr Prasad. “And my Audi TT is a real treat to drive, especially in the beautiful hills.” Dr Prasad loves road trips. A year ago, he let his Audi rip at 180 kmph and made it from Allahabad to Kanpur in 90 minutes. His big dream is to drive to Ladakh in his Audi Q5. “I have already researched the route. I bought my Audi Q5 this year just for this.”
‘My Audi TT is a real treat to drive’
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Dr Prasad wants to drive his Audi Q5 from Kanpur to Leh
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28 ooq, r a F ibi Sha
‘I never let my driver take the wheel’ PHOTO: DHEERAJ DHAWAN
THIS 28-YEAR-OLD builder bought his BMW III-series last September on Id-ul-Fitr. Shaibi Farooq is passionate about cars and now has his eyes fixed on the sports utility vehicle (SVU) Audi Q7 as a future purchase. “I started driving a Maruti 800 when I was in class 10 and soon got an Esteem fitted with the best of music equipment. Then many more cars came and
the BMW is the latest,” says Lucknow-based Shaibi, the owner of a construction firm and the lifestyle lounge, Blue. Why this car? “I studied all cars but finally bought this from Delhi. It has a superior front bonnet and attractive grill, making it a head turner. And its interiors are matchless,” he says. “It’s a pleasure to drive. I never let my driver take the wheel.”
li, 52 Koh h s e Rak
, 45 atap r P jeev San
FOR YEARS, 52-YEAR-OLD Rakesh Kohli, the Meerutbased chairman of sports goods makers Stag International, has been passionate about highspeed luxury cars. Now he enjoys every second he spends in his Audi, a gift from his younger brother and son on his 25th marriage anniversary. “We have the same aspirations for these expensive cars as do people of bigger towns, but so far we’ve been apprehensive of flaunting our wealth,” he says. Now, however, he adds, as more and more luxury cars find homes in small towns, people are no longer afraid of being exposed to criminals.
HIGH-END CARS are the newest craze among those who can afford them, acknowledges 45-year-old Sanjeev Pratap, a sportsman and real estate dealer in Meerut. Pratap is the proud possessor of a BMW-X5 and a Mercedes C 200. “I bought these cars because they fascinate me,” he says. “I love driving and travelling in cars like this.” Next on his shopping list is a Posche Cayenne. PHOTO: CHAAHAT
Rakesh Kohli enjoys his Audi
BETWEEN 2009 AND 2010, THE NUMBER OF BMW 5-SERIES SOLD IN INDIA DOUBLED TO 2901 CARS
ats, 28 Daksh V
‘Speed is another love’ HIS TWO-SEATER BMW Z-4 is a dream come true for 28-year-old Meerut-based businessman Daksh Vats. “I’ve wanted this car since I was in class 9,” says Daksh. “Speed is another love!” Vats, who works in the paper industry, loves the speed, luxury and convertibility of his car. And he is also aware of the effect that a car like this has on the general public. It’s a great way to show off, he acknowledges. And that has a tremendous impact on his business. “I often visit my clients and my high end car acts as a dividend for me,” he says. “Any meeting begins from the driveway and parking lot of your destination. So a car means a lot to your business.”
Daksh Vats wanted this car since he was in class 9 PHOTO: CHAAHAT
REPORTS FROM DEEP SAXENA (LUCKNOW); PRIYANKA NAIR (KANPUR); S. RAJU (MEERUT); SUKH SIMRAN SINGH GANDAM (PUNJAB); EJAZ KAISER (RAIPUR); B VIJAY MURTY (JAMSHEDPUR)
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indulge eat
KEEP IT SLOW In Gordon Ramsay’s recipe, you hold the pan just above the flame and keep raising it away from the heat when temperatures get too high
d d e l e l b b m m a r a c r s c Un
PHOTO: THINKSTOCK
Sggs E
The taste of a good egg with rich, creamy butter is hard to beat. Once perfected, it can become your party piece
C
HEFS CAN be sniffy about eggs. Most Western kitchens liantly on top of a dab of creamy scrambled eggs. But chefs will would collapse if God suddenly abolished the egg. There insist on inventing complicated dishes as bases for caviar and trufwould be none of the great sauces (no Hollandaise, no fles. They will shave their truffles over risottos and will encase their Bearnaise, no mayonnaise, etc.); there would be no bakcaviar in little vol-au-vents. The second reason why the reluctance ing (no cakes, no pastries, etc.); no desserts (no soufflés, no cusof chefs to bother with eggs is a tragedy is because eggs can become tards, and no ice-cream); and even ordinary savoury dishes would haute cuisine dishes. Yes, you and I can make scrambled eggs at be affected. In Indian kitchens, the effects would be less damaging home. But our eggs are rarely as good as those made by profesbut significant nevertheless. sionals – if only the professionals would bother to make them. So, why are chefs snobbish about eggs? After There is a difference between the Western scramall, most hotel kitchens consume eggs like a bled egg and its Indian counterpart. In India, we Hummer consumes petrol. All breakfast menus make such dishes as akuri or bhurji rather as we are based around eggs so they serve hundreds would make subzis. Of course, there is a lot of techevery day. Moreover, the pastry kitchen consumes nique involved but the trick is in the recipe, the its own quota of fresh eggs. condiments and the ingredients. The Parsi akuri, I have two theories about why this should be so. for instance, varies from home to home, not so The first is that because hotels turn out so many much because of the cooking techniques but eggs at breakfast each day, their preparation is because of the ingredients and condiments used. regarded as a menial task best left to the The classic Western scrambled egg, on the other youngest cooks in the kitchens. The sechand, does not rely on ingredients. It is, at its heart, ond is that chefs don’t like cooking things that a marriage between the chicken and the cow. But we can make at home. If you and I can make while most dishes involving chickens and cattle are perfect fried eggs in our kitchens, then why non-vegetarian, this is a happy exception because should a great chef waste his time with them? no animals or birds are harmed in its preparation. This is a pity for two reasons. Many so-called The chicken contributes the eggs and the cow conluxury ingredients work best with eggs. Take tributes the cream and the butter. THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS white truffles, for instance. There is no better The trick in getting a scrambled egg right lies All you need to make good way of enjoying them than shaved over in ensuring a creamy consistency. Chefs will tell scrambled eggs are free range scrambled eggs. Good caviar works brilyou that the best way to do this is to cook the eggs eggs, butter and cream PHOTO: THINKSTOCK
