WEEKLY MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 9, 2012 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times
TALKING MOVIES
New series!
r. e h h g Hi for s . r he ade te fit e ov re m ouri ck, l ers els a fav h lu n sig t lab new Toug e D ee n’s S. str shio size n Fa o a me int al wo re
A pardesi watches Bollywood
What a tease The anatomy of a film trailer
Dark desire
Why dark chocolate makes Abhay Deol feel sexy
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VIR SANGHVI Suit yourself
RAJIV MAKHNI
The future of tech
SEEMA GOSWAMI
The ideal weekend
SANJOY NARAYAN All that jazz
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B R E A K FA S T O F C H A M P I O N S
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by Shreya Sethuraman
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S
hopping is embarrassing when you’re an XL. I would know. Until I went from XL to S, it was rare to find good clothes my size and store attendants never gave me a second look. This brings me to our story, The ‘Tyranny’ of Size S. It could force you to embark on Mission S. We’re all for all shapes and sizes. But speaking from the lighter side, it’s lovely when you’ve been smalled! All hail S!
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Now that we have a brand new edition of BrunchQ (look above), we’re uploading ALL the stories from our previous issue. There will be something for you to catch up on every week on our website. This week, we bring you the cover story, a sizzling interview with actress Sonam Kapoor and actordirector Farhan Akhtar. So after this filling Brunch, log on to... THE BRUNCH POST-ITS: This week, read hindustantimes.com/brunch
LETTER OF THE WEEK!
Perfect weekend read-out
IT WAS a pleasure going to through your cover story in the Travel Special issue which told us vividly about all the dos and don’ts for virgin vacationers like me. The Bhutan travel story also provided a lot of valuable information on venturing out to this notso-explored beautiful destination. Looking forward to more such travel articles. — MUHAMMAD IMRAN, via email Muhammad wins a Flipkart voucher worth `2,500. Congrats!
Pack up your troubles in your old kitbag... The story Fit For A Vacation couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment. I had already planned a trip to Kerala next week and the article was an eye opener. — MIKHIL MOHAN, via email
The best letter gets a Flipkart voucher worth R2,500!! The shopping voucher will reach the winner within seven to 10 working days. In case of any delays, please contact chirag.sharma@hindustantimes.com
Cover Design: PRASHANT CHAUDAHRY
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Starting this week, check out what the Brunch team is up to. The movies we watch, the books we read, the food we eat. This section is the right amount of sugar and spice. Log on!!
BrunchQ’s Sprawling Web
Different Strokes by Aasheesh Sharma. Sports, arts and entertainment as usual
“We can make models do anything” Er, anything at all?
FROM EXCESS TO JUST ‘S’
Something Starry
DREAMY WEEKEND
Monica Dogra, singer-actress It’s Saturday, September 1. Monica Dogra’s had a busy week, so this evening, her plan is to make sangria and guacamole at a friend’s place, attend the Fink gig at Bonobo, and then go for a midnight swim at her friend’s house. “He’s lucky; he has an indoor heated pool. I sound like such a lush, but I’ve been working hard, and I deserve it,” she says. While dashing about, she is also unearthing new music. “At the moment, I’m quite into Hundred Waters. The vocalist of the project has a folk/Celtic quality, much like Bjork’s only airy and sweet.” by Mignonne Dsouza
EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Rachel Lopez, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna Tewari, Yashica Dutt, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain, Shreya Sethuraman, Manit Moorjani
SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
1. Mira Nair-Shashi Tharoor's onion kisses 2. Uncle Chipps 3. Geek jokes 4.#IfMumbai WasGotham 5. Samosas when it rains
by Saudamini Jain
1. Coal 2. Shirish Kunder 3. Grey's Anatomy OD 4. Bad grammar 5. Supermon Clijsters's goodbye
THE POWER WORKOUT PLAYLIST by Manit Moorjani ■ Eye Of The Tiger
Survivor ■ Thunderstruck AC/DC ■ Stupify Disturbed ■ Last Resort Papa Roach ■ Welcome to the Jungle Guns 'N Roses ■ When You Were Young The Killers ■ Coward Of The
County Kenny Rogers ■ Hurricane Bob Dylan
The step-by-step guide to...
...BEING A GOOD BAHU (the TV way)
by Shreya Sethuraman
Keep your pleats in place: Just like Toasty from Saas Bina Sasural Nail the original Gopi-Vahu (Saath Nibhaana Saathiya) expression: You’d look constipated, but will get all the sympathy in the world. Dole out aloo paranthas like Mona (Kya Huaa Tera Vaada): And you could be at par with any Michelin-starred chef. Be a crusader: Move over Anna Hazare. Take inspiration from Anandi (Balika Vadhu) and fight against injustice of every kind! Watch reruns of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi: If you’re anywhere close to Tulsi, the Nobel Prize isn’t far off!
DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh, Shailendra Mirgal
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C OV E R STO RY
Photo courtesy: MANGO
Photo courtesy: BEBE Imaging: MONICA GUPTA
THE 32-26-33 DIET
So you’re a stubborn medium or large, and still want to wear this dress? Here’s how you can
■ Live on peas. Or maybe, love and fresh
Photo courtesy: SISLEY WOMAN (BENETTON)
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air. ■ Pray and fast to get parents with better genes in the next life. ■ Spend 18 hours in the gym, and the rest doing yoga. ■ Meditate to curb hunger pangs. ■ For inspiration, hang out only with girls who are a size small.
SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
Surprise, surprise! Size-S flies off the shelves the fastest. Much of fashion is designed for small, lithe and lean women. Small is beautiful, or so says everyone! by Parul Khanna Tewari
E
VER BEEN witness to the trial-room wars? Now, these aren’t exactly sequels to The Hunger Games, Hollywood’s futuristic take on the pitfalls of consumer culture, but they come close. The arena for these Glamazon gladiators is usually a changing room in a mall. In the red corner is a size small, with a 32-inch bust, 26-inch waist and 33-inch butt, who comes out triumphant, fitting into most clothes. Pitted against her is the medium or large ‘real’ woman, usually with a voluptuous bosom, curvaceous waist and ample hips, who sheepishly vanishes into the trial room with
11 dresses and doesn’t seem to fit well into even one. Egging them on from the sidelines is the entourage: boyfriends/husbands/girlfriends, who either nod their approval or express dismay. So the question is, do the cool brands give preferential treatment to the stick-thin, lean girl and frown upon curvaceous women, who are closer to the traditional Indian body type? Fashion designers and brand heads say a unanimous “yes”. Fashion designer Nachiket Barve says the perception of the ideal beauty has changed: “A curvaceous Sophia Loren is not as celebrated as
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a lean Megan Fox.” marks a shift in what Bollywood, too, is Indian women are fitting reflecting the changed into. Roma Manjarekar, aesthetics. The thin, brand manager for thinner and now vanishSpanish label Mango and ing Katrina Kaif is a far American brand bebe, cry from the slim, yet says, “Even till a few real body of say, a Sridevi years ago, the most popof the past. And that’s ular sizes were Medium HAM, why at the stores, size and Large and now DAVID ABRA er gn fashion desi small (S) sells the fastest. they are Small and Sanjeev Mohanty, MD, Medium. Also, women Benetton India, says Medium sells have come down a size or two.” the fastest in the smaller cities but in The reasons behind the growing the top 10 cities, size S vanishes the tribe of women in the ‘Small’ club fastest from shelves: “Small is the can be traced back to the usual fastest moving size in the fashion forsuspects – fashion magazines ward metros,” he affirms. which perpetuate body myths, fashPriya Sachdev, COO, Kitsch, conion brands that hard-sell clothes curs that sizes Small and Medium and actresses obsessed with vanity go the fastest (referring to sizes 0 to and slimness. 