Taking the craft of theatre and stage play to another level, CinePlay founder Subodh Maskara gave up his full time corporate life to focus on his creative passions along with his wife, Nandita Das, who is also an award winning actress in the country.

Maskara is an actor, entrepreneur and also holds a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, USA. From production of television sets to recycling of plastic bottles, Maskara has been involved in various enterprising schemes. In conversation with Indiantelevision.com?s Ritwika Gupta, Maskara reveals his passion for theatre and talks about his latest venture, CinePlay.

Excerpts:

Tell us about your journey as a professional in the industry.

I was in the corporate industry, wherein I ran a business of recycling plastic bottles. My love for theatre developed when I met Nandita. Initially, theatre started off as a hobby. It was lovely performing for a live audience. However, it was when we started getting invitations to perform in different cities that I realized that there was a time constraint and many geographical restrictions to live theatre. Logistically, it wasn?t very easy to put together a performance in a different city or country effortlessly. There are many issues that go into making a live production. So, I thought of an idea. I wanted to take these stories from theatre onto a digital platform and create a new genre, which comprised theatre and cinema.

When did you first realise your love for theatre?

I was seven or eight years old when I used to go watch my uncle perform stage plays. My uncle was a graduate from National School of Drama, so while I was exposed to theatre at a young age, I did not pursue it. To be honest, I am fond of anything with a strong cultural association. I feel any form of art is like an internal growth and that is why I look up to all artistes. Every artiste has a story to tell. I have done only one play, so far. It?s called Between the Lines starring my wife, Nandita and myself.

What is a CinePlay?

A CinePlay extends the influence and reach of theatre by creating a self-sustaining financial model. It is a new genre altogether, a genre that allows stories from theatre to break the constraints of economics, geography, language and accessibility. We archive iconic plays, allowing future generations to experience unforgettable stories and performances.

Who is your inspiration?

Frankly every actor, producer and director in theatre has inspired me. CinePlay is like a tribute to everyone in theatre, production and backstage. This month, we are celebrating our first anniversary and I am glad it?s been a success so far.

Which part of your job do you enjoy the most?

I am an entrepreneur. So, I am excited by new ideas ? the ability to give shape to a concept and to create something radical and to find new ways to solve new challenges. That is what I enjoy the most.

Is it difficult to balance your role as an entrepreneur and a family person?

Not at all! I have had great support from my family. Yes initially, there was a little bit of resistance from my wife because the idea was out of the norm. She was just watching out for me. However, there?s been immense support over time and I am really happy about that. I make sure I wrap up my work on time so I get enough time to exercise, relax and spend with my family.

Theatre or Cinema: What?s your pick?

I am fond of every form of art. In theatre, you have an audience that can range from 100-500. The actor?s projection is much more; the lighting is for stage and for the audience. Theatre is one dimension. I want to archive live theatre. For eg., the play Tumhari Amrita, whose original star cast was Shabana Azmi and Farooq Sheikh is a world class drama but not everyone has seen it. And now because it?s stopped playing in theatres, the new generation will not be able to ever see the original performances either. So my attempt is to film these plays and archive them. We get the talented theatre actors to act for camera and with the usage of angles, light, background score, subtitles and techniques, which are not available in live theatre, we are able to bring these performances to people who are not privileged enough to watch these plays live for various reasons. I want to bring these CinePlays to different cities and countries. A month goes into pre-production and it takes us almost a week to shoot an entire play, followed by another month of post-production.

How important are awards to you?

I don?t quite believe in awards and frankly, it does not make a difference to me. I feel those who seek awards and make it their sole aim, are rather insecure. Sometimes a lot of people who have a lot of awards are actually depressed. To me, awards and appreciation are all an individual interpretation and one should not treat it as a final judgment. Life goes on.

Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

On a professional level, I wish to take CinePlay onto a global platform and not just limited to India. I want to create a healthy exchange of CinePlays worldwide ? be it Chinese, Taiwanese or French plays. As of now, we have 50 shows and we have a tie-up with Inox Cinemas to showcase them. We will have a national launch of CinePlay in June. We have partnered with Jet Airways for in-flight entertainment, so there we are trying many non-traditional ways of reaching out to people. But here I must tell you that CinePlay is neither competing with cinema or theatre. It?s alternate content, which caters to both cinema and theatre lovers in India. As I mentioned, I want people to become aware of this genre.

If at this stage, you had to describe your life in one word, what would it be?

Contented. I take one moment at a time and very happy to have a good equilibrium between work and family. I feel I am too privileged that I am able to make a difference. 

