Kolkata, the capital of culture, will be the sixth stop for Indulge, and the first in the country’s east. The first edition of any publication is a landmark in its journey and for us, seven of the city’s prominent personalities in the fields of music (Bickram Ghosh), fashion (Abhishek Dutta), food (Shaun Kenworthy), theatre (Ramanjit Kaur), films (Koel Mallick), dance (Alokananda Roy) and arts (Richa Agarwal) have welcomed us by gracefully posing for our cover story. They talk about their work and share their latest plans to welcome Indulge in Kolkata. These celebrities and luminaries warmly accommodated us despite their busy schedules, and at least one of them battled a bad cold with a liberal dose of antibiotics to pose for our cameras. We are beholden to each one of them, as indeed to the many others who helped us along the way, as we take our first steps in a city that has always embraced the new. Indulge brings with it a fresh perspective to observe and interpret what this city has to offer in each of these fields, and more. Here’s what they had to share with us...
Koel Mallick
“It really feels great that Indulge is coming to Kolkata. It will be good to have a magazine covering all aspects of lifestyle and culture, from fashion, food and cinema, to music, dance and theatre. Our weekends will definitely be more exciting with so many things to read about,” says Koel Mallick, Tollywood’s most popular and sought-after female actor. The beautiful and down-to-earth actor, who began her career in 2003 with Nater Guru opposite Jeet, had an extremely successful innings in the box office for the past 15 years with more than 50 films in her kitty. She has been cast opposite all the leading actors including Abir Chatterjee, Dev, Jeet, Parambrata Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, Soham and Hiran, among others. She has worked with almost all the renowned directors of Bengali film industry such as Kaushik Ganguly, Srijit Mukherjee, Sandip Ray, Kamaleshwar Mukherjee and Mainak Bhaumik, besides others. Mallick feels that Tollywood is witnessing the best times ever with audiences open to watching experimental films and expecting out-of-the-box content. “Technically too, the industry is going through a great phase and coming up with great computer graphics, excellent camera work and fabulous editing,” says Mallick. The actor has consciously set a limit on the number of films she does, as she wants to do roles she has never done before. “Commercial films still excite me if they have interesting storylines,” she says. She will be seen in Sagardip Er Jawker Dhon, an adventure film by Sayantan Ghosal, where she plays a doctor and in Abhimanyu’s yet untitled film, where she is an investigative journalist. Mallick is currently shooting for Soukarya Ghosal’s Rakto Rahasya, an emotional thriller.
Shaun Kenworthy
“Indulge looks a perfect fit for Kolkata, since it covers all aspects of culture — be it poetry, theatre, arts, music or food,” says Chef Shaun Kenworthy. Born and raised in the UK, Kenworthy began his career as a pastry chef in Yorkshire, Manchester and London. After stints in Paris, Stockholm and New York, the fun-loving gastronome made Kolkata his home, where he is popular for his quirky culinary experiments. In his spare time, he loves to write about food and travel. Kenworthy feels the food industry has undergone a sea change in the 17 years that he has been in Kolkata, while the city has changed drastically too. With about 300 new food outlets, ranging from street food to casual, family and fine dining options opening this year, this sector looks alive and ‘cooking’. The chef feels that Asian cuisines seem to be topping the charts in the city, where people love to share their food. Kenworthy is also excited about Kolkata’s inclination to experiment. “Where else would you find a classic Tuscan Rabbit Pasta with Ragu and lots of oranges and wine vanishing within half an hour? Certainly, it wouldn’t have happened in Mumbai, Bengaluru or Delhi.”
Alokananda Roy
“Indulge is coming to Kolkata and we all look forward to enjoying some great reads covering all aspects of art and culture. With Indulge in town, we will have no dearth of some great features covering news related to the world of dance and choreography in Bengal,” says danseuse and choreographer Alokananda Roy. The former Miss India runner-up (1969), whose life and work has been captured in celluloid in director-duo Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy’s film Muktodhara that that released in 2012, is working to bring together jail inmates from India and the US in a creative experiment. Over the past 12 years, she has helped inmates of the Alipore Central Jail stage dance dramas. Roy tells us that though there are a lot of experiments being done by seasoned dancers and newcomers alike, somewhere we are losing the essence of Bengal and drifting away from our roots. “We should also nurture and develop dance forms inherent to Bengali culture, since there are various indigenous dance styles, which are dying out,” feels Roy. Roy’s next plan is to execute the Mahabharata based on Rabindranath Tagore’s Karna Kunti Sangbad. Her play will highlight the goodness in all the characters instead of portraying them in various shades of black. “Since all my plans are very grand in scale, I often have to shelve them due to lack of funds,” laughs the gregarious septuagenarian, who is yet to find the right actor to play Karna. Roy herself will portray either Kunti or Gandhari.