4 as small for many brands). While Popular media across the world is internationally there are blogs and screaming that lithe, toned, tall, thin forums dedicated to petite women – a body that fits into Small and (just like plus-sized women) where Extra Small sizes – is the ideal of they rant about never finding their beauty. “To be part of the bunch, sizes, we didn’t think India would women are now working out more, have a similar story to tell. eating right and taking extra care about the way they look,” says DESI AND ANDROGYNOUS? designer Barve. This seems like a plausible explanaThin and fit are the sartorial equivtion. Look around and you’ll notice alents of status questions like ‘what many girls and women walking car do you have?’ or ‘where do you around marketplaces and malls in live?’ Fashion designer David the tiniest shorts, skimpy tops and Abraham of the team Abraham & showing off skinny legs. Thakore agrees: “India is slowly movTen years ago, women would ing the America way. The rich are harangue fashion designer Rina thin and the poor fat. If you are thin it Dhaka for making really small clothes means you have access to the best fit– only for the lean and lithe. Now that ness and diet.” she has relented, the same lot goads her to make even smaller sizes. This THE BARE BONES The cycle of demand and supply comes full circle with the demand oman w for clothes in small sizes influencL X n a f o sh fa r Diary tion is whethe es qu e ing trends (cuts and styles that th t Bu an ays I like fashion. . Sizes are alw don’t think so brands are churning out). I e. of m l es fu lik nd n io ly a ha d there are on Journalist Rama Vaidyanathan, le don't op issue for me an pe er gg bi r clothes fo shion fa 31, who has always been a size t ha places where W d. te been dona y look like they’ve Medium, feels most European aware of trend e m e ak m is does, however, to fat-fashion e ib brands in India have sizes that cr bs su I yles. ich give me a colours and st are just too little. (American onable etc, wh hi ts fa as ch blogs su behave when ones, which offer bigger sizes, w body types good idea of ho rrtain way. are not that easily available ce pe a as in at ed ed th ok clo lo 0 or a 2 you’re here). “Imagine, me wearing a s of certain If you’re a size om ro al tri to ally go in g to fit me in peplum, belted dresses or go fect. I don't re is g in th e I know no I can stores becaus clingy tops that are flooding e I find things us ca be 21 r ve re there. I like Fo think I’ll ever n’t do stores. I have some flab on my I e. er th me cular kind of wear that’ll fit stomach and come out of to fit into parti ht ig we t se lo bu want to od jeans stores feeling fat,” she rues. into a pair of go it’ll k in th I so clothes. Maybe s, k fashion victim k them beSimilarly, Saima Arora, a 28that’s all. I moc oc Im to be one. Do year-old professional dancer, I’d like to be? be hard for me es th clo e os into th everyone at says only 20 per cent of styles th cause I can’t fit us io lar hi think it’s e Marks lieve not. I just look good on women like her, think places lik I e. m sa e th . wants to look ent are a boon nc Vi who oscillate between a na Ti d an ma tant & Spencer, So Medium and Large. 32, food consul h, ng Si i m sh Ra
“Small-sized women can actually wear styles across the board ”
DRESS TO SUIT YOUR SHAPE Two leading names from the industry (both are champions of fashion for real women – yes, really) give advice on cuts and shapes to navigate size issues
NACHIKET BARVE
Fashion Designer
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DAVID ABRAHAM
Fashion Designer The little black dress. Our take is in washed cotton garbardine with French knot embroidery, inspired by the bandhini of Kutch. Fitted close, it hugs the body and just hits the knee. Best on the small or petite frame.
A pleated bow jacket, worn with a blouson top and shorts: Shorts look most flattering on someone lean. A bigger woman can’t carry off a bias-cut blouson top, which a lean one with a smaller bust can.
S
M This black and white long silk maxi dress has a bare back. It works well on the larger frame, and draws attention to a single feature – your back – while the fabric flows over the hip and thigh.
A velvet, silk, cropped, tie-dye jacket with pleated camisole and shibori draped skirt. The focus is on layering. For someone with an ‘arms’ issue, there is the jacket. The pleats in the blouse hide an abdominal bulge. Take off the belt.
M
L
Good for larger sizes, this shift dress skims the body. The subtle reflection of silver against black cuts away the volume. Worn with a kneelength, fullsleeved jacket in sheer silk organza, this ensemble will flatter most body shapes.
A sunset, ombre sareeinspired draped dress. The pleats are flattering on a larger body. They cover abdominal fat and the chiffon falls easy on the bust and hips. For anyone with ‘arms’ issues, wear a thin knit jacket.
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“Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels ” – Kate Moss, model SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
C OV E R STO RY THE SNOB REPORT
Thirty-year-old petite PR executive Anchal Singhal, who is usually a size Small, is spoilt for choice. Till four years ago, she couldn’t find clothes that fit her. “Even a size Small was loose. My denims hung from my hips,” she says. Today, thanks to the growing obsession with petite sizes, Singhal even gets unheard of 25-inch waist denims in Levi’s. And she is laughing all the way to the trial room. “I make sure I loudly tell the salesperson the size I am,” says Singhal.
THE VISUAL BIAS
Brand heads and fashion designers have no qualms admitting that everything looks good on lean people. And that a size Extra-Small person can actually wear styles across a range of designs. “There is no denying that a certain body looks more beautiful than others. That’s why you would not have a guy with a paunch sell Calvin Klein underwear,” says designer Barve. He asserts that it is easier to dress a woman who is a size Small and that’s why designers and brands get lazy. “To bring out the best of a bigsized woman, a lot of thinking about cuts and fabrics is required. On a small Size, creativity is easy,” he says. “Fashion is about aspirations. That’s why models are the way they are – tall and thin. This “visual bias” of what looks good and thin women carrying off clothes the best is what we are conditioned to believe, adds David Abraham. Pooja Mehra, 24, a size Small chartered accountant, didn’t think much of fashion. Clothes were just something that she wore, until, her friends, family and store attendant began to tell her she was fashion’s favourite child. She is one of the lucky few. At the other end of the fashion compass is lecturer Vineeta Rana, 26, who has always been a size Medium
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WHAT SIZE ARE YOU?
Check for your size from the sample of three brands: Benetton (Italian), Marks & Spencer (UK), Bebe (US). One tip: European sizes are smaller than the American ones. We hope it makes your trip to the store a little less painful
BENETTON
MARKS & SPENCER
BEBE
XS
30-24-31
The brand’s sizes start from Small and go upto Extra Large. They have a range of two sample sizes in each category
S
32-26-33
31-25-35
32-26-35
35.5-26.5-37
M
34-28-35
34-27-37
36-29-39
37.5-28.5-39
L
36-30-36/37 38-31-41 40-33-43 XL 44-37-47
40.5-31.5-42
or large. Rana could never wear clothes off the rack, which made her work extra hard on her fashion sense. “I am scared to go into the trial room with 10 clothes. You come out not buying anything.” That explains her complicated relationship with fashion and a non-existent one with trends. Benetton’s Mohanty has an explanation: “An overweight person wearing a sexy dress will not look good. That imagery will dilute the brand value.”
THE EXCLUSIVE CLUB
Despite all the chatter in forums celebrating curvier women, the future of fashion is getting exclusive, with big women being kept out. Even the ‘curvy and broad’ pin-up Christina
WHERE CAN BIGGER WOMEN GO? Fashion designers in India customise clothes, so all of them reproduce bigger sizes of the clothes they showcase on the ramps for larger women, with the required changes. A tip: It is rumoured that designers (Indian as well as international) who have a lean body or are gay, envision clothes on androgynous shapes. And the ones who are curvier or bigger, make clothes keeping in mind ‘real’ women. Of the brands, Marks & Spencer and Debenhams have smart and trendy options for bigger women. Budget markets such as Sarojini Nagar and parts of Bandra are also great to scour for smart dresses, tops and even bottoms in big sizes. If you find nothing anywhere, then go to your good old neighbourhood tailor and ask him/her to copy a design.
