Indian fashion with a modern twist in Family Man Season 2

Priyamani as Suchitra (Suchi) Iyer

In both seasons of Family Man, Priyamani (playing Suchitra) has stayed close to the style that would best be referred to as Indian chic.

In the second season, her wardrobe ranges from long kurtas to chic tops, and each look has an unmistakeable Indian element. It could be the silhouette (long buttoned dress resembling a flowy kurta) or the makeup (thin eye liner on the upper and lower lids).

Priyamani in Family Man S2
Photo courtesy: Amazon Prime Video

Despite the popularity of the Indian chic style on actors across the board (Deepika Padukone in Piku and Kangana Ranaut in Tanu Weds Manu Returns), Priyamani’s look is unique in its own way. For starters, the colour palette is not typically Indian. She goes for subtle colours instead of rani pink or crimson red. Her eyeliner is visible yet thin, not thick and bold.

Priyamani in Family Man S2
Photo courtesy: Amazon Prime Video

How do you personalise the Indian chic look?

Get Priyamani’s look

Dress from Fab India

Fab India teal cotton dress

Kurta from Libas

Green printed jurta from Libas

Lakme Eyeconic Kajal available on Amazon

Lakme kajal

Seema Biswas as Prime Minister Basu

As the Indian prime minister, Seema Biswas plays a no-nonsense, authoritative role. She’s a woman in a world of men. Men are always telling her what to do, advising her on everything from external affairs to international defence. But with a single-minded focus and mincing no words, she tells them to do their job and she will focus on hers.

As a representative of India on the global platform and the most powerful woman in the room (and in the country), Seema Biswas has dressed modestly, keeping in mind Indian sensibilities.

This means no pant suits or skirts, or even salwar kameez or churidars. She sticks to the sari with a sharp silhouette, stiff fabrics, ethnic motifs and elbow-length blouses that cover up most of the back and the upper arm. Loose, open hair is a huge no-no in formal Indian settings, no matter how well styled, so Biswas’s hair is tightly tied back in a bun.

Seema Biswas in Family Man S2
Photo courtesy: Amazon Prime Video

And since Indians generally don’t trust “fancy” women with makeup or glamour, Seema Biswas doesn’t wear any visible makeup.

But there’s one aspect of her wardrobe where PM Basu experiments. No, it’s not a sari with her name printed all over it, but a unique blouse cum jacket.

What’s that, you ask?

If you look closely at Seema Biswas, she is wearing a standard-styled sari blouse. It fits perfectly well on the arm and the sleeves end in a simple border. Her pallu is perfectly draped on her left shoulder over the blouse. But on the right side, the blouse fits OVER the sari, like a jacket. And if you will take a close look at the back, it’s not a regular sari blouse. It’s longer and covers the pallu at the back too.

Say hello to the sari blouse-jacket!

Now sari jackets are not new, they’ve been spotted on and off the ramp since years. But Seema Biswas’s blouse is quite a new concept.

I’m a little surprised with this design choice, but it was nonetheless refreshing to watch something new on screen!

Get Seema Biswas’s look

Handweave Maheshwari sari from Okhai

Maheshwari sari Okhai

Sari blouse from Fab Dadu, available on Myntra

Maroon saree blouse

Nude lipstick from Faces Canada, available on Nykaa

Nude lipstick from Faces Canada

Mealthy MultiPot Review

I’m certain I’m not the only one who’s had a tough time with household chores since the lockdown began in March. Despite the tremendous support from the husband, my very active infant leaves me with not enough time or energy for tasks like cooking, cleaning and simply managing my life.

And so, I was on the hunt for appliances to make my life easier, now and in the long run. (Has anyone checked if dishwasher and vacuum cleaner sales spiked during or after the lockdown?). I especially wanted something that would make cooking easier, given the amount of time it consumes every day and the sweltering heat.

Some friends who have lived abroad had mentioned the Mealthy pot a couple months ago, just before the lockdown began, so as soon as I heard Mumbai was allowing delivery of “non-essentials”, I quickly logged on to their website, explored it features, and I was SOLD. A few clicks later, and Amazon confirmed that my 6 litres Mealthy MultiPot was on its way.

