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Mint
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Saturday Feeling: Gen Z's superfast fashion, ‘Stolen' review and other stories
It was at an airport a year ago, while chatting with a young UI/UX engineer who was on the same delayed flight, that I learnt about fashion cycles shrinking to two weeks. She worked for a fashion brand that changed its collection every two weeks since Gen Z followed social media trends and switched out their wardrobes about once a month. I was surprised because this is a generation that has brought 'eco-anxiety' and 'climate grief' into everyday vocabulary. A few weeks later, Myntra launched its M-Now 30-minute clothing delivery service targeted largely at Gen-Z and since then a host of other companies have been talking about their 60-90-minute deliveries for clothing. Who needs a new outfit in 30 minutes? That's the question we set out to answer this week, and found out what's driving the buying patterns of Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012 and the generation influencing most buying decisions in a family. Their personal style is driven by trends, the internet, and never being caught in the same outfit twice. Which means they often shop for a new outfit every day of the week, giving Monday-Sunday dressing a whole new meaning. Pooja Singh spoke to 40 people outside colleges, via social media DMs, in the Metro, while browsing at shopping malls, and at local markets. She found that Gen Z is playing an endless game of catch-up and it is a story about excess, but it's also an indicator of the industry's own complicity in this superfast cycle. The cover of Mint Lounge dated 7 June 2025, which has stories on Gen Z's shopping habits, new galleries transforming the art world, and more. At a time when fine-dining menus evolve with fresh takes on hyperlocal cuisines, the culinary culture of Maharashtra remains confined to a few select dishes. But there's more to Marathi food than vada pav and misal. A new era of chefs is changing the narrative by showcasing the diverse food heritage of the state with bold, progressive formats. Think puran poli baklava, karvanda Cosmopolitan, and goda masala pizza, that too served in an omakase in Japan, writes Rituparna Roy. Read more. There's a quiet shift in the Indian art market landscape. Newer art galleries are whetting the appetite of collectors, both seasoned and novice, as interest continues to evolve. Many of these galleries showcase the personal collections of longtime art collectors. For some, the galleries represent a chance to give their artworks a home. For others, it's a way to tap into a growing fraternity that's interested in acquiring art, reports Abhilasha Ojha. Read more. Poets have often called love an insanity, a disease that destroys the one who experiences it, steals their tranquility and sleep; its only reward being the sights, sounds and smell of the beloved. Mehak Jamal's book, Loal Kashmir, takes you into this world of love and insanity told through 16 non-fiction stories, exploring the human cost of conflict and the resilience of lovers in Kashmir. These stories, told to Jamal by people who have faced the twin demons of militancy and army atrocities for decades, are full of beautiful nuances, without being preachy, Zeyad Masroor Khan writes in his review. It's an insider's view of the cost of loving and caring while living in a conflict zone. Read more. Only a handful of Hindi films, including Mukkabaaz (2018) and Afwaah (2023), have addressed the modern face of lynching in India. Karan Tejpal's Stolen doesn't imitate, but it comes close to capturing the dread of WhatsApp videos of lynch mobs. It's a searing, scary film about two brothers and a desperate mother—Gautam (Abhishek Banerjee) has come to pick up his brother, Raman (Shubham Vardan), from the railway station. Jhumpa (Mia Maelzer) is accusing Raman of stealing her baby. The misunderstanding turns into a nightmare and unfolds as the kind of film that makes you feel some hope for Hindi cinema and none for the country, writes Uday Bhatia. Stolen is now streaming on Amazon Prime. Read more. Cold showers are touted for sharper focus, reduced inflammation, and mood boosts. Silicon Valley CEOs swear by them. Fitness influencers frame them as proof of grit. But beyond the invigorating jolt, what does science really say? Tanisha Saxena speaks to experts and finds that pairing short cold showers with breathwork aids post-exercise recovery, mental clarity and metabolic resilience. It taps into the body's natural stress adaptation systems that not only boost circulation and metabolism, but also train the nervous system to better handle real-life stress. The key, though, is to do it small doses. Exposing yourself to cold water for 11 minutes per week is said to boost the production of beneficial neurochemicals in the body. Read more. The new Redmi Watch Move ( ₹ 1,999) by Xiaomi is a budget-friendly smartwatch that aims to deliver a compelling set of features without breaking the bank. It's an important intervention, since most affordable smartwatches in India often come with heavy compromises and significant inaccuracies in fitness tracking. The 1.85-inch AMOLED display is one of the biggest and brightest displays in the segment—there's vibrant colours, deep blacks, and pretty good contrast. You can customize the interface via the Mi Fitness app (available for both Android and iOS). The watch also supports Hindi to widen its cache of users. Xiaomi punches above its weight with this device, delivering features that fly in the face of its price, concludes Abhishek Baxi. Read more. Amazon's business model may be riddled with ethical problems, but there's no doubt the Kindle is a popular device among avid readers. A newish, less-visible feature in Kindle devices allows users to share their library with others. Given Amazon's tendency to bury such options deep inside its ecosystem, it is likely that this hack may be news to many readers. If you want to legally share your library with another user, you can use the Amazon Household platform, and it works pretty much like Amazon Prime's family plan, writes Somak Ghoshal. Read more.
