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Mr Grover’s going places

He gave up a corporate career for the unpredictable, exciting, big, bad world of Bollywood. And Varun Grover struck gold.
by Mamta D | @silverlightgal on Twitter

Varun Grover. If you are on social media or browse through YouTube India channels regularly, you would know who this is. And of course, if you are a fan of offbeat cinema, and have watched Gangs of Wasseypur and Ankhon Dekhi, you would have seen his name in the credits.

For those who are still in the dark, let’s throw some light on the subject.

Varun Grover Varun Grover wrote the lyrics for Gangs of Wasseypur, Ankhon Dekhi, and the critically acclaimed documentary KatiyaBaaz. Varun Grover is also a standup comic, a key part of JayHindTV, and has performed many live shows both in the country and abroad. He has written for several TV shows including Ranvir Vinay aur Kaun, Aisi ki Taisi, Oye It’s Friday. Varun Grover is also one of the few whose script was selected for the NDFC Screenwriter’s Lab held at Toronto in 2013. And these are just some of his accomplishments.

Varun was born in 1980 in Himachal Pradesh and grew up in a typical middle-class family environment. At a young age, he moved to Dehradun with his family. He studied in the IMA – Kendriya Vidyalaya and as a child, he wanted to be in the military. In 1991, the family moved to Lucknow, where he would spend the next few years until his college. After completing B. Tech. from IIT-Varanasi in 2003, he tried his hand at a software job in Pune. However, coming from a family of writers, it was creative writing that was predominant in his genes and not software development. Before long (less than a year, in fact), he moved out to Mumbai to try his luck in the film industry as a writer. And, he has never looked back since.

In a chat with The Metrognome, Varun opens up about his creative journey, how he juggles many interests on a daily basis, and what it has been like to work with some majorly creative people in the film industry. Excerpts from the interview:

You began your first job in the corporate world but soon realised your true calling was elsewhere, in the creative arts. It’s now been 10 years since you left the corporate world for good. How do you feel about that and how has your journey in these 10 years beenr?

[The] Journey has been great. What I didn’t want to end up in was a routine life full of predictability. In corporate life, you can very easily see where you’ll be in five to 10 years. You just have to look at the person who joined five to 10 years before you. You’ll most probably have the same car, similar house, same number of kids, wear similar kind of clothes, and you’ll be regularly bumping into the same guys at the same kind of restaurants. While in the film industry, you can be anything in the next five or 10 years, including being dead, due to too much success or too much failure. That thrill is what keeps me going. And of course, the fun of creating new stuff which will be around even after I am gone.

Performing stand up comedy, writing film scripts, directing films, co-writing graphic novels, and composing lyrics…how do you strike a balance between it all? What do you enjoy the most?

I wish I could strike a balance. I wish there was a clear definition and a machine to measure balance. I just do whatever catches my fancy at that time of the day. Of course, some things are driven by Gangs of Wasseypurdeadlines and they balance themselves. I think I enjoy all of them equally and that’s why I do them. Stand up comedy is thrilling because of the instant feedback, lyrics writing is thrilling because I love the music-making process, and film scripts are thrilling because they involve sitting for long hours in front of my laptop browsing all the Internet and pretending to research for your script. Sabka apna apna alag rass hai and I am a bit of an experience-junkie.

A few in Bollywood started out with being behind the camera, but eventually made it in front of the camera. Farhan Akhtar, for one, comes to mind. Have you ever considered stepping in front of the camera instead of being behind it?

I don’t mind acting, but putting on make-up is one of the most excruciating exercises of human existence. I have done a small role in a film that should be out this year and have faced the camera for the online show Jay Hind. But no, I don’t have that ambition to be an actor. If I do act, it’ll only be for fun or if the role is something really crazy. It would never be for money.

Ankhon dekhiFrom Anurag Kashyap (Gangs of Wasseypur) to Rajat Kapoor (Ankhon Dekhi) to newer names like Ashish R Shukla (Prague) and Deepti Kakkar, Fahad Mustafa (KatiyaBaaz), how has it been working with these people?

