Tarun Balani's 'Kadahin Milandaasin'
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India.com
4 days ago
- India.com
Meet Karisma Kapoor's flop cousin brother, who is 4 years younger than her, acting since 14 months old, still couldn't become a star, he is…
Karisma Kapoor entered the Hindi film industry as a heroine in the 90s, while Aftab started his career as a child artist. Very few people would know that the relationship between these two is not only of the film industry, but also of blood. The interesting thing is that both celebrate their birthday on 25 June. Meet Karisma Kapoor's cousin brother Karishma was born on 25 June 1974 in Mumbai. She is the daughter of actor Randhir Kapoor and Babita. Aftab was born on 25 June 1978 in Mumbai. His father Prem Shivdasani is Sindhi and mother Putli Shivdasani is Irani. Karishma's mother Babita was Babita Shivdasani before her marriage. Aftab's father, Prem Shivdasani, was the nephew of her father Hari Shivdasani. By this relation, Babita is Aftab's aunt and thus Aftab is Karishma's maternal cousin. When Karisma Kapoor quit education to pursue acting If we look at the careers of both, Karisma Kapoor left her studies midway to pursue a career in Bollywood. She started her career at the age of 16 with 'Prem Qaidi', which was released in the year 1991. Karisma Kapoor then worked with Jackie Shroff in the film 'Police Officer' in the year 1992. Films like 'Jigar' and 'Anari' gave her recognition as an actress. In 1994, her career started gaining momentum with films like 'Raja Babu', 'Khuddar', 'Andaz Apna Apna' and 'Suhag'. In the 90s, Karisma made a successful pairing with Govinda in hit comedy films like 'Coolie No. 1', 'Saajan Chale Sasural', 'Hero No. 1'. 1996's 'Raja Hindustani' made her a superstar and she also won her first Filmfare Award. She won the National Award for 1997's 'Dil To Pagal Hai'. In 1999-2000, she won applause from the people by playing emotional roles in films like 'Biwi No. 1', 'Hum Saath Saath Hain', 'Fiza', and 'Zubaida'. After 2003, she distanced herself from acting, but made a comeback in 2012 with 'Dangerous Ishq'. In 2020, she entered the OTT world with the web series 'Mentalhood' and in 2024 with 'Murder Mubarak'. Who is Karisma Kapoor's cousin At the same time, Aftab Shivdasani started his career as a child artist. He appeared in the 'Farex Baby' advertisement at the age of just 14 months and after this became a part of many TV advertisements. He worked as a child artist in films like 'Mr. India', 'Shahenshah', 'Chaalbaaz' released in 1987. Which was Aftab Shivdasani's debut film? In 1999, he debuted as a hero in Ram Gopal Varma's film 'Mast', for which he received the Zee Cine Award for Best Debut Actor. In 2001, he won the hearts of the audience by playing a negative role in 'Kasoor' and also got a Filmfare nomination. After this, he also proved his acting prowess in films like 'Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega', 'Pyar Ishq Aur Mohabbat' and 'Kya Yehi Pyar Hai'. Why is Aftab Shivdasani tagged as a flop actor? Hit films like 'Hungama' in 2003 and 'Masti' in 2004 made him a comedy star. Although some of his films flopped after this, hits like the 2012 horror film '1920: The Evil Returns' and the multi-starrer 'Grand Masti' brought him back. In 2021, he appeared in the web series 'Special Ops 1.5', in which his acting was highly appreciated. Aftab has made a distinct identity in Bollywood with his hard work and playing different characters.
