Latest news with #Vimal
Indian Express
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
40 years after she lost parents and brother to road accident, this doctor's film on her father is reviving a legendary Marathi actor's legacy
It was just another day at her medical college in Miraj where 20-year-old Savita Sarnaik sat having lunch with her friends when the phone call came–her father Arun Gopalrao Sarnaik, a renowned Marathi film actor, had met with a car accident and she was required to come back home to Kolhapur immediately. Savita rushed there to find a mammoth crowd in front of the hospital and discovered that not only had her father succumbed to his injuries, but the other two occupants of the car–her mother and brother–had also died. In that one instant Savita had lost her entire family. 'But I did not cry–not a tear. People thought I was in shock and tried to make me cry–but I didn't. That's how my mother had brought me up–to be brave and responsible at all times–and my thoughts shifted to my masi (aunt) who stayed with us–that now she is my responsibility,' recollects the 61-year-old paediatrician. But finally, the eyes did well up. Not just hers, but many others who gathered at the Govindrao Tembe Rangmandir in Kolhapur last month on June 22. It was here at a function presided over by Shahu Maharaj that Savita, now Dr Savita Naiknavare, unveiled a 75-minute documentary on her father exactly 41 years after his death on June 21, 1984, as a heartfelt tribute to his extraordinary life as a person and an actor. The documentary, Pappa Sanga Kunache… (Papa, tell whose…), has been the culmination of a dream long nurtured by the girl who grew up overnight from a carefree tomboy in Kolhapur to a responsible woman after the tragic accident that took away her family. 'My father was just 46 and my older brother, who was studying engineering, 22. What helped me cope was the independence my mother had instilled in me since childhood,' says Savita, remembering the quiet and dignified woman of remarkable intellect and immense beauty. A voracious reader, an athlete who played badminton with finesse, and a connoisseur of English films, her mother Vimal encouraged Savita to be on the grounds playing sports rather than priming in front of mirrors and carry herself with confidence and courage. 'Look straight into their eyes, don't be afraid of anyone,' Vimal would say to her. Savita was given a month off by the dean of her medical college to get over the trauma. 'Every week he would send busloads of students to my house to offer support and solace. I returned to my college after a month and the strenuous medicine studies consumed all else,' she says. Soon after graduating, in 1991 Savita married Ranjit Naiknavare, hailing from a well-established builder family of Pune. But life had not yet done with challenges for Savita. The couple faced infertility issues and what began was a deeply personal struggle that tested Savita's strength once again. A lengthy treatment that involved around 10 IVF cycles in Mumbai and then England strained her but finally resulted in her bearing a daughter and a son. 'That was a tough time of my life. Everything else was put on the back burner. I couldn't even start my hospital as planned,' she recollects. Around 2020, she decided to embark on a mission to preserve and revive the memory of her father–a luminary in the world of Marathi theatre and films. Born into a wealthy family, he was a man of great charisma and talent who carved his own path as a singer and actor, rising to fame through the Shivraj Natak Mandali, a theatre company patronised by the Kolhapur royal family. His journey began in the 1920s, when he was spotted for his singing and acting prowess, quickly becoming a celebrated figure in sangeet natak, a form of musical drama. To Savita, he was not just a star but a father who called her his 'lucky charm', believing his career flourished after her birth. 'He was called Maharashtra kokil (nightingale) and had acted in 32 plays and 108 movies in his life span of 46 years. In 1919, with the help of the Maharaj of Indore, he created his own company, Yashwant Sangeet Mandali, which became hugely popular and was one of the four important mandalis of the time along with those of Bal Gandharva and Deenanath Mangeshkar,' she says. She began researching for a book about his life, delving into film archives and collecting stories from those who knew him. Her efforts were nearly derailed when a computer failure wiped out her files and her efforts of a year and a half. Undeterred, she shifted her focus to a documentary, collaborating with director Santosh Pathare, who had been highly recommended to her. Determined to tell her father's story authentically, Savita insisted on a non-scripted approach, conducting interviews herself, travelling all over Maharashtra and guiding the narrative to capture his essence as an actor, singer, and generous soul. The documentary, in Marathi with