There was much excitement when it arrived, therefore sadly no unboxing video. But now that I’ve been using this appliance every day since it arrived, it’s time to post my Mealthy MultiPot review.

Mealthy MultiPot with silicon mitts
The Mealthy MultiPot comes with silicon mitts like these red ones.

What the Mealthy MultiPot does

Dubbed the “9-in-1 Programmable Smart Electric Pressure Cooker”, think of the Mealthy as a pressure cooker on genius pills. Basically, you put your ingredients in it (vegetables,  grains, meat, seasonings), add sufficient liquid (such as water or stock), select a cooking programme with a specific time, and voila! Your dish is ready.

What you can cook

I’ve tried regular Indian dishes in my Mealthy MultiPot so far, such as:

  • Brown rice
  • Khichdi
  • Several types of dal
  • Sambhar
  • Dhansak
  • Boiled eggs
  • Dry subzis such as capsicum and aloo gobi

And they have all turned out well. The final dish is the same result as it would be after cooking in a kadhai, wok or a pot or standard pressure cooker on my stovetop burner.

You can also prepare oats, curries and cakes, steam vegetables, dhokla or idlis, and stir fry dishes. Lots of food ideas are out there. Some of the standard programmes include eggs (for soft or hard boiled), multigrain (for brown rice, oats, quinoa and the like), poultry (for chicken), and slow cooker (for those ultra special dishes).

My Mealthy MultiPot already has its first battle scars!

Some cool features of the Mealthy MultiPot

Cooking timer: You decide how long to cook each dish, depending on your preferences. So if you like your rice a tad al dente, you can cook for a shorter duration. So each dish is completely customised to your taste.

Sealed lid: The Mealthy lid won’t open while there’s still pressure inside, which makes the pot a very safe appliance to have in your kitchen.   

Cooking indicator: An LCD screen tells you what stage of cooking is going on (pre-heating, cooking, or complete), so you’re not confused if you lose track of time writing your blog post (ahem).

Keep warm: Cooking done? The Mealthy will switch to Keep Warm mode so the food doesn’t get cold, and you don’t need to reheat.  

Delayed start: For me, the most exciting feature is the delay start button, which lets you set the timer for the cooking start time. So you can set the cooker for, say, six hours from now, fill in the cooker settings, add your ingredients, seal the pot, and then let the magic happen on its own, while you are away. Which means, that you can technically wake up to a cooked breakfast or come home to a ready dinner.

What I’m liking about the Mealthy MultiPot

The Mealthy’s features are easy to use and fairly intuitive once you get the hang of the appliance (it doesn’t take that long, really).

I love that I can set a cooking timer and forget about it. The other day I was in a rush to run errands, so I did a quick tempering (tadka), added soaked chana dal and sufficient water, sealed the pot, set the timer, and rushed out. When I came home, the dal was ready!

Making standard Indian subzis or dals is easy peasy. You need just two modes: sauté (for the seasoning/ tadka) and pressure cooking (for cooking). Nothing complicated!  

The MultiPot comes with a booklet of Indian recipes that you can try. I’ve been trying out a few recipes to see how they work with respect to timings and settings, so next time around I can adjust the timings and water proportion to get the texture I like.

What you need to know before you buy

Of course like any other appliance, the Mealthy has its limitations. For instance, I wouldn’t recommend deep frying in this pot. Nor can you prepare “instant” things, like noodles etc.

This appliance also has a bit of a learning curve as you learn to adapt recipes to suit your own favourites. You’ll need to do some experimentation and read up recipes on the Mealthy website or app to figure out how to adapt your recipe to Mealthy settings and proportions.

Having said that, once you’ve got the hang of it, there’s no looking back!

Verdict

Should you buy the Mealthy MultiPot? A resounding yes.

Where to buy

The Mealthy MultiPot is available on their official India website as well as on Amazon India.

