Crime thriller series ‘Paatal Lok’ actor Ishwak Singh, who had quite a productive lockdown, says that creativity is the king in the OTT space. Calling 2020 challenging, he also said it was a remarkable year for him, as it brought him on the map…writes Siddhi Jain.
Singh stars in ‘Unpaused’, a Hindi anthology consisting of five short stories revolved around lives of people impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Excerpts from an IANSlife chat with Ishwak Singh:
You have a background in theatre. Tell us about your time and learnings on stage.
Theatre is a pretty widespread and diverse space but the kind of theatre I wanted to do was very, very realistic and minimalistic – which means there weren’t many sets or too much anything apart from the spotlight and the actor. To me, that was the ultimate training ground. My idea was to learn the craft, and I thought what could be a better space to learn than a play where it’s just the actor and spotlight.
To me, theatre is the most authentic way of learning acting. When I started out, I realised it would take a lot of time, because normally you enrol with a theatre group and it takes a good number of years before you get the part of a protagonist and you build a body of work and get known for it. It’s a slow and ongoing process which I wanted to do, it was a conscious choice and I really enjoyed it. From an actor’s perspective, how promising would you say the OTT space is?
The OTT space is clearly a savior in that sense, for not just actors, filmmakers, writers, and creative people, but someone who just wants to do basic work and want to tell stories. It doesn’t have the dynamics of what every industry has, where creativity is pretty much at the centre. Creativity is the king for OTT, and that’s what makes it very interesting.
‘Unpaused’ draws from Covid-19 and the lockdown. What were your personal experiences in the lockdown?
During the lockdown, I was aware that this thing is going to go on for a while and I wasn’t ambitious at all about how to make my days productive initially. To me, it was about your sanity, getting past this thing. I got back to basics, did things I really enjoyed, read Shakespeare which I really like, watched good cinema, explored different forms of martial arts. I had been meaning to get back to books, plays and stories.
Well, I have to say it’s been a very very challenging, at times hurtful, at times very difficult year, but at the same time it’s been remarkable, that I can’t deny. It’s unfortunate to use this word for the year, but it did kind of bring me on the map. The biggest regret any artist has got the longest time is that he might have been known before this but I wasn’t known for the kind of skillset, work and acting I represent. After 2020, people get a sense of that, which is immensely satisfying.
Tell us about character in ‘Unpaused’ and how different is it from that in ‘Paatal Lok’?
Every character is very, very different. Anything that is written in a different time and place, if you see it as part of a story and what the story is all about, I think characters of the same profession (would be different). If I have to play a cop, it will be different from the cop I played in Paatal Lok. Here (in ‘Unpaused’) is the premise is different, the format is different, that was long-format, this is a short story. This is more felt, personal, internal, something that comes out of one’s personal experiences because it’s about mental health and hope.
Trisha Krishnan, one of South Indian cinema’s most popular and sought-after heroines, says she is fortunate to have reached a position where she chooses the kind of work she does…writes Puja Gupta.
“Hence, I make sure to take few days off every month to travel, rest and recuperate. These days off give me time to come back home and rejuvenate for my next shoot,” she reveals.
In an interview with IANSlife, Trishna, who recently collaborated with Britannia Toastea to star in its latest TVC campaign alongside Bollywood veteran Neena Gupta, shares more about her day-to-day life, her diet and fitness regime. Read on: What is your daily diet ? My daily diet includes fruit bowl and vegetables. I also believe in intermittent fasting. I occasionally enjoy a cheat meal but also make sure to compensate every time. A good-clean-healthy-moderated-balanced diet is my mantra.
What’s your fitness regime? I manage to work-out regularly despite having a hectic schedule. Yoga, functional fitness and cardio are my favourites as they calm my mind from the stress of hectic shoots.
How do you ensure a work and personal life balance? I work while I work, play while I play. In this kind of profession, we lead hectic and erratic lives. I’m fortunate to have reached a position where I choose the kind of work I do. Hence, I make sure to take few days off every month to travel, rest and recuperate. These few days off give me time to come back home and rejuvenate for my next shoot.
Tell us about your collaboration with Britannia for this campaign. This is my first association with Britannia Toastea and I am very excited to be a part of this campaign. Britannia Toastea is the perfect tea-time companion and gives a jump start to our day, which is exactly what we have attempted to show through this new campaign. For me and many our women across the country, the first cup of tea with a Britannia Toastea busts hunger and gives our day a “Karari Shuruwat”.