Mumbai: Yepme.com has launched its latest television commercial (TVC) featuring leading players of the West Indies cricket team. The campaign features Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels and Captain Jason Holder sporting the Yepme collection of #freshfashion and sharing their take on how it goes with the famed West Indian flair.

Yepme has sponsored the West Indies team in the ICC World Cup 2015 that is currently underway in Australia. The West Indies cricket team will play sporting the Yepme logo on their jerseys.

Yepme.com founder and COO Sandeep Sharma said, ?West Indies cricket stars like Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy and Andre Russel are known for their effortless style and have a massive fan following in our cricket-crazy nation. We are extremely proud of this association and look at this as an opportunity to spread the message about Yepme being the destination for the latest fashion with cricket lovers across the globe.?

The ICC Cricket World Cup commenced on 14 February. The Indian fans are now looking forward to the much-awaited encounter between India and West Indies next weekend, 6 March 2015 at WACA in Perth.

Treat your loved ones to the something sweet this weekend - heart shaped desserts, flirty drinks and memories that you will cherish together. Snuggle in your couch with a strawberry smoothie, a relatively easy and sneakily healthy drink. And to double the fun, add a couple of hearty brownies to ensure you have the perfect supper for this weekend. 

Recipe for Hearty Brownies & Strawberry Smoothie
brought to you by Cremica

Hearty Brownies

Ingredients

?          150 ml /3/4 cup) water

?          100 gr (1 cup) Cremica chocolate syrup

?          100 gr butter

?          100 gr (1/2 cup) sugar

?          5 ml ( 1/2 tsp ) vinegar

?          30 gr (3 tbsp) cocoa powder

?          160 gr (1 1/2 cup) maida

?          5 gr (1/2 tsp) baking powder

?          100 gr (1 cup) chopped nuts of your choice(optional)

Grease a 6 -7 inch baking pan with butter and dust lightly with flour. Melt the butter in a pan and add the chocolate syrup. Remove from heat and pour in the water-sugar and vinegar. Stear well till sugar is dissolved. Sift all dry ingredients together and stir into the chocolate mix. Pour into the baking pan-sprinkle the nuts on top if desired and bake in preheated oven at 150 c till an inserted skewer comes out clean. Let cool down before removing from molds. Cut heart shape cake of your choice and slice the in half for filling.

Filling

?          200 gr (2 cups) fresh cream well chilled

?          1/2 cup of Cremica Strawberry syrup

?          1/2 tsp gelatine

?          2 tsp water chilled

?          Sugar as per taste

?          Dash of vanilla

Soak the gelatine in the chilled water fo app 10 min till fully blossomed. Meanwhile whip the cream till stiff.

Warm the gelatine on low flame till melted. Remove and add the strawberry syrup. Let cool down till starts setting and fold in the whipped cream spread on the bottom part of the brownie heart and cover. Chill well in the fridge till ready to serve.

Strawberry Smoothie

?          Vanilla Ice Cream 1 Scoop

?          Milk 1 Cup

?          2-3 Tbsp. of Cremica Strawberry Syrup depending on the Glass Size

Place all ingredients in a mixer and blend well. Pour into Glass and garnish with a fresh strawberry if available. If available blend a few Strawberries with the Liquids.

Mumbai:  Following through on the promise of presenting a new genre of cinema adapted from the best in Indian theatre to a larger audience, CinePlay has teamed up with the Matterden Center For Creation (CFC) to celebrate the anniversary of its first release. CinePlays will be regularly exhibited at the latter?s newly-renovated 480 seat theatre in Lower Parel.

Matterden CFC is India?s first international film center and aims to provide an opportunity for Indian audiences to experience alternative content unlike none other.

This association, the CinePlay Festival Act 1, will set the stage for the first theatrical release of CinePlays beginning on Friday 27^th February 2015, with the critically acclaimed CinePlay Between the Lines. It features Nandita Das and her husband and founder of CinePlay, Subodh Maskara, and has had incredibly successful screenings both in India as well as internationally, recently enthralling audiences at Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) in New York and Yale University.

CinePlay?s current catalogue features some of the most exalted theatre productions in India such as Mohan Rakesh?s Adhe Adhure and Mahesh Dattani?s Dance Like A Man, starring some of India?s leading theatre personalities including Lillete Dubey, Mohan Agashe, Vijay Crishna, Ira Dubey, and Suchitra Pillai.

CinePlay Festival?15 Act 1

?The coming together of Matterden and CinePlay is the beginning of a new chapter in this exciting journey of creating a new genre of entertainment,? said CinePlay, CEO and founder, Subodh Maskara.

