In its Endeavour to provide high-quality 21st-century education, Rishihood aims to continuously create and recreate its curriculum under the guidance and support of the experts from diverse fields. The inputs and insights from seasoned professionals direct the team to make specifically tailored courses and programs.
Big Shots, Rishihood’s flagship event, is a series of conversations with inspiring doers, creators, entrepreneurs, and big shots to learn from their wisdom, life journeys, and ideas. It is a manifestation of the University’s idea of associating with the best to deliver the best.
The recent event of Big Shots witnessed an enriching conversation with the choreography maestro, Ms. Saroj Khan. Hosted at the Indian International Center, Max Mueller Marg, Mrs. Saumya Aggarwal, a Board Member of Rishihood Varsity and the moderator for the evening welcomed the chief guest and the audience. Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, radiologist, and a Board Member thanked Ms. Khan and congratulated the team for the association with her.
Saroj Khan shared about her humble beginning in Bollywood 61 years ago when industry and especially dancing was male-centric. With the responsibility of running the family, she started as a child artist in the movie Nazrana and became an assistant dance choreographer at the tender age of 12. She retraces her journey with ‘Geeta Mera Naam’ when director Sadhana offered her the first break. She gratefully recalls Subhash Ghai who was impressed by her commitment to work offered her work in the movie Hero.
She fondly retells about the making of the super hit number ‘ek do teen..’ with Madhuri Dixit which remains very close to her heart and vivid in her memories. Her relentless dedicated work pushed the Filmfare awards to include Choreography as a separate category for nominations. She not only bagged the first one but completed a hat-trick.
She asserts that the time she joined was a golden period for the industry because everyone worked for the love of art and not the business. She also expresses her hopes of Indian style of dancing to remain on the screens for a long run as she puts ‘our art never dies’. She proudly tells how the next gen actresses have expressed interest to learn Indian dance form from her in the recent times. Choreography, she believes, manifests craving for creation. She keeps her creative process simple where she visualizes the situation of the song in the narrative, considers the dancing ability of the artists and then follows her heart to create the magic.
She has formally entered into a partnership with the School of Creativity, Rishihood to guide the team for School of Creativity. The Varsity seeks to reach exemplary heights in creativity and service society with this partnership. She appreciated Rishihood for initiating the much-needed effort of bringing the novel course of formalizing dance education in India. She also expressed the concern that the path would not be easy enough as a visual performing art like dance is difficult to be taught through traditional means but with concerted efforts of the team, it would be great service for the art and the artists.
The event was witnessed by eminent Entrepreneurs, Journalists, Industry experts, and academicians.
I was keen on exploring ZEE5. To my amaze, I stumbled upon this new show called, ‘Lockdown’, a ZEE5 Original. This is a musical show, which has an extraordinary concept that rules out the stereotypical concept of music shows. It features various artists, both from Bollywood as well as digital who join hands to recreate 2 songs. The challenge is that the songs have to be created within a span of 24 hours.
First Episode
The first episode has rapper Badshah and singer Jonita Gandhi who come together in the beautiful town of Chandigarh and create a new version of the song ‘Tip Tip Barsa Paani’ and ‘Kala Jora’, which is a Punjabi folk song.
Second Episode
The second episode featured Kailash Kher and Raja Kumari, who in the town of Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh crafted a new version of two songs with their talent.
Episode 3 features Benny Dayal and Bryden and Parth, who follow the same concept of coming together and crafting a beautiful melody for the audiences. They are amongst the beautiful beaches and bylanes of Goa. Apart from the limited time frame given to the artists to create the song, another tough challenge is for them to choose the right song. But what marveled me was their unique way of choosing the right songs through a little game they play. They chose Gilheriyaan from Dangal and Gulaabo from Shaandaar to recreate with their magic touch.
The Core Idea
The entire idea of this show focuses on the fact that the artists have to seek inspiration from the exotic locales that they visit and recreate the melodies, making it completely different from the already existing one. If you want to watch something interesting then this show on ZEE5 is a perfect mood lifter for you, especially after a tiring day.
So, you’ve been rehearsing with your band mates for several weeks now, you have a set together and are finally feeling ready to start gigging. But what can you do to make sure everything runs smoothly?
As someone with 10 years of gigging experience, I would like to share some first gig: dos and don’ts with you, to ensure that your first gig is memorable for the right reasons!
Kingdom of Dreams, the first to introduce a unique, Broadway style theatre in the country are now taking it a step ahead. KoD has now added four new shows to their schedule, which are performed on ice. Called ‘Theatre on Ice’, the first performance is on the childhood fantasy tale, Alice in Wonderland. Ice Vision, a troupe from St. Petersburg, Russia, is bringing the theatrical extravaganza to life. Ice Vision is famous for their unique style of performance and has worked with leading music composers like Gennadiy Gladkov and Alexsey Rybinkov. The troupe consists of more than 25 actors and stars, known world-wide like Alexey Urmanov, Irina Slutskaya etc.
