Pick your favourites

Tune in

Akriti Kakar, singer

Favourite music album: Night Song by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1996)

I  would recommend that everyone listen to Night Song by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Kaash by Hariharan. I can listen to these albums endlessly.  I first heard them a few years ago and still can’t get over them. I heard Kaash during my school days and bought the cassette with my pocket money. I couldn’t purchase the album for the very first time, and had to place an order for it. There is no song particularly that amazes me — the album as a whole puts me in my best mood. I remember each and every song from both these albums and even the smallest of music parts. I’ve lived through whole nights with these albums playing on my headphones and Walkman.

Book Mark

Aditi Mathur Kumar, author  

Favourite book: Palace of Illusions

There are a lot of books that I’d want everyone to read — the Harry Potter series, High Fidelity, Sense & Sensibility and Bossypants are just a few of them. But if you want one book, it is The Palace of Illusions for me. This is a beautiful retelling of the Mahabharata, from the point of view of its most controversial female character, Draupadi. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s story starts and grows with Draupadi (or Panchali) and you’ll see her like never before in this book. The portrayal of Krishna is enchanting and the unrequited love angle with Karna is moving. All this in the crisp and fluid writing style of Divakaruni makes for a great read. Do pick it up!

Food talk

Saransh Goila, chef

Favourite restaurant: Lombardi’s Pizza

I  was in New York just last month and I grabbed the opportunity to pay a visit to the oldest pizzeria in town, which is Lombardi’s Pizza on Spring Street. And keeping up with the hype, the meal was indeed very memorable. Lombardi’s has an old world charm with songs from the ’80s and those iconic NYC brick walls. The pizzas were made from a coal-fired oven and that caught my attention, as it wasn’t your typical wood-fired pizza. They were thin (but not too thin), crispy, smokey and topped with the juiciest meatballs I’ve ever had!  This lunch now occupies a special place in my gustatory memory. Last but not the least, we hopped over to the Dominique Ansel Kitchen later to grab a milk and cookie shot just to seal the “meal deal”.

Play time

Divya Palat, actress

Favourite play: The Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is a religious satire musical using the book, lyrics, and music by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone (of South Park). It is one musical everyone should try going for. I think it is one of the best running musicals in recent times. Even when they tour in the US, they are booked much in advance. If you are travelling to the States, and realise that they are playing in the city, you need to grab those tickets asap! I would also recommend The Lion King musical in New York. It talks about the circle of life, and leaves you feeling positive by the end of it. I am guessing everyone could do with a play like that!

Telly tattle

Cyrus Sahukar, VJ and actor

Favourite TV show: Mr. Robot

I  love watching TV shows and there are a couple of them that are my favourites. I’m a binge watcher — the amount of dedication I put in watching these TV shows, if even half of that was put in my career I would have made a TV show by now. I like watching Mr. Robot, it’s about a hacker and his encounters. There is a horror series on HBO, a documentary titled The Jinx and it is one of the best-shot documentaries I have seen so far. I first saw it on a flight to Europe and since then I have been hooked to it. I also love watching Narcos, a series based on the life of Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar. Since I travel a lot, I time these series and watch them in the flight. I start thinking like the characters of the show and switch off completely during these times! In fact while watching Mr. Robot I got paranoid about my computer and phone being hacked! These shows influence me a lot. The documentary is so scary that it’ll give the person watching it the creeps. They will check their doors twice before sleeping!

Reel watch

Luv Ranjan, Director

Favourite Film: Vicky Cristina Barcelona

My favourite film is Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I’m a hardcore Woody Allen fan and I have seen most of the films that he has been associated with. This is one of his finest and wittiest films, in my opinion. In fact, I make sure all my actors watch his films as well. Unlike Indian films, the film is not about perfect characters and perfect roles — it talks about relationships and people in a non-judgmental way. The characters are flawed and complex in their own way, and that’s the beauty of the film.