There was a time when she could not afford a studio, and had to move in with her mother. But there was never a time when she made marketable art.… Nalini Malani speaks with Sukant Deepak.
“However, as an artist I never look back at my past. It is important to look forward, as an antenna of the society — what can happen in our near future? If I look back, it finds a way in my art,” says artist Nalini Malani.
The first Indian to win the Joan Miro Prize (2019), considered one of the most prestigious art awards in the world for giving a voice to the “the silenced and the dispossessed all over the world, most particularly women,” the artist says, “I think it is an important step for this prestigious award to spread their field to a more global vision.”
While her work ‘Utopia’ is part of KNMA’s ‘City Tales’ digital exhibition, she is busy with her notebook animations as part of the project ‘Can You Hear Me?’
“I post them regularly on Instagram. As an installation, which I call ‘animation chamber’, it is now installed as a solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in London, on till June 6, 2021. Besides that, I am working on the fellowship project of the National Gallery in London, which research/work project should culminate in an exhibition and publication of spring 2023.”
Known for strong social concerns in her art including issues pertaining to politics, gender, violence and consumerism, Mumbai-based Malini who during the initial days of her career worked in painting and drawing also incorporated film and video later, with memory playing an important role in her art work.
A pass-out from the JJ School of Art, the artist, who received a scholarship from the French Government to study fine arts there from 1970 to 72, smiles, “I always say: Paris was the university of my life.”
Looking ahead with Nalini Malani.
Ask her if her work ‘Utopia’ has a special resonance considering the times we live in, and she replies, “As an artist one always hopes one’s works have a special reverberance. However, it is the viewer who completes the works, and might experience this special resonance.”
Unlike many other major artists, Malani, who still works solo in her studio without any assistants happens to be one of the early artists who strongly brought forth issues of feminism in the Indian art landscape. However, she feels that things have gone worse. “The headlines of the general newspapers of the last years give us evidence of this,” she says.
Recalling the reactions from the Indian art world when she started exploring video, theatre and ephemeral wall drawings, she remembers, “There was no real appreciation directly. One was mockingly called an ‘installator artist’, as if one was a kind of gladiator artist.”
New Delhi: Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal addresses a press conference in New Delhi on May 5, 2017. (Photo: IANS)
Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal. (File Photo: IANS)
Saina Nehwal is currently concerned with maintaining fitness for competitions and tournaments next year and not thinking about the long road ahead of her to ensure a fourth appearance at the Olympic Games.
The 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist is currently ranked 22nd in the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) Race to Tokyo rankings and needs to be within the top 13 to seal qualification.
The 30-year-old former women’s singles world No.1 is currently looking to get back to competitive badminton in January. “I have no plans as such,” Saina told IANS in an exclusive interview when asked about her plans to approach the qualification period next year.
“I am only trying to improve the fitness and [look after] my injuries during this period and would look forward to do well in competitions. I am not thinking much about qualifying for Olympics,” she said.
CHANGZHOU, Sept. 18, 2019 (Xinhua) — India\’s Saina Nehwalat returns a shuttlecock during the women\’s singles first round match against Thailand\’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan at the China Open 2019 badminton tournament in Changzhou, east China\’s Jiangsu Province, Sept. 18, 2019. (Xinhua/Han Yuqing/IANS)
Before the Covid-19 pandemic brought the badminton calendar to a halt, and eventually forced the postponement of the Olympics itself, Saina was in a race against time to confirm qualification to the quadrennial event. The freezing of the calendar, and eventually the BWF rankings, meant that Saina could stop and recuperate.
“I took a break probably for few weeks. I had some issues with my ankle and shins and I needed a proper break so it was good. Once I started back, obviously, I knew that it will take a few months to get back in shape as I need to progress slowly for my fitness. But it was fun. We also knew we had enough time before tournaments would happen,” she said.
Saina was earlier expected to stage a comeback at the Denmark Open that is scheduled to start on October 13, before she became one of several high profile players to pull out of the Super 750 event. She was also in the Indian team for the Uber Cup that was to be held at the same venue from October 3 before the tournament was indefinitely postponed.
