Ayushmann Khurrana, Bollywood Class of 2012, is one of those bright young actors that makes us feel hopeful about the Hindi film industry. Talented, dapper, hard-working, sorted, he has done theatre, been a video and radio jockey, acted in TV soaps, participated in reality TV shows and writes poetry. But there is also a little something more about him. He is a happy guy. And that sense of joy overrides his slight discomfort at being interviewed, his slight anxiety about how he is answering questions. Here is a young man who knows his mind, accepts the highs and lows of his life and reminds us that the only thing worth savouring is the journey.

The TBIP Tête-à-Tête is a series of in-depth and intimate interviews with film personalities who are critical to this era of filmmaking. It is an attempt to understand their body of work and their minds. Most of these interviews, conducted by Pragya Tiwari, were recorded between 2012 and 2014 but remain some of the most exhaustive and insightful conversations that exist online.

They featured in The Big Indian Picture which was an online publication that featured opinion, reportage, narratives, photo-essays, art, interviews and videos. The idea was to broaden the conversation on cinema and examine its influence on art, design, politics and culture at large. And have some fun while at it.

You can access the rest of the archives on www.thebigindianpicture.com

The TBIP Team -

Editor-in-Chief – Pragya Tiwari

Publisher – Milind Soman

Creative Director – Kavi Bhansali

Senior Editor – Rishi Majumder

Created, conceptualised and managed by Oijo Media

We bring together four of India’s best-known film critics. In a fun, freewheeling conversation they talk about the process, dilemmas, standards, relevance and reception of film criticism.

Meet Rajeev Masand (Film Critic, CNN-IBN), Mayank Shekhar (Film Critic, Dainik Bhaskar and thew14.com), Anupama Chopra (Film Critic, Star World) and Raja Sen (Film Critic, Rediff.com).

We bring to you a conversation on cinema between those who are instrumental in shaping it. The idea is to have an honest, informal chat on how we watch cinema and how we make it; to determine our co-ordinates on the map of the journey of Indian cinema; to have a laugh at ourselves; to share what we know, and identify what we don’t. Most of all to raise a toast to cinema. For cinema alone is the most exquisite moveable feast.

The TBIP Tête-à-Tête is a series of in-depth and intimate interviews with film personalities who are critical to this era of filmmaking. It is an attempt to understand their body of work and their minds. Most of these interviews, conducted by Pragya Tiwari, were recorded between 2012 and 2014 but remain some of the most exhaustive and insightful conversations that exist online.

They featured in The Big Indian Picture which was an online publication that featured opinion, reportage, narratives, photo-essays, art, interviews and videos. The idea was to broaden the conversation on cinema and examine its influence on art, design, politics and culture at large. And have some fun while at it.

You can access the rest of the archives on www.thebigindianpicture.com

The TBIP Team -

Editor-in-Chief – Pragya Tiwari

Publisher – Milind Soman

Creative Director – Kavi Bhansali

Senior Editor – Rishi Majumder

Created, conceptualised and managed by Oijo Media

Farah Khan was born into a film family. Her father lost everything, making movies that did not do well. They were poor and isolated overnight and the family fell apart. But Farah held on to her dark sense of humour, her affection for irony and survived. Starting off as a choreographer in small budget films, she went on to turn film choreography on its head.
After that very successful stint, she took up direction at a time when women directors were still a rarity in the Hindi film industry. But she refused to let her gender define her. Her films were not niche treatises on women’s issues but hugely mounted commercial blockbusters. That is not to say that she would toe the formulaic line— that is just not Farah. Instead she took the formula and contemporized it, like she did her choreography. Presented it with a twist of tongue-in-cheek humour, as she does her life in this interview.

The TBIP Tête-à-Tête is a series of in-depth and intimate interviews with film personalities who are critical to this era of filmmaking. It is an attempt to understand their body of work and their minds. Most of these interviews, conducted by Pragya Tiwari, were recorded between 2012 and 2014 but remain some of the most exhaustive and insightful conversations that exist online.

They featured in The Big Indian Picture which was an online publication that featured opinion, reportage, narratives, photo-essays, art, interviews and videos. The idea was to broaden the conversation on cinema and examine its influence on art, design, politics and culture at large. And have some fun while at it.

You can access the rest of the archives on www.thebigindianpicture.com

The TBIP Team -

Editor-in-Chief – Pragya Tiwari

Publisher – Milind Soman

Creative Director – Kavi Bhansali

Senior Editor – Rishi Majumder

Created, conceptualised and managed by Oijo Media

Padma Shri awardee Sooni Taraporevala, 56, grew up in a large Parsi family in South Bombay, leading a fairly regular life until the day she found out she had been accepted to study in Harvard University as an undergraduate. Harvard opened up a whole new world for her, sowing the seeds for the extraordinary work she was to do as a photographer and screenwriter later in life. It was also here that she met her collaborator in cinema, Mira Nair.

After her post-graduation she moved back to Bombay without a plan, “for emotional reasons”. Back in her hometown, she began photographing her community, building an unparalleled body of photographic work compiled in several exhibitions and a book called Parsis : The Zoroastrians of India – A Photographic Journey. Furthermore, she brought to life a city slum in Salaam Bombay!, Mira Nair’s directorial debut. Since then she has written several films including her own debut feature as a director, Little Zizou. She wants to continue writing & directing films, taking pictures, and write a novel.

