Brew MAY 2014 by Sameer Bharat Ram

MAY 2014 Rs. 40

The

KALKI KONNECT The real hero STAN ‘THE MAN’ RAGHU RAI The Ace Lensman

Hello all , In our effort to expand our editorial content we have brewed together a combination of exceptional talent and outstanding personalities. We have three legendary people whose talent knows no bounds. Id like to call them crème dela crème . The man who added colour imagination and life to our childhood, the creator of some of the worlds most enduring superheroes, the brainchild of Spiderman, the real hero – Stan Lee, speaks to us about what keeps his clock ticking. From across the globe we have the much loved director, actor and comedian who’s cup overflows wth talent, wit and creativity- Woody Allen, talking about his role in his new movie ‘ fading gigolo’. Photographer Raghu Rai who has spent over four decades charting the changing faces of India, from Mother Teresa to the victims of Bhopal, talks about his life behind the lens. On the cover we are extremely happy to have one of our rising stars, todays face of feminism, the incredibly talented and versatile Kalki Koechin. She talks to us about her work and life in cinema. It is a proud moment to see Indian talent recogonized internationally as we caught up with the Indian pop band Sanam with their promotional song for Spiderman 2. All this and more interesting articles brewed up just for you! Sameer Bharath Ram Editor Brew takes no responsibility for unsolicited photographs or material. ALL PHOTOGRAPHS, UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED ARE USED FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSE ONLY

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CONTRIBUTORS AND ADVISORY BOARD

Kavita Baliga The young American Soprano, Kavita Baliga has sung in concerts around the U.S., Switzerland, Italy and India with repertoire ranging from Opera and Oratorio, Musical Theatre to Indian film. In 2008, Ms. Baliga joined A.R Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory as a faculty member and founded the KMMC Chamber Choir. She is presently developing performance programmes in India.

Thota Tharani He is an Indian film art director and production designer who has worked in Tamil cinema, Telugu cinema, Malayalam cinema and Bollywood. As of 2013, he has won two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards South. His work consists of paintings, murals, paper collages, wooden montages, and installations and so on.

Venket Ram Venket Ram is a leading Indian celebrity & fashion photographer, who has shot principal photography stills for several notable films as well as portfolios. He quit his engineering studies to work with cinematographers for a while, then joined a course in Visual Communication at Loyola College. After that, he worked with photographer Sharad Haksar and in 1993, started his own studio. He recently released the first two editions of his annual calendars in 2011 and 2012 with an overwhelming response.

Dr. M. Lalitha and M. Nandini Internationally acclaimed, award winning Violin Maestros Dr. M. Lalitha and M. Nandini have been widely applauded as the ‘Queens Of Violin’ and have enthralled audiences across the globe. They have been selected as Cultural Ambassadors and dignitaries to the US and UK respectively. They have published books and written numerous articles relating to Music and religion..

Ashok Verghese Is one of the youngest education entrepreneurs who is making a great difference in this field in the country. He is the Director of the Hindustan group of Institutions, again one of the pioneering educational groups in the country. He supports the cause of promoting young talent in art and music.

Mallika Sarabhai Educated as an economist and a business manager, Mallika Sarabhai is one of India’s best known Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancers. She has taken her work and her company Darpana to not only over 90 countries around the world, but also to the farthest parts of India.

Veejay Sai An award-winning writer, editor and a culture critic. He has written and published extensively on Indian classical music, fashion, theatre, food and art, and loves traveling, researching literary and cultural history. He is an editorial consultant with over 40 brands and designers in and outside India and is on the jury for several prestigious awards in the arts across the country.

Neeru Nanda A graduate from Delhi University. Passionate aboutwriting,shefreelancedasafeaturewriter for ten years before switching to publishing. Author of a collection of short stories titled “IF” (Rupa & Co), Neeru is now working on two novels and a series of books for children.

Chitrangada Chakraborty An award-winning writer, editor and a graduate in Mass Communication and video production from St.Xaviers college, started her career as a model in Calcutta and then got involved with theatre and her love for acting made her choose acting as a full time career. Currently is part of two popular hindi plays (Lal Pencil and Colour Blind, both directed by Manav Kaul) in Mumbai. She also is a photographer and has shot several upcoming actors and also known faces like Kalki Koechlin. Kalki’s pictures in the cover story are shot by her.

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The Spectacular Urban Retreat now in OMR.

Cover Story,

Kalki Koechlin

Paintings, people, Places and Perceptions,

Sohan Jakhar SANAM

Stan’The man’

24 36 42

Ace Lensman,

Raghu Rai

STAN ‘THE MAN’ What are you most excited about in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2? I’m excited about every new Spider-Man movie that opens up. And for this one, I’m especially excited, because Andrew Garfield now has that character so well in hand the way he plays him; and the idea of Jamie Foxx playing Electro, and the fact that there are some other super-villains in there also, this is a movie that people are just going to love. Anybody who likes Spider-Man -- and that includes everybody-- is really going to love this movie. What do you think Andrew brings to role of Spider-Man that’s new, and different for his generation? He is so perfect in the role, he’s really the way I envisioned Peter Parker being…and the idea of Jamie Foxx playing Electro-- oh, man I think that’s out of this world Who is Peter Parker to you? Who is the quintessential character?

