Meghna Malik 38
Complex Character

Confidently striding across the small screen in Colors’ Na Aana Is Des Laado, the tyrannical, ghagra-clad matriarch dominates every frame. Getting under the skin of Ammaji, the literature graduate and National School of Drama alumnus has created a complex persona that is making the audiences react with shock and awe

What prompted you to take on this negative role?
The producers had the courage to sign me on. It is true that Na Aana Is Des Laado’s Ammaji is not like the regular saas of a daily soap. You cannot stamp her completely negative as she is too layered a person. She is brutal but that is because she has been a victim of brutality herself.

What was the biggest challenge in this role?
It is more challenging to play a negative persona. You need to use all your craft to prove your mettle because it is in a daily soap. The script meanders and, as an actor, you have to be convincing to carry off every twist and turn, no matter how illogical it may seem. I had to work hard on the dialect and create a special gait. I put on five kilograms for the role.

The serial has been criticised as being regressive.....
The serials are portraying what research has shown still exists. We are not regressive in our depiction and the way we portray social issues like female foeticide proves that. The themes are still contemporary. It is true that there is a lot of drama but that is for the sake of entertainment.

Are you like Ammaji in any way?
I don’t think like her at all. But I think I have her energy, the power of her voice, the physicality and the confidence of my craft. I do my own stunts whether it is wielding a sword or riding a horse; I have come to be known as the stunt queen of television.

Has Ammaji attained the same stature that characters like Tulsi (Smriti Iraani) and Parvati (Sakshi Tanwar) did?
The character has its own place in television history. It has probably never happened that the antagonist has become the protagonist. People are in awe of her and are fascinated by her vicious nature. For me, as an actor, it has been a beautiful and rewarding journey.

BY SHRADDHA JAHAGIRDAR-SAXENA

Vidya Balan 31
Earthy Temptress

Five years after Parineeta the doe-eyed beauty is back to impacting the big screen and winning awards for R. Balki’s Paa (2009) as the strong-willed single mother of a Progeria-afflicted child and Abhishek Chaubey’s Ishqiya (2010) where she plays a raunchy widow

Very few actresses have a clear-cut position in people’s heads. Vidya Balan embodies the quintessential Indian woman, with a powerful Indian heart – the kind you would want to take home to your mother. She is very real. In fact, she comes with a lot of advantages that other actresses don’t – she embodies the Indian man’s idea of the perfect woman. One who is not shy or coy, who doesn’t need to express herself through her looks, for instance. It’s such a clearly-etched niche, that it makes her a very strong contender for roles that require this look, which is what worked beautifully for Paa. In Ishqiya, she showed a facet to her womanness – a different, rustic sex appeal. Not to forget that she is an incredibly powerful actress – one of the finest actresses the country has ever produced. She will go far if she sticks to her niche, which is exactly what she is doing. I hadn’t worked with her before Paa, but certainly, in the future if I get an idea that she would be right for, I would love to work with her again.

BY R. BALKI
Chairman and chief creative officer of advertising agency, Lowe Lintas, R. Balki is the writer and director of Paa and Cheeni Kum

Rujuta Diwekar 32
Health Guru

The lady responsible for Kareena Kapoor’s hot bod puts her fitness mantra out there in the year’s best-selling book – Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight – which is being translated into Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi

This fitness expert lives by her own mantra. In fact she effortlessly executed a headstand during the Verve shoot! Every morning from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. she is either into a yoga routine or a combination of weight training and cardio exercises. “If I did not live the life that I talk about, people would see through me,” she says. “As a nutritionist, if I did not look fit, I could not expect anything different from my clients.” She comes from a family that practises living a healthy life. “My Mom did yoga even when she was pregnant with me.”

The nutritionist’s clients are spread all over the world. She monitors the ones in Mumbai personally while others in Australia, Tanzania, Africa and UK keep up with her programme online. She visits the US every year to maintain her educational qualifications and to keep “updated on what is happening in research labs and how to bridge the gap in the real world”. Her clients soon turn to friends and the relationship becomes a lifelong one like with Bollywood star, Kareena Kapoor. “Actors like Kareena, with every role, need to mould their mindset and their body. I advise her on a nutrition programme that helps her keep up with her lifestyle and keeps her looking healthy and fit.”