34-25-35.5
distorted “Fashion getssizes. An with bigger erson overweight p ress will yd wearing a sex nd value” on India dilute thOHeANbTYra , MD, Benett
Hendricks from Mad Men went on a diet to resemble her “Hollywood counterparts”. The buzz is that Hendricks was tired of being called curvy, and that it actually meant “fat”. SANJEEV M We wonder if embarrassing trial room moments had anything to do with that. room. And, that’s when I feel like In 10 years, Extra Small and Smhitting the gym.” all sizes will become more popular Plus size is another story (see than Small and Medium, predicts Diary of an XL Woman). Mohanty Mohanty. Even now, not many extends a reason why brands don’t brands make Extra Large or want to be chasing women who are Extra Extra Large.” Benetton doeslarger than a particular size. n’t go beyond Extra Large and their “Almost 90 per cent of consumers XL clothes are a few loose silhoufall under the Extra Small to Large ettes that fit women of all six sizes. brackets and that’s why there is no bebe and Mango have size XL, but need for brands to be chasing the not in dresses. tail (plus-sized women).” This has made fashion fall easy on Contrast this with brands’ efforts thin women. “They all can now look to include women who are going like mannequins,” says size Medium smaller and smaller. “More and more lawyer Sanchita Khanna, 33, in a brands are introducing Extra-Extravoice filled with envy. PR executive Small sizes. We have also come up Anchal Singhal agrees, “I am guided with petite sizes (size 0) for women,” by magazines, fashion shows, catareveals Roma Manjarekar. logues and mannequins. Before I Clothes for women who have busts walk into a store, I have already figand waists smaller than 30 and 24 ured my look from visual clues.” To inches? Doesn’t this make you want that Khanna says, “I take 20 minto spend half your day in the gym utes to figure what will look good on and live on peas? me, then another 20 in the trial parul.khanna@hindustantimes.com
“Skinny girls! They're so compact. You can put ’em in your pocket, feed ’em a snack. Those skinny girls” – Alan O'Day, singer SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK
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India Bana Pardes A Pardesi Watches Bollywood a three-part series PA R T 1
‘Hum Har Jagah Hain, Sweetheart’
In 2012, Hindi cinema subtly and aspirationally reimagined India’s relation to the world by Jonathan Gil Harris
P
ERHAPS THE best line in a Hindi movie this year comes from Dibakar Banerjee’s Shanghai. In the backdrop to an item number celebrating a political plan to raze a slum, evict its inhabitants, and build in its place an International Business Park or IBP, the acronym reappears as the initial letters of the corporate developer’s motto: India Bana Pardes. The phrase doesn’t function now as it would have in the 1990s, when it might conceivably have served as a rabble-rousing Shiv Sainik slogan designed to foment violence against communities deemed nonIndian. In 2012, India Bana Pardes is instead an aspirational ideal. Jai Pragati! is the memorable chant of one of the film’s political satraps – and as Shanghai’s item number makes clear, Pragati is a synonym for Bana Pardes, a process by which Indian cities emulate shining foreign metropolises and foreigners worship at the altar of shining Indian style (the dance routine is performed by a firang starlet in glittering desi garb). The brilliance of Shanghai is how it allows another, more disturbing meaning of India Bana Pardes to puncture the item number’s tinsel vision of development. For the phrase translates not just as “India Becoming Foreign” but also as “India Becoming Strange” or “India Becoming Estranged.” In the stampede to build a shining future, the film suggests, India is becoming increasingly alienated from itself. In this series of three articles, I want to think about how several Hindi blockbuster movies of the last year – Don 2, Agneepath, Rockstar – might each unwittingly shed light on the troubling complexities of India Bana Pardes. These movies are, on the surface, similar to films that I saw when I first came here 10 years ago, as a pardesi jo Indian ban raha tha. Like Company, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, and Dil Chahta Hai (to mention just three immensely popular films from a decade ago), the new blockbusters are genre movies about gangsters, father/son relations, and intercontinental desi romance. But they are also instructively different. In particular, the new crop of films suggests how, during a time of massive economic reconfiguration both here and abroad, Hindi cinema is subtly
reimagining India’s relation to the world. And as a result of this larger global transformation, India is not only Becoming Foreign in ways that Bollywood for the most part celebrates. It is also Becoming Estranged from itself – from its pasts, from its presents, and from more socially just futures than those now being locked into place by the dubious dream of India Shining. In Farhan Akhtar’s Don 2, we find a particularly interesting variation on India Bana Pardes. The film entails a reinvention of both the NRI movie genre and its main exponent, Shah Rukh Khan. From his character in Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) to his many parts in Karan Johar’s romantic films, Shah Rukh Khan has played the archetypal NRI who globe-trots across Switzerland, England, and the United States but whose desi heart beats for home. Perhaps the most illustrative instance is his character Mohan in Ashutosh Gowariker’s film Swades (2004). Mohan has a successful career in the US, but over the course of the film he decides to return permanently to India. In no way is Swades assimilable to the rubric of India Bana Pardes; as its title suggests, the film’s somewhat simplistic nativist lesson is that the NRI’s true home is India. But home is precisely what Don 2 refuses, or estranges. The film is variously subtitled “The Chase Continues” and “The King Is Back” – both of which suggest a continuity of sorts with its prequel Don, subtitled “The Chase Begins Again” and also starring King Khan. Yet if “The King Is Back,” he has returned in a radically different guise from the lovable swadesi that Khan had made his trademark even in the first Don, where he dreamed nostalgically (like Amitabh Bachchan in the original Don of 1976) of Khaike Paan Banaraswala. The new King is not just a physically different Khan, grungy and long-haired with a permanent sneer. He is now King of a different constituency, one that is only tenuously Indian – or Indian in a very different and estranged form. Unlike the prequel, this film moves restlessly across the globe without any sense of India as home. Don 2 is set in France, Thailand, Malaysia, and Switzerland; it features an almost exclusively desi cast, but the
The new genre movies are instructively different
With Don 2, Shah Rukh returned in a radically different guise from the lovable swadesi that the actor had made his trademark even in the first Don SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
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S U P E R S TA R I N D I A : T H E A C T O R A S M E TA P H O R
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge was part of a genre of films that showed NRIs returning to their roots film never sets foot in India or even a surrogate such as the Little India of Kuala Lumpur that we glimpse in the first Don. Or, the film projects an Indian world in which India curiously no longer exists. When we find out in Don 2 that the vice-president of the Deutsch Zentral Bank is Indian, Shah Rukh Khan boastfully quips: “Kyaa karein? Hum har jagah hain, sweetheart.” The line – which drew a loud cheer from the audience when I watched the film – is not just an acknowledgment of the West’s highachieving Indian diaspora. It is symptomatic of a larger, aspirational fantasy that “we” Indians can become whatever we want, wherever we want. A more negative version of the fantasy is legible in Shah Rukh Khan’s other 2011 blockbuster, Ra.One. The film’s evil computergame villain, named for India’s most famous mythological baddie, variously assumes the forms of a Japanese game designer, Arjun DANCE BABY DANCE
A firang starlet’s item number in Shanghai: firangs worship at the altar of shining Indian style?