Price

The six litres Melathy MultiPot is priced at Rs 9,990, while the three litres version is for Rs 7,750 (on the official Mealthy India website).

Chef is a sweet cinematic treat

I went to watch Chef this weekend with the hubby, and we both loved it! While the hubby felt hungry merely looking at the food in the movie (despite our pre-movie meal), I stared at the screen admiring Chef Carl Casper’s expertise and his untiring cooking sessions.

chef-2

Right from the movie’s opening shots, when Jon Favreau (as Chef Carl Casper) expertly crushes a garlic with a bare fist, to the closing scene in which all’s-well-that-ends-well, Chef is a delightful watch. If you’re a foodie / food lover / food blogger / amateur cook / newbie cook or similar, you will  enjoy Chef. And even more if you’re none of the above. Here’s why:

You feel the passion: Right through the movie, I could feel the chef’s innate passion for food. It wasn’t forced, but seemed to be was part of his life that came through really well. For instance, when Carl made a sandwich for his son, I gawked. The bread had to be the perfect golden brown, and the cheese had to be melted just so- Carl made sure it was the perfect cheese sandwich.

There’s real food: The dishes in Chef aren’t all gourmet or dishes with unpronounceable names. Cuban sandwiches (aka medianoches) are a star in the movie, so are beignets (had never heard of them before!) and yuca fries (hadn’t heard of them either!). They are snacks popular on the West Coast and New Orleans (as I learnt from the movie).

Twitter plays a cameo!: The movie may seem to be an extended advertisement for Twitter, but I’m not complaining! There’s also Vine, and a viral video that make Chef Carl Casper a famous (infamous?) man. And to add to this social media mix, there’s a food blogger too.

It’s got a dash of humour: There were some genuinely funny cooking jokes which all would enjoy. Like the joke after the boys sprinkle cornstarch in their underpants to beat the heat. (Yeah, really! :-P)

A pinch of spice: There are ups and downs, fights and drama, jokes and laughs. And to top it all, there are a few surprise elements. Like the sudden appearance of a comedian (no spoilers here).

Great food styling: I’m vegetarian, so I may have wrinkled my nose when I saw them slicing up a pig or a piece of barbecued steak. But the food looked heavenly, irrespective of the meat content. The way these bread is crisped or the castor sugar is sprinkled was mouth-watering. And it made me appreciate my own cooking!

Simplicity: A tasty home-made dish is usually about simple flavours and fuss-free cooking. The movie Chef has the right dose of simplicity– in the story, the characters, and production values.

You could be Chef: Not really, but Chef could be anybody’s story- a frustrated professional, a stifled artist, a harrowed father, an employee looking for a career change, someone going through a middle age crisis, or someone trying to chase their passion. At some levels, almost all of us will identify with Carl Casper. So sit back, take a bucket of carb and sugar-laden popcorn (as Chef Carl would say), and enjoy!

Lakme Fashion Week: Jabong show today, featuring Dorothy Perkins

Lakme Fashion Week: Jabong show today,  featuring Dorothy Perkins

I missed the first day of Lakme Fashion Week yesterday but I’m on my way to the shows now, and I’m excited about today!

Jabong is at Lakme Fashion Week as a sponsor for the first time,  and they’re putting up a show with various fashion brands available on their website and launching Dorothy Perkins as well. I got a sneak peek of the Dorothy Perkins new collection, to be available exclusively on Jabong.com. Here’s a look:

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Ace stylist Aki Narula picked out his favourite pieces and explained how he’s styling them for the fashion show. For instance, the metallic finish dresses are perfect for a laidback summer soiree, so he would be accessorising them with flat slippers.

A bit more about Dorothy Perkins

Dorothy Perkins is a British high street brand, though their collection is generally more “mature” than other brands like Topshop. In India, yhe brand will retail exclusively on Jabong, launching with their Spring Summer collection later this week. The best part? Everything in the Jabong collection will be Rs 3000 or less!

Can’t wait to buy, and can’t wait for the show.

PS- You can catch the show online here and shop the looks as well. Have fun!

Cotton Cottage: almost as good as Fab India?