The new campaign is fun, quirky that also features (Gupta) Neena Ma’am playing a lively and understanding sassu maa in the film and I am her daughter-in-law tackling multiple tasks through the day. The TVC showcases the many roles a woman plays in the household, a PT teacher to her son, manager to her husband and a doctor to her in-laws and to give her the “Karari Shuruwat” every morning, Britannia Toastea becomes the perfect hunger buster with her morning tea.
How was it working with Bollywood veteran Neena Gupta? It was lovely working with Neena ma’am, she is humble and down to earth. We had a great time shooting together.
What advice do you have for working women? As a woman, we have multiple roles to play through the day. The workload and responsibilities have increased further in the last nine months. Most women start their day on an empty stomach letting the morning hunger define the tune of their day. All the superwomen of every home need a ‘karari shuruwat’ – which should be a perfect balance of taste and wholesome goodness with their morning cup of tea to handle all the roles they play perfectly.
‘Saath Saath Mein’, an original music video featuring the winners and mentors of digital-only musical reality show ‘Smule iDiva 1, 2, 3… Riyaaz’, launched on Monday. Indian American singer Lisa Mishra, who is one of the show’s mentors, feels that in times of hardship, music is the ultimate alleviater of pain…writes Siddhi Jain.
“It’s not just this year, I think historically we have “peace time” songs. I feel music is such a heavenly experience, anytime we face difficulty as a people and a world, we turn to music, it’s a great healer. I’m not surprised this happened in 2020 too. I think music has helped a lot of people get through what could easily be viewed as the toughest year in my generation’s life. As always, music is an uplifting and healing element,” Mishra told IANSlife.
The song also features Jassie Gill and Kusha Kapila, and talks about how when you have a song in your heart, you should get together and sing it “saath saath mein.”
The reality show amassed the love of over 15 million music lovers in a six-month run time. Produced by ILN Studios in partnership with Times Bridge, “Saath Saath Mein” was composed, recorded and shot remotely, connecting 25 winners and 3 mentors from across the country, without a physical meet. The song recordings were digitally stitched by Ankur Tewari to create the musical score. A music video was spliced together without an on-ground crew – but with enthusiastic winners who danced away to glory using their phone cameras. The footage was then edited using the animation to transform home-style footage into a stylized music video.
Mishra says about the remote shooting experience: “It was an interesting challenge to go from a location shoot to an end-to-end remotely shot production.”
“Shooting remotely was difficult at first but it sort of armed us for what would be the next year of our lives. For most digital creators, we just had to become independent and self-reliant over this summer. Initially it was a lot of learn again because I’ve been shooting by myself for over a decade but after having a crew and a team in this industry, you have to refine those old skills again and become completely independent,” she said.
“I think the talent was exceptional and they exceeded my expectations, although I knew we were going to see a few talented folks every week, the decision was pretty tough in choosing a winner. We’ve had incredible competitors and major talent on the app. I think a lot of them could have serious careers if they wanted. Mentoring them was easy because of how talented they were. It didn’t leave me with a lot of work to do,” she said about the participants.
‘Saath Saath Mein’ is available at iDIVA’s Youtube Channel and Smule app.
Working with the right kind of co-actors is very important for Shilpa Shukla because it helps to enhance the creativity of a project, the actress believes.writes… Ahana Bhattacharya
On what she keeps in mind before saying yes to a role, Shilpa told IANS: “It should sound good, that’s the most essential. Then, of course, who are the people making it, who are the co-actors. Because at the end of the day it’s a creative project and is only enhanced when you have the right kind of people to work with, so it is important to know the team and the vision.”
Shilpa plays a prisoner in the latest web series Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors, which stars Kirti Kulhari along with Pankaj Tripathi, Anupriya Goenka and Deepti Naval, Mita Vashisht and Jisshu Sengupta.
Talking about how she prepared for the role, she shared: “It was more of a text and subtext based kind of a discovery for my character, Ishani Nath. The entire jail set-up, the prison vibes and the give and take with the fabulous set of co-actors helped me to explore this character.”
Life has changed in the time of the new normal and shooting is not the same as before. How has been the experience of shooting amid the pandemic? “It was quite a scenic day because in the morning it was pouring so much and it was after five month of lockdown all of us were together on the set, which was the courtroom. Perhaps it was the first time my character was out of the prison and meeting everyone. So it actually did feel like that in a way. Of course, it was different on the set as we couldn’t hangout like we usually do on the set. But everyone had a great time shooting.”