rude food
Vir Sanghvi
| live
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indulge over a minimum of heat. Some will even onds and puts the mixture into a pan over suggest that you use a double-boiler. a slow flame and stirs gently till he has There is a scientific basis to the conwhat he calls a pouring consistency. He ventional wisdom. Egg yolks contain a recognises that the mixture will keep cooklot of protein (though we think of the ing till it gets to the table so he removes protein as being restricted to the white). it from the fire just before it is done. NO SWEET DELIGHTS These proteins are little balls of tightI have had Tapash’s eggs with caviar, If God suddenly abolished the egg, there would be no ly-wound strands. When you heat the with white truffles, and with a variety of baking (no cakes, no pastries, etc.) yolks, the proteins begin to unfold. To luxury ingredients. They form a good base get the proteins to the point where they for truffles and caviar but frankly, they unfold fully, they must be heated to 160 are best enjoyed on their own on slices of degrees. Slow heating makes the prounbuttered melba toast. (The eggs have teins relax slowly and completely. Once enough butter.) The taste of a good egg the temperature goes up too much, things with rich, creamy butter is hard to beat. begin to go wrong. At 185 degrees, egg Last Sunday, I went to Machan for the proteins coagulate 600 times faster than brunch only to eat Tapash’s eggs and the they do at 165 degrees or so. The trick, feeling of gorging on his scrambled eggs therefore, is to keep heating them genwhile listening to Stella Pinto singing old tly while ensuring that they never get songs (John Lennon’s Jealous Guy, Sting’s FILLED WITH GOODNESS too hot. Allow the temperature to get An Englishman in New York, etc.) was Egg yolks contain a lot of protein that begin to unfold too high and you will have clumpy, lumpy unbeatable. when you heat the yolks scrambled eggs. The problem – and let’s be upfront Most Western chefs will tell you that about this – is that these are not the the best way to scramble eggs is to whisk PHOTO: THINKSTOCK scrambled eggs that Machan serves as them a little in a bowl and to then pour part of its breakfast buffet. In common them into a pan. Use a very low flame with most Indian hotels, the Taj uses indusand keep whisking gently. As the cooktrial eggs for breakfast. (The Bombay Four ing process continues, add little lumps Seasons used to be the one exception in of cold butter. This will have the effect that it always used free-range eggs – perof reducing the temperature of the egg haps it still does.) No matter how much mixture. Finally, when the eggs seem cream or butter you use and no matter nearly ready, add a little cream. The coldhow talented the chef, you cannot recreness of the cream should put a stop to ate the taste of Tapash’s scrambled eggs the cooking process because the eggs unless you use Keggs or some other brand will continue to cook unless the temof free-range eggs. MADE FOR EACH OTHER perature is suddenly reduced. I am assured by Tapash that if you go Good caviar works brilliantly on top of a dab of creamy Various chefs offer slight variations into Machan and ask for your egg dishscrambled eggs on this recipe. Gordon Ramsay says to PHOTO: THINKSTOCK es to be made with free-range eggs, the hold the pan just above the flame and to restaurant will do it. But equally, let’s be keep raising it away from the heat when clear that it will cost more than the noryou think the temperatures are too high. mal breakfast buffet. I reckon it’s worth Our very own Bhikoo Maneckshaw it but you should make up your own mind. writes that you should keep whisking the As for making perfect scrambled eggs eggs with firm, slow movements of a flat at home, I think it’s possible. All the ingrewooden spoon. Use slow movements, she dients (free-range eggs, cream and butsays, because if you use vigorous moveter) are now readily available in our cities. ments the eggs become a mish-mash. It will take a certain amount of practice My guess is that if you stick to the before you work out exactly how much basic principle of slow heating the eggs heat you need (we don’t all have cooking TWIST AND TURN at a temperature that is never above 180 The best way to scramble eggs is to whisk them a little in a thermometers at home to tell us when the degrees, you should do okay. The temperature reaches 160 degrees) but the bowl and to then pour them into a pan American food writer Russ Parsons (to eggs are not a high-cost item so the damwhom I am indebted for the science in age won’t be too great. this piece) says that you should ignore But once you perfect recipes that recommend using a doublethem, the eggs can beboiler. Parsons says that this will actucome your party piece. ally increase the chances of curdling Great scrambled eggs can because the heat is so low that it will take be the centre of a dinner the yolks a long time to thicken and inateither paired with other tention is almost inevitable. ingredients (ham, On the other hand, I know professional asparagus, potachefs who make terrific scrambled eggs toes, etc.) or simwithout understanding any of the sciply on their own. SPICE IT UP ence. The best scrambled eggs I have Your friends will In India, we make such egg dishes as akuri or bhurji had in India were cooked by sous chef admire you for rather as we would make subzis Apoorve Kunte at the Machan at Delhi’s your ingenuity in Taj Mahal Hotel, using a recipe perfected by his boss chef Tapash making the mundane taste amazing. Bhattacharya. Tapash’s recipe uses Keggs eggs. (You can use any There’s a cost to be paid, though. You’ll never other free range eggs but do not waste time on industrial eggs.) He be able to enjoy the nasty, clumpy, blandtakes eight eggs and mixes them with 20 ml of cream and 15 gm of tasting industrial scrambled eggs made by butter. He whisks the eggs, butter and cream together for 90 secmost hotels and restaurants ever again.