New Delhi: Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal addresses a press conference in New Delhi on May 5, 2017. (Photo: IANS)
“In my case, I just didn’t feel I need to go all the way for one tournament; also ranking points won’t count towards Olympic qualification as of now, so I had a few reasons. Also, BWF left the decision to individual athletes to take a call, so they did the best they could,” she said.
Saina and her husband and fellow badminton star Parupalli Kashyap are campaign ambassadors of Discovery Plus ‘The Big Learning Festival’.
“Kashyap and I have always believed that it is important to develop learning as a habit which makes it an automated process and we start grasping things from even the smallest incident. The fact that we both are known faces to the Indian audiences is only going to increase the relatability,” she said.
Sayani Gupta: Skewed representation of women in cinema. (Photo: sayanigupta/Instagram)
Sayani Gupta: Skewed representation of women in cinema. (Photo: sayanigupta/Instagram)
‘Four More Shots Please’ actress Sayani Gupta feels that portrayal of women in the Hindi mainstream cinema is moving in the right direction, thanks to more women storytellers coming to the forefront and bringing with them a “female gaze” that counters a “male gaze” prevalent for the longest time…Sayani speaks with Siddhi Jain.
Sayani, 34, is known for the strong roles she plays. She made her feature film debut in 2012 in ‘Second Marriage Dot Com’ and has appeared in supporting roles in films such as ‘Fan’, ‘Jolly LLB 2’ and ‘Article 15’. Her latest web series, which was a popular success, has recently been nominated at the International Emmy Awards.
Asked about the critique of how women are portrayed in the mainstream cinema, and if she finds it changing at all, Sayani tells IANSlife: “It is, and it should be critiqued, especially in Bollywood and in Hindi mainstream cinema. It’s extremely problematic, you don’t have representation of all kinds of woman. It’s only a very skewed version of what a woman should be, and what she’s doing.”
She adds: “Often she doesn’t have a valid agency of her own life, and often decisions are being made for her. Her only motto in life is to make the hero happy or romance the hero or wait for the hero to save her from the villain, and so on and so forth. Of course it’s changing, it’s moving in the right direction and that’s only because there are many more women story tellers who are coming in the forefront — the women directors, technicians, cinematographers. When you have women telling their own stories, then it makes a huge difference in terms of what woman gaze is. For the longest time, the gaze has been extremely male and that needs to change. Of course it’s changing for better, but we have a long, long way to go. Until we change our society, how we think, how we look at the girls, how we bring up our children – the girl child and the boy child, it’s not going to change much.”
Sayani is hosting a virtual acting workshop on ‘Getting into Character’ in the series ‘Femmes in Film’ by Bumble and India Film Project, on Saturday, October 3. Developed exclusively for the Bumble Community, ‘Femmes in Film’ is a series of virtual workshops to be hosted by women artistes including Sayani, Aranya Johar, Kanika Dhillon and Anjali Menon. These weekly workshops will focus on acting, screenwriting, storytelling, and filmmaking.
Sayani Gupta to conduct a virtual masterclass.
Calling ‘Femmes in Film’ a great initiative, Sayani gives a sneak peak into her workshop. “It’s a workshop that I’m taking on acting and approaching characters, building characters. It is something that we do as actors very regularly, everyday. It is something that I’m more than happy to be sharing with the Bumble community and whoever is attending the workshop. It’s something I’m really passionate about and I hope that I’m able to impart something or at least share something of interest and value to whoever is attending the workshop, I would hope so. As a concept of what IFP and Bumble are doing, is really brilliant. You need more and more woman creators, filmmakers, storytellers, actors, writers, comedians to come at the forefront and share their story, share their process. It is also very interesting because we need to amplify the voices that need to be heard more, especially today.”
Stories by women, or stories featuring strong women leads, are often put in the box. Does she agree? Sayani answers in an affirmative.
“Of course, they are put in a box. We have to try to break those moulds and break those stereotypes. I don’t think a movie written or directed by a women has to be essentially ‘female centric’. That’s a problem in itself, when you make movie with a male protagonist, it’s not called ‘male centric’ but when there is a female protagonist it’s called ‘female centric’. Why? These are universal stories, these are stories about people. Why this gender demarcation and putting different genders in different boxes? That’s not necessary, and that’s extremely problematic. That I feel is something one needs to do away with but that’s not going to happen overnight.”