Summing up the year of the pandemic, the actress said: “A phenomenon they say happens once in 100 years kind of a thing, I think we have realised how interdependent we basically are, so yes it was not bad. Months of solitude. There was so much happening in the world and is still happening. But the perspectives have collectively undergone a transformation and that’s remarkable.”
“We have been through such a year where we’ve lost so many people collectively in the world. So I just wish strength and joy to everyone. We don’t know how long it is going to take for things to go normal. So I am hopeful and optimistic that soon we should have a way out through this pandemic,” Shilpa signed off.
“Food is more than just a way to provide fuel to our bodies, especially in the consumer culture in which individuals and communities are increasingly enmeshed in post-industrial societies.” An Interview with Professor Fabio Parasecoli by Aswin Prasanth and Rajesh Panhathodi
Fabio Parasecoli
Fabio Parasecoli is a Professor in Food Studies in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University. His research explores the intersections among food, popular culture, and politics, particularly in food design. He studied East Asian cultures and political science in Rome, Naples and Beijing. After covering Middle and Far Eastern political issues, he wrote for many years as the U.S. correspondent for Gambero Rosso, Italy’s authoritative food and wine magazine.
He has authored books like Bite me! Food in Popular Culture (2008), the six-volume Cultural History of Food (2012, co-edited with Peter Scholliers), Al Dente: A History of Food in Italy (2014, translated into Italian in 2015 and into Korean in 2017), Feasting Our Eyes: Food, Film, and Cultural Citizenship in the US (2016, authored with Laura Lindenfeld), and Knowing Where It Comes From: Labeling Traditional Foods to Compete in a Global Market (2017). His new book Food (2019) has been released by MIT Press in the Essential Knowledge series.
Al Dente: A History of Food in Italy
1. What is the significance of Food Studies as an academic discipline? Could you talk about your department at NYU?
Food studies urge us to better understand the world we live in by developing critical thinking and the capacity to participate in civic debates surrounding an aspect of our lives that affects all of us in a very visceral, direct way. Public attention around food system issues is growing, and food-related venues in the media are multiplying. The field draws from a variety of research fields, including agricultural sciences, environmental studies, biology, nutrition, economics, business, law, design, marketing and politics. It also applies methods and approaches borrowed from history, post-colonial studies, semiotics, gender and media studies, among others. In particular, food studies’ fruitful dialogue with anthropology and sociology can provide fresh perspectives and methods to conduct ethnographic research. The Nutrition and Food Studies department where I am a professor was established at New York University in the late 1990s. It now has undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs, with students from all over the world. The department also maintains a program of talks called “Feast and Famine,” together with seminars and research initiatives such as CityFood, dedicated to the study of street food.
Knowing Where It Comes From: Labeling Traditional Foods to Compete in a Global Market
2. Food Studies is a nascent discipline of interdisciplinary nature. Could you explain the cultural politics of food?
Food constantly acquires political meaning, if by that if refer to politics in its etymological sense: the affairs of the polis, the city in Classical Greece and, later, the body politic in general, whatever its scale and its extension may be. From this point of view, politics is the attempt at managing such a community, assessing the past, negotiating the present, and imagining the future. Political practices are often torn between compromise and maximalism, reality and ideals, necessity and values. It is inevitable that food gets entangled in these dynamics.
Food is more than just a way to provide fuel to our bodies, especially in the consumer culture in which individuals and communities are increasingly enmeshed in post-industrial societies. Although obviously crucial for survival, eating cannot be considered only as an expression of biological necessities and a natural, trivial aspect of our daily routine. Food is at the same time part of economic dynamics, social structures, and power negotiations that determine where our products come from, how they get to us, why we have access to those and not others, and where they end up if we don’t buy them or throw them away.
3. Traditionally food and cooking are restricted to the private sphere and domesticity. But now they have blurred the boundaries between private sphere and public sphere. How will you differentiate food and cooking in the private sphere from those in the public sphere?
Consumers become part of political processes as citizens: their choices and purchases in their private sphere are not the only tools they have to influence what is produced and what reaches their tables. Many issues are much too complex and far-reaching to be affected only by personal decisions, in the hope that markets respond to economic signals on the demand side, and require collective action. At the same time, the boundaries between consumers seeking to satisfy personal desires and preferences at home and citizens seeking the common good are increasingly blurred.
Feasting Our Eyes: Food, Film, and Cultural Citizenship in the US
4. There is a correlation between food narratives and identity construction. How will you explain the construction of cultural identity in terms of food or recipes?