We caught a preview of this musical extravaganza, and have to say that the performances, the choreography, the graphics and the way entire show was put up demands an applause. The hardworking that has gone into making it a success is evident when you see the show. The entire show is performed on ice where in the artists are wearing ice skates. Wearing ice skates, and gliding on the snow as they act and dance in itself is a treat to watch.With a healthy mix of projections and props, the performers told us the tale of Alice and her adventures in Wonderland.
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Speaking about the new shows, Mr. Anumod Sharma, MD, Kingdom of Dreams said, “We are proud to bring such unique art form to India. Performance on Ice needs a lot of practice and precision and the ICE Vision does it brilliantly. Such story telling is being performed for the first time and we can’t wait for the audiences to come and experience this grand performance. It is something the audiences will never forget.”
The troupe will also perform 3 other stories namely, ‘Dracula – The story of eternal love’ , ‘Arabian Nights’ and ‘Nutcracker and lord of the darkness’.
“We always give our audiences something unique and artistic. The Theatre on Ice is another one of our attempts to live up to our reputation off being pioneers in promoting Broadway style shows,” Sharma added.
Speaking about the performance, a member of Ice Vision said ‘ We are excited and thrilled to perform in India and looking forward to an amazing experience. We have performed in a lot of countries but never in India before. We hope we get a great response from the audience and look forward to receiving some great Indian hospitality”.
These shows will be added to the current schedule of Kingdom of Dreams. Zangoora and Jumbo will continue to be performed. The Theatre on Ice shows will be performed only for a limited period at the Nautanki Mahal. So please make the most of it while it snows.. don’t forget to watch these timeless tales in a new avatar and enjoy these moments with family and friends.
Pelican Entertainment brought to the city the play, Namaste Jai Shree Krishna on 02.09.17 at the Pearey Lal Bhawan, New Delhi.
The play directed by veteran theatre and movie artist K K Raina who also enacts along with the irrepressible Ila Arun and ably supported by Aditi Sharma, Ashutosh Pandit and Abhishek Pandey is a hilarious take on the conflict between old traditions and the emerging values of the new generation.
It takes you skillfully and humorously through the continuous conflict of the old and the new. It takes you through the journey of the youth not ready to accept old ideologies readily and the old not accepting the progressive view point of the youth.
The play takes you through a gamut of emotions from philosophy to humor to laughter to sadness and nostalgic at times.
The cast deserves a special applaud for bringing on each and every emotion beautifully across. A really rivetting play which makes you laugh and think at the same time. And the best part is that you just can’t stop applauding.
A treat for the theater lover. Not to be missed at any cost.
Aditya Chauhan, CEO, Pelican Entertainment said, “Theatre is that moon in my past which will glitter throughout my life no matter what profession I pursue. It is something that will help you to explore your personality better and I guess this could also be the reason that people after doing theater even for once can never really get detached of it.”
The stage, the camera and the mic have been familiar territory for Aadar Malik from an early age of seven. And today, as he is one shy from thirty, he has accomplished more than most performing artistes could ever imagine in their entire career.
Actor, musician, singer and stand-up comedian, Aadar is a one man army who thinks of the stage as his second home. One of the country’s most sought after stand-up comedians; he has performed in multiple cities in front of packed audiences of all age groups curating his content that has them in splits. His satirical song about his pet goat won the bronze medal at the Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival in London.
Besides his solo performances, he is also a part of the comedy ensemble SnG Comedy that have together performed enumerable improvisational comedy and stand-up comedy shows. They are a regular at The Comedy Story, Laugh Factory in Mumbai.
One of the country’s most popular YouTuber, Aadar’s original comedy ranges from music/ parodies, satirical sketch comedy to live stand-up comedy videos. With over a million views on most of his digital content, his fan base ranges from teenagers to grannies – something that Aadar didn’t expect. Little did he know, everyone loves to laugh and he has his way of hitting the right chord with every age bracket!
A trained singer from Trinity College, London, Aadar also plays the guitar and the piano with equal finesse. And this year, Aadar brings all forms on talent on a single platform is a one man musical comedy show, The Sound of Comedy will showcase him singing live (lyrics that are comic in nature), playing the grand piano (yes you read that right) amongst other musical instruments and will entertain the audience like never before. This is the first of its kind show in India. Stand up – The Musical is also a part of Amazon Prime’s Comedy Special from India!