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He represents the best of everyone. He cares about Gwen Stacy, he cares about his aunt and wants to make a good living so they’ll have enough money. He’s bright, and wishes he could spend more time on his studies but there are so many other things pulling at him. I think anybody would wish lived next door to them, or that his daughter would date. Let’s talk about the casting of Jamie Foxx’s character, as Electro. What are your thoughts about him in the role? Offbeat casting is always good. Jamie Foxx happens to be a great personality, great actor, and I think what he’s going to bring to this role will be sensational. I think he’ll make Electro one of the great villains of the superhero genre. What we can expect from Electro, and who that villain is? You can expect some of the most incredible…scenes you’ve ever seen, because

Both your villains and your heroes are often flawed. Why is that compelling? What is it that led you to create your characters like that? Trying to be realistic. Except for myself, I don’t know anybody who is totally good and perfect. Most people, you spend your life trying to figure them out. You could be married to somebody for years, and you still spend your life trying to figure your mate out. I think it’s fun analyzing people, learning a little more about what makes them tick. And with Spider-Man, in every movie, I think we learn a little bit more about what makes him tick, and what makes the other characters tick. As long as the writing is realistic -- and it may sound funny, because he’s a superhero, who is fictitious -- but the idea is you have to suspend disbelief. You have to accept the fact that this is a young man with a superpower who can swing on a web. But apart the power of electricity. He could destroy a from that, everything about him has to be as real as city, he could destroy a building. Some of the possible. You have to feel you know that guy. And the visual effects are going to be unforgettable. more you feel you know Peter Parker -- and the other characters, his Aunt May, Gwen Stacy, and certainly You have been reinventing Spider-Man for Electro -- the more the story draws you in, because it’s each new generation. What is it about the not just a two-dimensional character on the screen, character that always resonates? but somebody you can relate to. You can imagine you’re witnessing a real-life situation; it just happens There are a number of things. One, he’s just to involve a couple of people who have superpowers. a likeable guy. Besides that, he has a very unique superpower. And visually, he’s always a treat, just to see what he does. He has a great personality, there’s a lot of humor in the movie. And he’s always torn between problems in his personal life and problems as Spider-Man. And that, I think, makes his stories interesting. How is he going to meld those two? And most people in the audience -- while not as extreme as Peter Parker in Spider-Man -- the average person always has little problems. You magnify that problem by a thousand degrees, and you have Peter Parker’s life. 11 | MAY 2014 | THE BREW

to say. I’m a big talker, but I try to hold to myself back when they say, ‘Mr. Lee, what do you think of soand-such?’ I say, ‘Well this is my opinion, but what do you think?’ And that’s the important thing to me. After all these years, I pretty much know what the fans look for, how they feel, what they think, and that’s very important, because in the entertainment business, the more you know of what the fans want and expect, the better a job you do. All of us are fans. I, too, am a fan. I’m sure you’re a fan of something. I want actors to be a certain way. I want stories to be a certain way. So I’m always thinking of that with anything I do. You must not disappoint the fans, ever.

You have a million Twitter followers-that is remarkable!What does that connection with your fans mean to you? There are so many people in this country, I should have more than a million. I’m a little annoyed about that... Without fans, if you’re in the entertainment business, you have nothing. Fans are wonderful. And they make it very difficult for you, because fans can turn on you in a second if you do the wrong thing, or you let them down. When you know how important they are, you spend all your time trying not to do the wrong thing, and not to let them down. So, because of the fans, the product that you create is probably better than it might have been, because you’re so afraid of disappointing them. I love the fans. I go to almost every comic book convention, and I thank them. And they think I’m imparting information to them, but I’m learning a hell of a lot. In our business, whether it’s movies, television, comic books or what, the fans tell you what they think. So when I talk to fans, which I do all the time, I am really wanting to hear what they have to

What’s the biggest thing that you’ve learned about Spider-Man specifically, from your fans? Is there anything that has really surprised you? I think his popularity surprised me. I don’t know if you heard the story of how I came about to do Spider-Man? We had done the Fantastic Four, and maybe also the Hulk. And my publisher said, ‘Hey, why don’t you give me a new superhero? We’re on a roll.’ So I dreamed up Spider-Man, and I came to my publisher, and I said I have a new character for you. His name is SpiderMan, I want him to be a teenager, and he has a lot of personal problems. My publisher said, ‘Stan, that is the worst idea I’ve ever heard.’ He said, ‘First of all, people hate spiders, so you can’t call a hero Spider-Man. Heroes don’t have personal problems, don’t you know what a superhero is? And you want him to be a teenager? A teenager can only be a sidekick.’ So I didn’t have much chance. But a little bit later, we were killing a magazine called Amazing Fantasy, because it wasn’t selling that well. Now when you do the last issue of a magazine, nobody.

cares what you put in it. To get it out of my system, I put Spider-Man in the book, and featured him on the cover.A month and a half later, when the sales figures came in, my publisher came running over to me. ‘Stan! Do you remember that character SpiderMan that we both liked so much? Why don’t you do a series?’ And that’s how it started. I learned another thing: don’t always trust the experts. They can be wrong. My publisher was the expert, and sometimes you have to go with your own feeling. You are constantly reinventing your characters, and especially Spider-Man. But you’re also reinventing yourself. How do you see yourself in the canon of entertainment? I wish were a little younger, I would have tried out for the role of Peter Parker, I would have been sensational. I could have at least played his uncle. I could have played Captain Stacy - I’m going to talk to those casting directors. But I see myself as very lucky. I had written a few stories, and somehow or other people seemed to like them, and they made movies of them. They’re doing a wonderful job, and I get a lot of credit for it, which I don’t deserve, so it’s a pretty good situation.

“I think everybody needs an idol and sometimes you have to go to fiction to find those people”

In conversation with the

Ace Lensman 14 | MAY 2014 | THE BREW

RAGHU RAI

You’ve come to Chennai so many times. Maybe once in 3 months, something like that. Have you shot in Chennai? A little bit. How did you start off with photography? Because when you started, there was very little awareness to people about the art form itself and access to.. Actually my elder brother is a photographer, he’s 10 years older than me and he is still very active. I was staying with my brother. His friends used to come with new cameras, new photographs, discuss photographs and I used to look at them and say,“what a crazy lot”. Somebody has bought a lens, and say ‘acha, you got this, wide angle lens, very good.’ Because at that time, it wwas very difficult to buy lenses and cameras. Or you know, somebody has got 2 photographs, and they’ll say “Arey, great picture you’ve taken.” I used to say “kyayaar, big deal”So one day, One of my brother’s friends’ was going to take pictures in his village, a very good guy, very nice energy. I thought that I would go with him, so that I could just have some fun. While going I asked my brother, why don’t give me a camera, I will also take some pictures. He loaded a film into a small camera and gave it to me. The first picture that I took was of a baby donkey and when I came back and he saw it, he said it was a very good picture. I said yeah? He sent it to the London times. They published the picture in half a page with my name. So it was not a bad idea. This is how I got into Photography. Did you train under someone formally? You see the training must go on, it never ends.