Undoubtedly, food has an immediate and unavoidable impact on who we are and how we live. It is pervasive because ingestion and incorporation – as well as what we refuse to incorporate, for instance when we fast or boycott – constitute a fundamental component of our connection with reality and the world outside our body. It is a site of mediation between the most intimate, embodied on the one hand, and larger orders of meaning. It influences our lives as a visible and performable marker of power, cultural capital, class, gender, ethnic, and religious identities. It provides an arena where new narratives, changing identities, and possible practices constitute contemporary subjectivities. Food turns into one of the main aspects of social life that Michel Foucault saw as the field of operation for what he defined as biopolitics, the attempts of authorities and governments to control their population through interventions in their bodily life, from reproduction to hygiene and food security (Foucault 2008).
5. How is diaspora connected to food culture? How will you relate the diasporic identity to food mixtures?
Among other strategies, immigrants cope with the dislocation and disorientation they experience in new and unknown spaces by recreating a sense of place around food production, preparation, and consumption, both at the personal and interpersonal levels. In fact, the solidification of these practices and the norms and ideals that develop around them is not just a by-product of the relationships within already existing dynamics, but actually constitutive of their emergence.
Food (2019)
Every ingredient, each dish, the meal structure, and all the elements forming a culinary culture are connected. They are influenced not only by the past, frequently interpreted and practiced as tradition, but also by new occurrences resulting from both internal dynamics and the incorporation of external elements. As a result, meanings attributed to food are never completely defined once and for all but are uninterruptedly negotiated and transformed through practices, discourse, and representations. However, despite constant changes, food cultures present an internal coherence, which provides parameters for defining behaviors and objects as acceptable or deviant and that can be interpreted as a form of culinary competence.
6. Food is one of the strongest stimuli of memory. What are the common characteristics of food memoirs?
Starting from Proust’s Madeleine, I think memoirs focus of food memories not so much as intellectual memories but as sensory and emotional memoirs, that bring back the presence of past events in a more vivid way. For that reason, they at times work on language in terms of synaesthesia, in the attempt to forge new ways to use language.
7. In some culinary narratives, there is a strange combination of crime and food. Do you think this combination truly reflects the natural instincts of human life?
In the 1930s, food appeared in detective stories under two very different incarnations: on one hand, Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe and George Simenon’s Maigret were self-proclaimed gourmands. They all greatly enjoyed food: Wolfe in the style of upper-class haute cuisine, prepared in his private abode by his Swiss chef; and Maigret in his wife’s domestic kitchen as well as in respectable middle and lower class eateries. On the other hand, hard-boiled detectives such as Dashiell Hammett’s character Sam Spade and Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, who solved their cases through action and – if necessary – violence, did not seem to care about what they ate, ingesting unappetizing – and often unhealthy – food in greasy spoon joints, accompanied by abundant alcohol. Starting from the 1980s, a new generation of Mediterranean detectives, from Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s character Catalan Pepe Carvalho to Andrea Camilleri’s Sicilian Salvo Montalbano, fully embraced food in all its sensuality, often sharing it – and in Carvalho’s case, cooking it – with women. Although they do not shrink away from ingestion, the primordial physical contact with reality that blurs the boundaries between self and others, between individual and environment, both Carvalho and Montalbano use food as a ruse for courtship, as a source of personal relaxation, and as a medium for all kinds of social negotiations. However, in their adventures, food is not an element of the plot — let alone a narrative engine, except when victims are poisoned.
I think more interesting examples exist in horror literature, especially concerning vampires and cannibals, as I discussed in my book Bite Me.
Bite Me :Food in Popular Culture
8. Having visited India, what do you think is the scope of Food Studies in the country?
While food studies programs now exist in many American and European universities, the fields is not as well developed in India. In 2017 I gave a series of talks in various universities in Kerala specifically to present the field and what it means. India, due to its food traditions and the economic relevance of food production, would be well-positioned to look at food not only from a production perspective, but also from the cultural, social, and political points of view.
9. How has the coronavirus pandemic affected the global food culture?
Covid 19 seems to have had a profound consequence on global food culture. As new restrictions were introduced at the beginning of the lockdowns, consumers who had the means to do so emptied stores and supermarkets and Filled up their pantries. Overall, food is still available and shelves can be easily restocked, but the consequences on those living on public support, the homeless, and all those who have been losing their jobs due to the crisis are unclear. For those whose fridges are full, food has acquired a whole new relevance. Those who were officially mandated to stay at home as much as possible, were cooking a lot out of boredom, in order to do something as a family, and to maintain a semblance of normality.