She is now working on her second book, on women and weight loss. “Every stage that a woman goes through, the requirements change nutritionally. As time passes, fitness goes way down the list of priorities. We change the way we treat ourselves. The book aims to help all women out of this mindset,” she says, adding that she spent the month of May trekking in the Himalayas with a group of first-time trekkers who have been following a six-week eating and fitness schedule with her, prior to this exercise. “I want people to go beyond weight loss,” she maintains.

BY SHIRIN MEHTA

Madhabi Puri Buch 44
Financial Catalyst

Anointed the chief of ICICI Securities last year, she has begun steering the organisation through a market that is more often than not a whirligig. She created a buzz at the end of the year by bringing boardroom wizards onto the catwalk in a fantastic fusion of business, fashion and charity

Nitin Paranjpe, CEO and MD, Hindustan Unilever, walked the ramp last year for the much-talked about Toofles Fashion Show, organised by Madhabi Puri Buch, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI, for charity. On her strengths as a leader, he states, “It is rare to find someone who displays the energy and the drive that Madhabi does. This is reflected in everything that she undertakes. Take, for example, the Toofles Fashion Show. She not only conceived of the idea – a first-of-its kind event bringing together CEOs – but executed it brilliantly. What makes her special as a leader is her ability to combine superb execution skills with the capacity to envision and paint a big picture. She sets very high standards for herself and expects no less from others.”

Buch believes her greatest strength in her role at ICICI Securities is “I always ask why and why not. As a new leader, I had the luxury of bringing about a lot of change. I am a person in a hurry. I like to do many things. I am a catalyst and I think we have had a great year. New initiatives incubated in the organisation have created a lot of buzz throughout the system.”

On coping with the pressure that a volatile market generates, she says, “There is always a silver lining to the stress. It brings out the best in me and the team. When none of the old rules work, you get off the beaten path and set new rules with a lot of energy and passion. Our recommendation is ‘Don’t think short term, but more long term.’”

She is also passionate about her ‘Saturday’ baby, Toofles, the charity organisation that has slowly grown to be her weekend baby. And, as she flashbacks to a previous photo-op with the ICICI women heads – she remarks smilingly, “I don’t think our work is different or dependent on gender. If men can discuss football and cricket at work, we are unapologetic about discussing saris, jewellery and maids! We are a lot freer and not typecast at all.”

BY SHRADDHA JAHAGIRDAR-SAXENA

Rekha Bhardwaj 46
Dulcet Crooner

Her voice set the public imagination alight in every corner of India with the scintillating Genda Phool from Delhi-6. Critics and fans, who have long loved her ginger-honey voice, rejoice that awards and glory have come her way without the demanding of artistic compromise

“I just did my riyaaz,” she says, “and everything around me happened.” Everything covers an exceptionally busy year for her, from being the executive producer of Kaminey, one of 2009’s most popular films, to the concerts she headlined late last year in a festival to celebrate a newspaper launch. And then there was the little matter of the year’s musical phenomenon, an earthy, relatively small folk song on A R Rahman’s soundtrack for Delhi-6. Genda Phool soared, independent of the film’s reception, and with it the cachet of one of India’s most exciting musical artistes, long loved by Sufi music aficionados, discerning movie fans and radio audiences who just couldn’t get enough of 2007’s Namak (from husband Vishal’s Omkara). Her repertoire covers a broad range – hear the classical/bluesy numbers in Abhishek Chaubey’s Ishqiya, from earlier this year, and the infectiously high-spirited cameo on Kaminey’s Raat Ke Dhai Baje – which is homage to her expressiveness. The singer herself seeks the sublime through Sufism, “a way of life, of simplicity, compassion, celebration – and acceptance”. The glimpses of a collective energy, “a power above us,” are channelled through concerts and performances.

BY SUPRIYA NAIR

Freida Pinto 25
Global Sweetheart

From setting Lakmé Fashion Week on fire with a brief appearance to featuring prominently in rumours about Bond stardom, and working with Woody Allen and Julian Schnabel, the model from Malad has made it clear that she isn’t going anywhere – anywhere without a red carpet, that is

Her sudden discovery and stunning rise to global fame were almost too fortuitous to believe. Even as the chatter over her Marchesa gowns and Chanel couture refused to die down, the young actress has worked hard over the last year to establish herself in serious global cinema, and she’s certainly succeeded. The legendary Woody Allen’s You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger is already edging towards release, but her Julian Schnabel project, Miral, is perhaps even more eagerly awaited on the festival circuit. That’s not all she has up her sleeve, either: recent news has credited her with a role in Tarsem Singh’s upcoming film. She’s refrained from making any public overtures to Bollywood so far, but if there were any doubts about this Mumbaikar’s popularity with the home crowd, they were certainly dispelled when she attended the Christian Kane show at Lakmé Fashion Week in the city earlier this year – the media madness said it all. With all this and possibly more, who needs Bond, anyway?