Asked what is the one thing she thinks is not taught enough in cinema education, but should be, Sayani, who is graduate from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) – one of India’s top film schools, points to the ability to monetize one’s creative passions.
“One thing that FTII doesn’t teach you is to go out there and look at commerce and project yourself as a commercial creator. How to make money, basically, and how to sell. Because there are lot of brilliant people who come out of FTII and they’re often struggling with how to really marry the two — creativity and commerce. That is something that I wish somebody taught us but nobody did. (Laughs) We are obviously left to ourselves to fend for ourselves, as it happens in most art schools. So, how to monetise because filmmaking is an extremely expensive medium – it’s business, after all – one needs to understand all of that, so that needs a little more focus.
Coming back to the basics, she also feels the need to teach better writing. “I think the first is to write better, to write better characters, to write better women characters, to write with all kinds of representation – be it women, be it the marginalized of the population, be it the trans community, be it the LGBTQ+ community. There needs to be more unapologetic representation in our cinema, so I think writing is something that needs to be given more importance.”
Actress Sayani Gupta is set to co-produce “Where the Wind Blows”, a film which will feature her as the only protagonist. It’s been directed by Karma Takapa, whose films “Ralang Road” and “Mor Mann Ke Bharam” have travelled to various festivals.
According to Samarpita Samaddar, Bumble India PR Director, Sayani is an incredible artiste whose session will be focused on acting and how to approach characters in cinema. “The weekly series, Femmes in Film, will focus on acting, screenwriting, storytelling, and filmmaking. We look forward to kicking off the series with Sayani Gupta on October 3,” she shared.
Other discussions in the series are: ‘Pitch perfect poetry’ by Aranya Johar (October 10), ‘The art of character development’ by Kanika Dhillon (October 17), and ‘Things they don’t teach you at film school” by Anjali Menon (October 24). The workshops are free to attend. To attend the workshop, one can download Bumble, match with the India Film Project profile on the Date, Bizz or BFF modes and apply to book a spot.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sakshi Dhoni. (File Photo: IANS)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sakshi Dhoni. (File Photo: IANS)
Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his wife Sakshi plan to score in a very different game than cricket. They are foraying into OTT space with a web series….Sakshi Dhoni speaks with Simran Sethi.
Sakshi and MSD launched their banner Dhoni Entertainment in 2019 with the documentary “Roar Of The Lion”. Now, they are coming up with a web series, which is an adaptation of an unpublished book written by a debutant author.
Sakshi spoke on the Dhonis’ decision to venture into the entertainment world,
“I have paid more attention to the process of putting a thought and idea into creative action. The joy of seeing a concept being brought to life on screen keeps me engrossed, and we ensure the process is quality driven. When we were developing ‘Roar Of The Lion’, we thought it was the perfect time to venture into the entertainment industry,” she explained.
“The new project is exceptionally well written and the world created by the author is an adventure we are waiting to get to your screens, (it is) magical realism. It is a mythological sci-fi that explores the journey of a mysterious Aghori’,” she reveals about their forthcoming web series.
Interestingly, Dhoni is called Alpha and Sakshi is called Alpha 1 of the company.
“Mahi’s love for the Army is a well known fact. We thought of tweaking the designations and adding a quirky touch by giving ranks instead. It is an extension of our respect and admiration for the Armed Forces,” Sakshi explained.
Sakshi also opened up on life amid pandemic and how she keeps her five-year-old daughter Ziva entertained at home.
“I also gotten in touch with facets of myself that were dormant. I feel like, instead of my parenting style evolving, I am getting schooled with Ziva with all the online classes I attend with her. The need of the hour during lockdown was to find innovative techniques to make children do their homework, and that was my method as well,” she explained.
Sakshi Dhoni
“The bond with my family and our dogs became stronger with the ample amount of quality time I got with them. Also, botany and organic farming piqued my interest during this period, resulting in me starting my company,” she added.
During the lockdown, Sakshi explored writing, too.
“I got a lot of me-time to explore aspects of my personality. I am an expressive person by nature and writing poems became a hobby through which I could emote. The topic could be anything, from the happenings around the world to just conveying some motherly love. Writing now comes naturally to me and is a practice I thoroughly enjoy,” she shared.