Fabio Parasecoli
People were posting meal pictures and swapping recipes on social media. There has been a revaluation of domestic and traditional comfort food, even when it is not the healthiest from a nutritional point of view: the need for reassurance trumps other priorities. Moreover, both the scarcity of certain items and the need to eat at home has made people explore their own pantries and make do with what they have, possibly on the cheap, enticing (or at times forcing) people who do not usually cook to do so. For many consumers in the global north, the pandemic has been the first experience of a prolonged disruption of food distribution and availability (much longer than snowstorms, hurricanes, or food workers strike). Hard to tell now what the long-term consequences on perceptions about food will be…
10. Could you speculate on the nature of food culture in the post-pandemic scenario?
If we try to shift our attention outside of our homes, it is hard to forecast what’s coming. Restaurants and bars are already being heavily affected, as closures are imposed in different parts of the world. In countries where home deliveries are a common habit, these establishments may survive, although bruised. Elsewhere, we can imagine they may not be able to recover, which would mean the end for small businesses that give jobs to so many (including those who would have a hard time finding other occupations). Also, measures to protect those physically making the deliveries will have to be put in place. New startups may come up with new models of preparation and deliveries of food, possibly trying to somehow recreate the experience of a restaurant at home.
Governments should keep an eye on the weakest segments of the population, which will be probably be affected disproportionately, both in terms of access and entitlements. It is only possible to make hypotheses on what will happen n the supply side. Farming is being directly impacted by demands for greater social distancing, especially at harvest time when workers work shoulder to shoulder. Smaller farms with fewer workers may be less impacted, as their work organization tends to requires less contact, at least on the field. in many parts of the world, farmers tend to be older, if not elderly, which makes them particularly susceptible to the virus. Is there a new generation ready to replace them? Will some young farmers who had moved to cities looking for jobs move back to the countryside?
The same goes for fishing and animal farming. It seems that the virus is not transmitted to animals, but it is paramount to make sure that somebody will be taking care of them, to ensure uninterrupted provisioning and the animals’ wellbeing. Upending the usual flow of goods and labor, the pandemic has caused surpluses in some countries and fear of scarcity in others. Immediate repercussions of the pandemic have become visible all over the international food trade.
The strength and profile of the fragrance are the two most important points to be kept in mind while choosing a perfume, explains perfume curator Sheetal Desai…writes Puja Gupta.
Desai has been in the industry for almost three decades and is the founder of wiSDom Fragrances, an independent fragrance design house.
The expert shares a few tips and tricks related to using perfumes, and speaks about the different aspects to keep in mind while selecting fragrances. Excerpts from the interview:
How do you curate perfumes? What are the points you look for?
Desai: To curate perfumes, I mainly dive deeper to understand the personality of the person and his/her nature, whether he/she is joyful or a workaholic etc. I also understand the dominating mood and preferences of people and also the occasions that he/she is looking forward to wear the perfumes at.
Tell us the process behind the making of a customised perfume?
Desai: Customising a fragrance is like customising a suit for a man or a dress for a woman. Fragrances are customised for your personality. It’s important to understand the person and their sensitivities and preferences. At the same time, it’s all a trial-and-error process. As fragrances are very subjective and two different persons can react completely differently to the same fragrance. We all perceive fragrances differently. Once we are on the same page, I understand what kind of notes the person likes and how far are they open to trying or experimenting with new notes. Based on that, I start the designing process and its many trials and errors before I decide on sampling the fragrance to the customer. The client then wears it for a couple of days before they come back on how well it suits their skin and how they felt about the fragrance. If any modifications are required then that will be incorporated and the bottle is supplied with their name and formulation. This fragrance actually becomes their signature fragrance.
What points should be kept in mind while choosing a perfume that suits a personality?
Desai: Strength and the profile of the fragrance are the two most important factors. If you are a young bubbly personality, your fragrance should be a vivacious fruity floral or citrus fougere. If you are a person with mature and classic taste you select from florals or woody notes and if you are more of an adventurous person than the world is your playground! Also some personalities can carry loud fragrances whereas others are more tuned towards subtle intensity.
What is a layered fragrance and why is it different?
Desai: Layering of fragrances is when you mix 2 or 3 fragrances to curate your own unique scent. Layering helps you discover your scent, makes it unique and you can wear it as per your mood or occasion or your outfit.
Tell us some tips and tricks related to perfumes.