English subtitles, introduces her father's legacy to a new generation, highlighting his humility; generosity; and mastery of the tabla, sitar, harmonium, and dholki; and his ability to connect instantly with audiences. Savita's family, especially her husband Ranjit Naiknavare, rallied around providing critical support and feedback to ensure the initiative reflected their shared vision. Incidentally, along the way, Savita's also found her real calling in life. At an event in Kolhapur, where she was invited as a chief guest, she reconnected with some of his friends. This inspired her to establish Sneh Dham, an initiative for senior citizens. Starting in a small bungalow on Apte road in Pune, it grew through word of mouth, eventually expanding to three locations now. Savita poured her heart into creating a space where retirees could find a community offering activities and support, even giving up her medical practice of 22 years so that she could personally nurture the initiative. Reflecting on her journey, Savita feels the two profound challenges–of losing her parents and not being able to conceive–shaped her understanding of life's impermanence. 'Everything is destructible,' she says as she continues to work on her book, now at 170 pages, and prepares for the Pune premiere of the documentary–on August 2, with Sharad Pawar as chief guest and in the presence of actors Mohan Agashe, Nana Patekar, and Jabbar Patel–all of whom held her father in great esteem. 'At the end of the day, you need to do something that makes you happy and benefits society,' she smiles.
The Hindu
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Artist-filmmaker Vimal Chandran talks about ‘Ray', Sushin Shyam's debut indie track
Multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker Vimal Chandran's perpetual muse is the picturesque Pattambi town in Palakkad. He describes poorams (temple festivals) as cultural comic cons filled with colourful elements that stoke his curiosity to this day. His mildly cold, sepia-tinted frames set in the rural setting feature what he calls a retro-futuristic spaceship, unblemished by any Hollywood influence. His sightings of poothams (a ritualistic dance) and other ritualistic figures bleed onto his interpretations of the extra-terrestrials, as recently witnessed in the music video Vimal directed of Sushin Shyam's 'Ray'. It is Sushin's first independent solo and has garnered over one million views on YouTube. 'Sushin made this song around 12 years ago, and I happened to hear it last year at Ajay's (cinematographer Ajay Menon) house. Sushin was looking for ideas to visualise an English song about finding light in darkness, titled 'Light in your eye',' says Vimal, over a call from Palakkad. As he set out to envisage Sushin's vision, Vimal broadened the idea of what or who is an alien, exploring different forms of displacements prevalent in the current world. 'Ray', set in the '90s, begins with a family moving to a new place — one of them is a boy, who turns a few heads with his 'unusual' blue-coloured hair. His only companion is an MP3 player. One day, he encounters an alien, a young boy. Even though he feared the alien at first, they eventually became friends and realise the similarities between them. The alien's planet was on fire, and he, too, had a family there. The song ends with the alien finding a new home with the boy's family. 'We took four days to shoot it and gave the visuals to Sushin. He was moved by it and decided to rework his song. We decided to do the song in Malayalam and Vinayak Sasikumar wrote the lyrics,' says Vimal. 'None of us had a concrete interpretation of the core concept of the song, and the story was just a surface level structure. It was Vinayak who brought in the idea in one of the lines about how an alien sand particle becomes a pearl inside an oyster.' The alien Vimal explores the idea of 'the other' through this work and how people are alienated in our midst. 'When the video starts, the father is reading an article in a magazine, which has a cover about the immigrant crisis in the '90s. If you look at human history, everyone came from somewhere else. I wanted to show that people can coexist.' The appearance and aesthetics of the alien in the music video can be traced back to 2021, when Vimal was developing a digital art series, Folk SciFi, set in Palakkad. Initially, he struggled to integrate an alien into the setting, but later incorporated native cultural influences into the character, making it easier. 'They are mostly inspired by South Asian culture with their bright red colour. Their dress shares similarities with a kimono, a theyyam or a sadhu's costume.' He created 20 illustrations in this series and used them in creative films and brand collaborations. 