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THE BEST
SCRAMBLED EGGS I HAVE HAD IN INDIA WERE COOKED BY SOUS CHEF APOORVE KUNTE AT THE MACHAN AT DELHI’S TAJ MAHAL HOTEL
BEST BITE Chef Tapash Bhattacharya’s scrambled eggs are best enjoyed on their own on slices of unbuttered melba toast
indulge live Forty And eat |
PHOTOS: THINKSTOCK
Counting
The tell-tale signs of incipient middleage; how many do you identify with?
spectator
Seema Goswami
PHOTO: THINKSTOCK
LIFE BY THE PILL You begin to measure your day in pills: for blood pressure, for diabetes, for constipation, for back pain etc
O
WATCHING WEIGHT NE OF my daily trawls across the Internet threw up this By 45, women perfect the art of ordering the least calorific meals. So, it’s interesting fact. According to a recent study, people become mushrooms rather than potatoes (top) and it’s sashimi rather than sushi (above) more concerned about their health once they hit 40. And by the time they are 45, they tend to make serious lifestyle changes so as to improve their quality of life. They start to eat better, IVF, whatever it takes. Tick tock, tick tock. exercise more, take their daily supplements, have preventive health ■ You think more about comfort than style when you go shoecheck-ups, and so on and so forth. shopping. You may gaze longingly at those vertiginous heels that you Or I guess, in other words, they become a lit- PHOTO: REUTERS used to go dancing in (God, when was the last tle more aware of their own mortality and start time you went dancing?) but you settle for the taking steps to defer it for as long as possible. sensible wedges in which you can do the school Looking around me in my peer group of 40run and the grocery shopping after a hard day somethings, I have to admit that there is someat work. ■ For someone whose hearing is beginning to thing to this study. These days it’s impossible to have a meal with a friend without it turning into present the teeniest-tiniest problem, you develan exercise in calorie-counting. Do you think the op an astonishing sensitivity to sound. Do your salad is a better bet than the soup if we order the kids really need to have the music up this loud? dressing on the side? Wine? You must be joking; Must the folks upstairs move heavy furniture a Diet Coke, please. If we skip the main course, around every morning? And why does everycan we share a dessert instead? Let’s have an body on the Metro have to talk so loudly into Americano rather than a cappuccino (and no, I their mobile phones? Honestly, couldn’t they have don’t care if they make it with low-fat milk). made it an Underground like the one in London? ■ It gets easier and easier to fall asleep when the And that’s just the men. The women, on the other hand, have perfected the art of ordering night is still young – but harder and harder to the least calorific meals without even looking at wake up after a night out. And when you do surthe menu. So, it’s sashimi rather than sushi; fish face, you need industrial doses of caffeine to feel rather than meat; steamed rather than sautéed human again. ■ You begin to measure your day in pills: for blood (and please don’t even mention the ‘f’ word: ‘frying’); mushrooms rather than potatoes; coffee pressure, for diabetes, for constipation, for back rather than cake. pain, and several other bodily functions that we The conversation follows much the same line. will draw a discreet veil over. ■ The fashions of your youth roll by again; but When we are not discussing the latest injuries we picked up doing power yoga/Pilates/kick-boxyour kids kill themselves laughing when you try ing, we are playing the ‘my work-out is more aerthem on. Honestly, don’t you think I can work obic than yours’ game. The merits of the Dukan these ‘boyfriend’ jeans? Er, no, Mum. I think Diet are debated endlessly (did you see how good that biker jacket would look great on me. In your Carole Middleton looked at her daughter’s weddreams, Dad! ■ To make matters worse, the nice young couding thanks to that regimen?). We swap notes about our latest spa retreats, trekking holidays ple who have moved in next door call you ‘Aunty’ or wellness resorts. We advise each other to have or ‘Uncle’ when you can’t be more than a few Omega 3 capsules, glucosamine, primrose oil and years older than them. (Okay, so maybe a decade lots of goji berries. older, but hey, who’s counting?) ■ In an attempt to cheer yourself up, you go to the nightSo yes, you can tell the onset of middle-age by what we eat, how much we exercise and what we talk about. club with your buddies to check out the babe action But that is – as is usual – just part of the story. There – and realise that all of them could be your daughSHAPING UP are several other markers of incipient middle-age ter’s friends. Eww! We play the ‘my ■ You have to think twice before going on and here is just a sampling of the most common. work-out is more Read on and weep for your lost youth... your knees to retrieve a shoe that’s rolled aerobic than ■ You worry much more about exams than you under the bed – because you’re not sure if yours’ game with ever did as a kid. Only this time round, it’s your you can ever get up again. discussions on children’s board exams that you are obsessIf you identify with four or more of the items power yoga/ ing over. I mean, honestly, have you seen listed above, then you’re officially part of Pilates/ the cut-offs this year? They are insane! the middle-aged club. kick-boxing ■ If you have spent most of your youth tryBut hey, don’t get too depressed. You ing not to get pregnant then this is when know what they say about growing old. It Sod’s Law catches up with you. Now, it’s seems like bad news – until you consider time to obsess about having a baby before the alternative. your body clock gives up on you. So bring on seema_ht@rediffmail.com. Follow Seema on the basal thermometer, the hormone treatments, the Twitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami
THE MERITS OF
THE DUKAN DIET ARE DEBATED ENDLESSLY (DID YOU SEE HOW GOOD CAROLE MIDDLETON LOOKED?)
PHOTO: THINKSTOCK
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People With his first film, Chillar Party, former UTV chief creative officer Vikas Bahl is flying without a safety net by Udita Jhunjhunwala
E
VEN THOUGH Vikas Bahl is an MBA gold medallist, the man who is said to have given low budget films like Aamir, Dev.D and No One Killed Jessica a big release says that his single biggest qualification is that “I grew up in Lajpat Nagar, Delhi. I am still living off that experience. It has given me a basic understanding of people around the country.” Bahl moved to Mumbai for his MBA course. At that time, he had no idea that he would end up in the world of movies. “I never thought about making a movie. I didn’t come to Mumbai to join films. I was fairly directionless. I joined Ogilvy & Mather after my MBA and thought I would be with them all my life, like my dad had been with Indian Oil all his life,” says Bahl.
