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The new pecking order
Industry veterans shine a light on emerging stars from the city who are poised to make a mark in their chosen fields
Humour with conscience
Cyrus Broacha, Comedian, podcaster and television host
We did a show called ‘The Week That Wasn’t’ (on CNN News18) for almost 17 years and were always looking for writers. At the time, actor Gopal Dutt recommended Punit Pania. We saw his stuff on YouTube, and his writing style and delivery were very close to what we were doing: satirical and ironic. He did a few guest spots for our show over the years. And, we used him for our Independence Day specials, when he would talk about India or our governments.
He’s very talented and his comedy is very political. It always comes back to a social conscience about the way things are. It may be more Western, but I hope he never changes his voice. What we call elitist comedy, things that the privileged set cares about, is also one of my favourite things. The infrastructure of Mumbai, or even most cities in India, can drive you nuts. So, he’s done a lovely bit on bridges. He has his own following now, but political comedy isn’t the most popular form out there. He works really hard, and travels all over the country trying to get gigs. He’s even the master of doing three gigs in a day. So, he’s like a breath of fresh air. And, he’s distinctively different, I promise you that. I would say, Varun Grover in Hindi may be similar to his style. They would somewhat be in the same tribe. So, he’s the one guy whose work I’m really looking forward to.
No fooling this chef
AD Singh, Founder and managing director, Olive group of restaurants
I have only been to The Lovefools in Bandra recently. My wife had gone there for a birthday dinner, and came back saying very nice things about it. For the past three years, it has been in a quaint bungalow tucked away in Ranwar village, and it’s absolutely charming with a lovely vibe and feel. The breakfast menu is the most inventive one I have seen in many years.
Chef Sarita Pereira is very creative. Nowadays, people are expected to spend so much money on restaurants, but this is the opposite. The customer doesn’t have to spend a lot of money and still gain a lovely experience through charm and great food. I have seen decent restaurants close down and strip money, so this is a good model for the future. And, her vision for food just amazed me. I had gone there for a breakfast meeting – I had a Japanese omelette in a very light soup. It was tasty and came together really well, which is very difficult with a dish like that. I also tried a miso dish and a vegetarian dish. It was all outstanding. I don’t know her growth plans, but would definitely recommend people to visit there sometime.
Scoring runs by the tons
Dilip Vengsarkar, Former India captain and chief selector
From what I’ve seen, Ruturaj Gaikwad is one player who could take things forward in Indian cricket. And, as captain too. Because he is good in all formats of the game and is quite level-headed and mature. He has excellent temperament for the highest class of cricket.
I say that he has good temperament because I’ve seen some players freeze in the big matches. They look absolutely world-beaters in other games but when the stakes rise and you have to deliver, they freeze. That’s where I feel Ruturaj is different.
I’ve been watching him since the age of 12. I’ve seen him grow. The unfortunate part was that the selectors did not identify his talent earlier, which is a shame. It is very important to identify talent, groom players and give them the opportunity at the right time. At the end of the day, he is out there to play to the best of his abilities.
Consistency matters a lot in cricket. And Ruturaj has been scoring runs by the tons over the years. I also believe that he should lead teams to gain experience and evolve himself further. He has been leading India ‘A’ teams anyway, and he also won the Asian Games gold medal this year as captain of the Indian team in China.
Nobody is a natural leader. They improve on the job. Ruturaj is one of them, and I’m sure he will also keep learning on the job. He is a quiet guy, extremely humble, friendly to his colleagues and easily approachable. Those are all traits that will help him.
A dynamite filmmaker
Zoya Akhtar, Filmmaker
I’m a huge fan of writer-director Chaitanya Tamhane. I have followed his work closely. He is not mainstream. However his cinema is infinitely superior compared to the regular fare on offer. Everyone should watch out for him.
He had made a short film called ‘Six Strands’ (2011) but he actually got noticed after his feature ‘Court’ (2014). Nine years after it was made, ‘Court’ is still referenced. The film is a legal drama, which examines the Indian legal system through the Mumbai Sessions Court trial of an aging protest singer, Narayan Kamble (Vira Sathidar), who is accused of encouraging a manhole worker to die by suicide through one of his folk songs.
He also wrote and directed ‘The Disciple’ in 2020 which won the best screenplay award at the Venice Film Festival and the best screenplay award at the Asian Film Awards in 2021. This guy will one day blow up the world with his work. He’s dynamite.
A rebooted playwright
Ramu Ramanathan, Poet and playwright
Theatre is not dead -- Maharashtra’s robust theatre system saw 18 centres stage a primary round of plays in Marathi this year; likewise a Marathi newspaper hosted a competition of one-act plays by young college students at multiple centres across the state.
On the day of Dussera, seven new Marathi plays were announced – something is simmering below the surface.
One playwright who I would wage my bets on is Saumya Joshi. He began his journey by learning to play the tabla in Ahmedabad. He penned ‘Ramilo Yaar’ while in college and later ‘Munjaro’. Both plays were penned because there is a dearth of good play texts. Two plays, both staged a couple of decades ago, boosted his playwriting TRP. They were: ‘Dost, Chokkas Ahin Nagar Vasatun Hatun’ (born during the Gujarat 2002 riots) and ‘Athaman taranu Aakash’ (based on a work written by Saumya’s elder brother Abhijat Joshi, of the ‘Munnabhai’ fame).
A few years ago, Joshi shifted to Mumbai and rebooted his playwriting concept, characters and dialogue structure. The net result: Saumya Joshi 2.0 has been triumphant. Plays like ‘Welcome Zindagi’ and ‘102 Not Out’ have reigned supreme at the box office.
The good news is, the best of Saumya Joshi is yet to come. Hopefully it will in 2024.
She hits the right note
Pt Satish Vyas, Santoor exponent
Shruti Bujarbaruah’s musicality belies her age – her grasp, technique, prowess and mellifluosness are like that of a veteran. I discovered her while browsing through videos of musicians on FB. When I heard her bandish composed by my later father Pt C R Vyas, I got the goose bumps. She was singing it in Raga Puriya, with much finesse. Her flawless rendition was much better than some of my father’s direct disciples. It is rare to come across musicians of her vintage.
I reached out to her to convey my appreciation and figure out how and where she had learnt that bandish. The Mumbai-based artiste belongs to a family of musicians from Assam. She is the disciple of Pt Vijay Koparkar, who is trained under the legendary Pt Jitendra Abhisheki, who was trained under Pt CR Vyas. It is magical how my father’s musical legacy came a full circle like this.
She is the star to watch out for on the classical music scene.
Bridging reality and perception
Sudarshan Shetty, Artist
Dia Mehta Bhupal’s images of familiar public spaces often explore the limits of photography and beyond. The uniquely layered process of her deceptively mundane images makes one wonder about the gap between reality and perception of a photographed image.
There are quite a few of her works that I find fascinating as every time there is a subtle shift that she achieves and that signifies a serious engagement with her craft.
I had the opportunity to work with her during the Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016. Dia presented an installation titled, ‘Bathroom Set’. She used repurposed paper to craft public spaces. She created the installation out of papier-mâché and photo-prints. For the first time, we convinced her to show one of the immaculate sets that she constructs for the final picture. I think it worked very well for the context of the biennale, as one of the streams that we were trying to explore was, ‘what is real and what is not’.
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