Pick your favourites

We get celebrities to recommend their favourite films, TV shows, live performances and food for you, our readers. So start reading and plan your weekend picks!

Telly tattle

Amyra Dastur, actress

Favourite TV show: How To get Away With Murder

I love TV shows. I finished watching Game of Thrones, Narcos, Breaking Bad... you name it and I have seen it. I’m currently watching How To get Away With Murder and it is mind blowing. After Breaking Bad, I have finally found a show that is genuinely gripping, you can relate to the dialogues and the way people behave in the show. It’s like if I were in this particular situation, I would have done the same thing — that is how realistic it is. There is a twist in every episode and at the end of each episode you can’t wait for the next one. When a show can do that to you it’s worth watching. I watch these shows when I’m flying because I have a major fear of flying and I save the best episodes for my flights.

Tune in Aman Trikha, singer Favourite music album: A Night At The Opera

My favourite album is A Night At The Opera by the band Queen. I first heard them six years ago and they are still a part of my playlist. Freddie Mercury — the lead vocalist of the band is one of my favourite singers from the West. I still recommend their songs to everyone who hasn’t heard them. Bohemian Rhapsody is one of my favourites from the album. Their music is very diverse and expressive and each of band member is a master in his art. There are bands where there is only one songwriter but here each of the members wrote songs and across genres, be it jazz, blues or ballads.

Play time Sunil Shanbag, filmmaker Favourite play: Kaumudi

I would like to recommend Kaumudi directed by Abhishek Majumdar. It’s an interesting and engaging story. Set in a traditional theatre company, the story traces the life of the protagonist who is an actor and is slowly getting crippled by blindness and has to hand over the role to someone else. Using this as the background, the director has interpreted the Mahabharata. The performances are engaging and provocative.

Book mark Amitabha Bagchi, author Favourite book: Zindaginama

Krishna Sobti’s Zindaginama is one of the greatest, most expansive novels written on Indian life. A panoramic view of rural Punjab in the beginning of the 20th century, the novel moves episodically, eventually seeming to encompass the entire milieu it presents. Circling around a money-lending family of Khatris who are the centre of the village’s life, the book moves in ever expanding circles taking in the diverse communities —Muslim peasants, Sikhs with connections to the Army, ‘criminal’ tribes — that co-exist creating and re-creating networks of relationships that evolve as history moves forward.

The music of village life, the piety, the respect between religious groups are all captured with an amazing lightness of touch. Literature arises naturally from life, Zindaginama proves this otherwise embattled proposition.

Zindaginama is, in one sense, the ultimate partition novel although partition is not mentioned even once — it ends leaving behind a tremendous ache for a world that was irretrievably fractured by Partition. Sobti’s piece de resistance, Zindaginama establishes her as one of the greatest writers of the our times.

Food talk Rakhee Vaswani, chef Favourite dish: Sticky BBQ Chicken

Sticky BBQ Chicken wings are fried but I love the flavour and ease of cooking them on the grill. The key is to cook them over a moderate flame so that the fat renders out and the skin gets nice and crispy. You can serve them plain — they are really delicious as is — but the seasoned BBQ sauce takes them over the top. It’s mild enough for anyone to dig into. I could totally polish off a pair of wings in about ten minutes! It’s one of the ideal cheat meals at a bar I’d always want to dwell on. The luscious BBQ sauce doesn’t only gives a sweet and spicy collision on my tongue but also makes it one of my top favourite appetisers of all times. The fact that they get gooey and sticky goes really well with some homemade mac and cheese, BBQ baked beans or even some herbed creamy mashed potatoes and automatically becomes a hit with the kids. It’s the perfect party snack as well as the perfect dish to pamper your taste buds with!

Reel watch Anubhav Sinha, director Favourite film: Syriana (2005)

To know what’s going on in the world right now, people should watch a film called Syriana directed by Stephen Gaghan. They will understand what’s going on in Syria, Beirut and France. I first saw it 10 years ago when it released, it’s a reasonably old film. It was a very talked about film and has George Clooney in it but it is not a typical George Clooney film. It’s a film about world politics, oil etc. I watch it every three months because I love it. There are two films that I watch every three months, Syriana and Amadeus (1984).