Desai:
* Use fragrance on your hair (not scalp). It makes your hair smell heavenly and also stays for a long time.
* Never rub your wrist when using a fragrance unless it is ittar.
* If you like the stronger fragrance then look at the concentration of the fragrance, usually anything that is 20 percent and above is very rich and long lasting. Also, the profile matters. I often hear people want long lasting and that also depends on the profile. So, most fragrances that have gourmand notes, woody notes or musky last much longer.
* Strong fragrances do not always mean they are very high in quality. Fine fragrances need a beautiful balance of notes.
* Before buying a big bottle always go for the miniature to see how it suits your skin.
* Buy fragrances based on what suits you and not what you smell on others. That can be a cue to your liking but it does not mean it will smell the same on you.
Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan thinks one has to section the day well enough to be able to balance work and personal life…writes Puja Gupta.
“When at work have 200 percent focus and when at home, be there physically and mentally,” she says.
IANSlife speaks to the expecting mother, who recently collaborated with Netsurf’s health and wellness brand Naturamore, along with her husband and actor Saif Ali Khan. Read on
How do you strike balance between work and personal care, especially when you are expecting?
I think one has to section the day well enough to be able to balance both ends. When at work have 200% focus and when at home, be there physically and mentally. A good support system at home and work can make it easier. The more control you have over your hours, the less stressed you are likely to be.
How does your fitness regime look like?
It can be anything. On days it could be rigorous cardio, it could be calming yoga, intense Pilates. The idea is to do something everyday even if it’s only for 30 mins. Regular physical activity has so much positive impact on ones life including relieving stress, improving memory, increasing productivity and boosts overall mood.
How do you ensure your family is fit from inside during these times?
Yes definitely. We make sure we have our intake of calcium, proteins and nutrients in the right portion.
What changes has the pandemic brought to your daily diet?
My daily diet definitely includes fruits, homemade food and more importantly healthy food. However, indulging in something you crave and love is equally important to keep it going.
How would you stress on the importance of being fit rather than thin, especially for women?
A women undergoes a lot changes in her body, right from be a teenage girl to a married to becoming a mother. I think it’s very important to be fit and healthy. To eat right food, right amount of exercise be it Yoga, running or exercising.
Tell us about your association with the brand.
Naturamore as brand believes in right combination of science and nutrition. Being a working mom and a homemaker myself, I think watching your nutritional intake closely is the best thing you can do to stay fit. Right nutrition has always been the key to my health and wellness. Considering the speed of our life today, it’s difficult to always eat right. Naturamore helps to fill the gap.
How do you resonate with its ideology?
I resonate very well to the brand`s ideology. Both Saif and I believe its very important to stay fit both externally and from within given the time all of us are going through, one`s immunity and strength plays a very important role in the overall fitness regime of an individual.
What health advice do you have for your fans, especially women and those who have conceived amid this pandemic?
Exercise, eat right, meditate, sleep well and hydrate and you have got this.
YouTube sensation Nikunj Lotia, who found popular success through relatable, comic sketches posted on his YouTube channel ‘BeYouNick’, has come a long way in his creations and collaborations. From doing odd jobs at a cyber cafe and bartending to make extra money, the influencer now has over 4.11 million YouTube subscribers…writes Siddhi Jain.
In a chat with IANSlife, he opens up about his beginnings, process and views on YouTube. Excerpts:
You didn’t have an easy beginning. Tell us about your days before creating content on YouTube.
There is NO easy beginning ever. We all struggle in our own limited capacity and capabilities and those add to our strength. When I was a kid, I was born into a well to do family but I saw things spiralling out pushing us to the other spectrum of socio economic class. As a kid, I remember helping my mom make a living for us by delivering theplas etc. Then I did a few ‘jobs’ including bartending with extra shifts just so that I could earn a bit more. Then there was a brief overlap where my videos were popular but not enough to sustain my family so that led to a lot of funny bartender conversations. I think life is a summation of all these experiences and what you learn from it and how you use it. That’s pretty much my un-easy – but thoroughly enlightening origins!
YouTube levelled the field for content creators, especially for those who had fresh, creative ideas, and gave everyone ‘star’ potential. Would you agree?
I am not sure if it levelled the field or not, but to me honestly it was a platform that made it possible. Have an idea, write it, shoot it, put it together and share it with the world. If it works, congratulations. I think it was more of an enabler than any other platform for pursuing your art from in a video format.
