Interesting Covers And The Stories Behind

Our very first cover, has to be special. Although I managed to convince the very private and reticent Air Marshall Idris Latif and his wife Begum Bilkis to pose for my camera,  shooting their friends was another matter. Begum Latif said to me in despair, “How can we do that, what will my guests think! So what we did was just before we started to eat the fabulous Hyderabadi lunch that Begum Latif had specially cooked for us, discreetly in just  a couple of minutes I shot the happy table. As it turned out everyone was smiling for my camera. Or perhaps it was the irrestible flavours wafting out of the kitchen doors!

For full article: www.uppercrustindia.com 
(Archives: January-March 2000)

I went to Bangalore for this cover. Behram had just passed away and I was in a daze. I felt like visiting Sri Sri’s ashram. When I had first met him I had promised him that I would visit his place some day. Now was the time.

He is a sweet man. Child-like, even feminine. After we finished shooting and interviewing him and were all packed up to leave he said, “Come with me to see the new meditation hall which is coming up nearby.” So we got in the car and drove there. We were walking with Sri Sri amidst concrete blocks and girders and things. I decided to get my camera out and shoot some more. That’s when Sri Sri said “you want more pictures, shall I model for you?” I surprised myself by replying, “Yes, but I want a sexy one!” And guess what, he said, “Sure”, and started whirling and twirling, behaving like a model on a ramp and I went click, click click, moving around him taking sweeping shots from a low angle. The sun was setting, the light was fabulous, the mood great.

This photograph travelled far and wide. Many of his followers have it on their mobiles and as screen savers on their computors. Perhaps the maximum requests for reproduction rights came for this picture.

For full article: www.uppercrustindia.com (Archives: July - September 2001)

For this story, Behram Contractor was taking film-maker Ismail Merchant out for lunch to Trishna, everybody’s favourite seafood restaurant. There was a big buzz in the restaurant. The proprietors adored my husband. Trishna was a Busybee discovery years ago, courtesy my friend Shaheen Shirazi’s uncle Baquer who has his Cole Paints establishment right there above, Rhythm House. The crab in those days cost Rs. 65!

Now here they were, both seated with napkin bibs in place. The crabs were brought out, like vintage wine and held up for inspection. Live and with talons hooking the empty air. “Crab ka naam kiya hai?” Ismail Merchant, asked of the waiter who was taken aback. “Let’s call him Clinton,” said Merchant, helping out the poor man. “From now on he shall be known as Clinton. He is very fond of food, Indian food. Perhaps, you could invite him here. Oh, he would love it.” he said to Behram. And then went on to talk about the magic of the restaurants of his youth in Bombay. “Purohit, Berry’s, Leopold on the Causeway, they made an excellent pasta, and they had this juke-box, the first in town, chaar anna dalo, gaana suno, Nanking was our hangout, and baked beans at Gaylord, Pyrkes had good biryanis, and what wonderful coffee with cream at Bombelli’s, sit in the garden and gossip.”

And then he turned to the mesmerised waiter and said “Sir, can I have a kulfi. You don’t get that in New York.”

For full article: www.uppercrustindia.com (Archives: April - June 2000)

This man is the ultimate King of Cool. He is the father of my friend Raisa and since she calls him Baba, I do too. Years ago, long before this magazine was even launched, Baba used to talk about cooking a special dish which he was very adept at, called Lasan. “Main ghar aakar banaunga,” he would tell Behram who he considered a man with good tastebuds. I forgot all about it, till one Sunday morning Baba said, “I have just come in from Delhi, I am coming over to cook that meal. I am bringing the fresh garlic, rest you will have at home.” Wow, what fun.

Before Baba reached home I had all the ingredients assembled. He came, striding in, tall and erect, slim as a rod and got to work. Raisa followed soon after and then he kept telling her to call different family members and invite them over, specially the children. So there was the great MF Husain in my kitchen cooking kheema with fresh garlic, feeding his great grandchildren, even kneading flour and making a roti he used to like as a child - called parwalli roti!

He was in no rush to leave. He ate the lunch he cooked, went through my books, asked for tea and later looking at the white apron he was wearing, he said, “yeh to bahut pheekha hai, give me some colouring pens.” Pity I did not have very many, yet he managed to draw and colour a flaming cockerel on my then ordinary, now most precious apron!

For full article: www.uppercrustindia.com (Archives: October - December 2001)

This was an issue which sold and sold. And we have Amitabh Bachchan to thank. He is such a darling. As for me, I made it to our cover, quite by default. Mr Bachchan had come to inaugurate the 5th UpperCrust Show, our huge food and wine exhibition which is held every year in December at the World Trade Centre. Our plan was to take him aside and I would shoot a good close-up picture of him for our cover. There was no way in hell that we were going to get that moment. Photographers, journalists, TV crew, guests, visitors, exhibitors were not only crowding, milling around, they managed to even break down a stall structure! It was stupendous.