Mint
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
'Puranpoli' baklava and 'bombil' tacos amp up Marathi fine dining
For one of his tasting menus in Mumbai, chef Akash Deshpande plates up a piquant dried bombil or Bombay duck over a brioche toast. The dish is served along with bombil mousse shaped like seashells, and prawn papad clipped to resemble the bamboo frames used to dry fish along the coastline. He calls the course 'Bombil", a fish synonymous with the coastal communities of Maharashtra, and the city's food culture. 'My mother grew up in Konkan, and so, when there is no fresh fish or meat, she prepares a sukhat with dried fish," says the chef and co-founder of Luv restaurant while talking about his inspiration. At a time when fine-dining menus evolve with fresh takes on hyperlocal cuisines, the culinary culture of Maharashtra remains confined to a few select dishes. But there's more to Marathi food than vada pav and misal. A new era of chefs is changing the narrative by showcasing the diverse food heritage of the state with bold, progressive formats. Think puranpoli baklava, karvanda Cosmopolitan, and goda masala pizza, that too served in an omakase in Japan. In her cookbook Pangat, A Feast (2019), Mumbai-based author and culinary consultant Saee Koranne-Khandekar deep dives into the food practices of the Marathi community. It began with a Facebook group called 'Angat Pangat" in 2015 when she realised the need to spotlight the traditional cuisines to 'understand them in the context of topography and produce, historical background and migratory patterns, and literature," as she notes in the book. Since then Koranne-Khandekar has collaborated with restaurants in Mumbai and Pune for pop-ups (approx ₹2,500 for a set meal), and attempts to go beyond the banana leaf or thali format, at the same time keep the seasonality, produce and skill in mind. 'Unfortunately, Marathi food is still misinterpreted as the impressions have been primarily shaped by commercial establishments selling thalipeeth or Malwani restaurants, which can be quite textbook-ish," she says. Some of her stellar creations include mutton loncha, a popular meat pickle from Kolhapur that she served with pita as bar bites for a pop-up at Pune's Cobbler & Crew restaurant in 2023; a custardy ghavlyachi kheer crème brûlée that highlights the region's dying craft of hand-rolled pasta at Masque in Mumbai; and dhondas madeleines inspired by a Konkani sweet of summer cucumbers at a catering college event last year. 'The reception has been encouraging. But, I wish the community was open to taking more risks with the iterations," she adds. Deshpande agrees. 'The food is largely perceived as what is served at seafood restaurants. Also because Maharashtrians cook the same food at home, why would they go out and eat it," he says. At Luv, he wants to surprise his diners with ingredients from his mother's kitchen using technique and storytelling. His French culinary training sees him experiment with fanas or jackfruit tucked inside a bao, a tadgola or ice apple dessert, bombil tacos, duck meat glazed with karvanda (summer currants) jus, and a family favourite chicken curry prepared like a roulade. 'I don't want to use foam or caviar as I want my dishes to speak for themselves," he adds. The tasting menus debuted this summer, and will change every season, are priced at ₹3,000 (non-veg) and ₹2,600 (veg), and cater to 10 diners only on Thursdays. The slots are usually sold out a week in advance. At Aragma in Pune, chef Amit Ghorpade is creating flavour bombs inspired by his childhood growing up on a farm in Sangli, often borrowing from his grandmother's recipes, and produce available in the city's century-old vegetable market Mandai. For the tasting menus ( ₹2,200 for lunch; ₹3,200 for dinner), the chef has come up with pastas using everyday legumes such as kulith or horsegram and matki or moth beans. 'My grandmother prepared a porridge of kulith on sick days, and often made a flour out of matki to prepare the traditional flatbread bhakri," he reveals. Both the versions comprise staples integral to the community, for instance, fried methi (fenugreek) leaves as garnish, and sauce/oil made of dill, locally known as shepu, and eaten as a stir-fry in Marathi homes. The pasta idea came from his stints at Italian restaurants — Alto Vino at JW Marriott Pune and Giovanni's Table at Royal Caribbean Cruise. 'And also because chef Massimo Bottura is my idol," he adds. Ghorpade believes modern spins can familiarise diners with the nuances of the cuisine, 'but they should be by someone who understands the context, and the depth of the flavours." In a city like Mumbai, chefs also point out the strong influence of global cuisines, and those from south or north India in the dining scene. 'Marathi cuisine with its home-cooked traditions, is often overshadowed in the realm of progressive Indian fine dining, despite the city being the cultural and economic hub of the state," says chef Pankaj P. Nerurkar, senior chef of HyLo. The Fort restaurant elevates the festival-favourite sweet flatbread puran poli in the form of a baklava. Last year, chef Varun Totlani of Masque took the spice blend goda masala to The Pizza Bar on 38th at Mandarin Oriental in Tokyo as part of an omakase experience. He used it as a base along with karandi loncha, a Marathi-style shrimp pickle, and crab salad. 'The initial thought of the diners was Indian spices could be overpowering, but they came together very well," says Totlani, who seasons potato salli with the masala for a dish of lamb neck pastrami at the cocktail bar Paradox. The sheer expanse of the region provides a dynamic playground for chefs, who are trying to create some sort of an aspirational value for the cuisines. The time for Marathi fine dining may have finally come.