In a welcome trend, those who started from a YouTube channel few years back, are beginning to have shows, specials and cross-media collaborations of their own. Thoughts?
A: I think when you are good at something there’s a lot of vested interest to benefit collaboratively from it. YouTube is the perfect validation for how engaging your art form is, be it sketch comedy or stand up or cooking. When you get the audience behind you, specials cross media collaborations are bound to happen.
If you had to describe your work in a line, what would it be?
Relatable family friendly fun content.
How would you say your content has evolved over time? What’s something you want to experiment with now?
A: The beauty with sketch comedy is that its so observational that it organically evolves. Over the course of time that evolution from being in a class room to a bar, to a online video call – it had helped shape my content. There’s a lot of experiments that I keep doing, and I promise you that they will all be there on my social channels. Let’s not spoil the surprise!
How was the lockdown for you? What learnings did it bring? What’s coming next?
The start of this year was great. We did mighty well, then we flew to LA and spent a month there to plan what all is to happen in the coming here. And then came covid and it sort of changed the world as we knew it. From jamming on ideas in flesh and bones to doing it over video calls, from playing pranks to playing pubg, and then finally getting infected and cured of Covid. It’s a LOT of learning. I might just write a book about it someday, it’s those many learnings!
I did a fair bit of collaborations, set up a few things there and I was supposed to be there in July originally. But COVID sort of shifted that for me. I have my bags packed but I think I will wait for a while till Trump followers and Biden followers get along a bit more better than today. I have some offline businesses including a food truck at San Francisco, we are adding some more to our fleet, there’s some creator collaborations we had promised, and we will be doing that when we finally get to go there.
Indian celebrity chef Saransh Golia feels we can surpass the benchmark set by the international food market by diving inward and deeper. He, however, points out that the problem is we are too busy trying to drive influences from the west.
Author of the food travelogue ‘India on my Platter’, Golia was invited to do a residency at award winning British restaurant ‘Carousel’ in London to showcase his cooking skills. He also appeared in the food show ‘MasterChef Australia’ as a guest judge.
The restaurateur, who is the founder of a popular Mumbai based restaurant ‘Goila Butter Chicken’, recently launched operations in London.
In an interview, Golia shares with IANSlife why he decided to launch a new venture amid the pandemic. He also speaks about the state of Indian cuisine abroad.
How has COVID-19 impacted the hospitality industry and why are you launching operations amidst the pandemic?
The pandemic has been harsh on the hospitality industry and many players have unfortunately been unable to weather the storm. Although it may take some more months, I am optimistic about the business owing to the pent up demand among people. Certain new trends that have emerged to the surface will reshape the dynamics of the industry.
Hygiene practices will continue to be non-negotiable. We will see restaurants down-sizing menu to maintain profit margins as the accommodating capacity shrinks as per the guidelines of social distancing. At the same time, we will also see restaurants introduce healthy variations of dishes in the menu to cater to the fear-stricken health – inclined consumers. Also, many hospitality players may switch to full service – catering and cloud kitchen formats to sustain operations, in days to come.
Having said that I believe that the pandemic has secured the fate of cloud – kitchen formats across the world. We have realized that there is surplus demand for Indian cuisine abroad and thus catering to the new normal where people are more inclined towards indoor dining, we went ahead and confidently launched operations in London.
While we have attained unit level economics, we aim to be more accessible and widespread and are looking at launching around 100 new outposts by end of 2023. We have already garnered interest from investors across the spectrum who have shown great avidity towards the brand.
What does it take to start a new venture during these trying times?
It takes courage and conviction for sure. Additionally, one has to be extremely patient and resilient to navigate through unprecedented hurdles that may come along the way. Above all you need to have a team that helps you realize your vision and dives into your passion to bring alive the end goal.
Why did you launch in London first when you have a fan base in Australia post your stint at MasterChef Australia?
The idea of the London launch is backed by the recent Butter Chicken pop-up we had done at The Carousel where we were sold-out in the lead up to the main event. This made the Carousel management and us realize that there is a whole lot of acceptance and admiration for Indian cuisine in the market. And then we were approached by Carousel to understand our plans for the UK market and as fate would have it, in a flash and a heartbeat we decided to partner with one another and not just limit our menu for a particular time frame.
How does the menu look like? What proportion of Indian influences will it have?
