Cr cket t Café !

From being hailed as one of the most fearsome batsmen to now opening his first international café, the Flying Catch Sports Café, in Dubai, Shikhar Dhawan sure is looking at hitting the ball out of the park with his newest venture. With a unique concept where sports meets healthy, nutritious food and delicious taste, the ace cricketer now plans to conquer the culinary world. While fostering a community of sports fans, Shikhar also plans to expand into the cold press juice, healthy snack, and ready-to-mix ingredient markets. He will use the profits from Flying Catch Cafe to support the development of young athletes in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). We caught up with the sports star at the opening of his new cafe and came away impressed. Downto-earth and a charming appeal, we got to explore much of the lesser-known facets of this much celebrated sports personality. Excerpts

You are stepping into the culinary world, so what made you choose Dubai as the location for your rst café? Well, Dubai is the place to be, it’s one of the most popular tourist destinations and a huge margin of that are Indians as well and food resonates with everyone but especially us Indians. And the scope here is huge to tap food lovers from all across the globe. When you deliver right quality of food with ambience, great taste, vibe and service, it will make its own place with food-lovers, especially the healthconscious types who don’t want to compromise on taste. So, yes this is a start and we hope to have many more cafes coming up soon.

The café has very distinct sporty vibes and ambience, how involved have you been with the process in terms of planning the menu, etc… I believe in giving in myself completely to whatever it is I do, be it cricket or now the restaurant business. So I have been involved right from the inception to now and it’s also largely an extension of my personality. That’s why there is tremendous focus on the items on the menu being all healthy and nutritious and yet high on taste.

What lessons from your experiences and your life have you put to use here?

Whatever I learned from cricket about teamwork and all, I have put all of those qualities in my businesses as well. That is helping me a lot. Also lots of spirituality. Because once you learn to vibrate on a certain frequency you can attract what you want… So, I attract things in my life, I don’t chase. So I feel that these things I have manifested in my life, and I just hope they bring happiness to all my patrons, to my partners here, and to all involved. I’m a very process-oriented person, and as a team we make sure that the process is in place! Haar jeet ki baat nahi hoti hai, baat hoti hai jigre ki aur process ki. Because we can only give in our best to the process, rest we have to leave to the Almighty and see how that goes. So, when we were looking at opening this café, the location, the menu, all were part of that process to bring an enjoyable experience for health conscious foodies. So these were things that we worked on intensively to make sure the boxes in the process are ticked.

Throughout your career, how have you not let fear or fame sway you?

I have my parents to thank for that. The learnings I had about respect, being grounded right from my childhood has held me in good stead. Also as I said, spirituality. It’s not like I wasn’t swayed by all the fame and stardom, that phase was there too at my young age. But I believe that I have also got a lot of love and blessings that have kept me on the right path. Even as a child when I dreamt of being a famous cricketer someday, I did want all that fame and love and public adulation, and now that I have it, there’s gratitude and a lot of appreciation for those blessings. I don’t take them for granted. Also I work on those aspects in my life that scare me. So when faced with a challenge, I don’t get scared, I believe in turning those challenges into an opportunity.

Is that how you have dealt with all the highs and the low phases too?

I have a very balanced nature. I have seen the good times, I have seen the bad times, whether personally or professionally! There were times I realised that I was running after some things which weren’t the right ones in the first place. So, I have seen and been through all of that. After passing those phases I understood what I should and should not have done. So, now when anything comes along, the approach is more balanced. If things don’t go your way, I analyse to see where I went wrong perhaps, but not be sad about it. So I analyse it but I keep my vibration quite high. In the end, things work out good. If there’s something that the universe doesn’t want for you, it’s better to trust that process and make peace with it. So that’s the reason you work more on acceptance than expectations. Acceptance is very important. So when I face a problem, I look at it like a situation. I don’t call it a problem, it’s a situation.

with Shikhar Dhawan

Your favorite comfort food?

Aaloo parantha uske upar makkhan, saath mein achaar aur chai.

Any Bollywood plans?

I’ve already done one cameo role in a Bollywood movie baaki kabhi offer aaya toh zaroor.

If there’s a biopic made on your life, would you want to star in it yourself?

I don’t think I should be starring myself in my biopic. I don’t want to. But if there’s a problem and I am offered, then may be, why not!

You’re the crush of so many women across the globe, who’s your crush?

I like Disha Patani!

If not a cricketer, what would you be?

Maybe a businessman because I come from a business family. My brother is a businessman, so I would have supported him in business.

