Pav with friends » Where: Pack-a-pav, Bandra (W); When: December 5, 12 PM to 10 PM; Price: Rs 200 onwards; Call: 9920230240
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Curated by Sucheta Chakraborty, Kasturi Gadge, Nidhi Lodaya and Anju Maskeri
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Watch films made by kids
On the occasion of Universal Children’s Day, KidzCINEMA kicked off its second edition, this year’s theme being stories of positivity. It was opened by the child jury and artists like Dishita Sehgal, Ihita Jain, Kyra Narain, Karman Singh Talwar and Purvahi Dhawan, and features animation and live action categories with films made by kids.
WHERE: kidzcinema.moviesaints.com
WHEN: Till December 19
PRICE: Rs 20 onwards
Get some laughs in
Catch comedian Prashasti Singh live as she performs at the Mumbai Comedy Festival, running till January 2 with over 150 shows across the city.
WHERE: The Comedy Club, Bandra (West)
WHEN: December 6–10, 7 PM onwards
PRICE: Rs 299 onwards
TO REGISTER: bookmyshow.com
Play up
Written and directed by Shiv Tandan, Hindi and English play A Fistful of Rupees was a runner-up at the Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Awards 2018. It follows the journey of one Raghav in Mumbai, and considers the idea of what it means to truly ‘arrive’ in this expansive yet tiny world.
WHERE: NCPA
WHEN: December 11, 7 PM onwards
PRICE: Rs 450 onwards
TO BOOK: www.ncpamumbai.com
Meet a person with a skill you can use
Neha Vyas
Intimacy coordinator and consent advocate
AVAILABLE FOR: Workshops and modules on consent and intimacy
CHARGES: Rs 1s 0,000 onwards
EMAIL AT: neha@intimacyforactors.in
Digital marketer turned full-time actor Vyas realised that no one actually prepares actors for intimacy on set like they do for action and dance sequences. After doing a course from Prague Shakespeare Company, she started exploring intimacy choreography and tried to incorporate it here in India. Intimacy choreography can include family intimacy, self-pleasure and flirtatious scenes on set. Through her agency Intimacy for Actors, Vyas teaches participants to ensure their comfort on set when being intimate. She also conducts workshops with production houses and groups, and sessions in schools on consent, and hopes to integrate her knowledge about consent into their curriculum.
RECOMMENDED BY: Arfi Laamba, actor and producer at Bombay Berlin Film Productions, says, “Neha’s workshop taught me that my mind and body [have to work in tandem] with the character. I need to seek permissions and understand what my body is comfortable with. Post the workshop, I renewed my own relationship with my body.”
Time for some action!
Ricky Saxena, 43, is a producer who owns around 2,000 unique action figures and bobbleheads from around the globe. What makes his collection stand out is that unlike most collectors in the world who hoard Marvel, DC and superhero action figures, Saxena’s assortment consists more of real people like presidents, politicians, musicians, freedom fighters, world leaders, TV and movie characters and footballers.
There is Freddy Mercury, Bob Marley, 20 US presidents, and even Stalin and Putin. “My collection is very assorted in terms of things which I like and the things I am interested in and more than that, I try and collect real people,” he says. He collects action figures from every country he visits. “I have been looking for Adolf Hitler for a very long time for my ‘Monsters of History’ collection, but I haven’t been able to get one,” he says. Post his retirement, he has plans of setting up India’s first action-figure museum. “Mine may not be the biggest collection in the country, but it is the most unique one.”
@rickinaldo, Instagram
Science made fun
Nikitaa Sivaakumar, 28, based out of Kotagiri in The Nilgiris, has been working in the edtech industry for four years, designing learning experiences for children. Her initiative Wonder Yonder, started this September, is a compilation of mini stories and comics that explain foundational concepts in physics. “I got interested because of my own school experiences,” she says. “Back then, I was pressured into scoring good marks, and ended up cramming concepts and formulae. Science used to be a nightmare for me. [I later realised] the world works the way it does because of science and it’s nothing to be scared of.”
The NIT Trichy graduate started reading books on physics, chemistry and genetics, “and suddenly something that felt so difficult during school days seemed to make sense because I didn’t have the pressure of marks”. She was eager to encapsulate her learnings into silly comics, because of the visual medium’s universal appeal, while also realising that a comic would help remove the subject’s complexity. Sivaakumar chose to start by illustrating concepts in the first chapter on fundamentals of electric charges and fields in NCERT’s Class XII Physics textbook. The designer-creator has received positive feedback and is keen to collaborate with educators, hobbyists and parents to further her science education goals.
A Masters degree in product design and a long-nurtured passion for illustrations and doodling helped her bring the project to fruition
@wonder.yonder, Instagram
Giving alcohol bottles a makeover
Nikita John’s Kuppikali upcycles old alcohol and glass bottles into lamps, food trays, candles and other home accents. She thought of using these as “they were too beautiful to throw away”. She learnt the technique of cutting and adding lights by watching YouTube tutorials and by visiting the local hardware store. The name Kuppikali in Malayalam loosely translates to ‘playing with bottles’. The unique 4-watt LED bulbs along with the industrial iron pipes she uses gives her alcohol bottle lamps a quirky, rustic look. Besides these lights, she also uses these bottles to make soap dispensers. Her prices start at R150 and her bestselling industrial pipeline lamps are for R2,500. She offers customisation too.
@kuppikali, Instagram
In search of the mysterious snow leopard
Pankaj Singh and Athulya Pillai
Writer and filmmaker Pankaj Singh and illustrator Athulya Pillai created Yangdol (R800), a book that features a piece of Ladakhi culture. Pillai’s own experiences of living in Ladakh gave her an acute understanding of the nuances of local attire, seasons, body language and architecture. The book follows the titular girl through the various crossroads of her life until she finally rests her eyes on the elusive snow leopard. “Yangdol is inspired by a photograph Pankaj saw while working with the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust in Ladakh,” Pillai says.
https://champaca.in/products/yangdol
Wine that lasts forever
When you uncork that bottle of wine, it gets exposed to a rush of oxygen, and the drink begins to lose its aromas and flavours. To make your tipple last longer, Monika Enterprise has brought the Coravin system to India. “They have a small, hollow needle that pierces through the cork. From there, you tilt the bottle to a 45 degree angle over a glass and quickly press and release the trigger to pour. Pure argon gas is injected into the bottle to replace the lost wine and preserve what’s left. After you remove the device from the bottle, the natural cork reseals itself,” explains Kunal Patel, MD of the firm. Although it might pinch your pocket, with prices starting at R22,900, Patel says it’s a keepsake for vino lovers.
Remember this while pouring
. When pouring, use a few short, quick presses of the trigger, rather than one long press
. Press the trigger halfway to pause the flow of wine and gas between pours
. When a bottle is nearly finished, it is better to pull out the cork manually to pour the last glass
. Always press the trigger once, prior to inserting the needle into a bottle, to clear the system of air
. Rinse the needle when switching from red to white wine