Everybody comes with their own world view and all these films have a take on our times in their own way, so it was a great experience every time. Anurag Kashyap gives a lot of creative freedom and that translated into one of my (and Sneha K’s) best output yet. Rajat Kapoor is very precise with what he wants and that resulted in a very disciplined, old-school writing for Ankhon Dekhi. Ashish Shukla, again, had an aural space in mind and that helped me do something I never thought I was capable of (writing for rock music), and Fahad and Deepti had such a rooted film that it inspired me to go back to my Lucknow days and find the local idiom.

Your first full-fledged script Maa Bhagwatiya IIT Coaching was selected for the prestigious NFDC Screenwriters’ Lab in 2013 and you flew to Toronto for the lab sessions. What was your experience at the Screenwriters’ Lab?

The lab was a wonderful experience, not just for the experienced mentors but also for the opportunity to discuss and work out on your script uninterrupted in an environment facilitated fully to help you.

Nikhil Mahajan, of Pune 52 fame, has come on board as producer for Maa Bhagwatiya IIT Coaching. What’s next for this film?

The film will begin shooting late this year, not before October. I am busy with other projects right now, so I haven’t even started planning.

You can follow Varun on his Twitter account, @varungrover and on FB at https://www.facebook.com/vidushak.

(Varun Grover pictures courtesy Raj Kumari. Other images courtesy aspoonfullofworld.blogspot.com, bdnews24.com)

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Want happiness? Look for it on your bedding

Two Mumbai-based siblings brought the famous ‘Happiness is…’ brand to home furnishings, and their venture has found many loyal takers.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

It was a simple idea, but it took social media by storm. US-based Ralph Lazar and Lisa Swerling started the ‘Happiness is…‘ page on Facebook in late 2013, and within days, people were logging on just to see the newest illustration defining everyday moments of happiness. Very soon, the creators started crowdsourcing ideas and illustrating them.

Jairaj RupareliaIn Mumbai, Jairaj Ruparelia (26, in pic on left) was steering the ship in his family business – H&P Textiles – and pondering over a problem. A problem related to bed sheets, more specifically. “A survey of the market made me realise one fact: there is a glaring gap between what 8 or 9-year-olds sleep on, and what a 20-year-old sleeps on. The latter age group is not interested in the cliched Disney-themed designs, or even the usual Batman and Superman,” Jairaj told The Metrognome. “Teenagers don’t even care what they’re sleeping on. But they are big spenders on things that catch their fancy. So we wondered which design would appeal to them the most.”

The team brainstormed over several designs internally. “Meanwhile, I was seeing that the ‘Happiness is…’ page was trending on social media. I loved the concept behind it and had been following it for a while,” Jairaj says. “Then it struck me – why not have these wonderful little designs on home furnishings?” He wrote an email to the page’s creators, asking if they were open to collaborating on a domestic level, where his company would select the couple’s designs for bed sets. “Ralph wrote back the next day, expressing interest,” Jairaj grins.

And so the connection was forged.

Happiness!

The idea was a very unusual one – anyone else in the business would probably have thought of using the designs on apparel first. “We started negotiations with Ralf Happiness Tote Bagand Lisa in February 2014, and told ourselves that the line would be out by October,” Jairaj remembers. “We were also putting together the distribution and retail channels for the new line. We had to move fast with it, because this was a social media trend, ultimately – you sit on it for too long, the trend dies down, and you lose out,” he explains.

Shruti RupareliaVery soon, though, both Jairaj and his sister Shruti (30, in pic on left), who helms the company with him, realised that the project was unviable if they did all the work on their own. “We decided to take our idea to Portico; they already had a retail and distribution channel, and we said we would pay them a certain percentage,” Jairaj says. In the next meeting, however, H&P Textiles decided to sub-license to Portico and work on it together. “It was fantastic! We couldn’t have got a better partner for the venture,” he grins.

Getting the illustrations done

Meanwhile, Ralph and Lisa were briefed about the designs that would most suit the Indian market. “Ralph was stunned to discover just how important family ties are for Indians,” Jairaj says. “Even on their Facebook page, they receive about 30 per cent of their ideas from India, and most of the ideas are about family. The rest are about friendship. There is also a fair bit of ideation happening on ‘me time’.”