Creating an unforgettable experience for all Londoners, Goila Butter Chicken deliveries will come with an accompanying Dal Makhani – a comforting, creamy mix of lentils – as well as sourdough naan, developed especially for the London launch and fired in a pizza oven, pickled sweet and sour shallots, coriander chutney and jeera rice. Vegetarians can replace the chicken with paneer, whilst optional extras of each individual element are also available. It will have the true – blue flavors, richness and the aroma of the great Indian culinary heritage.
How do you think Indian food is perceived on a global platform?
There are these extreme misconceptions about Indian cuisine abroad – either our food is too hot or it’s diet – busting or unhealthy. In fact, I think Indian food strikes the perfect balance between ingredients, cooking technique and taste that makes our food a lot more nutritious and beneficial.
One of the seasons of MasterChef Australia had a recreation of one of your signature recipes. What do you have to say about it?
Oh yes…absolutely! I’ve always believed in the rich culinary heritage that India has to offer and have envisioned taking the aromas of India’s gastronomical gems across the world. We knew that we were not bound by geographical boundaries and wanted to bring the world closer through the common ground of food. So it was nothing short of living a dream!
Who is your role model in the culinary space and who do you aspire to be?
Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Chef Manish Mehrotra have been role models. They’ve had early influences in my life. I’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to pick up the ropes of the trade from them.
How do you think Indian food industry can be at par with international market?
We can surpass the benchmark set by the international market by diving inward and deeper. The ethos of ancient Indian cooking is extremely rich and varied. It can astound you with its techniques, ingredients and blend of textures that not just elevate the taste of the food but also fosters a sense of well-being. If you learn about ayurvedic cooking you will understand how deeply Indian cooking focuses on increasing the sattva guna of food. Our problem is we are too busy trying to drive influences from the west when our coffers are full with some ancient traditional culinary heritage.
Weeks after ace badminton player PV Sindhu made headlines with her viral ‘I Retire’ (from substandard hygiene standards) post on social media, she shares ways to stay safe and hygienic while still pursuing the activities that keep us fit.
It has been a tough year for everyone, including those who are athletically inclined. From not being able to play street cricket with friends or even attend your favourite yoga class, we have been restricted to indoor workouts.
Badminton champion PV Sindhu, who endorses Hindustan Unilever’s Nature Protect, shares five ways that keep her safe on and off the court.
PV Sindhu
Approaching the new normal with the right attitude
When it comes to 2020, the anxiety and fear we have all faced has challenged us in so many ways. While we look to settle into the new normal, having a positive attitude is so important. “I have chosen to not let fear or anxiety take control, but rather approach my days and week with a sense of positivity and determination. As an athlete, I am used to quite a disciplined schedule. Whether it’s my diet, training or even water intake, we work to make ourselves the best versions of ourselves every single day,” says Sindhu. Adopting products that include natural ingredients
Sanitizers, sprays, disinfectants are our new companions and while they have become a part of our new reality, PV Sindhu looks towards nature as a fitting solution to our hygiene needs. “I have always trusted nature. I marvel at the way it creates and destroys life. Just like the freshwater springs from the mountains or the many medicinal plants that have helped us, I trust nature to help us find our way. In terms of hygiene, I believe the added benefits of incorporating natural elements to our products provides the ultimate safe and sustained solution,” adds Sindhu.
Embrace new habits for a new way of living
We have certainly changed our outlook towards hygiene. Whether its washing our hands repeatedly or using the sanitizers on-the-go, being conscious of our hygiene standards has induced several new habits. One such habit that PV has adopted is how she washes her vegetables. “In the past, just running them under water seemed good enough, but now several of us use fruit and vegetable cleaners to wash our produce. It is all very new to some of us and we still have our apprehensions at times on how safe it is. It is just for us to find the right products and inculcate new habits to strengthen our approach towards hygiene.”
Always being on-the go ready
As the country opens gradually and people begin to step out for work and leisure reasons, it is important to have a 360-degree approach to hygiene. We must be equipped with having the right essentials in our bags when on the move. PV Sindhu’s outlook is taking on a proactive approach to the hygiene habits.
“From early morning meditation and training, to gym routine and session with my physio, nothing has really changed. But with the new realities that we cannot ignore which are the mask, sanitizers, wipes and many more hygiene musts, I just need to be extra cautious on-the-go.”
The small things that make the big difference
For the ace badminton player, it is the small things that make a big difference. As she heads back to the court, she resorts to small acts that will go a long way. “Small things like packing the Nature Protect wipes and the on-the-go spray in my kit bag, ensuring the fruits and veggies are washed with the Nature Protect cleaner are some things that I will be more careful about. I think a new way of living is what we all need at present.”