Sakshi, who got a lot of time with Dhoni during lockdown, is now missing him as he is currently in the UAE for the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“I am not really missing it (attending IPL in a stadium) as I am following it diligently on TV, but I miss my husband. Honestly, it would’ve been difficult for Ziva and me to be in the bubble for over two months,” Sakshi said.
With demand for Indian animated content growing among global audiences, especially with children who are a significant consumer group for animations like cartoon shows, a home-grown animation brand Cosmos Maya, the creator of popular children’s show ‘Motu Patlu’, shares that it is an exciting time to be in the animation business. Anish Mehta, the CEO of Cosmos Maya interacts with Siddhi Jain.
The animation studio and Arbaaz Khan Productions have recently come together to adapt the blockbuster franchise ‘Dabangg’ into an animated series. This news comes right in line with the tenth anniversary celebration of the film franchise that introduced the character of Chulbul ‘Robin Hood’ Pandey for the first time in 2010. The show will feature animated avatars of all of the franchise’s characters. Targeted at kids and family audiences, Season 1 will be launching in summer 2021.
Anish Mehta, the CEO of Cosmos Maya – whose content is airing or streaming in over 150 countries on major OTT or TV platforms in 18 languages, speaks about Indian animation and how promising its future is, globally. Excerpts:
Tell us about the making of some of your most popular IPs.
Our idea behind most of our content output is to ensure familiarity with novelty. Implementing insights, we derive from everyday familial and social life that are relevant for kids in a package that adapts to changing sensibilities and requirements of our young audience. For example, naughtiness and clumsy behaviour is something which many kids expect to be reprimanded for and is often the subject of most kids’ animation, so ‘Motu Patlu’, showing on Nick and Voot Kids, subverted the trope by providing a set of adults indulging in such behaviour instead.
New Delhi: Popular cartoon characters Motu Patlu on a visit to IANS ahead of the TV premiere of the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards (KCA), to be aired on January 6; in New Delhi on Jan 3, 2019. (Photo: Amlan Paliwal/IANS)
‘Selfie with Bajrangi’ streaming on Disney TV and Disney+ Hotstar takes the fantastical power of invisibility and shape-shifting and provides the lead character a friend in Bajrangi, a junior version of a revered god who is known for such powers. We largely credit our business spread and market share of over 60 percent to this core philosophy. We are always looking out for arenas where we can be first innovators, such as the Dabangg animated series coming out on Disney+ Hotstar soon, which will be one of our first projects and a step for the Indian animation business towards working with established Bollywood IPs and provide them a creative and lucrative extension.
How exciting is it to be in the animation business right now? How has it picked up over the years?
Our company is in the remarkable position where we have only witnessed but been a significant catalyst to the growth of the animation and post-production industry in India. We have seen the transition of this market from a solely outsourcing-based service provider sub to and IP-rich industry. Additionally, more and more media outlets and business entities have come to realise that this medium helps them accomplish greater storytelling and advertising potential, as it works perfectly for the zaniest of narratives and visual mandates.
Animation is simply fun, being one of the first visual interfaces a child has for the world, and it is a sector that has proved resilient in the face of global calamities, which reflects in the performance of the industry despite an entire locational shift in the workspace of people involved. The projected growth of the sector is expected to reach almost $26 billion in FY21, and we strive to make the most of it.
Children are huge consumers of animated content. How do you create content around them?
We have a think tank comprising of people from the creative, business, sales and executive departments and concept artists, who come together to discuss and derive actionable insights from everyday life and how kids are adapting with the times. How life reflects in their worldview and behaviour, and what kind of ideals their parents as the content moderators want to inculcate in them. Our show ‘Titoo’ on Pogo takes the story of an everyday boy akin to ‘Dennis the Menace’, and delivering it in a tone and language relevant to kids today in a slice-of-life narrative. ‘Bapu’ and ‘Gadget Guru Ganesha’ take a similar setup as ‘Selfie with Bajrangi’ to provide known and respected figures as best friends/role models to the lead characters and helping them navigate through, discussing relevant topics such as social responsibility in a non-pedagogical manner.