Actress and co-founder of CinePlay, Nandita Das added, ?When I started writing Between the Lines, I had no idea that it would inspire Subodh to create this unique format of CinePlay. It has been a personal dream to have a theatre dedicated to quality cinema and Matterden sure promises that.?

Founder of Matterden CFC, Pranav Asher, remarked, ?Matterden CFC is a modern day cultural centre, with a focus on path breaking creatives and concepts. CinePlay has set an extremely high creative benchmark for alternative entertainment and it is definitely something we want the audiences to enjoy.? 

Mumbai: Parle Products has launched a new TVC campaign, focusing on ?Mindful Eating and Soulful Living? for their new range of healthy biscuits ? Simply Good, which consists of three products: Simply Good Digestive cookies, Simply Good Cream Cracker, Simply Good Digestive Slimz biscuits.

Catering to the health conscious consumer, the Simply Good range of biscuits focuses on the little joys of eating healthy. The TVC is about simply enjoying what you eat, rather than worrying about whether it?s healthy or not. It?s about how you feel and what you experience while eating that really matters and translates into a good life.

Speaking about the TVC, Parle Products general manager marketing Pravin Kulkarnii said, ?The TVC is all about simplifying life and staying close to nature, which is exactly what the brand represents. With this new ?Simply Good? range, we encourage our valued consumers to live a healthy and fulfilling life.?

Parle Products deputy marketing manager Mayank Shah added, ?We did an extensive research on what our customers want and are proud to present the ?Simply Good? range that is both delicious and healthy. Indian consumers are well aware about their wellbeing and there is an increase in healthy food consumption, which is becoming a part of their lifestyle. With the Simply Good Range, we are offering our consumers a choice of healthy snacks without compromising on the delectable taste.?

Parle?s Simply Good Digestive cookies are available across India in two packs sizes. The 250 gms pack is available at Rs 50, whereas the 100 gms pack is available at Rs 20.

By Ritwika Gupta

We are all mortal until the first kiss and the second glass of wine, said novelist Eduardo Hughes Galeano. Touted as one of the healthiest beverages, the vino, made from fermented grapes, is generally loved by a large portion of people around the world. Indulging in light banter over wine and cheese can be a delicious endeavor. Wine consumption in India has been on a rise over the last few years, with peoples? preference skewing towards the red wine.

?Overall, the wine market in India is on the rise and wine consumption in India is witnessing about 14.5 per cent growth annually. Today, the steep increase in wine drinking habits is due to the many choices of brands and wines available in the market for consumers,? says Myra Vineyards founder and managing director Ajay Shetty.

The Indian wine industry has seen a phenomenal increase, not only in consumption pattern, but also in the number of newer international and domestic wineries and brands that have evolved over the last five to seven years. With disposable income on the rise, Indians have been traveling more than before. This has also led to adopting global cultures and lifestyles; appreciating good wine and its consumption is one of them.

Shetty believes that Indian wines are becoming popular in the overseas markets as well as making an appearance in the global food culture.

?Current developments in the Indian wine industry also gives us a great opportunity to bring the best quality wines to the table and to work around our offerings and products according to the customers? expectations, especially the young wine consumers,? Shetty says.

A Pune based wine enthusiast B Shankaranarayan, who organizes wine festivals and writes restaurant reviews for BBC Good Food India Magazine, shares, ?Indian wines have started winning awards in global wine competitions. That's a good start in terms of quality. India does make large volumes due to the high cost of production.?

With the emergence of boutique wineries, the wine market has matured, and in Maharashtra specifically, annual sales have gone up by 30 per cent.

Shankaranarayan, who conceptualised the first wine tasting festival in Pune in 2007, reveals that the lack of a level playing field for wineries inspired him to launch these festivals in India that have now set a benchmark for wine events in the country.

According to Vallonne Vineyards, CEO, Shailendra Pai, there's a lot more interest in Indian wines because excellent wine is being produced, some of which are on par with quality wines in the global market. There is a great amount of interest in Indian wines internationally and during the Decanter Asia Wine Awards, our wines have won top medalsi.

"The Indian wine industry has grown substantially over the past 5-7 years. People are more aware of wines today and all this is great news for a boutique vineyard such as Vallonne where we have always made very superior quality wines and offered something new to the customer," he shares.

Pai elaborates that he has seen an increasing number of expats, international winemakers, writers and guests coming to taste wines at Vallonne, a boutique winery with an emphasis on French grape varietals.

"Nashik is slowly being recognised as a wine destination.  Even holiday makers from various parts of the world make a trip to nashik for a winery trail," he states.  

