Focusing on making the unreal seem believable on celluloid, this industry outsider soon developed a passion and penchant for her art. After more than a decade in the movies, Ileana D’Cruz, who has two different releases on her calendar this year — Mubarakan and Baadshaho — delights in embracing the new and the unusual, finds Shraddha Jahagirdar-Saxena
The studio lights have been dimmed and our focus is entirely on the frame and face that get transformed as the team rolls into its act. Her delicate stillness creates beautiful portraits — as she turns and changes angles and expressions. Ileana D’Cruz comes alive before the lens with an ease that is now almost second nature to the girl who is not to the industry born.
A few hours earlier, the star had walked in, a cup of hot coffee in hand, gearing up for the business of the day, a few weeks before the release of her romcom Mubarakan. And this morning, the first look of her next flick of the year Baadshaho has just been unveiled and the Milan Luthria-directed venture shows D’Cruz in a different avatar.
Conversing with her — as I recall from her second cover shoot with Verve and the first time I met her — is rather easy-going. This time too, as I take her back to the roots that have coloured her creativity, time passes quickly, as she talks animatedly and, of course, laughs uninhibitedly as I join the dots in the accidental — and, to a certain extent, reluctant — actress’ artistic journey. It is an interaction that spans both her professional and personal space. As she also talks easily about her relationship with photographer Andrew Kneebone, my mind momentarily goes back to our earlier interaction, where D’Cruz had said that she kept her private life, strictly private.
Over to the actor, in her own words, from a freewheeling chat….
AN ARTLESS ART
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2017 من Verve.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2017 من Verve.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Making Amends
This generation’s penchant for thoughtless consumption gets Madhu Jain roiled up, and she wonders if nature is getting its own back for our missteps…
Diamonds With Provenance
In keeping with the company’s commitment to environmental and social responsibility, Anisa Kamadoli Costa, chief sustainability officer at Tiffany & Co. and chairman and president at The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, enlightens Shirin Mehta on the efforts that make the jewellery giant an industry leader in transparency
SARTORIAL ECONOMICS
Sisters Tashi and Tara Mitra demonstrate to Akanksha Pandey how deviating from the mainstream can bend the way we think, live and dress
NOTES TO SELF
An anthropomorphized tiger’s perspective, a viscerally worded futuristic interpretation of loss, a critique of performative activism, a meta reflection on the earth’s crises. Told through different lenses, Janaki Lenin, Indrapramit Das, Keshava Guha and Roshan Ali’s stories — written exclusively for Verve — attempt to make sense of the fraught reality that we exist in today
The Eternal Optimist
As Generation X and xennials grapple with fully transitioning to conscious living, young millennials and Generation Z are leading the charge to reverse human-caused environmental damage. Sahar Mansoor, founder and CEO of the Bengaluru-based zero-waste social enterprise Bare Necessities, has a simple overarching philosophy: consume less and stay positive. Verve gets deeper into the mindset of the action-oriented earth advocate
Redemption SONGS
Indian music festivals have been demonstrating a refreshing sense of responsibility in terms of their ecological impact. Interacting with stakeholders who strive to make these large-scale events greener, Akhil Sood investigates the reasons behind the improved attitudes of audiences and the increase in corporate support.
earth hour
Crafted using nature’s elements, these dials draw inspiration from the many heterogeneous materials and hues around us.Verve turns its lens onto a mesmerising few
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Children are holding adults accountable for both the grim future they are facing and the toll this is taking on their mental health. Madhumita Bhattacharyya initiates conversations with families of young climate activists and observes the extent to which parenting has changed in the face of catastrophe
NATURAL JUSTICE
Most of us are only just waking up to the urgency of climatic action. When the stakes are so high, what can individual action solve? Mridula Mary Paul, an environmental policy expert, is proof of the tenacity needed to effect systemic change. It’s not glamorous, and the rewards are few and far between, but that doesn’t stop her from aiming big, finds Anandita Bhalerao
Along For The Ride
Navigating Indian streets as a woman is hard enough. But what is it like while riding a bicycle? Bengaluru-based Shreya Dasgupta, a regular cyclist, speaks to five urban women about the pros and cons of this increasingly popular means of transport.