Please tell us about animation as an art form.
Two things render animation its artistic status – that it adapts to nearly every creative requirement that a content creator may have of its narrative, and that it’s limited only by their imagination. Animation lends itself to the most randomly imaginative narratives and visual detail and nearly every genre of storytelling in a manner that is adaptive, conducive and cost-effective.
Anish Mehta, the CEO of Cosmos Maya
What’s the global appeal of Indian animated content as of now? Animation is mostly thought of as Japanese or Korean.
Our show ‘Eena Meena Deeka’ can be called to the stand to answer this. A non-dialogue show about three chickens and their battle of wits with a hungry fox, is one of our best performing shows in over 80 countries, and is one of the most highly viewed shows in Europe and Latin America. ‘Vir: The Robot Boy’ has nearly 11 billion views globally on our YouTube multi-channel brand WowKidz. From long-format to short-format content, Indian animation is catering to audiences across the world and is steadily creating its own niche. If the demand for Indian animation is going anywhere, it’s up.
Some new trends you may be observing in the industry or consumer group?
Thanks to the near simultaneous growth of video-sharing websites, OTT streaming and e-commerce, the issue of piracy is very nearly taken off, with financial losses on that front reducing significantly. Moreover the Indian industry is moving fast to make a foothold in the licencing and merchandising market which is the largest profit driver for the global animation industry. Cosmos-Maya is taking active steps in that direction as well, with advertising-funded modules being discussed with brands. Animation is being explored in detail as an effective communication touch point for business consumers.
Columnist and Restaurant Reviewer Riccha Grrover in an exclusive review of NoriTacos from brand Sugoi JPN and in conversation with the entrepreneur of award-winning food concept Felipe Preece for Asian Lite International.
Felipe Preece
Initially based out of a small dark kitchen under a railway arch in Bethnal Green, and catering to a local pub via a food truck, Sugoi JPN (known for its unique NoriTacos) is now working on a new franchise expansion initiative and plans to launch 10 sites in 12 months during a global pandemic, with two sites already open in South Wimbledon and Palmers Green.
Sugoi JPN is inspired by Tokyo’s ‘Piss Alley’ street food market and Latin America’s street food stalls. A hybrid between Japanese nori and Mexican tacos, the brand prides itself on championing NoriTacos, a crispy seaweed tempura shell shaped like a taco and packed with sushi rice and Japanese-Latin toppings. The secret recipe took a year to develop with particular attention to its structure in order to create the ideal street-food dish that is easy to eat on the go.
For more than fifteen years Felipe and his wife Veronica had been developing Japanese restaurant concepts together providing management, strategic planning, marketing and design and have a proven record of successful concept development.
They have both advised and eaten in different Nihon restaurants around the world including Chicago, Miami, California, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Paris, Caracas, Santiago, San Juan, and of course, London. They were the creators and founders of SushiOlé (Madrid 2004-2008), Sushi House (Mallorca 2008-2010), Japo Express (Mallorca 2010-2011), Oh! Sushi (Miami 2011-2012).
In 2012 they came to London and following their working stunts with Aqua, Hakkasan and SSP they self-funded Sugoi JPN and within two years became an award-winning brand.
RG- When did you set up Sugoi JPN and what inspired you towards it?
FP- When we arrived in London five years ago, we realised that the Japanese food market was saturated so we were keen to create something different, unique, simple, but cool (which is what Sugoi means). The hospitality industry is aware that delivered food is an increasingly important feature of urban living, uptake is highest in the capital. Technology has been the catalyst, driving uptake via mobile platforms and digital marketing with full-service delivery platforms opening new channels. As a result, we decided to bet on the dark delivery kitchens to try our crazy cool idea, and we found one in Bethnal Green, which we shared. The kitchen was located down an alley under a railway arch which was coincidental, considering our concept was inspired by Piss Alley (Tokyo).
RG-Tell us about the concept of NoriTacos and what cuisine is it?
FP- We are combining the best of Latin and Japanese, traditions, culture and flavours to get a new intense street food and delivery concept: noritacos. These are 100% fresh & fun, in other words: Eating Japanese – Living Latino.
