Verve - August - September 2019

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Entertainment is no longer confined to movie nights with the extended family or patiently waiting until 8 p.m. to catch your favourite soap opera. TV, movies, fashion, art, music or even the news — the ways that we consume culture and use our free time has radically altered. In our latest issue, Made in Heaven actor, the web’s current It girl and our cover star Sobhita Dhulipala gets introspective with Richa Kaul Padte about being a celebrity in the age of the internet. Despite growing up disconnected in Visakhapatnam, the 27-year-old’s pithy Instagram captions prove that an aptitude for social media was simply lying dormant in her DNA, as was her star quality. Flip through our pages to find Nagma Mirajkar, whose 9 million-plus followers on Tik Tok are proof of the India 2.0 we are in, followed by our fashion team's modernistic spin on home-grown textiles. Vivek Tejuja, in the introductory piece for his column, Me, My Shelf & I, breaks down the available modern platforms for consuming books, while actor Puja Sarup and photographer Pulkit Mogha come together to discuss the queen-dominated drag culture in India and their own representations of queerness through art. Discover the individuals who are riding the crest of content’s new wave in our Entertainment issue, now on stands.

Under The Influence

The perks of cyber popularity can undoubtably be intoxicating, but they are exponentially rewarding when you leverage the web to engage in constructive social criticism and open up dialogues. Verve’s follow list includes these eight prolific posters who are leaving a legacy that goes beyond the likes…

10+ mins

How Cinemas Are Jumping Towards Mindful Eating

The culinary swing towards mindful eating isn’t limited to cafes, bars and restaurants; cinemas are jumping on the bandwagon too — unhealthy snacks have been replaced by more diverse, wholesome and customised theatre foods. At INOX Insignia in Atria-The Millennium Mall, a thoughtfully curated and unconventional menu adds to the luxury movie-watching experience, and Zaral Shah samples the goods while chatting with the venue’s head chef, Vicky Ratnani and the COO of Inox Leisure, Daizy Lal…

6 mins

Petal Pushers

Event designers Amit Lata and Karan Singh Parmar, the duo behind the company Twelve Tomatoes, have successfully transformed many clients’ fantasies into reality with their imaginative floral decor. A curious Zaral Shah gets some answers about how their profession has been altered by the ever-present influence, pressure even, of social media

4 mins

Too Much Of A Good Thing?

Madhu Jain looks back to a time of simple games and pleasures and compares these to the multitude of on-demand diversions available to all, in the present day.

3 mins

Michael Kors' Leather Handbags Are In The Spotlight For All The Right Reasons

Its namesake may have hit the tabloids for its exclusivity (read notoriety), but this bag is in the spotlight for all the right reasons.

1 min

The Ladies Marine Collection To Contemporary Women Explorers

The Ladies Marine collection by Breguet celebrates the desire to travel the vast expanse of the seas. The house dedicates its new collection to contemporary women explorers, finds Verve

2 mins

Power Up

Living up to their moniker, smartwatches can track your heart rate and travel plans or pay for a cup of coffee while, of course, perfectly keeping time. Verve zooms in on a few of these up-to-the-minute multitaskers

2 mins

Asha Barrak Making Every Day A Good Hair Day

She founded the Facebook community Indian Curl Pride in 2014, helping women to subvert the internalised beauty ideal of flowing straight locks by flaunting their wavy or coiled strands. And earlier this year, Asha Barrak – known online as Right Ringlets – launched Ash:ba Botanics, the country’s first haircare line dedicated to curly girls. She chats with Joanna Lobo, a fellow CG, about making every day a good hair day…

10 mins

The Story Of Us

In popular culture, adopted offspring are often represented as being burdened by the debt of gratitude. Emphasising that, in actuality, it was her adopted twin daughters who gave her a life to look forward to, Lakshmi Iyer feels that mainstream entertainment should be more sensitive about reflecting the lived experiences of adoptees to ensure that they do not trigger trauma or perpetuate inaccurate narratives.