The line of bed sets, totes and other merchandise rolled out as planned, and sold out before anyone realised what was happening. “Portico even received complaints about the line’s non-availability,” Jairaj laughs. They quickly consolidated after not being able to meet the high demand at first, and have now expanded the concept with a line of ceramics after tying up with Oasis Ceramics. The duo will now take the idea into apparel.

What if the bubble bursts?

“We realise that all trends die down, that this bubble will also burst some day,” Jairaj explains. “But if you think about it, this concept deals with spreading happiness. It cuts across geographic Mug boundaries. That is why it is more than just a social trend and is so powerful. People turn to the Internet to escape negativity in their lives. What better way to look at something in your home and feel happy?” he asks.

(Pictures courtesy Jairaj Ruparelia)

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Longinus goes the Hollywood way…again

Choreographer Longinus Fernandes is working on his next Hollywood project after two big hits – this time, with the Wachowski siblings.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

It would seem like Hollywood can’t get enough of apna Longinus Fernandes, choreographer and overall great dancer.

After working with the likes of filmmakers Danny Boyle (on Slumdog Millionaire) and John Madden (on The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2), Longinus choreographed a Chinese film. He is now back with another Hollywood venture with the well-known Wachowski siblings – Lana and Andy.

Longinus confesses to being “excited and thrilled” about his new Hollywood project. “The artists and the crews [in Hollywood] are always well prepared and exceptional [at their jobs]. Working with the Wachowski siblings was a dream come true for me. The couple of weeks that I worked on the venture gave me some of the best moments of my life,” he says.

Tabrez Noorani of India Take One Productions brought Longinus on board for the Wachowskis’ new project, the Netflix series Sense 8. The siblings are currently shooting the series at a number of locations in Mumbai. Bollywood actors Anupam Kher, Purab Kohli and Tena Desae are part of the cast.

Longinus says, “I was ecstatic when I was approached by the Wachowskis. I am lucky to have always been blessed with good work and good people. The song sequence [that I choreographed] is in English and Hindi and I have mixed Bollywood dance moves with some hip-hop and jazz. The makers wanted me to choreograph the song in such a way that it had a blend of both Indian and Western dance forms. They wanted typical Bollywood moves in the song sequence and so I included desi moves from bhangra and combined classical dances, too.”

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Looking for a good masseur? Try a visually challenged one

Qualified masseurs from the Victoria Memorial School for the Blind offer massages for very reasonable rates – and they’re sensational.
by Vrushali Lad | editor@themetrognome.in

I am a sucker for back massages. Which was why, when I heard there were massages up for grabs for as little as Rs 100 at Borivali, I made my way there at once. There were 11 professional masseurs attending to people who’d asked for foot and head massages. I was the only one in that bunch to ask for a back massage.

The masseur started by asking my name while kneading my back gently. But a few minutes later, I almost cried out, “AAA, please don’t kill me!” as his thumbs caught the chronically painful points in my lower back. Unperturbed by the way I suddenly stiffened, he said in Marathi, “Roz Suryanamaskar kara. Thoda vajan vadhava. Ani methi kha, tyane farak padel (Do Suryanamaskar every day. Increase your weight. Also eat methi, it will help).”

15 minutes later, it was as if I had never suffered a bad back in my life. I thanked the masseur profusely and asked him his full name. He fixed his sightless eyes in my direction, smiled at me and said, “Rambabu Dhume.”

The event

Rambabu was one of 11 visually challenged masseurs who came to Borivali at the behest of resident Vidhi Mistry, who put together a massage camp in her building premises in association with the Victoria Memorial School for the Blind, Tardeo. Like Rambabu, all the other masseurs are specially trained in giving foot massage, reflexology, neck and head massage, full body massage and facial massage. Students from the school give massages for a living, for extremely modest rates.

Massage eventSpeaking to The Metrognome, Vidhi said, “A few months ago, I had gone to the World Trade Centre to see a friend’s stall. Over there, I came across these visually challenged youngsters giving foot massages for as little as Rs 50 for 15 minutes. I asked for a massage, and it was the best foot massage ever. I promised them that I would organise a camp for them soon.” Coming good on her promise, Vidhi organised the camp and invited about 200 people to attend and avail a massage of their choice for Rs 100. “I’d asked people to donate more, because this money is going to their School and the masseurs.”