Nori is the Japanese name for edible seaweed which is primarily used as an ingredient to wrap sushi. Taco is the traditional Mexican dish consisting of a corn or wheat tortilla folded or rolled around a filling.
If we combine the two words, Nori + Taco, we get, Noritaco: A crispy seaweed tempura shell with Japanese-Latin fusion fillings.
RG- Tell us about your journey as an entrepreneur who’s aiming for expansion as the FnB industry is still reeling under the post lockdown impact?
FP- For more than fifteen years my wife Veronica and I had been developing Japanese restaurants concepts together, providing management, strategic planning, marketing and design. We have the knowledge and expertise to create and define restaurants, the brand positioning and expansion, from the initial idea through to the construction, start-up and beyond.
We are professionals who know the Japanese fine dining and casual restaurant industry, with a proven track record of successful concept development. We have also advised and eaten in different Nihon restaurants at cities around the world including Chicago, Miami, California, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Paris, Caracas, Santiago, San Juan, and of course, London.
We are also the creators and founders of SushiOlé (Madrid 2004-2008), Sushi House (Mallorca 2008-2010), Japo Express (Mallorca 2010-2011), Oh! Sushi (Miami 2011-2012) and Arepita Sliders (2019 – Currently).
The hospitality industry has hugely been impacted by Covid-19 and it’s all about supporting each other during this crisis and getting through it together.
Most restaurants that closed were pivoting their business to delivery and takeaway, however to continue to generate profit, this is almost impossible. Whilst we were closed, we thought about this issue and how we could get around it and we decided on an exciting partnership.
As so many people know already, owning your own business is not always a piece of cake. It’s very rewarding, but it involves more of your time, energy and dedication. So we wanted to give entrepreneurs an opportunity to run their own delivery kitchen, and professionals who would like to maximise their restaurants or delivery/takeaway business, by adding a successful and multi award-winning concept to it.
We do the training, we give them the right to use our brand, we teach them our know how, etc. Their venue does not need to have our branding, it will work just with online presence. It will help others to make it happen through maximizing their structure (rent, staff, etc) and it will help us to expand our brand at the same time in a professional way. The whole idea is to be able to run a multi-concept kitchen where entrepreneurs can manage their concept and ours simultaneously in the same venue.
We are quite proud of what we have accomplished over the past two years. As you read through this interview, you’ll see why we say, “This is not just a company, it’s a concept!” and we would love to work with more partners to expand this cool concept.
We don’t want to be thought of as someone who only sells ‘franchises’. That isn’t our intention. We’ve designed this business as if we are going to grow together.
RG- Tell us about your current locations, range of menu options? Do you cater to vegan and vegetarians? Where are your current franchises/outlets?
FP- We are delighted with the response of our partnership idea! We have received hundreds of proposals that are currently being taking into consideration, however, we would like to develop a small and controlled expansion. For the moment we have two Sugoi JPN sites open; the first one started trading at the beginning of August in South Wimbledon and it is working wonderfully, better than we expected. The second one opened at the end of August in Palmers Green and it is part of an Italian restaurant that closed to become a multi-concept dark kitchen – it is also working very well.
We are currently in negotiation to open more Sugoi JPN sites in East London and there are a couple of good potential opportunities in the Central area as well. Simultaneously we are launching a new concept of franchise partners inspired by Venezuelan food which has been adapted to meet the needs of the modern consumer during the pandemic. The concept is called Arepita Sliders and the first kitchen opened on September 17th in Tooting Broadway.
Our concept was designed to meet the growing demands of the vegan and gluten-free consumer market as well as online delivery. Our forward-thinking team are also on a mission to tackle one of the biggest challenges we are facing as a global community; food waste.
Both concepts offer options to suit a wide range of palates and dietary requirements.
RG- What are future plans for Sugoi JPN? Does your menu have specials or seasonal dishes or is it the same menu across venues through the year?
FP- With regards to the future, our plan is to develop a controlled small expansion, with ten more kitchens opening in London. After that we can think about opening internationally, maybe in the Middle East, who knows! Things can change so quickly, as we have seen with Covid-19, so it’s about being flexible, and having the capability to adapt to drastic changes quickly and calmly.
Also, we would like to think that in the future our nori shells could be available in retail stores and supermarkets so our customers can make their own noritacos at home.