Indra Nooyi 54
Strategic Thinker

Named number one by Fortune magazine in its annual ranking of the Most Powerful Women in business for the fourth time in 2009, the chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo Incorporated was also named 2009 CEO of the Year by the Global Supply Chain Leaders Group

I first met Indra Nooyi around three years ago when she had come to India for a press conference at a time Pepsi was recovering from the pesticide controversy. My first impression of her was ‘My God, she is tall!’ When you see her pictures or watch her on the small screen, you do not get a sense of her physicality. She literally stands tall. When she starts speaking, it is very clear, why she is where she is. She is direct, candid, measured and clear about where she sees PepsiCo in the future.

It has been an interesting innings for Nooyi at PepsiCo. She joined as senior vice president (strategic planning) in ’94, took over as CFO seven years later and then became CEO in 2006. In the 16 years that she has been with the company, Nooyi has spearheaded its strategic move from ‘fun for you’ to more health-conscious products that are ‘good for you’.

This ties in with Pepsi’s motto – performance with purpose – and is now evident in its product portfolio. Nooyi hopes to push revenues from Pepsi’s ‘healthier’ products from the current $10 billion to about $30 billion over the next 10 years.

She has always remained ahead of the curve, whether it was the acquisition of Tropicana in ’98 or the merger with Quaker Oats in 2001. She realised fairly early in her stint at PepsiCo, that health would be a key driver for consumers and Pepsi would need to act swiftly to remain relevant.

Charting a new course for a company the size of PepsiCo, could not have been easy. She must have had to face scepticism about changing the company’s core but Nooyi has not shied away from rewriting the rules of the traditional cola game.

Nooyi has often said she doesn’t care about power lists and seeing her in action, one would tend to believe that. She says success ‘isn’t money, prestige, or power because net worth can never define self worth. True success is being happy with yourself. And that comes from devoting your time, your life, to doing what you love the most.’

BY SHEREEN BHAN
Indian journalist and news anchor, Shereen Bhan is Executive Editor and Delhi Bureau Chief, CNBC-TV18.

Jhumpa Lahiri 43
Teller of Tales

Her reputation is now unassailable as a literary heir to her favourite Chekhov, and the succession looks to continue: successful short-story writers from the subcontinent are now considered to achieve the standards of ‘a new Lahiri.’ And the award-winning novelist is currently President Obama’s appointee to the Arts and Humanities Committee of the US government

President Obama’s 2010 appointee to the Arts and Humanities Committee of the US government was also the first Asian to win a Pulitzer Prize, when she won it in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies. She would in effect be able to ably represent the Arts and Humanities committee as she has to date, been known for writing moving literature about the Indian diasporic community. Think stories like The Namesake, which inspired film-maker Mira Nair enough to turn the book into cinema that gained world-wide critical appreciation. She remains one of the few international writers whose backlist has already entered the realm of classic literature, while her forthcoming fiction is sure to storm up bestseller lists. Nilanjana Sudeshna or Jhumpa, as she is popularly known, lives in New York with her journalist husband and two children.

Meera Shankar 60
Dapper Ambassador

Powerful Washington lobbyists hailed her entry into the arena last year. ‘The Ambassador,’ they said, ‘is an outstanding choice…her selection bodes well for continuing the upward trajectory of US-India relations.’ And one year later, India’s second woman ambassador to the US is reputed for her formidable intellect and humour

One of India’s few female representatives in the highly visible upper echelons of international diplomacy, she occupies an office whose responsibilities have rarely been under a spotlight of this intensity. In the midst of a long-running media debate about India’s relationship with the Obama administration, the ambassador has engaged the relationship at a far more practical level of action. It’s been a busy year: from representing the Indian interest in the rapidly-played chessboard of the ‘Af-Pak’ theatre, to negotiating for access to terror suspect David Headley. And lest we forget, she played her part to perfection in the grand costume drama that was the Prime Minister’s state visit to the White House in late 2009, too. Her Excellency is doing her bit to charm Uncle Sam, alright.

1 2 3 4 5

Subscribe to Verve Magazine or buy the Verve issue on stands now!