Here are some questions he answered exclusively for Ikreate, read along
Ikreate: First of all please tell us about Stand Up Musical as a concept
Aadar: It’s the first time someone has tried to blend music and comedy to this degree. It’s my songs, they are stupid songs with foolish lyrics, tedha hai par mera hai. Musical standup comedy is an extremely new concept here and I’m trying my best to make the audience ease into the fact that this can exist. Full fledged songs that are not parodies can be funny, and be musically impressive.
Ikreate: You are a trained singer, then how come you started performing stand up comedy
Aadar: I trained at music for a very long time. But I had severe stage fright, I took and acting class to get over it and realized I’m better at this. I was playing a standup comedian in a play and that character has since been in development. He is tweaked and changed after every show and every video. I may never be satisfied with him. I have finally become and Indian parent.
Ikreate: Tell us something about your struggle days
Aadar: Yes last week was particularly tough. It’s still a struggle. No magic has happened. We do not live in mansions and bathe in gold. I’m very thankful that when my parents are asked what their son does for a living, they don’t have to explain the origin of standup comedy to neighbors.
Ikreate: Whats your inspiration, how do you prepare yourself before a show
Aadar: This might just be the worst show I will perform, but its ok. No! thats a lie, I can’t afford the worst show ever, it’ll destroy years of work. So you better make it good. That’s enough to psyche the hell out of anyone.
Ikreate: How much of your show is a preparation, and how much is spontaneous.
Aadar: I like to write every word perfectly and then improvise on stage. But then there are the days when you just go, why not and walk on stage with just an idea. It changes from show to show. Now I do complete shows that are improvised.
Ikreate: Have you faced criticism, how have you dealt with it.
Aadar: Yes. I wake up to YouTube comments of “kill yourself!” I take solace in the fact that a critic is just a sorry human being who never really put himself on the line. There are people whose opinion I respect and I will listen carefully to them. Other than that any person who’s seen 7 standup comedy videos online thinks he/she is a connoisseur of comedy. Those are the worst. These are people who will try to look down upon a fart joke. To quote Louis c.k., “You don’t have to be smart to laugh at farts, but you have to be stupid not to.”
Ikreate: Tell us something about your family, did they approve of your choices
Aadar: They didn’t know what I was doing until they saw me on stage. My father still doesn’t. His opinion is, if the audience is liking, it you’ll be alright. My mom is like a real Indian mom, my son is doing good whatever it is.
Ikreate: Who is your biggest critic and your biggest support system
Aadar: My family is both. Anyone else can take a hike.
Ikreate: Where do you see yourself 5 years from now
Aadar: If I do my job right? Jail.
Ikreate: Whats been your most memorable show
Aadar: The first time I managed to get an applause break. I’d had plenty of those while performing plays, but this one was all mine. Written by me, performed by me. It was an open mic at a tiny restaurant. And another comedian won. But I went back home with a career. I really don’t know what happened to the other comic. He had a lot of friends in the crowd that night maybe he still entertains them at the office water cooler.
Ikreate: Share an embarrassing moment from any of your shows
Aadar: I have honestly never been embarrassed at a show. Ever. I honestly leave shame backstage when I go up. Once a guy called me ISIS at a show because I made some inter-caste jokes. That’s when a comic of one religion makes jokes about all religions. He was the embarrassed party that night. His fiancée broke up with him that night. More power to her.
Ikreate: Whats a message you would want to share with the aspiring artists
Aadar: Stop reading inspiring messages and go practice.
Ikreate: Success doesn’t come without failure, so can you share one of your failure stories with us
Aadar: Performing for a bunch of drunk corporates where they broke up my 30 min set into 3 parts and had Russian dancers in between my bits. It was so bad that the Russian dancers who didn’t know English were consoling me by the end of the gig. I got two of their phone numbers. But it was in Russian.
Some Rapid Fire
Ikreate: Your favourite singer
Aadar: Adele.
Ikreate: Your favourite stand up artist
Aadar: Let’s not.
Ikreate: Who do you consider your idol
Aadar: My dog.
Ikreate: Your relationship status
She called me Bhaiyya.
Ikreate: Your favoutrite food
Aadar: Ice cream.
Ikreate: When you are not performing, you are…?
Aadar: Netflix and chill.
Ikreate: Your favourite holiday spot
Aadar: Bed.
Ikreate: Whats the worst thing you have ever put in your mouth
How many times has it happened that we’ve madly hoped, prayed, for our favorite international artist or band to perform in India? How many times has it materialized ? How many times do concerts cancel right before the event date?