Mint
5 days ago
- Mint
Tarun Balani turns inherited memories into an evocative album
How do you mourn a person you've never met? How do you process the bone-deep longing for an ancestral homeland you've never visited? New Delhi jazz drummer and composer Tarun Balani confronts these questions head-on in his new album Kadahin Milandaasin, an evocative and elegiac exploration of identity, displacement and the collective grief of a community in permanent exile. The album is inspired by the musician's inherited memories of his grandfather Khialdas Suratram Balani, a writer, painter and photographer who migrated from his home in Naushahro Feroze in Sindh to the refugee colony in Lajpat Nagar in 1952, in the wake of India's Partition. Balani never met his grandfather, who passed away aged just 40 in 1970. Growing up, he didn't hear a lot of stories about him either—the grief was too raw. Instead, Balani came to know his ancestor through the latter's paintings and photographs in the family home, and an old Yashika 635 box camera that he'd sneak out of his father's cupboard and play with as a young child. Those hours spent gazing into his grandfather's modernist paintings, or play-acting as a film-maker with his camera, would end up being a major influence on Balani's artistic worldview, and his self-conception as a 'sonic story-teller". 'I feel like this album has been brewing for years, because my first solo album [2012's Sacred World] also featured my grandfather's photography," says Balani, speaking over Zoom from his home in Lajpat Nagar, one of his grandfather's paintings occupying pride of place on the wall behind him. 'But back then I wasn't really thinking of my Sindhi heritage. With this record, the story of my grandfather's migration from Sindh to Delhi became a lens through which I could explore my Sindhi identity." These questions of identity were first sparked by a conversation Balani had with his German record label, as he was struggling to find a booking agency for Europe. Balani has always been hard to pin down musically. He's a jazz-inspired musician from New Delhi, performing with a multicultural ensemble based in New York—trumpeter Adam O'Farrill has Puerto Rican roots, guitarist Olli Hirvonen hails from Finland, while pianist Sharik Hasan is originally from Bengaluru. His musical output ranges from contemporary jazz to improvisational synth-led electronica. 'Everybody would tell us that they love my music, but that they can't place me," he remembers. 'It was almost like they were having an identity crisis, and weren't able to understand me. But I'm actually very comfortable in my skin. So I just felt like it was time for me to make a bold statement about my identity, and my ancestral lineage." Last February, Balani shared this idea for a new album with his father, who in turn gave him two black-and-white photographs—one of his grandfather and another of his grandparents. Those two images now appear on the front and back cover of Kadahin Milandaasin. Balani dove into his grandfather's archive, sifting through photographs, paintings, letters and manuscripts for inspiration. He also spoke to family members about how they—and other Sindhi families—experienced and dealt with the trauma of Partition, addressed most poignantly on album opener Lajpat Nagar Sometimes. 'In this day and age, I feel like it's necessary for us to reimagine or reinterpret this conversation of Partition so that it moves away from just being about loss and grief," he says. 'We need to understand how we can take this heritage forward." In order to do that, he spoke to linguists and Sindhi historians, and explored the works of other Sindhi artists and writers such as Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Gobind Malhi, Popati Hiranandani and Shaikh Ayaz. Tiri Pawanda, a poem by Shaikh Ayaz that reflects on Partition, would actually inspire the album's title, and title track. The poem includes the line 'Tade milanda si ('we will meet then"), which Balani flips into Kadahin Milandaasin ('when will we meet?"). 'The question is when will I meet my grandfather, but also when will I see the land they've left behind," says Balani. 'This became, at both a macro and micro level, a really beautiful question to chase, it kind of became the heart of the album." Over the title track's pensive piano melody and Sindhi-folk inspired rhythms, Balani repeats the question like an incantation, the first time he's ever sung on record. He meant for the track to be a surprise for his father, who had always wanted to be a classical singer, but had to work to support the family instead. 'I never got the chance to share it with him because my dad sadly passed away on 2nd November last year," he says. 'But when I was in the ICU with him during his last days, I actually sang these lyrics to him. And that's when I felt like I had really experienced pain and loss. This personal loss became a gateway to my lineage and ancestry." Though grief informs much of the Kadahin Milandaasin, it's far from funereal. Alongside the melancholy that suffuses songs like Sailaab (inspired by the devastating 2020 floods in Sindh) and Samadhi 2.11.24(the date of his father's passing), there's also pride in what he calls 'the quiet resilience" of being Sindhi. 'I found a lot of comfort in how we have still held on to our language, our traditions, the very basic yet beautiful daily rituals," he says. 'I think those are the beautiful things about being Sindhi that we've really held on to. Kadahin Milandaasinis a celebration of that." With the album finally out in the world, Balanui is now thinking of putting together an audio-visual exhibit featuring his grandfather's archival work as well as stories of the Sindhi diaspora. He's also working on the next edition of Listening Room, an immersive sound installation that focuses on Balani's—and others'—experience of climate change. He's also preparing to take the album on tour. But for now, he just hopes that the album inspires listeners to embrace their identities, without fear or reservation. 'What I hope listeners take away from this record is that you don't have to be afraid to be yourself," he says. 'And if you're not seeing yourself represented in stories or art, then you just have to find a way to do it yourselves. If you feel like you're different, don't be afraid to follow that path."