In all the mellee, we were left without a cover. So we contacted editor friends in some newspapers and managed to find one that would work. It had him, me and the Busybee book we had released at the Show.

And yes, he was an amazing Chief Guest. He had confirmed his acceptance five months ahead of the date, he came on the dot of 10.45 am he made a wonderful from-the-heart speech, he was not rushed, he walked around the 25,000 square feet area in jostling crowds without any fuss, taking interest in all the stalls, signing autographs, posing with people, shaking hands. At one point he even controlled the TV personnel which was going beserk. He pointed to an area and said, “Why don’t all of you go there and wait and I promise I will come there and talk to you.” And he did, with great humour. He had them all eating out of his hands!

For full article: www.uppercrustindia.com (Archives: October - December 2007)

As Civil Aviation Minister he is almost always up in the clouds. In 2007, the year we had interviewed him he had taken three hundred flights! Therefore we thought it apt to plonk him on the tarmac, with wings for a background for the cover story pictures. Praful had arrived from Delhi, I and my team were waiting for him in the VVIP lounge from where you can access the tarmac directly, we shot him and then he whizzed off in his Mercedes also parked besides the planes! Kya style!

We conducted part of the interview at the Taj Mahal Hotel in what was my favourite suite: the Presidential Suite. I say ‘was’ because it was unfortunately burnt down in the Terror Carnage. Look closely, the cover was shot outside the suite, in the corridors of the heritage hotel.

Praful Patel is a non-vegetarian Gujarati (we’re strictly talking food!), which is not of any national significance, presumably, but unusual. Much like a vegetarian Parsi, who will pass by mutton/chicken dhansak! But our Prafulbhai international jet-setter that he is, will opt for crabs over khakhras and tiger prawns over theplas, anyday.

This family owned business has factories scattered all over India in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa etc. They employ 65,000 people, all from the rurual areas of which 30,000 are women...

For full article: www.uppercrustindia.com (Archives: July - Septermber 2007)

This was not a planned cover, but when I saw this photograph I knew we had to use it. It’s a picture which speaks a million words. A mother’s anxiety and happiness, pure jubiliation, the triumph of sweat and tears, hard work and perseverance.

Anil Ambani is a long distance runner, has been for many years. In 2004 when he was participating in the Mumbai Marathon race, his mum, Kokilaben was most worried. “Mother’s will always be mothers!” said Anil , “And my Mom is no exception. Typically, when she discovered I was going to run the Marathon, she said to me with great apprehension, ‘Marathon! Beta, why do you want to do it? What do you want to run so much for? Can’t you just run a little, instead?’ My answer was, ‘No, don’t worry, I can do it.’ And I got on with my preparations for the Bombay International Marathon 2004 seriously. This was just six to eight weeks before the event on February 15.

“My young son, on the other hand, asked excitedly: ‘Daddy, are you going to win?’ Frankly, I had not counted on finishing even among the first 125. ‘No,’ I told him. ‘Why not,’ he demanded, a little upset. I could see his point. At the Cathedral School’s sports recently, he had specifically asked me not to run the parents’ race. ‘What’s the use, you will come first anyway, let some other parent win instead,’ he had said. But in the Marathon, he wanted me to run and win!”

Anil Ambani runs at least 100 km a week. On most mornings, he runs alone before dawn, when the rest of Bombay is still sleeping. He says he doesn’t need an alarm to get up. No wake-up call, either. His body clock goes off at 3.30 or 4 a.m. which is when he gets up and gets out. He runs in a kind of meditative trance - with just his thoughts for company. Some of his brightest business ideas come to him when he is running by himself, he told UpperCrust.

For full article: www.uppercrustindia.com (Archives: January - March 2004)

When I was meeting the bubbly Perizaad Zorabian at Gondola, the restaurant her father started when Perizaad was one year old, she was on a post-pregnancy diet. Zaha, her little baby was four months old. That was in the begining of last year.

At the end of this year, my perky friend is again a mother, of Zayaan a baby boy, now two months old! That’s Perizaad alright, doing things her way.

This was one of our most attractive of covers. It would be, Perizaad is a pretty girl. But then she is a warm and friendly, and a wonderful human being too and her effervescence is more than skin deep. Absolutely down-to-earth, she giggles and laughs and is a happy person at all times.