Remember the cancellation of Bryan Adams event in Delhi back in year 2011, Korn in Mumbai was cancelled in 2012, David Guetta in Bengaluru in 2017? None were cancelled because tickets were not sold. Various realities have scared Indian Music promoters from taking risks and bringing India’s favorite International artists to perform live.
Wanting to make a dream come true, to watch a favourite international artist in India, made two veteran entrepreneurs and music lovers, Kabir Bhasin (co-founder of Furlenco) and Kanishka Sharma (Ex-Flipkart), come up with an idea. This idea is called Fanagig.
The idea is simple. If they themselves are willing to pay to watch their favourite band perform in India, then there must be a few thousand more that would put money down for the same band? If yes, then the concept Fan-A-Gig will be a break through platform to revolutionize the whole live music scene in India!
How does Fan-A-Gig work?
Prerequisite: You are a fan of live music.
All you have to do is go to www.fanagig.com, browse existing campaigns and vote for the one (or more) bands you love. Your support, your vote, will go a long way in making the dream come true.
Votes must reach the goal before Fanagig will take the next step.
If your favorite artist is not in the on-going campaign list, then Fan-A-Gig gives you an option to create your own campaign.
Share campaigns through your social media, get other fans to vote and watch the magic happen.
Once there are sufficient votes, Fan-A-Gig then does the rest of the work for you. After that, all you have to do is pay for your ticket and pack your bag for the concert of your dreams!
Sign up for the cause! Bring the revolution! Let’s make a change! Let’s spread the word and make sure every Indian fan gets the chance of enjoying their artist perform live .
And wait, we are not just talking about big international bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Eyed Peas or The Cranberries but also great Indian bands like Indus Creed, Parikrama, Raftaar or Badshah! Since it’s about music, there are no boundaries of genres. There is something for every fan. All you need to do is sign up or run a campaign and get this going.
Navrasa Duende, decoded means Navrasa, the nine rasas of art and Duende the quality of passion and inspiration.
Holds true for their Founder Dinesh B.Singh who is a veteran in the business arena and a true patron of art in ant form. His undying love for arts led him to the concept of Navrasa Duende and his never ending urge not only to follow art but also to bring it for the Global audience to partake and experience the various forms of art from across the Globe. It is his endeavor to promote commercial and niche arts from around the world. Navrasa Duende being the first step in this direction.
Recently Navrasa Duende organised a classic movies festival where in classics by two famous directors of that time were shown. The chosen directors were Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Capra.
It was a two day festival and each day, one movie of each directors was shown. I chose the first day of the festival and also the first film, The Man Who Knew Too Much by Alfred Hitchcock. It truly was a trip down the memory lane. Such a pleasant experience witnessing old time classics. The beauty about the movie was its surprising repeat value much appreciated by the audiences present.
A really commendable effort by Navrasa Duende, who have lots more to offer in the near future. One of the most promising upcoming venture by Navrasa Duende is the Global Carnival, an amalgamation of Dance, Theatre, Visual Arts, Music, Fashion and much more. I am really looking forward to this one. Stat tuned on their Facebook page to get regular updates of events organised by them.
All the best wishes to team Navrasa Duende may they succeed in this most wonderful endeavor and bring the best of Global talent for the art lovers.
All roads lead to this popular club in Andheri West through the week. Anarchy is the latest entrant in that party sector and has become a favorite amongst party goers for their aesthetically designed interiors, buzzing bar and an amazing line up of DJs.
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Last week, we spotted some known faces from Bollywood and the Television industry for an acting school launch event at Anarchy. Deepshika, who has been part of the industry for quite sometime launched her latest venture an acting school to enable people to pursue their passion for acting.Switching between conversations, dance floor and the bar; they were seen enjoying themselves at this do.
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The event saw the likes of Deepshikha Nagpal, Vindu Dara Singh & Dina Umarova, Kashmira Shah & Krishna Abhishek, Rohit Verma, Rahul Mahajan, Tanaaz & Bakhtyaar, Poonam Dhillon, Terence Lewis, Ayub Khan and many more.
Wedding Season..Latest Trends.. and whats best when you get to see what the bollywood divas are wearing this wedding season.. so here is an exclusive glimpse.. read on
This week saw the coming together of talent and passion. Highly specialised dermato-cosmotologist Dr. Swati Srivastava tied the knot with leading nutritionist Dr. Riddhesh Jani. The mehandi and wedding ceremonies were an extremely intimate affair. The guest list was restricted to close friends and family. Seen at these elegant and tasteful gatherings were Raveena Tandon & Anil Thadani, Eijaz Khan, Simple Kaur, Mr and Mrs Keki Mistry and daughter Tinaz, Natalie di luccio, Sangeeta & Sachin Ahir, Anu Ranjan and many more. Check out the pics to see who rocked the traditional look and how..