You could have become an independent photographer, why did you choose to be a photojournalist? Basically I wanted to become a musician. My parents didn’t like the idea. My father wanted me to do engineering, which I did. I worked with the government for a year but I didn’t like it. At the time my brother worked as a journalist in the Indian Express. I could see that concerts and dances got covered and my brother got to attend all of these events. So I thought it would be a good idea to join. I thought through photojournalism, you get to see sports, latest performances by the best artists and you get to meet the Prime Minister as well. Did you have any specific interest in photojournalism? Was it art and culture? Anything specific? No, everything. It was a good source of music. Initially it was a lot of fun.

Why did you decide to quit photojournalism out of the blue? You see, photojournalism and documentary photography is all the same. No difference, except in photojournalism you talk about big events and politicians.In daily life, you focus on normal life and make it more meaningful. Everything is valid. Working in a newspaper or magazine, working in a regular job was very boring. Even though I chose my own assignments, it wasn’t enough. When you get paid and have a certain salary coming, there are responsibilities. My manager said why are you leaving? We never stopped you from doing your own thing. I said I want total freedom. Do you have it? He replied saying no. So I asked him to let me go. What about your experience with Mr. C…? He was a great legendary photographer, yet such a simple affectionate man. I met him once in 71-72. At that time I was 5 years old as a photographer. He put forth my name for Magnum photos. I shrank, I was in shock, I didn’t respond. I got a letter from the director of magnum photos in 71 that *** likes your work very much and he proposes that you become part of Magnum photos. I felt so stupid that I didn’t respond. I was with the statesmen newspaper at that time. In 1977, I decided to leave the Statesmen, I was winding up from the paper and I discovered the letter. So I decided to write back. I joined them in 77. We used to meet off and on when he visited india or when I went there. He was always so unassuming. I remember when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister, he went on a trip to France, Egypt and America. Sometimes they used to take journalists and photographers. I travelled with him. The Prime Ministers Of India and France were supposed to go to the Eiffel Tower. We were sent to Eiffel tower an hour before they could arrive. I walked around the Eiffel tower and went to the first floor. I thought that when the Prime Ministers came I would be able to photograph both the car and the tower.But if I were under the 16 | MAY 2014 | THE BREW

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tower,I would not have been able to photograph anybody, except them. I was standing on the first floor and there was security. One security guy came and said, you can’t stand here. I told him that I was from the Prime Minister’s team and came all the way from India so he left. After a while, another guy came and said the same thing. I insisted on staying there. As I stood there, I saw another guy coming towards me. I said, Oh, not another one so I pretended to take pictures. As I kept on pretending, the guy stood there. After a while I got bored and looked up and saw him. I said ‘Oh, it’s you! Why didn’t you say Hello?’ He replied, ‘because you were taking pictures.’ While I was pretending to take pictures, he was waiting for me. He was such a great guy. These kind of people uplift you, they transform you. He came to see my exhibition. He was most unassuming and A great guy. He ensured that some photographer or the other took me for lunch or for other events, he called me home for dinner, he introduced me to people, Just out of the blue. I thought he was a great guy to be doing this. Your most memorable project till date. Any that stand out? Every project, every moment is memorable. I am not into that. When you see a great building, you don’t ask which is the most important brick or door in this building. A building consists of everything put together. I am a product of experiences, big and small and everything matters. These days has opened up with digital and a lot of people are coming in. Is it a double edged sword?

“The training must go on, it never ends”

A lot of churning, a lot of stupidity, a lot of experiments. Its good. Why should you be scared of other people doing strange and odd things or bad things? At least there is churning happening.

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The Sensational

SHARON STONE talks to us about her latest movie, FADING GIGOLO saw Basic Instinct and I was so shocked when I saw how pretty they made me. I thought, ‘Wow! That’s awesome!’ And that’s when I realised I could play hot parts. I didn’t start out being the hot girl. People used to say they couldn’t hire me because I wasn’t hot and wasn’t sexy. And then I learned how to be hot. Until then I was a nerd – the clever girl. But once I learned so well how to be the hot girl I didn’t get to do anything else. Fading Gigolo instills a mature sense of hope of findWhat are your thoughts on your character in Fading ing love at an old age. Do you think you have sucGigolo? ceeded at everything in life? She doesn’t really know that she has a sort of innoI don’t care if I fail because what’s failure? You know cence, a sort of lack of knowing. Dr. Parker doesn’t what? I failed at the biggest things there are in life. I really know about a thing. She doesn’t really know failed in my health, I failed in my marriage, I failed about the art of love or it is in the formal sexuality, in everything and I’ve picked myself up and gone on. but she doesn’t really know about love. She doesn’t I was really lucky not to die, so it feels fantastic to really know about what that really looks like. It’s like a be older and alive and to be playing older and alive flower that hasn’t really bloomed. You know there is a people.” Buddhist expression that says if you are present in the movement then life is infinite and I think that, that Yeah, I was going to ask you about this new stage is such a true concept and contract and I think that in your career with movies like Fading Gigolo and Fiorvante (John Turturro) does that for Dr. Parker, Lovelace a little earlier. but for every woman that he allows to unfold in his That’s the great thing about being an older lady. I’m presence. And in that he takes each of them from coming in, I’m playing a mom, a career woman, I’m where they are to the next phase of understanding of at another phase of life, I can play all kinds of difwhat love can be and by doing that he takes himself ferent parts that I might not have been considered to the next phase of understanding of what love can for before. I feel like another door has opened, that be. He shows everyone and himself that simply by be- there’s another room of possibilities. It’s wonderful ing present the heart opens. Nobody recognized you in Lovelace, and now you’re The movie somewhere deals with a not-so-good lookback to being Sharon Stone in Fading Gigolo! ing guy become an object of desire for many women. It’s funny, because when I play this character everyDo you think that happens in reality? Has it happened body thinks I am playing something closer to myself, to you? but in fact I totally transformed myself to play this I never knew I was hot or could be beautiful until I charecter.I didnt know how to go aroumd looking