RashmikaMandanna

It’s been only seven years since Rashmika Mandanna made her debut with the Kannada lm Kirik Party. But going by the stardom she has achieved, you’d think she has been around for a long, long time. Add to it the fact that she is only 26 years old and you can only marvel at her boxof ce presence.The Karnataka native has had hit after hit in lms of all languages, be it Kannada,Telugu or Tamil. Before pan-Indian movies became a thing, she starred in Geetha Govindam opposite Vijay Deverakonda.The movie went on to transcend boundaries, becoming one of the most successful movies of recent times. There was a time when she was known as “Karnataka’s Crush”. Her fans soon realised that she didn’t belong to Karnataka alone and dubbed her “Crushmika.” With the success of Pushpa: The Rise, the actress has added another feather to her cap. She made her Hindi debut in Vikas Bahl’s Goodbye (2022), where she is in the august company of Amitabh Bachchan and has impressed everyone with her performance. She plays a blind girl in her recently released Mission Majnu and wowed the critics once more. In the meantime, she notched up another hit in the Tamil lm Varisu down South. She’d next be seen in Animal opposite Ranbir Kapoor. Clearly, things are going swimmingly for her. In an exclusive interview, the actress gives us a glimpse into her journey...

Tell us about your latest release

Varisu. How did it come about?

The film happened just at the right time when I was getting done with all of my prior commitments. I was listening to new scripts; it was the right script that came at the right time. It’s a family film, which I always wanted to do.

What did you like about your character in Varisu?

That she is fiercely headstrong. She is someone who stands up for herself and is supportive and protective of her people.

Have you always been a fan of Vijay?

Recently, I went to my best friend’s wedding and I met a friend whom I’ve known since I was 12. And all we were talking about was how we’d get our dads to get us Vijay sir’s film CDs and how we’d all watch and dance along with him. So I’ve always, always adored sir and finally getting to work with him made me so happy.

Even though the movie was released a while ago, the Pushpa: The Rise craze continues. Did you anticipate this? Till a movie actually releases, you cannot know the outcome of it or how much the audience will love it. But Pushpa was massive and because it was a well written, wellcaptured, well-enacted piece of craft, we are still seeing the craze for it and I can’t be prouder.

What kind of feedback did you receive from the industry after Pushpa? I have received absolute love from all the industries, and the audiences from everywhere. Being called Srivalli everywhere I go and people singing Srivalli every time they see me is an amazing feeling.

What is the one thing you noticed about Allu Arjun during the filming of Pushpa that you remember to date? The man is a perfectionist. He is one of the most hardworking men I’ve met. He will forever be extremely close to my hear because while shooting, I loved him as an actor and during promotions, I started adoring the person he is. He takes extreme care of the people around him.

Pushpa, KGF: Chapter 2, RRR and Kantara—movies from down South are performing extremely well all over India. What are your thoughts about this?

Now with each of these films, we are seeing the lines between the industries blur. I love that all of us are finally becoming one. What a lovely time to be in the Indian film industry.

Do you think the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada film industries are finally getting their due in the North?

It truly depends on the craft now. If the story and the content of the film are good, people will watch it. A lot of the North audience are watching South cinema. Actually they’ve always been watching but now these movies are being celebrated Similarly, the South has always watched Bollywood films, now they are becoming a part of it. So the merger is beautiful.

What is your take on the term “panIndian star”?

I always wanted to learn different languages because I wanted to feel closer to my audiences through my movies and my voice. And the concept of “pan-Indian star” just came along. For me, as long as I can reach the heart of the audience across the globe, I will do it. Even if it means learning many more languages.

You’re only 26 years old but you’ve already achieved such massive success. What has been your learnings?

Patience and kindness go a long way. I have always treated people the way I would want to be treated. I respect others’ time and effort. Also as an actor, I learn something new each day. It’s all because

Ranbir’s extremely loving. I was, of course, nervous when I met him first. But he’s so easygoing that five minutes into the look test we were already comfortable with each other

BIRTHDATE: April 5

BIRTH PLACE: Virajpet, Kodagu district, Karnataka

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Journalism and English Literature from the M. S. Ramaiah College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Bangalore

DEBUT FILM: Kannada lm

Kirik Party (2016)

TELUGU DEBUT: Chalo (2018)

TAMIL DEBUT: Sulthan (2021)

HINDI DEBUT: Goodbye (2022)

FILMFARE AWARDS: BEST ACTRESS CRITICS’ FOR THE TELUGU FILM Geetha Govindam (2018) of the people who I am working with. I feel so good and I am conscious of that with each film. I am becoming a better actor.

Recently, fans caught a glimpse of you and Ranbir Kapoor in Manali for the shooting of Animal. What can you tell us about this film? I am having a blast working on Animal with Ranbir and Sandeep (Reddy Vanga). The boys are the best.

How is it being on set with Ranbir Kapoor?

Ranbir’s extremely loving. I was, of course, nervous when I met him first. But he’s so easygoing that five minutes into the look test and we were already comfortable with each other. Thinking about it, it’s amazing how easy it’s been so far with Ranbir and Sandeep. He’s the only one in the industry who calls me “ma’am,” and I do not like it. I will get him for this one.

How do you deal with fame and the loss of privacy that comes with it? It comes with the job, I tell myself. Now everything about everyone is out there... If you want to be on the screen, you’ll have to be okay with articles written about you. That’s how it is. As long as I make my people smile, even if it’s just some gossip, I truly don’t mind. I am here to entertain my audience. If that’s achieved, then I will be happy.