Alia Bhatt

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…
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It may have been the reason for “Housefull” signs in theatres again, but the first instalment of Ayan Mukerji’s much-awaited fantasy trilogy met with mixed reactions. The dialogues in particular, which were intended to polish the film’s aspirational edge, came under fire because of the purported inauthenticity of their phrasing. We explore the film’s relationship to language and how Dharma Productions, an industry powerhouse that has successfully employed Hinglish in several of its productions, failed to do the same thing in its most globally ambitious project yet
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S. S. Rajamouli is known for his fantasy and adventure films that are derived as much from Amar Chitra Katha as they are from Westerns like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Prathyush Parasuraman examines the defining elements of the Telugu director’s filmography, as well as the controversies of representation which have plagued the Baahubali series, which catapulted Rajamouli to the status of a pan-Indian icon
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The mercurial director, known for indulging his love of the opulent, orchestrates spectacular cinematic realities but populates them with characters who are perpetual prisoners. On the heels of Bhansali’s latest release, Gangubai Kathiawadi, critic and writer Anuj Malhotra pauses frames from five of his iconic films to analyse how a shift in film-making sensibilities has affected his portrayal of tragic, inner worlds.
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In the social-media-fuelled world of celebrity, there is a new and probably more important red carpet — the 20-foot distance between the SUV door and the airport gate. Daily on offer to the tipped-off paparazzi are looks that flaunt the casual, tossed-off, this-old-thing version of celebrity style, tailored by dedicated stylists to look like they’ve played no role at all. But in the confines of the J-class cabin, a few champagne glasses down, the faux leather booties would probably start to pinch and the buttons on the high-waisted, grommetted jeans would give way to the well-concealed, nutritionist-unapproved bulge. Surely comfort during an 18-hour red-eye rates higher than an Instagram post? So Verve picks those casual yet fabulously assembled looks on Hindi cinema’s leading ladies, that also afford solace to the perils of travel
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The young actor talks to us about the turning points in her career and personal life and about inspiring a generation
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