Ramanjit Kaur
“It’s wonderful to have a published version of Indulge in the city, because the magazine has done some very intensive work in terms of features, which are very detailed and insightful,” says thespian Ramanjit Kaur. Born and raised in Chandigarh and settled in Kolkata since marriage, Ramanjit Kaur is among the frontrunners in the city, who have taken theatre out of the proscenium and turned it into a more participative, organic and intimate affair with active participation of the audience. Kaur feels some theatricians in Kolkata including Bratya Basu, Vinay Sharma and Manish Mitra are much ahead of their time, doing great experimental works, but the need of the hour is training in terms of physical, visual and imagery-based movements. “Collaboration with interdisciplinary arts is required to take the theatre movement foward,” stresses Kaur. Kaur, who has been working with all women theatre projects since 2011, for which she received the National Award, is busy promoting her play Beyond Borders. The play recently got invited to the Theatre Olympics and was showcased at India Habitat Centre during the World Theatre Festival. “We also staged it at the International South Asian Women Conference and International Anthropologist Conference. I wish to take it across the globe,” says Kaur, whose first short film, Silence, on the life and work of poet Sudip Sen recently premiered at Berlin Flash Film Festival. It was also shown at the Romanian and Belgrade Literary festivals.
Bickram Ghosh
“I have performed a lot in the Southern part of the country, and I have seen the fantastic presence that Indulge has there, so I’m really looking forward to that being replicated in the East,” says tabla maestro Bickram Ghosh. When it comes to tabla players, Bickram Ghosh’s name is bound to figure among the top artistes. Son of renowned tabla player Pandit Shankar Ghosh and vocalist Sanjukta Ghosh, Ghosh belongs to the Farukhabad gharana and has been performing Hindustani classical and fusion music for more than 30 years now, with over a 100 albums, four Grammy nominations, including one Grammy-winning album to his credit. His association with late sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar has helped him grow both as a performer and a showman. Ghosh’s band Rythmscape shifts fluidly between pure classical, rock and pop sounds, and is popular in cutting across all ages. Ghosh feels that the music scene in Bengal is extremely encouraging and it’s one of the few places in the country that still has a thriving indigenous music scene. “There’s still a place for Tagore songs, Nazrul songs or Shyama Sangeet. There’s a huge space for Bangla rock, Indian classical music and Bangla modern songs as well. Here, music thrives in all its hues and colours,” avers Ghosh. Ghosh’s latest Bengali album Pheromon is still on charts and his upcoming album with Rashid Khan and Hariharan is almost complete. Besides composing for four Bengali films including Arindam Sil’s Khelaghar and a Hindi film, Band of Maharaja, Ghosh is busy doing a corporate project with a few 100 tribal artistes across the country right now.
Abhishek Dutta
“I’m quite excited since there is a void in the media in terms of lifestyle and fashion coverage. Indulge will definitely go a long way to let the people to know how Kolkata is moving forward in terms of fashion and style and provide space for us designers to showcase our creations,” says popular fashion designer Abhishek Dutta. Born and raised in Kolkata, Dutta has been one of the pioneers in the city, who introduced the grunge, gothic and quirky looks at a time (15 years ago) when most fashionistas were afraid to experiment with looks. He primarily works with handlooms and combines textiles with leather to come up with a quirky lehenga or a sari, which are very popular among the young and trendy.
“Though Kolkata is regarded as an intellectual city, some of the biggest designers in the country, including Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Anamika Khanna and Ritu Kumar hail from here. It has a unique sense of fashion, which is subdued and infused with lot of heritage,” feels Dutta. Currently, Dutta is focusing more on the international markets with shows coming up in Dubai and London. “I want to take the brand Abhishek Dutta on international platforms now,” stresses Dutta. Besides, he is working with the inmates of Presidency Correctional Home and a clothes brand, solely made by jail inmates under his supervision is on its way.
Richa Agarwal
“It’s very exciting —anything new is always welcome. I have a Chennai connection — I am from the South, so anything with Chennai always excites me more,” smiles Richa Agarwal, executive director, Kolkata Centre for Creativity and CEO, Emami Art. Born and raised in Coimbatore, the energetic and enterprising Agarwal has made Kolkata her home for the past 21 years, since her marriage into the household of the Emami Group, one of the leading FMCG companies. Her initiation into the world of art had been organic, with her father-in-law having a great sense of aesthetics and love for art. Agarwal’s first brush with the world of art took place 10 years ago, when she helped her father-in-law in designing and decorating their new corporate office. “It was then that I got in touch with artists and the idea to do something with art concretised,” she says. Arts and culture has always been the highest priority for people in Kolkata irrespective of the markets. What I feel is that for most of us here, it’s more about seeing and appreciating the arts, you don’t have to own everything you see,” feels Agarwal. As the executive director of Kolkata Centre for Creativity, which opened a couple of days ago, Agarwal aspires to give the people of Kolkata a holistic experience of arts and culture with a fair mix of four to five curated national and international exhibitions in a year and some great performing arts, too. Apart from a Patachitra exhibition by local artisans and a 10-day event called Death by Architecture in late December, Agarwal plans to showcase works of Ravinder Reddy, B Vose Krishnamachari and Jogen Chowdhury next year.