Hoping to make at least Rs 50,000 from the camp, Vidhi and her team was stunned to discover that they had made Rs 82,500. “The response was overwhelming. Over 250 people turned up and we extended the event by two hours,” she said.

Massage for a living

During the massage, I got to talking with Rambabu, who told me that he stayed at a hostel in Churchgate and that he travelled anywhere in Mumbai for home visits. “I have a D.Ed from the School,” he said proudly when I asked him how far he had studied massaging. “Along with the practical work, we are also taught to detect why people have certain painful areas and how they can correct them with diet and yoga.” This explained how he had correctly tapped my chronically painful lower back within minutes of massaging me.

Vidhi said that most people did not opt for these “blind masseurs” because they were not confident that they could give a good massage. “They charge very less, too. This is their livelihood, and since most of us get massages anyway, it’s a good idea to hire these people instead,” she said. Rambabu explained that for the home visits, people could specify what kind of massage they wanted and for how long.

Having tried the massage myself, and with my back feeling better than it has in weeks, I’m sure to give the Victoria Memorial School a call for a home visit next.

Want a massage at home? Want to organise a camp employing visually challenged masseurs? Call the Victoria Memorial School to hire a masseur, inquire about charges and other details on 022 23531236. Look up www.vmsb.org for more information.

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You know what they did this summer?

Discover Operation Pyaas – a small act of kindness that goes way beyond offering a stranger a pack of buttermilk.
by Mamta D | @silverlightgal on Twitter

Summers are normally harsh in Mumbai. This year, however, it seems like it’s going to surpass all past records and go on to be the hottest summer in recent times. The blazing sun, the scorching heat, the sticky sweat that threatens to envelop you as soon as you step out into the outdoors is enough to make you reconsider your decision and head back into the cool interiors of your home.

Many of us reach air-conditioned cubicles well before the sun has started to show its muscle and leave after sundown and thus are spared the torture of facing the sun. Not all though, are so fortunate.  Traffic cops, postmen, gas delivery men, petrol pump attendants and their like have to be on their toes most of the day in the severe unrelenting heat. It is while thinking of these people that Operation Pyaas came to be born.

What it’s about

SNEH Foundation, a Pune-based NGO looking to make a foray in Mumbai, initiated ‘Operation Pyaas’ as a kind and caring gesture for those who have no choice but to suffer the heat all day. The idea was to gather a few volunteers, purchase buttermilk (chaach or chhaas in Hindi/Marathi) in bulk, arrange for ice to keep them chilled and finally distribute them to these people.

The idea sounded great – but its execution took time, effort, and hard work. Eventually, around 50 volunteers assembled at various points in Mumbai on a scorching Saturday morning, on May 24. They formed groups, discussed routes, divided the crates of buttermilk packets and tetrapacks amongst themselves and left on their mission. A mission of kindness. Of caring.

All this was not without glitches, for there were plenty.

Like, at the last moment, one of the key members of the group fell prey to a fever and couldn’t even leave home. The others had to reach him to collect the crates from him. Another glitch was that though they’d been hoping to avoid buttermilk pouches (due to their possibility of leaking) and instead carry tetrapacks, their supplier let them down and could provide only pouches to them. Also, the number of volunteers was far less than the expected volume. Undeterred by these hassles and spurred on by one another’s contagious enthusiasm, this motley crowd went to fulfill their day’s mission.

While some groups were formed to cater to Central Mumbai areas like Thane and travelled up to Mulund, the other groups spread out on the Western suburbs of the city.

The traffic cops, roadside sweepers, and other men and women who were recipients of the pouches and packs were overwhelmed by this simple yet caring gesture. Some of them spoke to the volunteers with moistened eyes and offered them lunch, such was their feeling of gratitude. Because they understood this wasn’t just about one day, it wasn’t just about a packet of chilled buttermilk on a hot day, it was far beyond that. It was the thought that somebody cared about them, that they weren’t invisible workers, and that we don’t take them for granted though it may have appeared so until now. This was a token of appreciation and for that these people felt overwhelmed.