'Developing the alien for the video was difficult, since it is present throughout the song. We had Ronex Xavier (makeup artiste) use prosthetics on his face during shooting. We had to transform the alien's face to remove that human look. A VFX team from Mumbai painted each frame and changed his face. The video has 65 per cent VFX, and it took seven months.' The early days Vimal began painting at the age of three with watercolour as his medium. 'My father had a keen interest in painting even though he was a maths teacher. He was my first guru,' says Vimal, who worked as a software engineer in Bengaluru. His foray into Photoshop was in college, when he was the editor of the college magazine. Since he could not afford to hire a software expert to design the magazine, he taught himself how to use the software. Once he started working, Vimal invested his salary in a camera and got into photography, which later developed into cinematography. He started with shooting small videos. In 2013, he resigned from his job and became a full-time artist. He worked on multiple brand collaborations including a campaign with Lamborghini in 2021, using influences from his Folk SciFi series featuring ritualistic forms such as poothan, kaali and so on. Vimal says, 'Growing up, I have lived here and experienced all of these things. After the pandemic, I attended a pooram, and the whole atmosphere felt like a sci-fi festival to me, which was a perspective I had never tried to explore. And as an artist, I had a chance to look back and reimagine these ideas.'
Hindustan Times
11-07-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
Creature feature: Wildlife rescuers on the one mission they'll never forget
By all means, add 200 panda Reels to your Insta Blend. Pet every kitty that lets you. Foster a pup and fall in love. Feed your friend's fish when they're on vacation. Make friends with the neighbour's turtle, even. But don't for a moment believe that showing up for animals is fun or glamorous. Nirit Datta works with street dogs, reptiles and birds. He was once bitten by a cobra while trying to rescue it. Across cities and villages, regular folks are making it their business to protect species that most Indians want to attack on sight. Some spend a whole day coaxing a snake out of a stairwell, others have convinced panicked villagers to spare the life of a monitor lizard. Young people have rehabbed bats, wrangled baby crocs from poachers, and seen lizard eggs as worth saving. We asked some of them about the rescues they'll never forget. When a cobra got too closeNirit Datta (@Infant_Wild) Datta, 28, started early. At 13, he was already rescuing street dogs and snakes in Kolkata. Now, as a wildlife conservationist and environmentalist, he works with everything from civets to birds of prey. The rescue that left a mark happened a decade ago, just after he'd moved to a college in Dehradun. Word spread that a cobra had entered a village 11km from campus. Datta knew he had to save the animal before locals killed it. He got there and managed to trap the reptile into a bag. 'But I got distracted by the crowd and forgot to zip the bag shut,' he recalls. The cobra bit him. Panic hit. Cobra venom is neurotoxic. Symptoms begin within minutes: Blurred vision, blackened skin, slurred speech, drowsiness, often death. The nearest hospital with antivenom was 30 kilometres away. 'I was sure I'd die. I couldn't even call my parents because they didn't approve of my jungli pursuits.' An hour went by, but there were no symptoms. Turns out it was a dry bite – without venom. But Datta learnt his lesson: Concern for an animal isn't enough. Prep matters too. Even now, when he sometimes handles up to 10 rescues a day, he keeps in mind that there are no rules in the wild. Aakash Vimal rehabilitates owls and vultures. The owl who got a second chanceAakash Vimal (@Wildly_Indian_Official) In the decade that he's been rescuing owls and vultures in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, Vimal has found that humans are a greater threat to animals than the other way around. Humans in small towns are particularly dangerous – they compete with wildlife for space and resources, and they prefer superstition to conservation. In May this year, Vimal, 30, was called to Seemapuri, in north-east Delhi. A rickshaw driver had just sold someone a barn owl for ₹5,000. It was about to be sacrificed in a black-magic ritual. Vimal got there in time to prevent the killing, but his problems had only just begun. The owl's legs were tied and it had been force-fed alcohol, 'so the bird cannot fight back'. He spent the next few days stabilising the bird with electrolytes and food, before it was well enough to fly. Surya Keerthi has rescued more than 30,000 reptiles. The croc of one's dreamsSurya Keerthi (@SuryaKeerthi728) Some rescues begin even before you wake. One summer morning two years ago, Keerthi, 24, had a strange dream: He was wading through a village lake when a baby crocodile surfaced. As he reached for it, someone hurled a stone into the water. Another giant croc stirred beneath. He woke up unsettled. Two minutes later, his phone rang. A baby croc had been hauled up in a fishnet and dumped at the Mysuru fish market. Keerthi grew up around reptiles; his father, 'Snake' Shyam, has rescued countless snakes. Keerthi himself has been part of 30,000 rescues. Toolkit in tow, he rescued the 10-inch croc. But where to put the little guy? He built a 2ft x 3ft tank filled with water, mud and later, just rocks. He added a heat lamp for basking and watched the baby constantly. 