6 mins

Watch This Space

The internet, especially its various gateways to self-empowerment, has proven to be a boon for a country as diverse and socially stratified as India, but its work is far from done.

7 mins

Tools Of Engagement

Emojis, acronyms, memes, GIFs and other forms of internet shorthand are helping us express emotions and open up to each other in a hyperconnected world. Infusing nuance and personality, they transcend the limits of traditional speech and writing and add a level of intimacy, letting us communicate in a more uninhibited way

9 mins

Queen Of Hearts

The newest means to go viral, TikTok, has also emerged as a democratising desi alternative to homogeneous and exclusionary Western social media. Influencer and first ‘regular’ Indian woman to be ‘crowned’ on the app, Nagma Mirajkar, opens up to Akhil Sood about the exhilaration and fragility of being an online superstar.

10+ mins

Anuradha Menon & Lola Kutty's Practical Jokes

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the maledominated comedy industry is transforming into an inclusive space. Anuradha Menon, still recognised for her iconic alter ego Lola Kutty, spends an afternoon with Prashasti Singh, the show stealer from last year’s Comicstaan lineup, and the two women pull back the curtain on inherent biases and the evolving scene. Between generous doses of laughter and nostalgia, Sadaf Shaikh has a frontrow seat for this unexpected yet synergetic interaction.

10+ mins

The Match Makers

Since the 1983 World Cup win, when the Indian media and fans switched their focus onto the players, demigods have been born into cricket almost as often as in that other field of pageantry — Bollywood. And, the constant innovations in viewing formats have further broadened the scope of its ability to ‘entertain’. Snehal Pradhan examines the formerly unassuming game’s shift from sport to spectacle…

7 mins

Sole Sisters

Ever since the American sneakerhead subculture was co-opted by the mainstream and luxury fashion industries, global Instagram feeds have been filled with images of Nikes, Yeezys, Balenciagas, or whichever brand has dropped the season’s It shoe. But to sneakerheads, they are more than the latest fad. A number of women are in the vanguard of the burgeoning movement here in India, and Rushmika Banerjee speaks with five of them to get some diverse viewpoints on what makes this footwear staple an aspirational commodity.

10+ mins

Social Butterfly

Her Instagram captions — wittily concise or an expertly selected emoji — present an intriguing combination of millennial insouciance with profundity that is beyond her years. The enigmatic yet instantly relatable Sobhita Dhulipala’s inner self emerges as Richa Kaul Padte peels back the layers of everyone’s new favourite ‘webtertainment’ celebrity, on the heels of the actor’s upcoming Netflix release, Bard of Blood

10+ mins

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Verve Magazine Description:

Going towards its 26th year now, Verve has been at the vanguard of the lifestyle industry in India since its inception. Being India's first fashion and luxury monthly and targeted as the spirit of today’s woman, it celebrates the interests of the multifaceted contemporary global Indian, including fashion,beauty and style, glamour, arts and culture, travel and wellness. The editor and publisher, Anuradha Mahindra, has received top billing in Avenue Asia's list of Indians involved in the media.

More than just a magazine that reports and interprets, Verve is a catalyst for conversations around contemporary Indian culture in the world, and these conversations take place between the pages of the magazine, on the internet as well as through several Verve-organized offline event initiatives:

Verve is a magazine about the international Indian woman who rubs shoulders with the world with confidence and élan. She belongs to a high-income group and is well aware of the latest trends and styles, be it in fashion, the arts, cuisine or world events. Verve appeals to the intelligent, urbane, educated and affluent woman. She would be 25 years of age and above. She is likely to be an independent entrepreneur or a corporate professional or a socialite. She is well-travelled, fashion conscious and appreciates luxury with a side to her that is culturally sensitive with aesthetic sensibilities. Overall a multi-faceted, stylish and glamorous woman. All in all, the Verve reader looks upon the magazine as an invaluable lifestyle resource for the best in contemporary urban Indian living.