In Swades, Shah Rukh Khan returns to India to help poor villagers gain access to electrical power
Rampal, and Kareena Kapoor as he moves unstoppably across the globe. Similarly, Shah Rukh Khan in Don 2 can, with the help of computer gimmickry, morph into a dapper tuxedo-wearing Hrithik Roshan after gliding from Malaysia to Switzerland; more importantly, he is able by the film’s end to make himself over as the kingpin of Europe, controlling the production and circulation of its currency. This may be a diabolical power-grab. But it’s one that Don 2 invites its Indian spectators to enjoy. For at root, what the film trades in – and I use that verb deliberately – is a vision of India Bana Pardes modelled on the movements of global capital. According to this vision, Indians are embarked on an inexorable trajectory toward success because, like money, they can be transformed into absolutely anything and everything they wish as they move across international borders. There can be no India in Don 2, then, because in the
In Don 2, Badshah Khan is king of a different constituency, one that is only tenuously Indian
film Indians as much as India have become pardes. According to its IBP vision, everyone is now an NRI, unrooted and constantly on the move as they accumulate bottomless wealth and power. This IBP vision works bilaterally. In the age of that other Indian threeletter acronym beginning with “I” the IPL – Indian money can also transform a Gayle-force Jamaican into a Bangalore Charger, or a Taylor-made New Zealander into a Delhi Daredevil. It can also buy the chart-topping American singer Akon’s voice for Chammak Challo. These are the new NRIs of Shining India (or should we call it Chammak India?). Don’t get me wrong: I love cheering for my fellow Kiwi and Dilliwala Ross Taylor, despite his recent form slump; I adore Chammak Challo, not least because of Akon’s uncanny ability to sing Kaisa sharmana aaja nach ke dikha de in flawless Hindi. But ultimately, like Don’s scheme to take control of European currency, both Taylor’s and Akon’s presence on Indian cricket fields and in Hindi film soundtracks speaks to a fantasy of Indian capital’s global purchasing power. Or, more precisely, it speaks to a fantasy of Indianness as capital, capable of moving imperiously through the world’s blueways of monetary exchange, transforming itself into everything else and transforming everything else into itself. “IBP” here has become global Indian Buying Power.
Don 2 projects a world in which India curiously no longer exists
But what does the seductive IBP fantasy of Don 2 and the IPL leave out? For one, it overlooks the inconvenient truth that the global mobility it dreams of is largely confined to those few Indians and Indian institutions with access to enormous wealth. For another, it disavows the even more inconvenient truth that it rides roughshod over the majority of Indians who are rooted in one location not through choice but through poverty. To the extent that they do migrate, the movements of the poor trace not the shining flows of global capital but the jarring dislocations of economic “development” – as Shanghai shows us so powerfully with its closing scene, when one of the slum inhabitants is enlisted to drive the bulldozer that will demolish his own shack. In Swades, Shah Rukh Khan returns to India to help poor villagers gain access to electrical power. In his new Indian Buying Power avatar, however, he inhabits a world in which the poor – and poor India – no longer exist. Shah Rukh Khan the pardesi can quip that “hum har jagah hain”. But Shah Rukh Khan the swadesi might recognise what Shanghai so powerfully shows: that the fantasy of India Bana Pardes all too easily aims a bulldozer at the vast majority of Indians who are excluded from that global “hum,” and for whom the only available script is “hum kahin nahin hain.”
“Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons ” – Woody Allen SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
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Next week: The Alpha Beta (Agneepath) – The author is Professor of English at George Washington University in Washington DC, USA
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GET YOUR SUIT ON
If you find your suit feels restrictive, it may not be the fit that is to blame – it may be the construction
THE FINGER TEST
Rub the jacket lapel between your fingers. If it’s stiff and unyielding, then it is a fused garment, manufactured at a much lower cost
Photo: STUTTERSTOCK
them know how to cut a suit. In the West, young men will feel no shame in wearing a classic suit, inherited from their fathers and many countries have their own menswear traditions. In Britain, Savile Row still sets the standards. And in Italy, family-run establishments Vir Sanghvi have been turning out quality menswear for the world’s most fashion conscious men for generations. The Italians even reinvented the traditional menswear jacket in the 1980s when Giorgio Armani introduced his unstructured look. Three months ago, I had dinner with Stefano Canali of the eponymous suit HY DO MEN buy suits? Most of brand in Milan. The Canalis us, I suspect, buy them to wear to are old-style Italian men’s office. Many jobs – banking, the outfitters. They started law, higher levels of corporate manout in a village in Lomagement etc – require us to come to work in suits bardy in 1934 and though no matter what the weather is like. And a few of the company now has us are extravagant enough to buy them only for 200 boutiques in over reasons of style: we like dressing up. 100 countries, it is still a What kind of suit you wear usually has somefamily-run business, drivthing to do with the purpose you intend to put it en by the Canalis’ passion to. People who own only one or two suits for forfor maintaining the tradition mal occasions usually don’t care very much about created by their ancestors. the construction of the suit or the fabric used. It Stefano is a third generation is just a costume that they are obliged to wear. Canali and leads the business. Likewise for those who buy suits for a wedding. His brother Paolo is the global marketing They also operate in the realm of costume-wear. and commercial director and his sister The suit will probably be chosen for them by someElisabetta looks after the brand image as globbody else; they may be swayed by the label and al communication director. they won’t worry too much about the fit or the Stefano told me that he worried that in comfort factor. the craze to wear labels, men were forgetThe mainstay of the men’s suit market (especially at the upper ting about the importance of craftsmanship and conend) is the 30-plus buyer who buys many suits because he knows struction. Every Canali suit is still made in Italy at one of he will be placed in situations where he will have to wear them the company’s seven manufacturing operations. The workagain and again: to office, to formal dinners, board meetings etc. ers (many of them women) have worked for Canali for Sadly, the bulk of such buyers do not understand fabric or conyears, and later, when I visited the Canali plant at Sovico struction – strange given that they spend so much money on suits near Milan, I was struck by how much human intervention – and their choices are usually brand-driven. Tell an otherwise there was in the process and by how much pride the worksensible guy that his suit sucks and he will look stunned. The ers took in their jobs. usual response will be “but it is Gucci” or “I bought it from Hugo But Stefano’s real concern has always been with conBoss.” (I choose the brands at random; I’m sure they make some struction. Though most men who wear suits do not realise good suits.) this, there are two distinct methods of making jackets. The Some of this brand-slavery probably derives from the fact that first is called fusing. This is an industrial process by which we are the first generation of Indians to be exposed to such an the body of the coat, including the outer fabric, the padding array of men’s clothing labels. Our parents’ generation either had and the lining are all glued together. The second is cansuits made for them by the tailor down the road or picked them vas basting in which the inside of the jacket (the materiup on the odd trip abroad. Consequently, we have no tradition of al between the fabric and the lining which gives the coat understanding western menswear. And while Indian designers its shape) is made from what the trade calls ‘canvas’ but can be brilliant and imaginative with bridal couture, very few of is usually a mixture of horse or camel hair and fabric.
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JOB OF THE HAND
Visiting the Canali plant at Sovico near Milan, I was struck by how much human intervention there was in the process SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
rude fashion
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The tailoring tradition relies on canvas – they would take you out and shoot you on Savile Row if you suggested making a fused jacket – because it makes for a softer construction and allows the jacket to move with the body. The more industrial tradition of cheaper ready-to-wear is based on fusing, which looks fine when you first buy the suit but which begins to make the jacket feel stiff and uncomfortable as time goes on. If you have a jacket in which the fabric has bubbled after dry cleaning, it means that it is fused and that the gum has begun to give way. (That’s why it’s never a good idea to dryclean a fused jacket too often). Because a canvas basting process is three or four times the cost of industrial-style fusing, only a few readymade brands bother with it, among them Zegna, Brioni, Kiton and Canali. The others reckon – probably accurately – that most guys don’t know the difference, so why bother to spend the extra bucks? Stefano says that the Canalis take a contrary view. Of course a suit is about looking good. But it is also about feeling good. It isn’t enough to seem well-dressed. You must feel so comfortable in the suit that it becomes a second skin not a suit of armour. Why is it, I asked Stefano, that brands that cost as much as – if not more than – Canali don’t bother with canvas basting? Surely they can afford some craftsmanship considering the fancy prices that they charge? He shrugged, unwilling to criticise his rivals. But there is a lesson in this for consumers. If you find your suit is restrictive and uncomfortable, it may not be the fit that is to blame – in may be the construction. Stefano suggests a simple test. The next time you consider buying a suit, take the lapel of the jacket between your fingers and rub it. If you can feel the layers of fabric rustle, then you are holding a canvas-constructed garment. If it seems stiff and unyielding, then it is a fused garment, manufactured at a much lower cost. If you are being asked to pay large sums of money for it, then you are being ripped off.