A NEW DIRECTION
But direction found him, literally. Advertising led to television, and from Sony TV Bahl transitioned to UTV. He has now left a safe corporate job to set up his own production house and made his first film as co-writer and co-director (with Nitesh Tiwari). Chillar Party releases on July 8 but the turning point in his life, which drew him to the world of Bollywood, came after he watched two films. “After I saw Swades and Rang De Basanti I thought if I don’t make movies then I am wasting my life. During my stint with Contract advertising, the movie bug had bitten a little already and I had started writing a film called Conditions Apply. I wanted to direct that before Chillar Party, but I am going to direct it next,” says Bahl. So why leave a post like chief creative officer, UTV, and risk starting your own shop? “It’s basically about testing myself without a safety net. Would I still do Aamir and Dev.D? I have to answer that question at some point. What I did then was with the backing
EIGHT KIDS AND A DOG A still from Vikas Bahl’s first film, Chillar Party, a movie about friendship
of Ronnie (Screwvala). The films I made at UTV were the kind of films I wanted to watch. Now I want to see if I can do it on my own,” says the 39year-old. “I will produce and direct.”
CHILD’S PLAY
Tapping into his own childhood and memories of growing up, Bahl describes his debut film as a movie about friendship. “Over time we lose the innocence, fearlessness and purity of childhood.
Also children are often confused by the mixed messages they get from school on the one hand and from their parents or society’s actions on the other. They will be taught to abide by rules and laws in school and then see their father jump a traffic light,” says Bahl. “Childhood is the most fun part of life, yet films on childhood are usually so depressing. When I recount stories about my childhood they are heroic. In my stories I always beat up five guys.” Based around a group of friends and the young boy and his pet dog that become part of their housing society, a mixed message comes through at the end of Chillar Party. “We will tackle the unresolved issue in part two,” says dog lover Bahl. “It’s a film, and it’s about children. The issues addressed could have been anything, but issues of animal welfare and child labour happened to come to our minds first.” Being a marketing man, he realised the value of an item number to promote their movie and decided to tap into Ranbir Kapoor’s inner tapori for the Tai Tai Phiss song. “We show that even children have discovered that item songs sell films. So it was a marketing idea but I had this thought that Ranbir was more of a tapori than the cool movies he does, and it shows. He’s a natural!” he says. Going forward he says, “I hope to co-produce the Hindi remake of Telugu film Magadheera which Madhu Mantena has the rights for. I also get excited about marketing a tall order, a challenge. If it seems too easy, I get scared.”
CAPTAIN CHALLENGE
brunchletters@ hindustantimes.com
JALDI FIVE
Recent movies you have liked: Chak De India, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Rock On!! I like masala Hindi movies. Your nickname: Bobby. My friends now tease me and call me Bobby Bahl, Director. Your pet: A cocker spaniel called Khan. Like everyone in Delhi, I used to have a Pomeranian before.
Is there a Lajpat Nagar in Mumbai? Bandra is my new Lajpat Nagar, but the only place like Lajpat Nagar is New Jersey. When not making movies: I love watching cricket and badminton, because of Saina Nehwal. I love watching badminton a bit more than watching cricket.
PHOTO: PRASAD GORI
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EACH OF THEIR REPEATS MAKE THE FASHION
Style File
THRIFTY THREADS Michelle Obama is the First Lady of frugal fashion, as you can see from this frock which she’s worn on several occasions
FRUGAL
Fashion
Slamming actresses for repeating outfits is so ten years ago. It’s time to admire women who dare to recycle their wardrobe with renewed flamboyance by Yashica Dutt
W
HAT WOULD you expect a new bride to wear? Especially if she got married in what was the wedding of the decade in a gown that started an industry of its own? Kate Middleton, now known as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, isn’t breaking the royal bank for designer threads (which SUITS ME! Aishwarya Rai Bachchan often gets flak for repeating her suits and anarkalis at various functions, be it a launch or a wedding reception
DEC 2007
APR 2010
SEPT 2 010 PHOTO: AP
would have been appropriate considering she just got married and hello! She is a princess!). Instead she is repeating outfits within two months of wearing them and paying for them on her own. Imagine the tabloid fate of an Indian actress if she decided to do the same! The cursor-happy clan of bloggers and tabloid reporters who are not known for mincing words when it comes to uncovering celebrity style and scandals, wouldn’t have spared a moment in robbing her and her stylist of a good night’s sleep. Because repeat offenders, as they are called, undergo piece-by-piece analysis in fashion blogs and tabloids of their outfits ‘then’ and ‘now’. With helpful suggestions like ‘Hire a better stylist’, ‘Couldn’t a designer supply her with a freebie?’ and ‘Why does SHE need to repeat her outfit?’ stacked generously in the comments section. “We have become conscious of brands and celebrity style only in the past few years while, in the US, celebrity watching has been a trend for a long time. Our media, be it online, television or print, have started paying enormous attention to what a public figure is wearing only recently. Earlier anyone would wear anything they liked as long as they weren’t shooting,” says celebrity stylist Vijayta Kumar, remembering how Karisma Kapoor even wore a grey-toned formal business suit and unkempt, long hair in 1997 as she collected her Best Supporting Actress award for Dil To Pagal Hai.
