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‘More concerned about rozi-roti of crew members’
Writing during the lockdown period is keeping Aahana Kumra stress free. “I am writing stories and concepts for kids. I am looking at things from my nephew’s point of view as they live in a fantasy world. Probably, that is why I don’t feel anxiety like many other are facing in this period,” says the Lucknowite.
She was at her sister’s house when the lockdown started. “I preferred to stay back as she has a kid so I can help her and together we can look after things which we divided between ourselves,” said Aahana over the phone.
Fond of nazms (poetries) she has started learning them for quite some time now. She has singled out John Elia’s work which she plans to recite on social media. “There have been plentiful exercising and cooking videos making a round on social media during the lockdown. So I thought to try something different and decided to make a nazm recital video.”
For Aahana cooking is last in her list. After a point, due to hectic shoot schedules ‘sab adate choot jati hai.’ My focus switched to workouts, shooting schedules and scripts. But now, I got time for things I was missing out like writing, watching shows and films.”
The ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ actor had couple of releases lined up during this period. “A month back my series ‘Marzi’ (with Rajeev Khandelwal) released. Then hosted a sports series, ‘Colour Me Blue’ focused on lives of Indian cricketers like Smriti Mandhana, Harmpreet Kaur and Jhulan Goswami.Next to release is horror series ‘Betaal’ with Viineet Kumar.”
Her film ‘Khuda Hafiz’ was scheduled to release in summers. “As of now no one has any idea when work will resume and releasing of films will start. I enjoyed playing an Arab cop, sporting a hijab and performing action sequences in Uzbekistan.” A part of the film was also shot in Lucknow with Vidyut Jamwal.
There were projects that were to start but have been deferred due to coronavirus spread. “Entertainment is something everyone wants but for government the priority is and will be safety, healthcare and essential services and rightly so! It will be interesting to see how things will start. It’s our ‘rozi-roti’ so we too want go back to work soon but the real struggle is for the numerous crew members to make ends meet in such times.”
She hopes to go back to her home in Andheri. “It’s a hotspot and my parents are living there. Thankfully, we have a cook so I am bit relaxed but want to be with them as soon as possible.”
Manish Mishra
The first Monday in May is usually synonymous with the haute couture frenzy triggered by the Met Gala in New York, which kicks off the Met Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibit. However, due to the global pandemic, this year’s soiree, themed, “About Time: Fashion and Duration” was postponed. On April 22, Broadway actor Billy Porter announced the Met Gala Challenge, which has had fashion lovers recreating their favourite Met ball ensembles. Think queen size comforters, trash bags, light fixtures and tinfoil. While most of us are working from home in our comfy PJs, these red-carpet enthusiasts have broken the internet by creating some of the memorable Met imagery of previous years. For instance, blogger Sanja
Nestorovic, from Williamsburg has posted five Met ball recreations on her Instagram. Her take on Rihanna’s 2018 John Galliano for Maison Margiela dress, stood out the most as it was almost entirely made out of newspapers. The picture reposted by a fashion magazine’s handle got over 2lakh likes. Actor Mindy Kaling post refashioning Jared Leto’s creepymeets-campy Gucci ensemble (including the floating head) with a tarp, string lights, and a beard, got 3.5lakh likes on Instagram till the time of going to press.
The #MetGalaChallenge hashtag got more than 1000 posts on Instagram. London fashion stylist Natasha Vinnikova recreated aty Perry’s epoch-defining eremy Scott chandelier eaddress from 2019, by anding on a chair under the ght fixture.
Indian designer Swetha aju paid homage to eepika Padukone’s ac Posen look using
2 chart papers, a eadband and lverstones.