like this. It is more fun to continue to look glamorous and closer to that part — obviously I’m not going to go out and look more like that character, Dorothy Boreman (Lovelace), because I don’t want to! But I’m not anything at all like this (Fading Gigolo) part, and I’m not like that part. But, You know, I’m a grown-up lady, I feel certain that I’m going to play adult characters and mothers and ultimately grandmothers. I feel sure that I have gracefully surrendered the things of youth! How do you still manage to be in such great shape? There has to be a secret?

want to fix, you should go right ahead and fix them. I don’t think there is anything wrong with cosmetic surgery at all. I think it’s great. But I don’t think it’s alright to distort yourself. You can’t treat an illness with cosmetic surgery, and that’s why it would be great if there were qualified therapists in plastic surgeons’ offices, and that people would go to a therapeutic meeting before plastic surgery. I think that should be part of the FDA requirement. Did you always take aging so gracefully?

There was a point in my 40s when I went into the bathroom with a bottle of wine, locked the door, and That saying – ‘Dance like nobody is watching’ – I do said, ‘I’m not coming out until I can totally accept the that. I dance like nobody’s watching and I dance hard way that I look right now. I examined my face in the until I sweat and I think that that’s very good. It’s magnifying mirror, and i looked at my body and I good for the mind and the body. I also joined a gym, cried and I cried and I cried. But eventually I moved I used to just do Pilates. I had pilates in my house but on realizing I’m very happy about being a grown I have found that since I’ve hit 50, that I’ve felt that woman. I think there’s a lot of sexuality, and glamour, I’ve needed more muscle tone and I started using and allure, and mystery to being a woman that you more weights. So I joined a gym and I do weights... I just don’t have when you’re young. really like it. 30 Years in the business, and no Plastic Surgery? No facelift? I think we should talk about that. I can’t tell you how many doctors try to sell me a face lift. I’ve even gone as far as having someone talk me into it, but when I went over and looked at pictures of myself, I thought, What are they going to lift? Yes, I have come close — but, frankly, I think that in the art of aging well there’s this sexuality to having those imperfections. It’s sensual. If you have things that you

So, what do you think about dating now? “Men expect that they’ll give you their phone number and you’re going to pursue them. I think that what has happened in the modern dating world is that men expect to be pursued,” she says, laughing, and then laughing some more. “Who wants that kind of man? I want a man who still has his man card.”

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In conversation with the evergreen

WOODY ALLEN

What was your thought about FADING GIGOLO when Turturro first discussed the idea with you? I thought John had come up with an unusual and amusing notion; it had a group of entertaining characters, it had a little taste of romance to it, and there were moments of real human interest.

up this goldmine that seems to be out there.

How according to you is Murrays distinctive Nature? Murray is a nervous hustler Not stupid, but trying to promote a fast buck. A guy with a foolish idea that works a little bit, but in the end is probably doomed to failure because it’s preposterous.” Allen continues: “Murray isn’t a calculating or exploiting guy. He sees it as an opportunity, and his logic is ‘why not?’

Why this movie ( Fading Gigolo)? If John had given me a script where I had to play a policeman or something, I wouldn’t have been able to do it, because I’m not really an actor, but this was something I could handle.

What according to you distinguishes Murray and Fioravante? Fioravante’s always been someone who’s enjoyed the company of women, and as Murray reasons, ‘athletes get paid for what they do and why you shouldn’t?’ When Fioravante shows some reluctance, he does talk him into it, but he talks him into it in good faith, as he thinks it would be silly to pass

Why did u choose to work with another director? I have great respect for John’s work as a director and an actor, and I felt this was a role that was within my range.

Coming to think of it, you are a great actor but haven’t you been approached by other directors? No I have not been approached by other directors. They never have, at any point in my life. I’ve taken almost all the ones that I have been offered. But I don’t get offered things practically at all. I have a limited range. I mean, I wouldn’t be believable as Al Pacino’s brother in ‘The Godfather’ or something, but this character was a guy who had spent his life running a bookstore, which is completely believable for me, and had gotten involved in procuring for John. It seemed fine.

How was it working with Turturro? He did some really delicate things. He liked to improvise and it was fun to try things a couple of different ways. He’s a very underrated actor… and he was always on time, ready to work.

relationship, you have to work at it. But you never hear it about anything you really like, about sailing or going to soccer games. You never say: I have to work at it. You just love it. You can’t work at a relationship; you can’t control it. You have to be lucky and go through your life. If you are not lucky you have to How was it being an actor? be prepared for some degree of suffering. That’s why Knowing what it’s like being a director myself, I most relationships are very difficult and have some tried to be as accommodating as humanly possible degree of pain. People stay together because of inertia, and do every single thing John wanted me to do, be- they don’t have the energy. Because they are frightcause I come from a director’s point of view. I tried ened of being lonely, or they have children. to completely abandon any directorial impulses of mine, or writer impulses or anything, and do as Can a man love two women at the same time? many takes as he wanted, and do them the way he More than two. (Laughs) I think you can. That’s why wanted them, as this is strictly his baby romance is a very difficult and painful thing, a very Can you remember the first big thing you bought yourself when you finally got a good chunk of money? The only thing I ever got – I don’t have a country home, or a boat, anything of significance – the only thing I ever wanted was a car and driver, which I got years ago. Because for many years growing up in Manhattan I would find myself in the streets at two o’clock in the morning coming home from an evening out or something, freezing and unable to get a lift and unable to get a taxi, so the one thing I wanted was that. It’s an enormous luxury for a New Yorker. Enormous. If I had to give up everything in the world, that would be the last thing. But I’ve never cared about anything else.

hard, very complicated thing. You can be with your wife, very happily married, and then you meet some woman and you love her. But you love your wife, too. And you also love that one. Or if she’s met some man and she loves the man and she loves you. And then you meet somebody else and now there are three of you.(Laughs)Why only one person?