[tweetmeme source=”spkngchic” only_single=false]
I came across a little store Cotton Cottage tucked in among a row of shops at Kala Ghoda, Mumbai. At first glance, it seemed like any other store, but a second look made me go inside. And guess what? I wasn’t disappointed at all, even as much to tell my friend that I was glad I didn’t buy anything from the Fab India store down the road.

As the name suggests, the store has a range of cotton kurta, kurtis, churidars and dupattas. That sounds awfully similar to what Fab India stocks, and it really is. But what makes the difference is the quaint experience I had at CC. A visit to Fab India a couple of hours ago had felt like déjà vu, I’d seen this kurta and that print before. And the store’s floor plan and stacking of garments had left me confused as well.

Cotton Cottage, on the other hand, had clothes with the familiar Indian cotton feel, but with a fresh look. Their prints were mostly not-seen-before, there was staff at hand to help, and the kurtas et al were neatly piled up. What I liked the most were the colours—there were bright blues, greens and yellows!  I tried on a couple of kurtas, but finally opted for a brown kurti with a gold block print on it.

While I don’t see Cotton Cottage sweeping away Fab India yet, their stores (they’re around the country) are worth a visit or more.

So when are we heading to Cotton Cottage, girls?

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Best of LFW: Part 2

Tarun Tahiliani

Summer 2009’s collections heralded the beginning of Grecian and draped dresses on the international ramp. Tarun Tahiliani took this trend forward with his LFW collection. But while the international designers chose pristine white and fiery reds, Tahiliani opted for black and gold, wine and champagne. Despite the similarities, he Indianised his clothes with his magical touch. Once again, Tahiliani proved why he’s called the master of drapes in the Indian fashion scene. Throughout the show, the designer’s partiality toward gold and earth colours was clearly visible, right from the copper lace sari to his shimmery togas.

Black and gold sari with low-cut blouse

Even with the drapes, the designer sought to complement the hourglass figure. He created faux waistlines with cummerbunds and belts, and buckles and brooches on gathers. And it weren’t just the dresses that were glamourous. Tahiliani’s jackets and sequinned pants oozed evening glamour for those who wanted to keep it casual for a Saturday night in the city.

His collection may come as good news to well-endowed women, as he highlighted the sari blouses of the season — decollete and pave necklines. And just when we thought we had kissed Yash Chopra’s shaded saris goodbye, Tahiliani brought them back, though sans the chiffon. Colour graduation was spotted everywhere — on tunics, kameezes, sherwani coats and saris.

Tahiliani’s showstopper saris were a pleasant surprise — made of lace, they stood out from the rest of the collection. Indrani Dasgupta’s six-yard was encrusted with Swarowski crystallized rubies, pearls and diamonds even as the other three looked extremely wearable, subtle and sophisticated. He paired the lace saris with sequined corsets and bustiers. And that was not all — lace earlier appeared as a thick dupatta and ghagra border and sleeves.

Vipasha Agarwal in a lemon and gold lace sari

How to wear it: It’s always the right time to experiment with your sari draping. If not the adventurous kind, then opt for saris in cream, beige or peach lace with daring blouses. Or the simplest of all — get ‘shaded’!

Weekend Views: Practical Fashion

Practical Fashion
The few times I’ve seen Latika Khaneja of Collage Sports Management on TV, I’ve noticed her articulateness, her straightforwardness and her commanding yet feminine voice. What I haven’t noticed much are her clothes.

Which is why an interview on her style in this weekend’s Lounge took me by surprise. This smart business woman spoke candidly about the practical side of fashion for working women. And Ms Khaneja definitely doesn’t mince words- she says no to pencil skirts, believes flat shoes at office are perfectly acceptable and has stopped shopping at “children stores”.

Her pragmatic tips make complete sense for those of us who have to run to catch a train, or have to get into the bus with a quick jump.

Next time I’m off for a client meeting, I’ll perhaps give my three-inch black pumps a break and opt for practical comfort instead.

PS- Thanks, Ms Khaneja!