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JUN 2011 LOW PRESSURE AREA
But even the fierce paparazzi of the Hollywood-obsessed West mended its celebrity-dissing ways post-recession, allowing the emergence of Michelle Obama as a style icon. Frugal fashion had its day in the sun when MObama (as she is dubbed by the tabloids) cleverly repeated her cardigans, dresses and coats on major public appearances during the campaigning and after Barack Obama assumed office as the US president. Turning from an average first lady to a fashion darling, appearing on the cover of US Vogue and other fashion magazines, MObama had her country’s press eating out of her daintily manicured hands. “One thing that people love about Michelle Obama is that she is such a real life woman, practical and pragmatic. In this day and age, it’s really tacky to think you would not repeat outfits,” said Kim France, editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Lucky, to a local magazine called Politico. “I think the fact that [the first lady] rewears pieces from her wardrobe shows deference to the economy... but more so, it’s normal,” said Mary Tomer, author of the book Mrs O: The Face of Fashion Democracy and writer of the blog MrsO.org. “Even in the White House, it doesn’t seem practical that a dress or a pair of
TWO TIMES Kate Middleton in the same dress, with a black jacket and a printed coat
APR 2011 JUN 2011 shoes would only be worn once,” she remarked to Politico. The Huffington Post also wrote: “While many Hollywood starlets would rather eat dirt than be photographed in the same outfit twice, the recession-ready Michelle Obama makes no bones about wearing the same article of clothing again and again and again.” And now Kate Middleton is sparking a similar frenzy with her multiple repeats on her latest tour on the US and Canada. “Times are tough – I cannot be expected to wear a new outfit for every royal engagement. I am not a fashion model,” she is known to have said. Which is why she doesn’t just repeat her outfits but also complete looks, the latest being her official portrait for the upcoming North American tour, which sees her repeating an Amanda Wakeley jacket she had worn as recently
as April, weeks before her wedding. Even the normally acerbic celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has registered his approval for her recycled style. “Who says you can’t wear the same gown twice to different events? Anna Wintour is a repeat offender, and apparently so is Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge. The gorgeous Middleton wore a black and white dress this past Saturday as she attended a wedding at St Michael and All Angels church. Middleton finished her look with a black hat, black clutch, and black heels. “Rewind to 2007 and Kate wore the same dress while out partying at Boujis Nightclub in London. Back then she wore the dress with a large black belt and a black cardigan. We’re liking (sic) both looks. And we’re especially liking (sic) that Kate isn’t afraid to pull out older outfits from her closet to reuse,” wrote Perez on his website recently. The New York Magazine also agreed: “Over the course of three public appearances this past weekend, Kate Middleton brought out eight pieces of her wardrobe for the ever more frenzied fashion press (guilty as charged). And she’s worn at least six of them before! How thrifty of her.” They mentioned this against a slideshow that chronicles all her looks so far. PHOTO: REUTERS
HION WORLD GO OOH!
END OF AN ICON?
Even though these ladies have set new benchmarks with their recurring outfits, there is a feeling that this does strip them of their fashion icon status. As designer Anand Bhushan says, “Every day they should start a new trend with what they wear. The book by Jacqueline Kennedy’s personal couturier Oleg Cassini is called A Thousand Days of Magic for a reason. She created style with each one of her looks and specifically by not repeating them. If you are a starlet whom no one cares about then it works, but a style icon cannot go repeating her clothes every three months,” he says. Perhaps that’s why actresses and
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REPEAT OFFENDERS ■ AMRITA
RAO: With her unending love for pageant-y gowns for most public appearances, Amrita sits right on top of the repeat offenders list. She makes very few public appearances, so her outfits get noticed more, and even then, she repeats her clothes. ■ EKTA KAPOOR: Loyal to her prehistoric platforms which she mostly chooses to wear with black opaque stockings and a toe or two sticking out for good measure. We are beginning to believe it’s another one of her lucky charms!
socialites have become extremely cautious of how they dress in public. Actress Sarah Jane Dias stoically says that she doesn’t worry about being seen in the same clothes on different occasions. But she does admit that there is a lot of pressure on celebrities. “With movie stars replacing models as cover girls of fashion magazines, there is increased pressure on celebrities as role models. I try not to repeat my red carpet looks in public. Fashion blogs and tabloids have caused me to experiment more with my look,” she says.
■ AISHWARYA
RAI: We are convinced she has a warehouse where all her clothes are stored in a temperature controlled environment! But she too seems to be in love with her anarkalis and suits, wearing the same creations by Manish Malhotra and Sabyasachi on many occasions. ■ LARA DUTTA & PREITY ZINTA: Known to accessorise their outfits differently, both ‘earn props’ for keeping it fresh even while doing a redux. They usually try and opt for a different styling when repeating a look
SEP 2007
WARDROBE WITHOUT END
But having faced the wrath of the selfproclaimed fashion police, all celebs are STATEMENT PIECES Rani Mukherjee wears favourite pieces from her wardrobe repeatedly
NOV 2008
IF YOU MUST, RECYCLE WITH STYLE
NONE OF us boasts of a closet that’s like a bottomless pit. Carrie’s feather carpeted, walk-in closet which Big gifted her as a wedding present in the first Sex and The City movie is still what our fashion dreams are made of! But the constraints of a limited wardrobe mean that you would have to repeat outfits more often. So, we asked designer Anand Bhushan to help us sort out our ‘repeating’ woes ! ■ Concentrate on buying classics that can be paired differently. Suppose it’s an LBD (Little Black Dress): pair with an evening jacket for a formal event and a denim one to keep it more casual. ■ Always invest in your accessories even if you don’t plan your look in advance. A
OCT 2009 SAME HERE Manjari Phadnis’ sari is always there on the repeat lists on blogs and tabloids. She’s worn it thrice already
MAR 2011
PHOTOS: VIRAL BHAYANI
‘SO WHAT?, THEY ARE HUMAN’ IS THE KIND OF COMMENT WE GET ON POSTS ABOUT REPEATS’ 22
not as understanding. Jewellry designer Queenie Singh wonders what gives journalists the authority to dig out photographs from archives that are almost four years old and pass scathing judgments on celebs. “Do they think that we will spend $1,000 on an outfit and not wear it more than once? Women who think that they will be called fashionistas by not repeating their outfits are being foolish. I am known to indulge in fashion and style, but I make no bones about repeating outfits. Take a classic like a Herve Leger bandage dress; you should wear it as long as you look good in it,” she says. Her ire is shared by stylists. “I wonder whether the people who put up these stories on websites and tabloids wear their expensive Louboutin shoes just once. Do they slip out of their McQueen after just one evening? It’s an absolutely ridiculous thing to expect and so not just,” says celebrity stylist Jayati Bose who does feel, however, that ensembles should be smartly mixed using different shoes, bags and accessories if they’re being repeated. Though the fashion blogs and tabloids ensure that a celebrity steps on hot coals
each time she makes a public appearance, do they equally recognise a good thing when they see it? Says stylist for many Btown actors and actresses, Vijayta Kumar, “Our media will not be interested in frugal fashion. And while it’s justified to criticise the looks of actors whose off-sets style is now as important as their acting, extending it to singers, directors, and businessmen is a bit much. AR Rahman was in the line of fire when he borrowed a pair of sunglasses to shield his eyes from laser lights at a concert and was widely written about the next morning,” she says, adding that it is unfair to comment that Saif Ali Khan looks better in a suit than Rahman does in a similar ensemble. “It’s an actor’s job to look good. Because of their unfair judgment, a lot of the bitchy fashion blogs out there have had to tone their posts down,” she says.