'I had to teach it to hunt, and to not get too used to humans,' he says. He looked up what crocs eat in the wild, but local bazaars didn't stock tiny fish – fishing nets aren't woven closely enough to trap them. So, he built a second tank just for prey, releasing only a few into the croc's tank to simulate real hunting conditions. 'If you interfere too much, you change their instincts. I didn't want to change the law of nature.' It worked. Keerthi's croc, when it was finally released into the wild weeks later, knew exactly what to do in its new world. Don't try this at home. Animals belong in the wild. Sushil Kumar Jain was recently injured while rescuing a wild boar that had barged into a Delhi college. A boar on campusSushil Kumar Jain (@BailATail) Just last week, a wild boar barged into a college in Delhi, causing full-blown evening chaos. Students and staff were trapped indoors, terrified to step out. Authorities called Sushil Kumar Jain, 59, founder of the wildlife rescue trust Bail A Tail. He and his team joined wildlife officials and spent 90 minutes safely trapping the panicked animal to release him into the forest. Boars are fast, unpredictable, and fearless. Even big cats avoid them. Two weeks previously, one had attacked a woman drying clothes outdoors in North Delhi, slamming into her from behind and injuring her leg so badly, she needed 15 stitches. Jain's team worked quickly, using heavy nets to form a three-sided barrier and guide the animal into a cage. Two rescuers were injured in the scuffle. But the boar was safely handed over to the Delhi Forest Department. Jain has been doing this since 1998, after he and his family moved to Sainik Farms and found that locals tended to kill any reptile on sight, especially snakes. So, he told neighbours to call him instead. That one promise grew into a massive rescue network. He has one strict rule: No photos during rescues. 'This is serious work,' he says. 'Not a spectacle.' From HT Brunch, July 12, 2025 Follow us on
India Today
06-07-2025
- India Today
Witness hammered to death days before testifying in attempted murder case in UP
A key witness in an attempted murder case (Section 307 IPC) was abducted and brutally murdered just 11 days before he was scheduled to testify in court. The victim, Vimal Kumar, was abducted on the night of July 1 while returning was the prime witness in a five-year-old case in which the main accused, Irfan, had allegedly assaulted a man named Khangaal Din Paswan with intent to kill. Vimal had been receiving death threats from Irfan, urging him not to testify. Despite informing police, no preventive action was days after his disappearance, Vimal's body was found in a canal on July 4. His head and face had been crushed with a hammer to prevent identification. The family identified him through his clothing. CCTV footage later surfaced showing the victim being forcefully taken in a car, prompting delayed police action. The incident has sparked outrage in the Sen Pashchim Para area of Kanpur, with the victim's family and local residents accusing police of gross negligence.'We immediately informed the police outpost and then the main police station in Sen Pashchim Para. But the police kept brushing us off, saying he might have gone somewhere. They did nothing. Later, CCTV footage surfaced showing my father being abducted, after which the police finally took action,' Vimal's son Shivam said.'But by July 4th, my father's body was found floating in the canal. He was brutally killed. His head and face were crushed with a hammer to the point of being unrecognizable. We identified him by his clothes,' he have since arrested main accused Irfan and his associate Bablu in an encounter, during which both sustained injuries. DCP Deependra Nath Chaudhary confirmed that the murder was linked to Vimal's role as a witness.'The victim's family had informed the police on July 3. A report was registered, and a search was launched. The victim's body was found in the canal on Friday morning. Main accused Irfan and his accomplice Bablu have been arrested after being shot in the leg during an encounter,' DCP Deependra Nath Chaudhary said.'Irfan murdered the victim because he was going to testify in the 307 case. Police have performed commendably in arresting both culprits and will be recommended for a reward and certificate of appreciation,' the DCP added.- EndsMust Watch IN THIS STORY#Uttar Pradesh
Time of India
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Vimal over Vuitton? Foreigners are now flexing Vimal bags like fashion icons!