You used to star in almost all of your films, but in recent years you’ve been in less and less of them. Why? Only because there is no good part. For years I played the romantic lead and then I couldn’t play it anymore because I got too old. It’s just no fun not playing the guy who gets the girl. You can imagine how frustrating it is when I do these movies with Scarlett Johansson and Naomi Watts and the other guys get them and I am the director. I am that old guy over there You went a long time between marriages. Was it that is the director. I don’t like that. I like to be the one good that you didn’t do it sooner again? that sits opposite them in the restaurant, looks in their A: It’s just a question of the right person. I got mar- eyes and lies to them. So if I can’t do that it’s not much ried the first time when I was very young. I was nine- fun to play in the movies. teen, my wife was seventeen, and we both wanted to get into the world. And we did and she was a wonderful woman. Very talented. A pianist, a philosopher, and she was terrific and we had a very good marriage, but we mutually went in different directions. Then I married Louise, who I was crazy about and am to this day, we’re still very good friends. I had no real interest in getting married, particularly, and then Soon-Yi and I started going out and it seemed liked the right thing to do, and it was the right thing to do. We’ve been very, very happy. We have a child and a house and it was very pleasant. Are you equally pessimistic about love? You are much more dependent on luck than you think. People say if you want to have a good sycacontrol it. You have to be lucky and go through

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24 MAY 2014 THEMUSIC BREW & ART WITH BREW 7 | | APRIL 2014| | WITH CINEMA,

The

BREW COVER STORY

Kalki Koechlin The Kalki Konnect

6 | APRIL 2014 | CINEMA, MUSIC & ART WITH BREW

8 | APRIL 2014 | CINEMA, MUSIC & ART WITH BREW

After studying in London and working for two years in a theater group there, what brought you back? Three years actually and home brought me back, an emotional longing for home. How did your love for theater start? From my school where we has a drama festival every year that I loved being part of, started at age 6 as a sheep in the nativity! What are the most important attributes for being successful in Bollywood? Hard work or Networking? I know nothing about networking, I still don’t know the names of some of the producers in the industry, on the other hand I am a workaholic so if I’m anything to go by hard work. You were born in Pondichery, studied at Ooty and spent some time in Bangalore learning theatre. Why. Why haven’t you tried your hand in South Indian cinema? As I’m not a networker and I prefer things to take a natural course I never went out of my way for a career in film. I got a play in Bombay hence I moved there, I heard about auditions hence I went. Now people are beginning to know I speak Tamil so I read Tamil scripts though nothing striking has come my way. I really do go where life takes me rather than steer a planned course for myself. How has knowing multiple languages helped in acting and more importantly in screen writing? 26 | MAY 2014 | WITH THE BREW

It helps to be culturally mixed, to relate to different people and see the things which alienate them but also the things which are common to all. You have always done unconventional scripts. How do you choose your scripts? I read it once to see if I like it, if I would want to watch such a film. I read it again for the character, selfishly, whether I’m repeating myself, whether there’s an impact the character had on the story, a third time for details, for how real and believe able it is. Keep reading the script till the questions quiet down or I can find satisfactory answers. It is becoming a trend that actors also become screenwriters over a period of time.Why do we witness this shift? I guess because you understand how characters relate, interact when you act, you have to have a back story, a context and that’s the same for screenwriting. You are seen as speaker of women empowerment and you have played strong roles where the girl is subject to the torments of a patriarchal society. What influenced this view? Life as a woman in India. Being part of a theater company yourself what do you want to say to people who view theater as a dying art? Rubbish, theatre is the new 3D!

How is the renumerative scenario pertaining to theater in India as compared to other countries? Terrible. There’s very little funding. But then in most countries it is a struggle especially for fringe and experimental theatre. How has Pondichery and Ooty influenced you? A few things that they have given you that you can never forget? Pondy gave me Tamil, rasam, the ashram, and reading. Ooty gave me boarding school, being independent and wildlife. You have worked in both small budget and big budget films.How does the budget impact on the performance of an artist? It doesn’t really. Except that perhaps you need to be more prepared for a smaller film as time is a constraint, less takes etc. there’s also a lot of waiting around on big budget films, so it’s easier to sit back and be leisurely, and requires a lot of self will and discipline to stay connected with the character. What gets you excited about small independent films? The intensity of workshopping and building a relationship with the other actors before going on set, the process is more intense and fuller when everyone is packed in together, sharing lives for two months. I love sabyasachi, Nimish shah, nishka Lulla, chanderi silks, upasana.