THE FAMILY BUSINESS
Stefano’s brother Paolo (above) is the global marketing and commercial director and his sister Elisabetta (below), the global communication director of Canali
ONE STEP FOR THE LEGACY
Stefano is a third generation Canali and leads the business with a passion for maintaining the tradition created by their ancestors So it is with the label. If it says “Designed in Italy”, it might well be “Made in Bangladesh”. Only a handful of brands still insist on making all their clothes in Italy, using traditional craftsmanship. But as the Canalis readily concede, they can’t guarantee a perfect fit. After all, each individual has a slightly different frame. None of us is a perfect 48 or 52. All of us differ slightly from regulation sizes. I buy my suits in Delhi because most global brands employ trained tailors who will alter them to the customer’s specifications. This is much more difficult to do abroad and they often charge huge amounts for even the simplest alteration. There is, however, another option. Made to Measure. Made to Measure is emphatically not bespoke. A bespoke suit is cut from a pattern drawn especially for you. A Made to Measure suit takes an existing block (say 52R) and then adjusts the cut to suit your frame. Do your shoulders stoop? Is one arm longer than the other? Is your stomach a little too ample? Are you slightly hunched? If you order a Made to Measure suit, all this can be taken into account and the finished product should fit better on your frame. Plus you can choose the fabric yourself and ask for any little foible you like. (Working cuffs on the sleeves, two pockets at the back, etc.) Most global brands now offer a Made to Measure service. The Canali version is better than some because you can be measured in Delhi, London or Hong Kong but the suit will still be made in Italy and delivered to you in India. It costs a little more than readymade, but bizarrely it’s still cheaper than some of the readymade fused suits I see on sale at such malls as Delhi’s Emporio. How does the suit turn out? Canali is making one for me for the next season of Custom Made so I’ll get to find out when it finally arrives in Delhi. And so, I guess, will you!
While Indian designers can be brilliant and imaginative with bridal couture, very few know how to cut a suit
HAND ME DOWN PLEASE
In the West, young men will feel no shame in wearing a classic suit, inherited from their fathers
SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
LONDON DREAMS
Canali just set up a new store on Bond Street, London, their largest boutique in the world
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SHOWCASING THE FUTURE OF TECH
An all-youcan-feast electronic show, IFA 2012 was a blast into the future
Rajiv Makhni
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FA 2012 exploded this year. From a fairly sedate consumer electronic show, this European event has now become a true mid-year showcase for the world’s best companies to come out and gloat over who is about to release the next big thing. Three trends were clear. The first was the influence of Microsoft Windows 8 and how it was going to spawn a whole new generation of devices – Hybrids, Tablets and All-in-Ones. The second was that 4K TVs (four times the resolution of our current 1080p HD) are the next leap ahead for displays and TVs. And the third was a mixed trend – how the mobile operating system was enabling fantastic new phones and also breaking boundaries and moving on to other device categories like an Android-based camera and TV. IFA showcased our tech future. Here’s some of the best of its 2012 edition.
SIZE WISE
techilicious
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Dell XPS One 27: It’s big, it’s beautiful and it does much more than ever before. It can lie down totally flat and become a giant Tablet-like screen and has good specs
AT YOUR BECK AND CALL
Sony VAIO Tap 20: Is it a 20-inch Tablet or a fantastic PC? Well, you decide. This one lays down totally flat at your command and comes with a 1TB HDD too LIGHT AS A FEATHER
Acer V5: It’s super thin and ridiculously light, has full touchscreen capabilities and comes with Windows 8 specs too
IN SOLIDARITY
Samsung ATIV Tab: Use with ATIV S phone
SMILE, YOU’RE ON CAMERA
Samsung Galaxy camera: Take a good camera, throw in some great optics, give it a fantastic screen and then power it up with Android and you’ll get the world to sit up and take notice IN A HANDSFREE WORLD
Lenovo Ideacentre B345: This all-in-one can do things that are pure magic – like scroll, turn a page, play games, turn volume up and down with just gestures in the air
FIRST IN LINE
Samsung ATIV S: Nokia and HTC were to come out with the first Windows 8 phones but Samsung beat them to it, plus they also threw in an ATIV Tablet GETTING PRICEY
LG 85-inch UDTV: It has 3D, 4K resolution and it has the looks to die for. If only it didn’t cost the earth, sun and moon
FRONTRUNNER
Panasonic TX-L60ET5: While Panasonic also came out with a 145-inch TV and a 103-inch glassless 3D TV, this display made the most sense as it’s 3D with passive glasses SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
IN THE EYES OF THE VIEWER
Sony XBR 84X900 4K TV: This is a great showcase of your future TV, with four times the HD resolution, great looks, super thin and a fantastic contrast panel Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, CellGuru and Newsnet 3.Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com /RajivMakhni
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If you listen to Keith Jarrett’s Sleeper or Jan Garbarek’s Witchi-Tai-To, it could change your views on jazz. Forever
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Sanjoy Narayan
download central
THE SOUND OF PASSION
HE FIRST time I heard some jazz and instantly liked it was when at the home of a much older friend, I heard an album called Witchi-Tai-To. The year was 1976 or ’77, I think, and I was in Calcutta, a city where the jazz scene was still vibrant with – besides an annual jazz festival and quite a large number of aficionados of the genre – several people, like my friend, who had great collections of jazz albums that were from off the beaten track. Witchi-Tai-To was an album from the Jan Garbarek-Bobo Stenson Quartet, a Scandinavian jazz band with Garbarek on tenor and soprano saxophone, Stenson on the piano, Jon Christensen on drums and Palle Danielsson on bass. I was in my teens and weaned, till then, on THE JUKEBOX steady doses of hard rock and pop and was just about getting into psychedelic music – a bit of here are very few soul, jazz and R&B singers Jefferson Airplane, some Quicksilver Messenger who come anywhere close to how the late Service, a bit of The Grateful Dead. I’d never Nina Simone used to perform on stage. She engaged the audience, talking with them, talkheard anything like Witchi-Tai-To. The intering to them and incorporated those interacplay of the sax and piano, the deep throbbing tions into the songs she sang. She died in 2003 bass seemingly with a mind of its own, the drum at the age of 70 and, although you can listen to several live albums solos… I hadn’t heard anything like that before. as well as studio recorded ones I re-heard it recently on the headphones: by Simone, there’s nothing that Garbarek’s astonishingly melodic sax and the compares with seeing her live quicksilver, form-changing nature of Stenson’s on a stage. Check out Simone’s brilliant performance at the piano still makes it a mind-blowing experience. Festival Jazz di Antibes in Witchi-Tai-To was my real entry into the world 1969 on YouTube – the of jazz. Then, a year or two later, Bobo Stenson eight-minute plus song, Four Women (link in the visited Calcutta with his band, Rena Rama, web version of DC). I which also had Palle Danielsson, and I got don’t have words to to go to the gig and see them in the flesh. describe it. A few years later, another friend (also
FIRST CUT’S THE DEEPEST
I discovered jazz with a 12-minute long track, De Drums, on Keith Jarrett’s (above) album, Fort Yawuh
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WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
Sleeper (left), featuring Jarrett and Jan Garbarek (above), is the recording of a live concert that was held 33 years ago in Tokyo
older and wiser than me) sent me a couple of jazz albums from the States. One of them was the 1973 album, Fort Yawuh by Keith Jarrett, the American pianist and composer who has a classical music background but is a jazz musician. That album was an impetus for yet another digression into jazz, from the rock highway that I was on. Fort Yawuh had long tracks. One of them, De Drums was percussion based. It featured Paul Motian and Danny Johnson and was 12 minutes long and became my favourite track on Fort Yawuh. I had discovered jazz. Later, I delved into more of Jarrett’s music and albums – his solo live album, The Köln Concert, Bop-Be on which he plays with roughly the same line-up as Fort Yawuh and Facing You, another solo piano album. Jarrett has a versatile repertoire, perhaps because of his training in classical music and, I read, an obsession for demanding that his audience remains absolutely silent. He’s been known to walk off stage if he hears anyone whisper and, I don’t know whether this is apocryphal, but at some venues cough drops are dispensed to the audience so that people don’t cough and disturb the maestro when he’s playing. A few weeks ago, I discovered (or rather everyone discovered) a gem. It was the release by ECM, a venerable jazz label, of an unreleased live concert featuring Keith Jarrett playing in Tokyo in 1979. The album, Sleeper, features Jarrett’s European Quartet band and who do you think that comprises? Well, apart from Jarrett, there is Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen! It’s a dream combo really and brings together four of the finest exponents of jazz. The album is steeped in energy and the dynamic interaction between Jarrett and Garbarek on the one hand and the rhythm combination that Danielsson and Christensen provide makes it an experience that is unforgettable. I am seriously puzzled as to why this recording lay unreleased for 33 years. Sleeper is a two-disc album, with three tracks on one and four on the other. The tunes are deliciously long, with one of them, Oasis, running into nearly half an hour. If you’re a jazz fan and haven’t heard it, there is no excuse for you not to get it. And, if you don’t care for jazz, and are wondering what this guy is doing writing an entire column about that genre, here’s the thing: one listen to Jarrett’s Sleeper or for that matter to Jan Garbarek’s Witchi-Tai-To could change your views on jazz. Forever. To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go to http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/download-central, follow argus48 on Twitter
SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
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EAT, PLAY, L
That’s my idea of a perfect weekend; what’s yours?