different belt, handbag or shoes can make a huge difference in customising your look. ■ Keep one key piece in the entire ensemble and construct your look around it. It could be a blazer, a skirt or a dress. . ■ Be a trend setter and find out what hair and makeup looks work for you and use them to your best advantage. If your dress happens to have embellished sleeves, then show them off with a high up-do or a low pony depending on what suits your face. ■ Go barter! Get your girlfriends together and live in each other’s wardrobes for a week. This way you could try new styles that you have never tried before and integrate them into your own later.
But if celebs are so keen on becoming fashion role models of an increasingly Internet savvy nation, then they might want to show some flair. Repeat, by all means, but show some imagination. And we’ll like you forever! yashica.dutt@hindustantimes.com
CHANGE ISN’T FOR EVERYBODY Suzanne Roshan often duplicates her look down to her toenails, even choosing the same accessories
SHUFFLE THE PACK
We tried to contact the popular fashion blogs floating in cyberspace, but most of them refused to comment on the subject. Nandini Shenoy of the popular blog Pinkvilla was one of the few who responded. She said that she sees no problems if celebrities repeat their clothes. “Often these posts are written in jest and also to highlight the ‘human’ and ‘normal’ side of celebrities. But if the post is written in such a way that you depict the act as a crime, then I would call it inappropriate. It’s all about the tone of the post,” she says, supplying us with a few comments that are posted on the site, such as ‘So what? They are human too and goes to show that that they are normal and just like us’. But she adds: “If a celebrity repeats a bad outfit, you see comments like ‘Please someone buy her some new clothes’.” We wouldn’t go so far as to suggest that they get a new wardrobe altogether.
FEB 2009
HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 3, 2011
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APR 2010
Act your age
F
Wellness
How fast or slowly women lose weight depends upon which stage of life they’re at by Dr Shikha Sharma
OR MOST of their lives, women have weight on their minds – their own. Which is why, as they grow older, they become depressed about the fact that weight loss becomes more difficult. Difficult, however, does not mean impossible, as long as they know what it is that affects the rate of weight loss at the different stages of their lives. Here’s a look at these aspects. ask@drshikha.com
UNDER 20S
THE 20S
THE 30S
THE 40S AND 50S
THE 60S AND OVER
THE CHALLENGE: For teenagers, especially those aged around 13, weight loss is not easy for two reasons. One: At this age, your body and hormonal profile is still changing, so you feel hungrier and tend to have a craving for fatty food. Two: you’re also still growing. So the weight gain you complain of is in part due to the development of bones and muscles .
THE CHALLENGE:
THE CHALLENGE: This is
THE CHALLENGE: You face multiple challenges at this age. First, personal and professional responsibilities peak at this time. You are reaching senior positions in your professional life, plus your children are getting older. So you have to multitask and juggle many responsibilities. Thus, this is when you are most at risk of putting on weight as you tend to neglect yourself due to work pressures. Unfortunately, your metabolism also begins to decline.
THE CHALLENGE: Chances
are that you have some lifestyle associated issue like diabetes, hypertension, joint pains and so on by this time. So you have to eat according to your health and disease profile. Also, by now, exercising is usually minimal and you are likely to be bored, since the children will have moved away and you have retired from work, with nothing much to do.
SOLUTION: At this stage, you may need to consider stress management techniques to help manage your weight. So things like pranayam, music, chanting, music therapy, painting... anything that you find relaxing is a boon to weight loss. At this stage, it’s also important to cut down on the amount of food you eat. Calorie requirements at this age are not as much as in your 20s and 30s. You can eat more fresh fruits, salads, soups and complement your diet with nuts, oil seeds and whole grains like brown rice, whole wheat vegetable dalia, etc. Vegetable and herbal juices are also good for the health. Multivitamins may be needed from time to time.
SOLUTION: You need to follow a diet that takes into account your ailments, and drink herbal juices, such as aloe vera, tulsi, amla or karela, according to your health profile. Your diet should include specific foods for your health type, such as oats, barley or whole wheat. The quantity you eat should also be decreased according to your digestive capability. You may require multivitamins and exercises should include walks, physiotherapy, acupressure and occupational therapy for back aches. If you need to lose weight for your health, it should only be one kilo a month.
SOLUTION: At 12, 13 or 14 years old, you should concentrate on adding a lot of fruits and sprouts to your diet. You should also avoid too much sugar and fast food and do aerobic exercises for one hour every day.