You say fashion and style are different.Where is the divide? Fashion keeps changing, style is personality. You parents are devotees of Shri Aurobindo.Have you found your religion? No B town business can be stressful. What is ur remedy? Switch off phone. Go to mountain. Tell nobody. Some people stay original and find success and others change to the surroundings and find success.You have chosen the first. Has it made life tougher? I wouldn’t know, never tried the other way. I have found life to be tough no matter what, so enjoy the good bits and trudge through the rest. Your favorite films in Hindi? Pyaasa, mirch masala, Jaane bhi do yaaron Your favorite actor? Irfan khan The actress you like the most? Tabu, smitha Patel and most recently Kangana Ranaut The directors you would love to work with? Vishal bharadwaj, Vikram Motwane, Shekar Kapoor, Mira Nair, Dibaker, Anurag, Zoya again, Lars Von triers (yes he’s Danish I know!) 29 | MAY 2014 | THE BREW

These are some pictures I took while I was on set filming a shot called ‘ Severing Ties ‘ with Kalkeshwari Devi and Monica Dogra . The writer director of this piece is Ahmed Roy a film maker from Birmingham UK . The plot in brief is an evening between friends followed by a jealous spat between a couple leading up to rather tragic consequences . My first time with Monica but my 5 th time working with Kalki counting a couple of plays as well . All picture taken on the Nokia Limia 920 . Ofcourse I use an app to get my desired shots . I also prefer B&W shots over colour . I dont really know why but I find them more interesting.

moments captured on the sets of ‘Severing Ties’ by

Gulshan Devaiah

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CLASSICAL GONE CONTEMPORARY Vedanth Bharadwaj on holding on to his roots in his musical journey

How did it all start off?. Does Music run in the family. It all started when I was three. Following the Tam Brahm tradition, my parents put both my brother and me in Carnatic vocal classes. My parents made sure we study music under the best teachers, and when we moved from Bombay to Madras, we were lucky to learn from Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan and Sri Narayana Iyengar. My Mom can sing a little bit, but my Dad cannot sing. All my uncles and aunts from my Mom’s side can sing. So maybe some of it rubbed off onto us from there. But I have to say that my Dad’s gotten better over the years. The “Buddha’s Babies” phase?. Sanjeev and I met at Sarang, the legendary cultural fest at IIT. He had won the first prize for the Western solo competition and I was the second. We decided we must form a band. We started singing in some of the local restaurants in the city and slowly formed a band with Wayne Fernandes on the bass and Denzel Ignatius, a 56 year old drummer. We started playing at many cultural fests in colleges across India and even at the Great Indian Rock Festival. We played a few covers but we played a lot of our own songs. Sanjeev was a good song writer and came up with a lot of catchy tunes. Drummer Ashok Cherian was like a mentor to us, and it was at his gig pad – Orange Pale, we recorded a lot of our songs. Why transition/move from rock band/music to classical music? What motivated you? It was actually classical music to rock. There was a phase where I didn’t enjoy classical music and maybe I hung out with a lot of people who made fun of it. So rock, which was cooler to do at that time, slowly started replacing classical music. We tried bringing in a few elements of classical music in our sound, though. It was only when I felt that I began stagnating, I realised the importance of having a classical background. I started learning western

“Fame and Money is not the driving force.My music is more important than that”

classical music on my guitar and started singing choral music with The John Millns’ Choir. And I met my Guru, Sri Ramamoorthy Rao. And my life changed. I got back to classical music, and this time it was Hindustani classical. What drew you to work on Kabir and other Bhakti movement poets? While studying at Rishi Valley School, we used to sing songs written by many mystic saint poets during the morning assembly. My Guru Sri Ramamoorthy Rao also taught me many songs written by Kabir, Namdev, Mirabai. The lyrics our mystic saint poets have written more than 600 years ago still make sense today. Kabir, of course, is my favourite. His words go straight to my heart.

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I always used to wonder how these songs would sound with a guitar, and when I tried it out I loved the sound! My fire test was my Guru. When I sang Vitthala, an Abhang written by Namdev that has been set to tune by him, he really liked it and encouraged me to go ahead. And that’s how Mati Kahe, my first album was born. Mati Kahe, my first solo album is a compilation of songs written by mystic saint poets from the Bhakti Movement. Till date we have around 5000CDs all over the world, and mostly by word of mouth. The most encouraging part is that people are still buying it and it has appealed to right form the very young to the wise old. About your Guru? I have been mentored by a lot of Gurus. Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan gave me a really strong grounding in Carnatic Classical music and was further strengthened by Sri Narayana Iyengar, a disciple of Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar.My friend Ananth Menon, classmate from Rishi Valley, taught me to play the guitar. Sri Ramamoorthy Rao, who is a student of Pt Bhimsen Joshi and MD Ramanathan, continues to mentor me till today. Under his tutelage, my music really blossomed. He has written and composed over a hundred songs under his pen name Krishnadasa. He has the magical power to make anyone sing, right from two year olds to ninety year olds. Voice exercise is one of the main criteria in his method of teaching. I have been an Ekalavya to Anil Srinivasan, the pianist extraordinaire, who records most of his music in my studio. I soak in so much music by just being around him when he plays the Piano.

Suno Bhai - Tell us about it and your collaboration with Bindhu Malini Suno Bhai – a collection of songs written by Kabir, is my second music album. When I started making it, I wanted to try out something different and called my friend Bindhumalini and asked her if she’d like to collaborate with me, and she readily agreed. We had known each other since college days and would keep jamming often. When I did a concert to release Mati Kahe, I had invited her to sing Naiharva, a song written by Kabir, which wasn’t in the album, and that was the birth of Suno Bhai.We spent many days recording tracks at my then home studio, with Neha my wife, lovingly giving us tea every now and then; collaborating with amazing musicians like Ananth Menon, Darbuka Shiva, BS Purushotham, Navin Iyer, Satyanarayana Ji, Ravi and Aditya Srinivasan. Srivi Kalyan, our talented artist friend, made a wonderful illustration that adorned the CD cover. We got the CD covers made from recycled tetra pack covers.We approached quite a few record labels, but none of them showed any interest in distributing it, so I finally decided to do it myself, like Mati Kahe. Flipkart, oklisten and gumroad have really helped us out in reaching out to people. Other projects and Collaborations? I have been lucky to have had a lot of really wonderful collaborations so far, in my musical journey. Starting with Sanjeev and Buddha’s Babies, to Vaibhava - with Ananth and Balu making commercial music for films, there has been tremendous learning and nurtured friendships.