Spreading the joy in two phases

Eventually, the first phase of Operation Pyaas was a grand success despite all the initial setbacks. Buoyed by this, SNEH Foundation began plans for the second phase of Operation Pyaas which was held at various areas of Navi Mumbai on May 31, between 11 am to 2 pm.

All they did at first was to ask a few persons who had participated in Phase 1 of Operation Pyaas whether they would be willing for another such event at Navi Mumbai. The answer was a unanimous ‘Yes’!

Next, they had to arrange for funds and more volunteers and take care of sundry other things like transportation and so on. It is here that they found an angel, in the form of PravinTulpule, who likes to be known as Clown Pinto. He was just one man but with the energy and enthusiasm of a thousand. With his quick thinking and prompt planning, the vehicle and volunteer arrangements were put into place.

Next came the question of sponsorship. Here too, luck was in their favour. June 1 was being commemorated as World Milk Day. And when one of the friends of the President of the Mumbai Chapter of SNEH who had contacts with AMUL India got to know of the event, AMUL India quickly stepped up to sponsor as many as 300 chhaas packets for the noble cause. Thus, it was that for Operation Pyaas Phase 2, Clown Pinto facilitated a sponsorship of 300 chhaas packets and boundless enthusiasm of the volunteers.

The event on May 31 went smoothly, covering a wider reach than before, with the chilled chhaas packets being distributed to garbage workers, sewage cleaners and construction site labourers. Some of the spots where these workers worked were difficult to reach, yet there was never a moment’s hesitation on the part of the volunteers. Accompanied by the AMUL personnel, the members of SNEH reached out to offer a cool sip of relief to Mumbai’s hardworking people.

More such events are on the block for the near future. If you are keen to participate or contribute in cash or kind, please contact Abhijeet Prabhu 09833144949 or Swati Nanda 09561181831.

(Pictures courtesy Operation Pyaas)

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The not-so-reluctant social media maverick

Kiran Manral is everything at once – literally. We chat up the popular blogger, author, activist and volunteer network founder.
by Mamta D | @silverlightgal on Twitter

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you would surely have heard of Kiran Manral – at least if you’re using the digital medium. Maybe on a blog, maybe on a Twitter feed, maybe you’ve seen her on a panel discussion. But as they say, there can be so much to a person that sometimes one lifetime isn’t enough to know them. Kiran is one such person.

Kiran Manral worked as a journalist before she quit to be a full time mother. Her blogs, www.thirtysixandcounting.wordpress.com and www.karmickids.blogspot.com, are both in Labnol’s list of India’s top blogs. She often blogged at Tehelka Blogs on gender issues. She is also considered a ‘social media star’ on twitter by the TOI and IBN Live named her as among the ‘30 interesting Indian women to follow on Twitter’ and among the ‘Top 10 Indian moms to follow on Twitter for 2013’.

Post 26/11, she founded ‘India Helps’, a volunteer network to help disaster victims and has worked on long term rehabilitation of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack victims and 13/7 Mumbai bomb blast victims, amongst others. IndiaHelps began with helping the 26/11 disaster victims and now works with all disaster victims, depending on reach and access of volunteers to them.

Apart from this, she is part of the core founding team behind CSAAM and Violence Against Women Awareness Month, two very well-received social media awareness initiatives across Twitter and the blogosphere. Her debut novel, The Reluctant Detective, was published by Westland in 2012.

The Metrognome shot some gentle salvos at her to get some more interesting information on what she thinks of her Twitter celebrity status, her thoughts on the CSAA initiative and doing her bit to generate awareness about violence against women, among other things.

Excerpts from the interview:

Kiran ManralFrom joining Twitter/Facebook to becoming one of the top social media influencers, the journey on social media must have been surely exciting. How did you accomplish this?

To be very honest, I don’t really know how or why this happened. I think I was just very opinionated, and it has been a fun ride so far. What is good for me is that the reach helps me tremendously when it comes to issues close to my heart.

Tell us something about the CSAA (Child Sexual Abuse Awareness) initiative that you have been spearheading since 2011, and is now going strong in 2014.