Usually independent by this age, you tend to develop the habit of eating out often, to catch up with friends. You also have the money to allow such a lifestyle. SOLUTION: Since the body’s metabolism tends to be active at this age, weight loss is simple if your diet is corrected to include more fruits, salads and cooked vegetables and healthy whole grains. Exercises and yoga can complement a good diet to result in a fit body and healthy skin.
when you are most conscious of your figure and looks and weight loss becomes important. Good clothes and increased selfconfidence build the will power to diet and exercise. Responsibilities have increased by now, and life has usually changed due to marriage and children. This makes you go into cycles of yo-yo dieting. However, the good news is that the metabolism is still supportive of weight loss, unless there is a hormonal imbalance. SOLUTION: This is when you must pull yourself out of the yo-yo diet trap and start building healthy habits instead. This is the key to success as you grow older. At this stage, you must concentrate consciously and systematically on eating healthy and cutting down refined foods and sugar in your regular meals (occasional indulgences are fine). You should also create and maintain a habit of regular exercise.
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Travel
There really isn’t much more to Los Angeles than the world of entertainment. Hollywood is in your face by Sharif D Rangnekar photos by Chalermphol Udomphun
W
HEN YOU think of Los Angeles, the immediate recall is usually Hollywood, the Oscars, Beverly Hills, Staples Center, Santa Monica Boulevard, Rodeo Drive – addresses that most of us have learnt of over the years courtesy films and soaps. An education from a distance, driven by marketing, public relations and advertising, LA is as much an education when one lands there. The greatest learning is the power of visual media and marketing that has created a make-belief life that actually lives in the figments of our imagination. So, welcome to LA and its real world where Beverly Hills is a residential area with little action, boulevards are merely arterial streets and places like Rodeo Drive are shopping areas. Motion pictures had perhaps made many of us believe a lot more, making these places seem like destinations in themselves. LA, therefore, is a ‘normal’ city not glossed up by the production techniques of any studio. People are scarce to see. The hustle and bustle attributed to large cities is missing. Service, even at hotels such as the Beverly Hilton, is way below the mark. Yet the lifestyle is largely opulent and hence expensive even in comparison with cities such as London. The obvious and immediate connection that one has with the entertainment world is left to Hollywood Boulevard, the homes of stars, the studios (the closest connect perhaps) and the plastic surgery clinics in and around the city. Americans are largely seen as friendly people as long as you don’t tread on their space and time. LA some how seems to be an exception. The locals can be rude and curt. It’s the Mexicans and Asians who negate, to some extent, this behaviour. Friends on the East Coast state that it’s the rich lifestyle of the people in LA that makes them the way they are. Having been to other parts of the US, I would tend to believe this.
JUST LIKE THE MOVIES
WATER SHOW! See how action scenes are filmed at Universal Studios (above) FOLLOW THAT STAR The Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard (left) BIG BITE On the Universal Studios tour, you will be attacked by the shark from the film Jaws. Be prepared! (below)
FOOTPRINTS OF FAME
Still, one can’t take away LA’s connection with the entertainment world. Its history and relevance is all about that and you always stand a chance of seeing a Hollywood star walking down the high-end Rodeo Drive where members of the glitterati shop. That being the case, the starting point typically is Hollywood Boulevard and the stroll down the Walk of Fame. It is a landmark of sorts and the walk-through is a bit of trivia to check your knowledge of famous stars from the films, television and music world. Lined on the side is more significant history with the old and current venue of the Oscar ceremony. The Kodak Theatre may look a tad bland from
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the outside, but it is far more interesting from the inside. A $15 tour gives one a sense of not just the size of the theatre but also how the stars get seated and all that makes the Academy Awards what it is when we view it on TV. And you get to see the sets of American Idol as well, as this theatre hosts the popular show. Attached to the Kodak Theater is an open shopping place with cafes and an elevated area from where you can see the Hollywood Hills. It
is a lovely site and you may be tempted to head to the hills but locals suggest otherwise. “There is nothing to see but the same letters. Go only if you want a larger view of the alphabets,” a local comments and that puts things in perspective. A few meters from Kodak Theater is Grauman’s Chinese Theater that played host to three Oscar Awards and several premieres and ceremonies related to the film business. This theatre is a must-see given its link with history and the forecourt that displays signa-
HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 3, 2011
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HELLO UNCLE OSCAR Grauman’s Chinese Theater was host to three Academy Awards ceremonies (left) ART OF LIVING Getty Center, situated in the Santa Monica Hills, disconnects you from the city of LA (below) GET FRESH Farmers Market has been around since 1934 (bottom)
tures, hand and footprints of motion picture personalities. This experience is more involving than the Walk of Fame as many tourists would like to spend time measuring the feet and hands of some of the stars. On the same street but in the other direction is the Egyptian Theater built by Grauman as well. The theatre, which is not always open, hosted the first ever Hollywood premiere – the film was Robin Hood – in October 1922.
WHAT A RIDE!
Perhaps the only parts of LA that give you an almost up-close experience of Hollywood are some of its studios, most of which are now situated outside the city. Universal Studios, close to Warner Brothers and not too far from Sony Pictures, stands out for the sheer experience given the amusement park it has created around its huge complex. The studio breaks myths on how films are made, be it the way animals are trained, earthquakes are created or streets are flooded. And all of this is done with a real life experience that leaves one amazed and yet feeling silly about just how innocent cinema-goers are fooled. Consider the following. You are sitting in a coach in a subway and then are rocked by an earthquake which results in the roof caving in and an oil tanker coming at you! Imagine the world spinning around you in a dully-lit passage. Try and visualise what it may be like to see an action scene on water right in front of you. Think of what your heart goes through when an inanimate Dracula comes to life in a dark alley just as you are about to pass by. These are just some of the experiences that the studio gives you, other than a short 4-D experience of Shrek. And the huge wooden sets bring London to LA and places the streets of France and New York minutes from each other. A $69 ticket for the day is worth it.