Collaborated with Anil Srinivasan to make music for several documentaries, dance and theatre produtions and ads. As a sound designer, have recorded Anil with several musicians like Sikkil Guruchran, GJR Krishnan, Chitravina Ravikiran, Rakesh Chaurasia and many more stalwarts. Anil introduced me to Anita Ratnam and I have been collaborating with her for the last five years. Creating a sound design for a dance production is very challenging and Anita Ratnam keeps reinventing the productions every time she performs. I have worked on several theatre productions, and the ones that really stand out are Jujubee and How to skin a Giraffe, two productions by Perch,which I am part of. Have also worked on a play called The Coolie Odyssey, by a South African theatre group, which we performed over five weeks at the Playhouse Theatre Company in Durban, South Africa. Collaborations on stage have been with several great artistes such as BindhuMalini, Ananth Menon, Anil Srinivasan, Gurupriya, Aditya Srinivasan, Krishna Kishor, and several other amazing musicians. Are ing

you looking for commercial

at composfeature films?

Well, after composing music for two feature films, one that did well, and the other didn’t even see the light of the day, I have realised that I am not desperate to become famous or earn a zillion bucks! Fame and money is important, but its not the driving force. My music is more important than that. And I won’t compromise on the quality of the music I make, or do anything that I don’t enjoy working on. So, yes, I am interested in making music for films, as long as it is interesting and creative, like all the other things I do. Future plans? I am becoming a daddy. That’s the biggest thing in my life right now. It’s our first child and both, Neha and I, are very excited and building our baby’s nest! This has inspired me to work on an album of lullabies, so I am collecting folk lullabies from all over the world and hoping to get it out this year. Other than that, music is taking me to Korea, where I am working on a theatre production. There is a lot more travel and interesting collaborations coming up this year that I am very excited about!

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SOHAN JAKHAR Paintings, people, places and perceptions.

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“I like the vibrancy of the street bazaars. Inspiration comes from city life.”

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How did it all start? When did you decide to become a professional artist? I was inclined towards painting/drawing since my childhood. I don’t have any clear idea as to what education I would follow but I was interested in art, advertising and fashion and dreamt for higher education in any of these fields. But as I was living in a small city Sikar in Shekhwati region, these people weren’t aware of all these fields. After 10th it was time to choose a subject stream, my parents told me to opt for science, but I was not interested. Meanwhile I found out, that in my home town one school offered drawing & painting subject as an option in arts stream. I opted for drawing & painting along with two other subjects and somehow I got the consent of my parents. In school, after seeing my interest, our drawing & painting teacher told me to pursue higher education in fine arts from Jaipur. After 12th I got admission at Rajasthan School of Art despite my parent’s hesitation. In arts school, I came to know more about visual arts and I wanted to become a professional artist. 38 | MAY 2014 | THE BREW

Going to art school. How did it shape you? The Rajasthan school of art lacked a true art school environment due to negligance of the concerned authorities (which still continues). The art school did not have enough infrastructures for classes and other activities. Very few well qualified teachers who could guide and nurture young people were posted there. Anyway in art school I developed my skills of drawing, painting, graphics and an artistic vision with the help of some of our best teachers. I was fortunate to have good company of friends. We had a lot of conversations about art and helped each other by sharing ideas & concepts. If you are with a good bunch, you push yourself along. Most memorable of the many shows done? My most memorable show with my first group was at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur. It was a learning experience and I have a lot of fond memories associated with it. I think doing work in the studio and then presenting them in gallery space for viewers is a different kind of ex-

perience. Just after my graduate study with five of my friends we planned this show and exhibited more than 100 works in the biggest gallery of JKK. Before the show I was very anxious of the media, who asked questions about my work. In this show I had done work on current affairs and social issues. The response to our show was very good. Many people visited our exhibition and asked me many relevant/ irrelevant questions about my inspiration, objective. And some people criticized me for my subject matter. Media persons took our interviews and published our artworks in newspapers. We had a great time at the gallery for a week. That show helped me build a lot of confidence as an artist and motivated me to excel in the field.

What inspires you in the subjects you choose to paint? I like the vibrancy of our street bazaars. Our street visuals are full of colors, text, sound and surrounded by visual stimulation, a noisy visual chaos of vendors, hawkers, taxis and brilliant billboards along the streets.I like the way hawkers & taxiwalas decorate and write catchy phrases on their push-carts and taxis, though the vendors/taxiwalas appear nameless, each of them has their own personality and it reflects on their cart/taxis. These vendors, hawkers and taxis dominate the busiest urban landscapes. I am visually documenting the street markets and its people, juxtaposing them with flower motifs that are inspired from painted havelis of Shekhawati. 39 | MAY 2014 | THE BREW

Your work has something very urban about them. Is there anything specific that inspires you? I was born and brought up on a farm near our city , Sikar. So as a child I was not exposed much to either city or rural life. My only companions were my brother, sisters and TV after school time. Through television I learnt about big cities and was attracted towards city life and started dreaming of living in a big city. For higher studies in fine arts I came to Jaipur, that was my first exposure to a city life in a real sense. I had immersed myself in city life. It greatly influenced me as a person and helped in shaping my personality and outlook as an artist. So inspiration for my work comes from city life and I paint with references from urban street scenes with subjects like vendor/ hawkers and taxis. These roadside stalls, carts and taxis are not just an object to be seen but a process wherein social and subjective identities are being formed. The visuals of these stalls/taxis grew out of major cultural and technological transformations that occurred in the last decade, which included the impact of the consumerism, advertising and Bollywood.

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What is it that you are currently working on? I just started a new project with visual of vendors and taxis of my home town with a different approach. I juxtapose the images of vendors on the taxis to form a different metaphor. These vendors and taxis seem to reflect a scenario in a permanent state of transition and moving life.