At the shoot, she was a sport, doing whatever I asked of her, including get out on the busy Pali Hill where the restaurant is situated and sit on a bench in front of Gondola - where she turned out to be a traffic stopper.

As we had taken over the restaurant for our interview and shoot, lunch-time regulars were asked to wait outside until we finished. Such is the popularity of Gondola’s steaks and sizzlers, that a bunch of college kids patiently awaited their favourite fix. Rather delayed and dismayed, they were assuaged by her apologies and some refreshing iced tea on the house. That wasn’t all. After they’d had their hearty meal, when the bill was presented and they started going Dutch, Perizaad, a few tables away, playing hostess to our team, swooped down and snatched it away, leaving them dazed with disbelief. As they protested she grinned, “I made you wait for your lunch, so it’s only fair I treat you to it!”

For full article: www.uppercrustindia.com (Archives: January - March 2008)

He is lean, finely chiselled, muscular and hot, no doubt. But to me, John Abraham is more, much more than just eye candy. He is a sensitive, caring man who I have known since he was a boy and a model. We’ve judged events together and gone celebrating and making speeches on Woman’s International Day!

It was at his apartment at Bandra where he lived with his parents, that I shot him for the cover story. He is a no-airs guy, normal, grounded. Like a Momma’s boy he yelled walking towards the kitchen, “Mom, get some biscuits, I am hungry!” And then he started to peer into pots and pans and proceeded to get his mom into a mock fight. I love the picture alongside. I love the feeling it portrays.

We were all over the tiny apartment, checking where we could shoot. In his bedroom which he shared with his brother, there was a happy mess. I flung the curtains aside, let the golden sun pour in and asked him to take off his shirt. He did and I got my cover!

For full article: www.uppercrustindia.com (Archives: April - June 2004)

People expect Rahul Akerkar and AD Singh to be enemies. Just because the two run successful restaurants which many percieve to be in competition to one other. I don’t think there is any truth in it. And when I decided to an entire issue devoted to Bombay and it’s restaurants and the people who have made it what it is today, I could not think of anyone else except the two of them as my cover boys.

One wet and rainy morning I called them both to the Hanging Gardens on Malabar Hill and with no one around, shot this cover. All I had said to the both of them is: wear something cheery, it’s so dismal these days. I was so glad to see AD in fuscia and Rahul in leaf green! I honestly don’t know how we managed to shoot, but we did. With someone holding an umbrella over me and my camera!

It was a lot of fun. Rahul is completely irreverent and has a mad sense of humour. AD on the other hand is ‘propah’ and even slightly reserved.

But both are gems, culinary and otherwise.

For full article: www.uppercrustindia.com (Archives: July - September 2005)

The accolades we recieved for this issue is why I have selected it as one of the best covers. but that is not to undermine how rugged and regal Muzaffar Ali looks.

It was in Lucknow that this cover was shot, in Muzaffar’s charming residence. Where I was being treated to some delectable Awadhi food and also being introduced to some of his lovely friends. Meera, his wife was also present and in fact it was she who was looking after us, being the perfect hostess.

Muzaffar has this tendency of not smiling for the camera. He gives these deep, brooding kind of looks. Now I like my pictures to look and feel happy, specially when it’s going to be a cover. So I had to give a talking to Muzaffar, saying funny things to get him to smile. I like what I finally got. But when I look at it intently, he looks to me like a Sufi saint.

The coverage of Lucknow which was this quarter’s UpperCrust Destination was in everyone’s opinion, simply fabulous. Good, I am happy, it’s my fathers’ hometown.

For full article: www.uppercrustindia.com (Archives: April - June 2009)

Among my favourite pictures is this one of Shah Rukh Khan. I think it is a rare kind of picture. Look at his eyes, they are speaking...

My colleague and I were with him at Mannat, his bungalow and the interview was on. I wanted to get candid shots. We see posed pictures of film stars all the time and that would not mean anything to me or our readers I thought. So I sat on a sofa opposite them, studying Shah Rukh.

He was quite oblivious, intent on what he was speaking. Whenever I saw what I wanted, I’d gently click. But it was difficult. The room was dark because the heavy curtains were drawn and they were drawn because the sun outside was hot and fierce. Mannat faces the sea and the oblique rays were slanting in.

But for this shot, just when I thought I had it right, I got up and inconspicuously moved the curtain aside by just one inch to get the light to fall on SRK’s face. Awesone, you agree?

Incidently, for the first time SRK allowed his son Aryan to be photographed. This issue was to go on the shelves of Selfridges in London as part of the Bollywood Festival. Such is SRK’s popularity, 10,000 copies just flew off the counter!

For full article: www.uppercrustindia.com (Archives: April - June 2002)