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Photos: THINKSTOCK
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Seema Goswami BREAK TIME
There are perhaps as many perfect weekend scenarios as there are people ing one another about how wonderful it had been to enjoy the great outdoors, we got back into the car and drove back another couple of hours, being jolted and jostled all the way. I have to admit that the other members of my party were delighted with the excursion. I was the only one longing to get back home, get under the shower, wash away the sweat and sand, climb into my pyjamas, and hit the couch for a bit of mindless television viewing before the workday week began again. But then, I guess everyone has their own ideas of a perfect weekend. Young parents dream about dumping their two under four with the grandparents for a couple of days and taking off for a romantic getaway far away from dirty nappies and night-time feeds. Grandparents long for weekends when the snotty-faced mites are deposited on their doorsteps. House-bound homemakers look forward to a night out on the tiles with their better halves. Harried careerists want nothing more than just to sleep, sleep, sleep away the weekend, catching up on a week-long deficit. There are perhaps as many perfect weekend scenarios as there are people. There are some who like to party hard right into the early hours of the morning; sleep off the hangover and head out to a late boozy lunch. There are others who want to get up early enough to take a walk in the park before breakfast. There are some who want to take off for a scenic spot with their loved ones. And then, there are those who don’t even make it past the front door. Speaking for myself, I like to ease myself into the weekend with a late-night movie on Friday (dinner is, of course, industrial quantities of popcorn and Diet Coke). Saturdays are for girlie lunches, with lots of white wine, loads of gossip and the odd bitchy outbreak, and dinners are at home with friends with everyone pitching in behind the stove. Sundays are for large, lavish brunches – either at home or a favourite restaurant – which last late into the afternoon and are followed by a long siesta. Sunday evenings are a time to recuperate for the week ahead; so it’s simple ghar ka khana with a good book or a DVD box-set to provide entertainment. That’s pretty much an ideal weekend as far as I am concerned. My weekends from hell involve driving miles and miles to get to a place that isn’t even worth the fuel cost; and then spending a nano-second there before having to head back. If I want to spend time at a beautiful resort over the weekend, I’m going to save both energy and time by flying not driving, thank you very much. Other no-nos are wasting entire evenings at large parties, trying to make small talk with people I’ll never see again in my life. When it comes to weekends, I like to keep it as simple as possible, involving only family and close friends, and lots of downtime. Which brings me back to my original question: what is your idea of a perfect weekend? Tweet replies to my Twitter handle please!
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MY IDEAL WEEKEND
Saturdays are for girlie lunches, with lots of wine, Sundays for large lavish brunches, followed by a long siesta and I end the day with a good book or DVD box set
O, IT IS Sunday morning. And you’re sitting at the breakfast table, maybe taking a desultory look at the papers as you sip your tea or coffee. It’s a nice feeling isn’t it, not to have to worry about getting dressed and heading out to work? To be able to just take your time and enjoy the morning. I know, it seems rude to interrupt your reverie, to intrude into your leisure, but would you mind terribly if I asked you a question? Nothing complicated, I promise. It’s as simple as it gets. What is your idea of a perfect weekend? It’s a question that I posed every week to one hapless celebrity or another when I edited a supplement called Weekend in a previous incarnation. But it’s not nostalgia for an earlier life that has brought on my current interrogative mood. I only ask because I recently endured a weekend from hell – in the company of friends who, to be fair to them, were only trying to show me a good time. Only it didn’t seem like that to me. I had to drag myself out of bed at some unearthly hour, get dressed while it was still dark outside, then drive for what seemed like forever along potholed roads which rattled bones that I didn’t know existed, and then, a hair-raising speedboat ride later, arrive at a pebbly, thoroughly depressing stretch of sand they rather optimistically designated as the ‘beach’. There was some desultory attempt at swimming; there were some token efforts to get the kids to give up on their iPods and enjoy the sound of crashing waves; there may even have been the odd singalong. But quite honestly, I was too exhausted to care. All I wanted was to curl up and go back to sleep in a shady corner. But no, there was still the small matter of the picnic basket to negotiate. So, we spread out a large blanket, opened up the hampers and obediently cooed over their contents. As we chomped on our sandwiches and drank wine that turned lukewarm in minutes, the humidity turned my hair into a crinkly mess, sweat ran down my face and the sand got everywhere. Then, after assur-
Weekends from hell involve driving miles to get to a place that isn’t worth it
SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
seema_ht@rediffmail.com. Follow Seema on Twitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami
WELLNESS
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MIND BODY SOUL
SHIKHA SHARMA
Photos: THINKSTOCK
RICH IN IRON
Quinoa (left) is high on protein, and a good source of iron and copper amount of amino acids. It is a good source of iron as well. We know iron is essential for the formation of haemoglobin in blood to prevent anaemia. It also is a rich source of Vitamin B1. All forms of Vitamin B are absolutely necessary for a healthy nervous system.
BUCKWHEAT
GRAINS OF TRUTH
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HERE ARE some grains that are extremely rich in nutrition and great for the body but have been forgotten or sidelined today. Here’s a list of grains that you must incorporate in your diet now.
RAGI One of the staple foods for many villages across India, ragi is one of the more nutritious grains. Slowly as villages started transforming into cities, people could eat only what was available there and many nutritious grains were soon forgotten. Ragi is very rich in calcium, and till today in the southern parts of India, it is used by mothers for preparing porridge for babies. It can also be made into roti, or dalia with gur (jaggery) for children.
JOWAR Also known as sorghum, jowar is a rich source of Vitamin B complex. Some varieties of jowar contain beta carotene which can be converted to Vitamin A by the body. It also has small amounts of Vitamin D, E and K. Jowar can be eaten mixed in flour to
make rotis. You can also eat it in the form of khichdi with other grains mixed with it.