We are constantly adapting our menu on a seasonal basis to keep up with the latest trends and we do launch cool limited time only dishes, so yes, we have some special dishes once in a while.
RG- What kind of a meal can diners look forward to when they order a meal from your outlet? What’s the kind of vibe you wanted to create with your menu?
FP- We offer a very unique menu. We are a very positive, original, humble brand, and that is our aim, not to be recognised as the best ones, or be in the top 10, we just want to keep it cool, relaxed, friendly, and connect with our customers.
RG- What have been your high points that keep you motivated to be in the food business? What would you say are the challenges involved in FnB start-ups?
FP- Without a doubt, our motivation is the personal satisfaction we feel when we see our guests smile after trying our food and they leave happy.
With regards to the challenges, definitely the lack of passion in the industry, but also the level of initial investment. However, when we speak about street food, there are not as many high risks if we compare it with a brick and mortar restaurant in a local high street that comes with rent and cost pressures, as well as maybe needing refurbing, equipment, an army of staff, etc. You can start your business and develop your concept at a considerably lower risk. I would advise collecting and analysing feedback, improving the logistics, operations, etc before you go and invest half million in a restaurant and realise that you made a mistake – it will save you a lot of time, effort and money.
However, the revenue is proportional-you won’t make as much money at the beginning as you could in a restaurant, but it can be more profitable.
RG- What would you say is the reason of the continued success of your NoriTacos offerings?
FP-Just three words – we are Sugoi!
RG-Any words of advice or inspiration to budding enthusiasts for setting up their own food brand?
FP- Without passion your game is going to be over sooner or later, that is the most important thing. You need to be human, we are dealing with people, not with numbers. This is hospitality and if you don’t have the enthusiasm and love for it, people will notice it. Remember, happiness brings success, not money!
And with the pandemic situation we are currently in, do not see this as a crisis, but an opportunity! Be positive and open your mind and think outside the box. Everyone is starting from scratch, take advantage of it and make this new start work for you.
Sugoi is a Japanese superlative, is an exclamation linked to the positive admiration of talent or power, very used in Japan to describe something that is wonderful or incredible (Cool-Awesome). JPN is the acronym or the international abbreviation for the country of the rising sun. It could be interpreted as the incredible power of Japan, its cuisine, but with a happy Latin twist in the case of their food concept.
Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone says fashion for her is being able to effortlessly blend what is in trend with her individual authentic style.
In an interview with us, Deepika, who has been roped in as the brand ambassador of ethnic brand Melange by Lifestyle, shares more about her fashion preferences, her style and more? Excerpts:
How would you define your style?
My personal style has certainly evolved over the years but inherently I believe my personal style is Classic and Elegant. I absolutely love traditional wear and the saree is my most favourite garment!
What is fashion for you?
Fashion for me is being able to effortlessly blend what is in trend with my individual authentic style.
Mumbai: Actress Deepika Padukone at the Red Carpet of 4th Lokmat Most Stylish Awards in Mumbai on Dec 18, 2019. (Photo: IANS)
What is your ideal work-from-home outfit?
Fabrics and silhouettes that allow me to feel comfortable.
Is it tough at times for you and your stylist to finalise a red carpet look?
We’ve never thought of it as tough. The most important criteria for us is to have fun and enjoy the process!
Ordinarily how long does it take for you to get ready for the day?
Not more than 10-15 minutes.
Mumbai: Actress Deepika Padukone at the birthday party of poet-lyricist-screenwriter Javed Akhtar, in Mumbai on Jan 17, 2020. (Photo: IANS)
Tell us about your collaboration with Melange?
Melange by Lifestyle is a brand that effortlessly combines modernity with traditionalism; attributes that resonate very strongly with my core values.
Whether you are looking for something festive or a casual day out, there is something for everybody. For years we’ve been conditioned to think of ethnic wear as something that one can only wear in the evenings or during celebrations, but Melange encourages you to rethink ethnic wear.
What do you like the most of it?
With this collection in particular, I’m excited about the fact that we have been able to marry ethnicity and modernity and believe that the linen kurtas, the Chikankari kurtas and the contemporary shirt kurtas in particular will be very well received.