I am part of the core founding team of CSA Awareness Month. It was founded by a group of bloggers concerned about the growing incidents of CSA and our head-in-the-sand approach to it. In the first year, we did receive a lot of resistance for even daring to talk about CSA; people said we were propagating child porn, we were talking about something that didn’t happen in India, that we were corrupting morals. Today, thankfully, people are much more receptive and vocal about CSA.

We think we have been able to get the stigma about CSA erased, and made people realise that they must know, get informed and talk to their children about this very real and present danger. We work across all social media, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and this year, with the help of parenting portal Yowoto and the NGO Arpan and Podar Educational Foundation, we were part of a very successful offline event where parents interacted with speakers and experts on this subject. Hopefully, there will come a time when we won’t need to do CSAAM at all. That would be our true vindication.

Besides being involved with CSAA and also managing the Indiahelps blog, you are often vocal about gender issues and violence against women. How did this come to be?

I’ve always believed that one has to give back a bit to society, that if every single person does their bit, this world could be a better place, in whatever way one can, however small, however insignificant one might think one’s effort or one’s voice is. True effort will always get amplified. So, I try to do my bit, generate awareness through the mediums I know the best-social media, and writing. That is what I can offer.

You also write often on fashion, jewellery, accessories, parenting, and food, on your blog. Cliched though this may sound, how do you manage the time and keep the enthusiasm alive?

Ha ha ha! I am quite a vain puss and terribly fond of clothes and accessories, not so much of food. I could call myself more a glutton than a foodie, to be honest. Parenting, well, I do describe myself as a school gate mom first and over all other definitions.

How do I manage the time? I don’t work full time. My son goes to school from 7.30 am to 2 pm, and I have a good chunk of time available to me to do my writing and other things that matter to me. I’m terribly slovenly about socialising and rarely go out to party or lunches, dinners and such like. I would rather spend my time reading, writing or being with my son. I’m pretty boring in that sense. I am also very disciplined about my work time – I make lists of tasks to be done for the day and get my bread and butter work done before I get down to fiction writing or blog writing. I make sure I’m at my desk every single day unless I’m seriously ill.

Your second book, Once Upon A Crush, is just out. What was the first book about and what is the new one about?

My first book, The Reluctant Detective, was about a suburban housewife who stumbles upon two murders and reluctantly gets involved in the investigation. This one is pure office romance, a romantic comedy, firmly tongue-in-cheek chick lit.

What is next on your agenda? Another book? More projects like CSAA? Or taking some time off?

Honestly I don’t know. I am writing books. I don’t work on one book at a time, so I have three different manuscripts at different stages in progress. CSAAM has gathered steam and will do very well with or without me now, I think. As for taking time off, if one is a mom, one never has time off. I tend to take things as they come to me. So hopefully, more writing projects, more time I can give to offline social efforts and yes, enjoying the last couple of years before my son hits the terrible teens.

Anything else you’d like to share with The Metrognome’s readers?

There is so much one is tempted to say if one is given a soapbox and no word limit, but all I would like to say is follow your heart and the rest will fall into place.

****

A brief synopsis about Kiran’s newest book, Once Upon A Crush:

‘Rayna De, stuck in a dead end job with a boss from hell, zero love life and the big 3-O looming large on the immediate horizon, has started to panic a bit. No, make that panic a lot. Enter new object of lust in the office, Deven Ahuja, and Rayna is overpowered by inappropriate visions of Cupid aiming his arrows straight into her heart, with turtle doves doing their billing and cooing act in the backdrop.

Alas, Deven is completely out of Rayna’s league despite the contradictory messages he seems to be sending out, and is, as decreed by page three supplements of the city newspapers, the man in the life of the gorgeous, light eyed model-turned-actress Sharbari Raina.

As Rayna battles with her unseemly, going nowhere crush, shaky employment status and dithers about signing up for domesticity with the vetted by her parents, Sid Bose, of the multi zero pay package, the two and a half bedroom house in a suburban gated complex and the very cultured, respectable family, she discovers that life has its own plans…’

(Pictures courtesy Kiran Manral, www.aswethinkis.com)

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