Archives: '21 Issue 01

In 'Unstruck Melody', the British-born, Toronto-based artist’s latest exhibition for the London Design Festival 2023 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, he presents mindful tools to reinvent our approach to living. Verve takes a walk through the interdisciplinary showcase

The Kochi-based comic book publishing house serendipitously found itself stepping into the Indian film industry about a decade ago — thanks to and partly due to their intent to fund their first love. Verve speaks to founders Tina and Pratheek Thomas to trace the changing face of title sequences with the advent of OTT and their ascendence within the worlds of credits and comic books

These Mumbai-based food entrepreneurs, who left their promising careers in fine dining to start their own enterprises, in interviews with Verve, talk about the process of — and challenges in — breaking free of the unsavoury practices that the restaurant industry is notorious for, while bringing the sensibilities of gourmet cooking into the delivery-only model

When the Bandra-Worli Sea Link was unveiled in 2009, the architectural marvel that stood tall over the waters filled all who saw it with varying degrees of wonder. Fifteen years later, in 2024, we will be looking forward to the opening of the coastal road which, even as it facilitates speedier travel, will once again inevitably transform Mumbai’s shoreline. ANURADHA MAHINDRA, Founder-Editor, Verve, whimsically envisions the changing face of the sea and the impact the new road will have on the city’s daily life — and, most importantly, on the fishing community whose colourful boats will have to skirt the pillars of the bridge to bring back their catch…

Every year, around June, we wait with bated breath for the familiar pitter-patter against our windowpanes that heralds the arrival of the rains in Mumbai. When the first showers are delayed, we are filled with restlessness — we worry at the disruption of nature’s seasonal rhythm. In a poetic outpouring, ANURADHA MAHINDRA, Founder-Editor, Verve, voices the thoughts of many, as she shares her own experience of waiting….

The much talked-about exhibition was a fitting documentation of the country’s milestones that impacted the global imagination through two parallel, carefully curated narratives — the story of fashion and a visual referencing of India in its scenographies

The actor’s early alter ego in the 1993 Lehar Pepsi ad had exuded a cool irreverence and a certain mystery. Her character Sanjana — who has nostalgic value now — had, even in that brief appearance in a white shirt and trousers, reflected the confidence of an emerging modern India and spawned several namesakes. However, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s 21st appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, while dominating feeds, also saw trolls liberally taking potshots at her shimmering hooded Sophia Couture gown and her other fashion choices. ANURADHA MAHINDRA, Founder-Editor, Verve, notes how the 49-year-old role model, who has resiliently borne the brunt of naysayers in recent years, continues to stand up to the never-ending onslaught of ageist and misogynistic challenges and considers how she can do more to inspire the generations to come…

Every form and flavour of carefully curated high fashion was amply visible on the Met Gala’s red carpet this year. After repeated viewings of the spectacle and some existential pondering, ANURADHA MAHINDRA, Founder-Editor, Verve, analyses why audiences were left eagerly lapping up every detail on show. Is it the cultural allure of this event — and other public showcases like the Coronation of the British monarch or the Cannes Film Festival — or simply their clickbait appeal that keeps us glued to our screens, she wonders…

The much-talked-about grand interiors of Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s new flagship store in Mumbai are infused with a sense of uber-nostalgia, largely derived from the City of Joy’s fabled past. In an evocative experiential piece, ANURADHA MAHINDRA, Founder-Editor, Verve, wonders if he is really at home with splitting the two sides of his persona — the one that is looking to break into the global market by selling a restrained “Indianness”, from the other that is so rooted in his Bengali identity. And asks whether it is now time for the designer — whose work marries his rich aesthetic with high culture — to evolve as a cohesive whole in order to create a purposeful body of work in the modern context

The founder of the almost decade-old contemporary art gallery in Mumbai tells us what colours her artistic vision and how the new space has been designed to grow their gallery programme