STAR GAZING
TOURISTS OFTEN
MISS ON THE ‘MORE’ THAT LOS ANGELES HAS TO OFFER, LIKE THE FARMERS MARKET ties such as Tom Cruise, Christina Aguilera, Nicolas Cage and David Beckham continue to live in and around Beverly Hills and could drop in at some of these night spots around there and the next door Santa Monica Boulevard. If the wait for these stars is in vain, there are guided tours of their homes and some tourist operators pack in Hollywood crime scenes as well for around $35-40 for a two-hour trip! Sadly, the need for privacy of such stars has meant the creation of high boundary walls and gates. One needs to be in a helicopter to see the grounds and bungalows they live or lived in, or be part of the paparazzi.
What would complete an LA trip is to see the stars – at least one if not more. The two ‘easiest’ ways to spot them is to spend time at Rodeo Drive or at the night clubs in and around the Beverly Hills and Santa Monica Boulevard area. To keep the public at a distance, however, stars are known to slip in to Rodeo Drive without the layers of cosmetics and the positive impact of Photoshop-type technology that makes the ‘real’ them unrecognisable. For those who can’t discern LALA LAND between the real and the unreal look of a star, This is where the chapter normally ends for the night clubs are a better option. those who connect LA with Hollywood and its Staying at the Beverly Hilton gave me a accessories. As a result, tourists often miss on sense of how the rich and famous live. An the ‘more’ that the city has to extremely quiet lifestyle, the offer. LA’s Farmers Market, opulence lies in the architecthe Getty Center and the ture of the large homes with street art shows that come up intricate landscaping, and on the weekends, are all the unrealistically priced worth a visit. The Farmers bars and restaurants (night Market, which goes back to spots usually close at 2 am) 1934, is a small wet market of where service more than fresh vegetables, flowers and often recognises your profruits, candy and fresh nut file. The prices have more to stores beside a line of quick do with the location than salad and bagel outlets. The the quality of food or drinks. A WORLD OF FILMS The globe at the market is where farmers Still you don’t mind that entrance of Universal Studios used to bring their trucks to as locals claim that celebri-
sell their harvests. The space is more organised now and is a good place to pick up fresh food and chocolates. The attached market with cafes and boutiques is worth a visit particularly on a nice sunny day. Unlike many other parts of LA, people are visible here. The Getty Center has more value for those who appreciate art and architecture. The museum’s permanent collection includes pre20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts. What may attract many is the Vincent Van Gogh painting, Irises. The Center, situated on a 110-acre site in the Santa Monica mountain area, quickly disconnects you from the city of LA. The campus takes up around 24 acres of this space and is not just green but architecturally pleasing – a show piece by Richard Meier. Opened in 1997, the structures including the landscaping is said to have cost over $1.2 billion. LA, in a way, is a short-stay city. A visit of three or four days is more than sufficient. It is a good place to make an entry into the US and then drive down the coast to see beach towns and cities. Given its geographical location, it is possible to venture out on a three-day trip covering Las Vegas, Grand Canyon and Barstow for under $300. In short, there is more to do outside LA than within. And if you think there is more to LA, the more enjoyable option is cinema and the telly!
HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 3, 2011
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brunchletters@hindustantimes.com
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PERSONAL AGENDA ACTRESS/TV HOSTESS
MONA SINGH After stealing everyone’s heart as Jassi in Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin in 2003, Mona Singh surprised everyone with her dancing skills by winning the dance show Jhalak Dikhla Jaa in 2006. Her vivacious persona is a perfect fit for all sorts of shows including Jhalak, Shaadi Teen Crore Ki and Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega 4 (currently playing on Sony). Mona also showed her acting skills in 3 Idiots. She’s now looking forward to her forthcoming film Lakshman Rekha with Vinay Pathak One word that describes you best?
Happy.
If a traffic constable hauls you up, what will you do?
The actor that I am, I will pretend to cry. Men can’t bear to see women cry.
Love is... Bliss.
What did you do with your first pay cheque?
I bought a perfume for my mother and took my parents out for dinner.
If you could have chosen your own name, what would you have chosen?
disclosed.
Your first kiss was...
Perfect – just how it is supposed to be.
A place where you would like to be lost for a month?
My own house. I hardly get any time to spend there.
You get high on?
Life. Every single day.
Which superhero would you like to be and why?
I would love to be Superwoman who could fly anywhere she wanted to.
Actually, my real name is not Mona. It’s Jasmeet. I changed it to Mona when I came to Mumbai.
The last time you rode on bus...
Earth’s crowded and chock full of trash. Choose another planet.
Choose: Air India or Indian Railways?
Venus.
If you could have a star perform at your wedding, who would it be and why?
Nobody except for myself. Since it will be my wedding, I’ll be the star.
I really don’t remember. Must have been when I was in college. Indian Railways as a journey by rail is always better. You can at least enjoy the landscape.
What is the weirdest thing that ever went into your mouth? Snake meat that I ate in Singapore.
A tune you can’t get out of your head? The song Dhinka chika from the film Ready. It’s just so catchy.
What makes your day?
The one law you would break if you could get away with it?
What screws it up?
Speeding at night while driving on the beautiful Sea Link.
Share a secret with us…you can trust us, we’ll only print it!
My mother waking me up with a smile and a cup of tea. I don’t let anything bother me.
If you were the last person left on Earth, what would you ?
I would run and look for another planet.
Well, a secret is a secret! Not to be
LIFE IN THE FAST FOOD LANE: CHOOSE YOUR MENU
MY MENU WOULD DEFINITELY INCLUDE DELHI’S FAMOUS ALOO KI TIKKIS AND GOLGAPPAS
— Interviewed by Veenu Singh
THE LAST MOVIE THAT MADE YOU CRY?
YOU ARE LATE FOR WORK AND ALL THE ROADS ARE JAMMED. CHOOSE A MODE OF TRANSPORT: A CYCLE, A HORSE OR A SKATEBOARD. WHY?
DABANGG. I LAUGHED SO MUCH THAT TEARS ROLLED DOWN MY CHEEKS
A SKATEBOARD AS IT WILL BE THE FASTEST
PHOTO: MCT
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HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 3, 2011
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