BAJRA It is a very popular grain in Rajasthan. Bajra is an ancient grain, which has been in use for centuries. It is high in proteins with a respectable
THE BETTER GRAIN
An old grain, buckwheat has many superior qualities. It has eight amino acids while wheat only has three. It is also rich in magnesium and manganese. Magnesium is particularly important for its beneficial effect on blood vessels. The salts help to improve blood circulation and decrease high blood pressure. It helps in maintaining the water balance in the body which is essential for reducing migraine and heart disease.
QUINOA Quinoa has a special place in South America and for good reason. It contains all kinds of amino acids and is rich in protein. It is a good source of iron, copper and phosphorus.
BARLEY Not too many people eat it as much as they should. It is available as coarse
Jowar (below), also known as sorghum, is a rich source of Vitamin B complex. Barley (right) is good for tackling diabetes as it has low glycemic index and is a nourishing food for children
HIGH ON AMINO ACID
Buckwheat (above) is rich in amino acids and manages blood pressure barley (original form), hulled barley (barley pearls) and barley sattu (mixture of ground pulses and cereals). Barley has more fibre than oats, both soluble and insoluble. It is also rich in antioxidants. Barley is excellent to tackle diabetes because it has a very low glycemic index. It is also high in protein, making it a nourishing food for children. RAJGIRA (Amaranth seed) It is a kind of food that is eaten during festivals and while fasting. Rajgira has many health benefits – it is a good source of the amino acid lysine, and is rich in iron, calcium and magnesium. It helps in reducing cholesterol and is rich in potassium and Vitamins A and C. You can eat rajgira in the form of porridge mixed with other grains, or as rotis mixed with wheat. ask@drshikha.com
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REEL WORLD
What A Tease!
Four months to a movie’s release...
A 60-to-90-second teaser is released, which offers a tantalising taste of the film
It’s not just who’s in your film or who’s directed it. A movie’s success now has as much to do with how you treat your trailer by Aparna Pednekar
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N FRIDAY, May 11, this year, Yash Raj Films’ Ishaqzaade hit theatres and promptly sprinted to the bank with a R16 crore weekend kitty. Habib Faisal’s tale of star-crossed lovers starring debutant Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra was a superhit even as it received mixed reviews. But even before the film’s first scene, Ishaqzaade gave viewers something extra – a 1.31-second first-look at the upcoming Ek Tha Tiger (ETT) that went on to become a hit in cyberspace. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap tweeted, “Ek Tha Tiger’s trailer is super awesome... very slick and very intriguing... jaldi dikhao sir.” Then, on the following Friday, the teaser popped up on screens bang in the midst of Arjun and Parineeti’s gunshots and kisses. Wrapped in a dusty shawl, Salman Khan fired guns, leapt off roofs, ratted down cobblestone streets in wooden crates and signed off with his silhouette against the Istanbul skyline. The response was unanimously overwhelming. It almost seemed like Ishaqzaade was attached to the ETT trailer instead of the other way around.
the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). With a debut like that, did it need a kick-ass trailer after all? “There’s no second guessing its impact,” admits Balki. “A trailer is the most important marketing tool a film can have.” That explains why trailers now have independent clout in the publicity machinery of a film, often meriting stand alone-events and brand associations with the film or its cast. English Vinglish’s full-length trailer was unveiled at a special media event in Mumbai on Sridevi’s birthday, August 13.
TRAILING TRAILERS
EK THA TIGER Ishaqzaade gave viewers something extra – a 1.31 second first-look at Ek Tha Tiger
PEEK A MOVIE
Fast forward to August 15, Ek ZNMD Tha Tiger opened to massive The trailer for success. But before Kabir Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara highlighted Khan’s kitschy spy romance the film’s key could smash the R200 crore advent of multiplexes elements ceiling, it had to share a tiny and the back-to-back portion of the spotlight with releases of several films another teaser – an abrupt montage all vying for play-out in thefor Yash Chopra’s untitled directoriatres,” says Rafiq Gangjee, marketal comeback that comes out this ing head for Yash Raj Films. Diwali. The Shah Rukh KhanThe strategy is not just for film Katrina Kaif-Anushka Sharma teasproduction and distribution beheer managed, in its own little way, to moths. An exciting trailer will upstage the biggest theatrical arouse curiosity even if it’s attached blitzkrieg of the year. The impact to a small film. Case in point, the was instantaneous. teaser of English Vinglish, the trilingual film touted as Sridevi’s Picking where and when to show comeback. The promo slipped into off the first look of a new film is the theatres during Ferrari Ki Sawari, smartest new move in movie marand featured Sridevi as an Englishketing. “This is something that has challenged housewife, reading out really come into being with the SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
SON OF SARDAR A sneak peek of Ajay Devgn’s Son of Sardar in a darkened theatre is worth the money
the film’s censor certificate. “At that time, FKS was the only film that our distributor, Eros, was releasing,” recalls English Vinglish producer R Balki, who was responsible for the teaser concept. “Even if it was a small film, it was appropriate.” The teaser also released online simultaneously and garnered one million hits in seven days on YouTube. The film then tied up with PVR, its promos popping up during screenings of Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi and Ek Tha Tiger, while the film itself readied for a gala premiere at
Devika Shroff, marketing head for Excel Entertainment, stresses the importance of a trailer strategy. “Trailer launches have been proven to be quite effective,” she says explaining how the press is invited to view the trailer and gets a brief Q&A with the big names, making the launch an event in itself. Trailers are especially crucial to create the right first impression for a smaller release. Two years ago, actor-director Aamir Bashir’s film on Kashmir, Harud, was selected for a world premiere at TIFF. As soon as the film was selected, producer Rucha Pathak sent out a trailer on their website so film buffs, sales agents and critics worldwide could get a taste of what the film was about. Shroff explains the typical marketing rollout for a film: “A 60-to-90-second teaser is released four months prior to the film’s release. This is followed by a two-and-a-halfminute trailer three months before the film hits theatres. The music is usually released six weeks before release and press interactions, live events and brand tie-ups are put into place two weeks before D-day.” Attaching a trailer to a film helps track how many people have seen it. But trailers also release independently, filling up the Next Change slot that all theatre-owners have. She recalls how the trailer for Excel’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara played a major role in promoting the film. “We wanted to establish the fact that it’s a film about three friends on a road trip,” she says.
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facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch Three months in... A two-and-a-halfminute trailer comes out. The film’s music is released six weeks prior to the big day
Two weeks before D-day...
Press interactions, live events and brand tieups are put into place. It’s action time!
“We wanted the audience to take away the following elements: friends, holiday, Spain, adventure.” These were deliberately put in through scenes, dialogue and accompanying text.
