The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Sameer Markande
Reel it, feel it
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A young girl dances as her mother and sister record it for the Gram in Bhandup West
Pitch perfect
Pic/Instagram
One spots the occasional Reel on actor and director Parambrata Chatterjee’s Instagram page where on no-shoot days, he unwinds with music, singing and strumming the guitar. He has been interested in music since his teens, the actor tells us, his Bengali roots ensuring that he grew up amidst Tagore songs and a healthy dose of Bengali and select Hindi classics. “I picked up the guitar in my teens and learnt a little from the legendary Amyt Datta, but [I am] mostly self-taught. I like fiddling with rooted folk music from all corners of the country and the world, folk rock and blues.” Bengali and some Hindi songs from SD Burman, Salil Chowdhury and Madan Mohan films as well as non-film modern songs from the ’50s and ’60s are his comfort music, he shares, while preferring Western classical and Tagore for concentration and inspiration.
Limelight on creators
Beyounick and Dabboo Ratnani
Good Creator Co, which is India’s largest creator ecosystem, launched their Creator Calendar 2022 curated by influencer Malini Agarwal in collaboration with with celebrity photographer Dabboo Ratnani. Ratnani is known for his annual Bollywood personalities calendar, and this one features 12 top content creators and influencers from diverse fields styled by 12 of India’s most prominent designers. The creators include YouTube influencers like CarryMinati, Beyounick and Parajakta Koli along with influencers and creators from other fields such as Masoom Minawala and Pooja Dhingra.
It gets sweeter for Smriti
On page 50 of the latest Wisden Cricket Monthly issue lies an honour for Indian women’s cricket. Smriti Mandhana figures in the UK magazine’s all-format women’s team for 2021. Mandhana was recently announced as ICC’s Cricketer of the Year, so the Wisden honour is another piece of decoration on her hat. She opens the batting with England’s Tammy Beaumont in the Wisden XI. “With reversals to South Africa, England and Australia, 2021 was a tough year for India, but the blossoming of a formidable opening partnership between Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana bodes well for the future. Between them the pair scored over 1,400 runs across all formats. But it is the T20 vice-captain [Mandhana] who gets the spot here, largely thanks to a sublime century in India’s drawn Test versus Australia,” say Wisden ‘selectors’ Raf Nicholson and Syd Egan. Way to go, Mandhana!
Shaan teams up with rappers
After releasing the Sufi single Rang Le, singer Shaan will be part of an East-meets-West fusion track featuring international artist Delsol and Grammy winner Jason Goldstein. The project is the brainchild of Nick Rajsakha of X3 Ent and fitness expert Nawaz Modi Singhania, who’ve jointly produced the project. “I’m quite excited for Bom Billi because it gave me a chance to work with international rappers and talent from Delhi, Argentina, and America. The songs have a Dancehall [a genre of Jamaican popular music] vibe,” says Shaan. The tracks, which have been recorded in French, English, and Spanish, will be released in four different versions over the next few weeks. The first song will release on February 1.
FN Souza, my forever muse
What happens when FN Souza captivates your mind and soul? Subodh Kerkar, founder of Museum of Goa, who has spent the last few months studying the legendary Goan painter’s oeuvre, says it has inspired him to re-imagine Souza on terracotta slabs. The artist has been sharing some of his creations on Instagram over the last few days. “Souza was born just 500 metres from our museum. The property, which is covered in blue plastic, no longer belongs to the Souza family, but it has always fascinated me, because it was home to one of India’s greatest artists ever,” shares Kerkar.
Recently, when his friend, art curator and poet Sabitha Satchi floated a suggestion to have an exhibition of Souza at his museum, he jumped at the idea. “As part of the show, Sabitha requested me, along with a few others, to speak on Souza. In order to prepare for this, I started studying Souza… I was thinking a lot about his work, reading poetry related to him and also observing his paintings. In the process, Souza got into my head. I think that’s a very nice thing to happen. Since then I have been drawing, often very spontaneously, on clay. The artworks I have been creating are only inspired by Souza. I have just used his work as a reference for my own,” says Kerkar, who has already made about 100 such drawings. Some of these works will eventually be showcased in the exhibition.
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