SANAM AND THEIR DOSE OF SPIDERMAN How did the band begin?-The team? Our band ‘ SANAM’ has a long story that began when Samar & Venky studied together in Muscat some 15 years ago. Being musically inclined from the start, they decided to form a band together, with Sanam on vocals. The band was called ‘Distorted’. I think Venky used to play guitar at the time. Anyway, after that Venky moved to Bangalore with his family, Samar & Sanam moved to Delhi, where they joined a few other bands to keep the music going. Mean while I was in Chennai, playing for my brothers rock band ‘Nerverek’. Through the college cultural scene, I met Venky who was part of a band called ‘Haven’. Venky and I decided to start an alternative rock band together, where Venky would be singing (he is a phenomenal singer by the way). The Chennai based band was called ‘The Previous Band’. I moved to Mumbai shortly after that to pursue my career as a brand manager for Pearl, Zildjian & Evans India, through Furtados. Samar & Sanam moved to Mumbai at the same time to pursue music further. That is when Venky introduced me to Samar & Sanam. They were looking for a drummer & I was looking for musicians to jam with.

We were actually thinking of making music for a friend in the Bollywood industry (Binny Padda). Out of the blue, Samar called me one day and told me to look at the newspaper. There was this ad about an all India contest for bands called ‘Supastars’. The band was called SQS Project at the time. SQS = Samar Quesh (Kesh) Sanam, cause Samar though it would be funny to spell Kesh as Quesh. :-p During the course of the contest, we decided to call Venky for the finals because he was the one who got us all together and we needed a bass guitarist. That is when SQS Project actually formed. This was an unbreakable bond, but was not complete until our 5th member Ben Thomas (our manager) came into our lives 2 years ago. We are now known as ‘SANAM’ (which is much easier for audiences to connect with and Sanam has wonderful meanings in different languages). This is the story behind the “TEAM”. Your albums?-the inspiration Our first album with Times Music is titled ‘SQS Supastars’. The second album with Saregama is called ‘Samar Sanam’ (where we released some older music made by Samar & Sanam before the band formed..

We are all inspired by different artists for different reasons. Lately our biggest inspiration and support has been Ben Thomas. He pushes us in the right direction musically and is also a role model personality we all look up to. How did spiderman happen?. How was the experience? Sanam got a call from Shreyans Jha (Sony Music) who incidentally had a band in Chennai called ‘Null Friction’. He wanted a song to promote Spiderman in India and wanted the song really urgently. Sanam asked for a day at least, to finish the song. Since none of the other band members were available at the time, Sanam sat up all night and to Sony’s surprise, had a song ready for them by the time they woke up! Hehe! Sanam then called us all and gave us this incredible news! We were all literally jumping when we heard the news! However, it was not confirmed yet. So we waited, and waited,

and waited! Finally, once it was all confirmed, we celebrated with our manager Ben Thomas! Samar then sat with Sanam and Manoj Yadav to finalize the lyrics of our new song ‘Main Hoon’. Abhishek Ghatak mixed and masted this track for us. Shooting the video was the most amazing experience for us. The guys at Supari Studios are so comfortable to work with. They brought out the best in us. We had a blast! The most exciting fact was that Sanam’s face resembles Andrew Garfield’s face in the Amazing Spider-Man 2. A perfect fit for a music video.

Any Spiderman fans in the band? We are all Spider-Man fans. We actually own Spider-Man merchandise and action figures. This is so exciting for us.

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Most memorable concerts?

world and live forever. Like any piece of art, it sometimes needs time to bring it to perfection. An independent artist works hard until he/she is completely satisfied with the product. Also, that message or emotion then lives forever through the audience and is the best feeling for any artist. .

The most memorable concert for us all was at VJTI College Mumbai. We had such a blast together and that was the first time we actually saw the power of our own independent music. The entire college knew our songs and was singing along.That concert inspired us to stick together and bring back independent music The future? to India.Our first international gig in Thailand was also a big learning experience for us all. We have a long way to go. Lots of plans, lots of ideas that we want to bring into life. So our plan is to stick together and make history. We What do you think of the independent music will focus more on independent music but will business in India? also take up the challenges of music direction in Bollywood (as all of us compose and produce Bollywood is currently ruling the Indian music music). Sanam Puriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice is unique and messcene. Independent music is hard. Even though merizing, he will continue to sing for Bollywood we have some really talented musicians in movies but will direct his focus towards comthe country, they are hardly given any room to posing some beautiful music for you all. This shine. However, musicians like us are doing all is our story so far, the rest is yet to be written. we can to bring back independent music to India. The basic difference is in the music itself. Music is an art. As music directors, we have to make hundreds of songs in a short period of time, based on a movie scene. In the hurry, somewhere it loses its soul (but is also a very challenging task). Independent music on the other hand is based completely on what we want to put out. A message that can touch audiences all over the

39 | APRIL 2014 | CINEMA, MUSIC & ART WITH BREW

Velammal

Medical College Hospital & Research Institute

Velammal, with its humble beginning in the year 1986 with just 183 students and 13 staff members has become a heavenly abode for 70,000 students and 6000 staff. The illustrious Velammal banner with its vision for excellence in all aspects of education and impeccable scholastic and non scholastic records has branched out widely with 13 Matriculation schools, 7 CBSE Schools, 1 International and Residential School each. Our remarkable transformation within a short span of 27 years has earned us a unique opportunity to feature ourselves in the Guinness Book of World Records 2013 for the highest student strength in an Educational Trust. The incomparable transition, plenteous accolades and burgeoning success personify the visionary with the Midas Touch, the Founder Chairman, Shri M.V. Muthuramalingam. His magical hands have transformed many dreams into reality and many hopes into vision. His resolute dedication, staunch conviction have left no mission or avenue unexplored. Personal loss of losing his father at a young age and no financial back up never deterred him from his chosen goal in life. At the age of 64, he is a self made man maintaining a low profile private life but a highly acclaimed and successful professional career.

“Velammal Village” Madurai – Tuticorin Ring Road, Madurai – 625009 Phone : 0452 2510000