Indian Express
7 days ago
- Indian Express
Ahead of 50th anniversary, Sion's iconic Guru Kripa, whose samosas were loved by Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar, debuts in South Mumbai
In the late 1960s, Vishindas Wadhwa — whose family came to India during Partition and settled in Mumbai — found success selling samosas from a thela (hand cart). In 1975, he went on to establish what would become Sion's beloved Guru Kripa. Over the next five decades, it earned a loyal following for its samosas, tikki chole, and a range of savouries, as well as mithais like the Sindhi specialty Sev Barfi, made with khoya and sev. Its reputation spread far beyond the neighbourhood. But for South Mumbai residents, there was always one complaint: 'It's too far!' Ahead of its 50th anniversary this August, third-generation custodians Bharat and Sunaina have addressed this long-standing gripe by opening Guru Kripa's first branch — just a stone's throw from the Royal Opera House on Charni Road. 'What better gift to my grandfather than taking his culinary repository to a bigger audience,' said Bharat on a weekday afternoon, just two days after the shutters were lifted. Spread across 800 sq ft, the Charni Road outpost functions as a mithai retail outlet and delivery kitchen and offers an elevated experience. While the original 1,500 sqft store evokes nostalgia with its classic mithai-and-snack shop vibe, the new branch is more contemporary in design. There's a truck-style mithai station, a hamper counter, and a 'wall of fame' showcasing celebrity visitors and key milestones in the brand's journey. 'We wanted it to be an experience centre where every corner tells a story,' Bharat shared. 'So we gave it a retro South Bombay touch.' Pointing to a wall behind the savoury counter, he drew our attention to a series of black-and-white photos featuring the Asiatic Library, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, and the BMC building. 'This is our ode to South Bombay.' Unlike the original outlet, where customers can grab a quick samosa while standing outside or enjoy a full meal in the air-conditioned seating area, this new branch is strictly takeaway and delivery. 'We did want a small dine-in section,' Bharat admitted. 'But it didn't fit the space and what we set out to do with this experiment.' In the hour we spent at the shop, the counter stayed busy with walk-ins sampling mithai or picking up snacks for home. 'The response has been great, people are happy that it's now accessible,' he said, adding that early favourites include samosas, gulab jamun, sugar-free dates mithai and their recently launched Biscoff barfi, and Jain-friendly snacks like chole tikki, sandwiches, and Sindhi-speciality dal pakwan. Guru Kripa's samosas, of course, have a cult following of their own. Legend has it that Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar were regulars, and that when Amitabh Bachchan suffered a near-fatal injury on the sets of Coolie, Vishindas Wadhwa distributed samosas while praying for his recovery. 'When Mr Bachchan learned of this, he visited us, enjoyed the samosas, and declared them his favourite,' Bharat recounted proudly. We asked him for the real marker of success: the number of samosas sold. He smiled shyly before revealing, 'We sold 1,000 samosas each on day 1 and day 2.' Fifty years on, it seems life has come full circle for Vishindas Wadhwa's Guru Kripa.