Harbouring a differing opinion, Grover Zampa Vineyards chairman Kapil Grover believes that India has a long way to go to make a footprint in the global wine industry.

?The wine market in India is growing at a small pace of 20-25 per cent. We will certainly see more wine being consumed but we still have not reached a good number. Also, 65 per cent of people prefer red wine, while 35 per cent like white wine. Red wine is more popular mainly due to a list of added health advantages,? Grover says.

Grover Vineyards was set up by Kanwal Grover in 1992 and is now being managed by his son, Kapil. The vineyards have expanded from 100 acres to 400 acres under his able leadership.

?What?s been grilled into our heads is the importance of the raw materials, that is: grapes. We spare a lot of care on the vineyards, carefully capturing the essence of grapes through internationally accepted techniques and practices reliably brought to India for making the finest range of wines. We keep the quality high by limiting yields to bring out the complex aromas and delicate flavors from the grapes,? Grover says.

Shedding light on the new flavours for 2015, Shetty mentions that Myra Vineyards is introducing a couple of varietals in 2015. ?Last year, we launched Reserve at the super-premium segment and Two-Headed Bird (THB), at the entry level segment. These two portfolios have received a tremendous response from the consumers and have been doing very well in the market and we aim to build on that and introduce more varietals this year.?

Pai specifies that Vallonne will be launching an unique blend of Shiraz and Merlot this year called viognier. Along with it, a special super premium wine called Anokhee that has been barrel aged for 15 months and then aged in a bottle for 42 months, is also on the pipeline for launch this year. 

Shankaranarayan feels that the 2014 vintages will be making their appearance on the shelves this year. According to him, Sauvignon Blancs and Oaked Viogniers are must try alcobeverages for the season.

?Tennis player Vijay Amritraj launched his own Reserve Wine collection with us recently and this could set the trend of celebrities associating with alcobeverage labels in India,? predicts Grover, who is looking forward to the new sparkling wine collection from his company?s Bengaluru unit this year.

There are several factors that contribute to the quality of the wine?the natural soil, climate conditions, viticulture practices, infrastructure, the vineyards and the wine making process in general. 

Pai deems that the process of winemaking starts from the ensuring that the vineyards are healthy.

?We have viticulturists who tend to the vineyards throughout the year. Our vineyards are planted on south facing slopes as this ensures just the right amount of sunlight for healthy development of vines and grapes. The soil we have is a requirement for good vines where the water does not collect in the soil. The climate in Igatpuri with warm days and cool nights is also suitable for healthy development of the vines and concentration of aromas in the fruit,? he reasons.

Throwing light on how the wine making process differs in his vineyards, Shetty informs that the basic principle they follow is to do the right thing at the right time.

?At Myra we take care of the minutest of details in the entire winemaking process. Utmost hygienic care is taken at each and every step. We harvest grapes at optimum maturity at cool temperatures and transport it in highly hygienic refrigerated containers. Fermentation is carried out with skin maceration at optimum temperature. Malolactic fermentation and further ageing takes place in French oak barrels for a minimum of 12 months before the bottling process where the wine is then bottle aged for a few more months before its release in the market,? Shetty explains.

Shankaranarayan adds that it is imperative to control the generation of alcohol and balance the acidity levels in order to make wines taste better. ?The process is rather simple. Make grape juice, let it ferment and add yeast, let it sit for six months and one should have wine. How drinkable it becomes depends on the skill of the wine maker,? he affirms.

Talking about the level of competition in the local wine industry, Grover informs that the company organizes different kinds of events to cope up with the rivalry. ?To name a few, we have done The Great Grover Stomp, Pune Farmers? Market, Bandra Wine Festival and a couple of other events in Bangalore all of which had over 2000 attendees each,? he says.

Shetty, whose love for wine drove him to venture into the wine industry, believes that wine is all heart and although he?s a new entrant in the wine industry, Myra Vineyards has made a formidable space in the Southern market including Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa.

?As a new wine brand, we have had our share of highs and lows but the driving force has been early market acceptance. Our wine portfolio coupled with the exciting price-points has set new standards within this cluttered market. We entered the industry well-versed with the landscape. Our intention is not to compete but to bring forth a paradigm shift in the wine consumption patterns through engagement, education and segmentation,? he explains.

Shankaranarayan, on the other hand, believes that there is no competition as such because no two wine makers create similar brew. ?Firstly, a true wine lover makes his or her purchase based on the palate and not the label or the price. And secondly, each wine is unique. So where's the competition?? he candidly concludes.