The TBIP Tête-à-Tête is a series of in-depth and intimate interviews with film personalities who are critical to this era of filmmaking. It is an attempt to understand their body of work and their minds. Most of these interviews, conducted by Pragya Tiwari, were recorded between 2012 and 2014 but remain some of the most exhaustive and insightful conversations that exist online.

They featured in The Big Indian Picture which was an online publication that featured opinion, reportage, narratives, photo-essays, art, interviews and videos. The idea was to broaden the conversation on cinema and examine its influence on art, design, politics and culture at large. And have some fun while at it.

You can access the rest of the archives on www.thebigindianpicture.com

The TBIP Team -

Editor-in-Chief – Pragya Tiwari

Publisher – Milind Soman

Creative Director – Kavi Bhansali

Senior Editor – Rishi Majumder

Created, conceptualised and managed by Oijo Media

Makdee was more than Vishal Bhardwaj’s debut feature— it was a promise, a sign of times to come. Times when the line between art and commerce would blur, when we would be treated with real stories, our stories, told in a manner that befits a country obsessed with stories; when literature would enrich our movies again; when cinema will be magic again. Years later Bhardwaj has come a long way in keeping that promise. Getting him to reflect on his journey is an exciting prospect except he strongly dislikes being interviewed formally. Getting him to talk is a Vikram-Betal act— ask him a question he really wants to answer and hope he begrudgingly will. An exercise worth it only because the answers are so very fascinating.

Listen to this award winning interview where he talks about cinema, music, writing and most essentially the mind of an auteur who has been key to the renaissance of Indian cinema.

The TBIP Tête-à-Tête is a series of in-depth and intimate interviews with film personalities who are critical to this era of filmmaking. It is an attempt to understand their body of work and their minds. Most of these interviews, conducted by Pragya Tiwari, were recorded between 2012 and 2014 but remain some of the most exhaustive and insightful conversations that exist online.

They featured in The Big Indian Picture which was an online publication that featured opinion, reportage, narratives, photo-essays, art, interviews and videos. The idea was to broaden the conversation on cinema and examine its influence on art, design, politics and culture at large. And have some fun while at it.

You can access the rest of the archives on www.thebigindianpicture.com

The TBIP Team -

Editor-in-Chief – Pragya Tiwari

Publisher – Milind Soman

Creative Director – Kavi Bhansali

Senior Editor – Rishi Majumder

Created, conceptualised and managed by Oijo Media

Karan Johar epitomises re-invention. The sheltered, snooty South Bombay kid who is now at home in the filmy suburbs. The overweight, awkward introvert who is now one of the most photographed people in the country. The shabbily dressed sidekick in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge who is now a fashion icon. The new kid on the block who now runs one of the largest production houses.. The doe-eyed boy with a faraway look who now has a trademark hard, slit-eyed stare.

In this interview, perhaps the most comprehensive one he has ever done, he dissects his life and work. Talking with enviable candor, he critiques his own work fiercely, defines his fears, brandishes his cynicism and lets his vulnerability show from time to time. But not once does he apologise for being who he is. It is this flair for a life larger than most that makes him a natural fit for the movies.

The TBIP Tête-à-Tête is a series of in-depth and intimate interviews with film personalities who are critical to this era of filmmaking. It is an attempt to understand their body of work and their minds. Most of these interviews, conducted by Pragya Tiwari, were recorded between 2012 and 2014 but remain some of the most exhaustive and insightful conversations that exist online.

They featured in The Big Indian Picture which was an online publication that featured opinion, reportage, narratives, photo-essays, art, interviews and videos. The idea was to broaden the conversation on cinema and examine its influence on art, design, politics and culture at large. And have some fun while at it.

You can access the rest of the archives on www.thebigindianpicture.com

The TBIP Team -

Editor-in-Chief – Pragya Tiwari

Publisher – Milind Soman

Creative Director – Kavi Bhansali

Senior Editor – Rishi Majumder

Created, conceptualised and managed by Oijo Media

In this interview recorded at a critical juncture of his life, Ranbir Kapoor reflects on what it means for him to be an actor and a Kapoor. He talks about his growth and process as an actor, his ambition and the chinks in his armour. In a sometimes discomfitingly raw and honest conversation he reveals what it takes to try and forge your own path to stardom despite walking with the cross of a legacy. 

The TBIP Tête-à-Tête is a series of in-depth and intimate interviews with film personalities who are critical to this era of filmmaking. It is an attempt to understand their body of work and their minds. Most of these interviews, conducted by Pragya Tiwari, were recorded between 2012 and 2014 but remain some of the most exhaustive and insightful conversations that exist online.

They featured in The Big Indian Picture which was an online publication that featured opinion, reportage, narratives, photo-essays, art, interviews and videos. The idea was to broaden the conversation on cinema and examine its influence on art, design, politics and culture at large. And have some fun while at it.

You can access the rest of the archives on www.thebigindianpicture.com

The TBIP Team -

Editor-in-Chief – Pragya Tiwari

Publisher – Milind Soman

Creative Director – Kavi Bhansali

Senior Editor – Rishi Majumder

Created, conceptualised and managed by Oijo Media