Content creators Rosalba Pérez and Jaqueline Morales humorously redefined luxury in India by flaunting bright yellow Vimal bags, typically found at paan shops. Their videos, showcasing the bags in everyday Indian settings, went viral, sparking desi humour and celebrating local culture. This trend highlights how ordinary objects can become unexpected fashion symbols. You know, when someone says 'luxury handbag,' you're probably thinking Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Dior, or Chanel, right? But the internet has just taken that idea and flipped it completely, in the most delightfully quirky way possible. From runway to paan shop Enter Rosalba Pérez and Jaqueline Morales, two foreign content creators who went full-desi and turned heads in India - not with high-fashion labels, but with bright yellow Vimal bags. Yup, the exact same ones you'd find at a paan stall. Picture them strutting down an Indian street dressed in colorful outfits, carrying Vimal bags like they own the runway, and the video overlay saying, 'No Gucci, No Prada, No LV, ONLY VIMAL. ' It's hilarious, unexpected, and pure gold. They even captioned it as 'Indian Souvenir Bag" because why buy designer when you can carry something so iconic and utterly local? Metro chic: Next stop, chai and colours Not done yet, the duo took it further in another video entering an India metro station with those emblematic bags in tow. And what was the caption this time? 'Next station… chai & colours.' Cue collective laughter. They aren't just making a statement - they're getting into the vibe of India, embracing every bit of its culture, one Vimal bag at a time. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Perdagangkan CFD Emas dengan Broker Tepercaya IC Markets Mendaftar Undo India reacts and loves it The internet, of course, went wild - this clip has racked up nearly 30 million views, and the comment section? Desi humour at its best. Some highlights: 'Best fashion.' 'India is not safe for foreigners.' 'Louis Vuitton is nothing against Vimal Bags.' 'Eligible for Indian citizenship.' 'Someone please give these people Aadhar card.' 'People should make this a trending accessory. It will be mad!' And the ultimate punchline: 'Bolo Zubaan Kesari.' It's like the entire country got on board with their fun challenge: what's more iconic than flaunting a Vimal bag in 2025? Not the first time Believe it or not, this isn't even the first quirky trend. Earlier, Amanda John Mangalathil went viral after she shared footage of a tote bag made from a basmati rice sack - yes, a rice sack - used in a US salon. People joked, 'If this is fashion, I already have a collection at home.' Same energy, right? Final take: When everyday objects become fashion symbols So here's the new fashion mantra: who needs designer logos when you can rock a Vimal bag like it's the hottest accessory on the planet? It's bold, funny, and utterly Indian - making us smile while wondering if we should grab a few extra Vimal bags for our own #OOTD moments. Need styling tips on how to rock your own Vimal bag with juttis and kurtas? We've got you. One step to a healthier you—join Times Health+ Yoga and feel the change