FRESH CUTS
As the industry wakes up to HARUD After Harud was the financial and creative selected for a world importance of a good premiere at TIFF, a teaser or trailer, a parallel trailer was created industry focused solely on on its website Dobara, Don 2 and cutting, editing and curating Aamir Khan’s next, Talaash. He trailers has mushroomed. says it takes anywhere between Producers have upped trailer budgthree to four weeks to perfect a ets from R4 lakh to R5 lakh a couple promo film about two minutes long. of years ago to the vicinity of R25 lakh today. The first look of a film is THEATRE OR TWITTER? no longer a matter of some in-house All filmmakers acknowledge that it splicing song and dance vignettes. makes good business sense to It’s treated as a film in its own right, exploit theatrical releases as well as always cut by a specialist. online media. The jackpot of course “Audiences today are instinctive, is when a trailer goes viral, earning and get a feel of the film immediatea million hits and all that free publy – it can make or break a film,” licity just on the basis of the few says Chinni Nihalani, the creative morsels you’ve carefully let out. head at PromoShop, which worked Balki, also the chairman and chief on the trailers of Zindagi Na Milegi
creative officer at the ad firm Lowe Lintas India, affirms that both theatre and online media complement each other. But he does add that an online response tags a little behind the real-time, heart-thumping instant viewer response in a theatre. Gangjee agrees “What is great about theatres is the thrill of immediate audience reactions. That’s when you know if it’s working. Online viewers get into analyses and react or comment after discussions and thought. The ETT trailer got us over six million hits online, but in theatres, that response is measured by whistles!” Nihalani says the Internet is an “on-demand youth medium”, but there is “something very old-school about sitting in a movie hall, and watching a forthcoming movie trailer”. Shroff sees the darkened cinema hall, with its captive audience, as the base catchment area. “You eventually watch the film in a theatre. When you are in a cinema, the mindset is that of the ‘movies’; not only do you want to watch the cur-
TALAASH A two-minute promo of Talaash could take between three to four weeks to create
rent film, that you have already purchased a ticket for, but you also want to know what lies ahead.” For viewers though, artfully orchestrated sneak peeks only provide tasty amuse bouches for the film itself. You may have read with much delight the shenanigans between Yash Chopra’s romance and Ajay Devgn’s Son of Sardar, both of which have a November release – and are indulging in goodnatured hectoring – spawning headlines like “Ajay versus Shah Rukh, why Bollywood can’t afford a Diwali clash!”. But catching an unexpected glimpse of a Khan or Devgn in a nifty little teaser, while you munch popcorn in the dark… that’s the stuff Bollyphiles thrive on. brunchletters@hindustantimes.com
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VA R I E T Y
Angry Birds
Armed with a 140 characters, wit and intent to insult, they fire at their favourite targets – celebrities. Meet Twitter’s trolls, the meanest girls and boys of the virtual world
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by Rohit Khilnani, illustration by Abhimanyu
@indiantweeter
T
HESE DAYS, it’s not safe to be too controversial on Twitter. What if you find yourself blocked by the Indian government? (To be fair, that can happen even if you’re just the minister of state for communications and information technology). But despite all the discussions, online and offline, about ‘communal’ handles, free speech and the like, there are a small bunch of people dedicated to being as opinionated as they can possibly be. Meet the trolls, who post inflammatory messages in an online community – often at a celebrity, and often just for fun. However, the crisp nature of their posts, and an audience looking for a laugh, can often make trolls so popular that they become better known than the celebs they’re targeting.
POKING FUN
These self-anointed masters of mayhem set a lot of topics trending. They got Ayesha Takia to face a volley of vulgar jokes about her assets. Porn star Sunny Leone received an unwanted desi welcome. @BollywoodG***u said, “Funny how Maruti and @SunnyLeone have the same slogan: “Kitna deti hai?” They made Sonakshi Sinha’s broad forehead the target of unkind tweets [@indiantweeter: Sonakshi Sinha’s forehead declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO] to which Sinha replied: “Sonakshi Sinha’s forehead is mighty pleased ;) gnite funny people!”. They even poked fun at Sidhartha Mallya for his views on
Free speech is an interesting concept it’s all about what you give and what u expect to take
@CilemaSnob
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football and when he tried to defend his IPL team member who was arrested for allegedly molesting a woman. It got bad enough for the annoyed Mallya to tweet: “Shut the f*** up you b****** b*** headed fag! You don’t know s*** about football.”
VANTAGE POINT
Celebs have always been the target of jokes and criticism. What makes it such a growing phenomenon on Twitter is that it lets your barbs fly swiftly to the world at large while you remain relatively anonymous.
IN DISGUISE
@BollywoodG***u has made his name from slamming celebrities with hilarious, en pointe tweets. His profile is ever changing (most recently it was “I am Akshay
WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘IT’S NOT PERSONAL’? “There was one woman who used to bombard me with responses on how much she hated me, hated my hair, voice, face, clothes etc. I asked her why she was constantly trying to contact me if she hated me so much. The minute I wrote back, she responded with a ‘Nothing personal Ma’am!’ Hello? You abuse me in the worst possible language in the most personal terms then say, it’s nothing personal! Apparently she was just craving a response.” – SAGARIKA GHOSE, deputy editor, CNN-IBN
SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
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Kumar’s chest hair waxer) and he seems to know everything that transpires in Bollywood, but no one seems to know who he is, and his attacks have earned him 70,000 followers. The stars hate him, but a lot of them interact with him directly. “I didn’t start with any anonymous agenda in mind,” says the tweeter. “I just opened an account and started speaking my mind. I never indulge in any gossip. I see a retarded tweet from a celeb, I just slam it. The other day, Jiah Khan was trying to equate the God particle to the Mayan calendar, I had to say something!” Less abusive than @bollywoodg***u, but also one whose contributed his 140character slurs is @cilemasnob, always ready with a sarcastic opinion about movies and movie stars. Again, anonymity is his best defence. “It’s just a cheap thrill,” he says. “People react to you differently when they don’t know [you]. Some people found out who I am and now half the fun is gone.” Like @bollywoodg***u, he too is encouraged by
celebrities. “Some of them follow me but for some reason, they don’t want to endorse it publicly.” His 12,700 followers however can’t get enough.
THE MORE, THE MERRIER
The tweeting picadors insist they are doing what’s expected of them. “Whatever I say, I can’t be dishonest to my followers,” says @cilemasnob. For tweeters, though, the more followers the better, even if it’s at the cost of someone else. Moksh Juneja whose company Avignyata manages celebrity handles and Facebook fan pages and gets paid for deleting derogatory posts, admits that beyond a point it’s impossible to monitor every 140-character insult. Or you can be a smart celeb, follow your troll, exchange messages and sit back and enjoy the show. As always the joke is only funny as long as it’s on someone else. Rohit Khilnani is an entertainment journalist, his Twitter handle is @rohitkhilnani
“Celebs have always been the target of jokes and criticism”
PERSONAL AGENDA
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hindustantimes.com/brunch
Actor
Abhay Deol if i could... I WOULD PUT AN END TO THE MONETARY SYSTEM
SUN SIGN Pisces
BIRTHDAY March 15
HOMETOWN Mumbai
SCHOOL/ COLLEGE
Jamnabai Narsee School, Mumbai; The City College, New York
HIGH POINT OF YOUR LIFE My college days
money’s no fun!
I’D GIVE ALL ARTISTS A CANVAS
I’D ENSURE THAT EVERY PERSON ON EARTH HAS FREEDOM
Also my college days!
(2005)
One film role you’ll give anything to play. Peter Sellers’ triple role in Dr Strangelove. One place you’re sure you can escape the paparazzi. The toilet. SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
CURRENTLY DOING
This interview! And the face of MTV’s Greenpeace act – Save Junglistan
Three people (dead or alive) you’d love to have over to dinner. Stanley Kubrick, Mahatma Gandhi and Thomas Edison. One person you cannot do without. My manager. You have a guy-crush on… The mirror. If life had a backspace button, what would you delete? I would want to delete the previous answer. The most clichéd answer you ever gave in an interview. “It is a very different role…” Your darkest fear. Nuclear war. Your comfort food. Dal chawal. Your favourite little white lie. I always tell the truth! WHAT MAKES The last thing you spent R10 on. YOU FEEL A ticket for my SEXY? driver. Do you remember any phone numbers by heart? Yes, my girlfriend’s. You have 30 seconds to pack for a trip. What do you take? All my credit cards and wallet. What makes your day? A good workout. A song you can’t get out of your head these days. Senorita (from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara). A gadget you wish they would invent. A cloning device. A cause that is very close to your heart. The last movie that made you cry. MTV’s Greenpeace act – Save The Incredibles [yes, the Pixar Junglistan. film about superheroes]. The last line of your autobiography The movie that always makes you would read… smile. And it is all fiction… Dr Strangelove and Chupke Chupke. — Interviewed by Yesha Kotak
Dark chocolate
I’D CHEAT ON MY DIET
Photos: THINKSTOCK
LOW POINT FIRST BREAK Socha Na OF YOUR Tha LIFE