During the late 1980s, I was in Delhi finishing my college and modeling. After reading an article that my mother wrote for a fashion glossy, Mahesh Bhatt sahab expressed the desire meet her. That’s when he saw my pictures and asked whether I would want to work in Hindi films.
There are many women who are getting the opportunity to play fantastic parts on the web like Huma Qureshi in ‘Leila,’ Shefali Shah in ‘Delhi Crime’ and so many others. It gives opportunity to those who are not getting the work that they desire to do because of their age. So web is doing a social service.
I was born in Rishikesh, but when I was around two or three, we shifted to Delhi.
There exists a cell of policemen within the Delhi Police which is accountable to no one but itself. Operating without uniforms, these are the dreaded encounters specialists of Delhi.
We have ended the VIP culture in Delhi. We made additional night shelters for the poor. We have started the anti-corruption helpline. We are impartial and are not against anybody.
People in Mumbai are not really into Punjabi music, whereas those in Delhi and Gurgaon love Punjabi numbers and are totally into the peppy music.
Delhi has a different vibe.
I had a lot of Bengali friends in Delhi. The bands there had Bengali musicians: for example, Indian Ocean. We use to have a good amount of adda and sing songs through the night.
Delhi is my favourite city having spent most of my growing up years here. Performing here is like homecoming for me.
In October 1959, I could scarcely wait to get off the plane that had brought me to New Delhi so that I could go to the Indian Arts Palace in Connaught Place and begin buying miniature paintings.
Just like you have a fashion council in Delhi to organise fashion shows, promote Indian fashion, etc, there must be such a body for films as well, especially because Delhi is now becoming the hub for movie shoots.
My father had a garments business in Delhi which shut down.
I wanted to understand the business side of entertainment, and that’s why I decided to complete my MBA while I was in Delhi.
Long story short, right after my twelfth grade, the six months between school and university, and that is the time when I came to Delhi and I said that let me try and build a company of my own.
I really love momos, dahi-vada, and, of course, golgappas. I make sure not to miss these snacks when visiting Malviya Nagar, Delhi.
I was born and brought up in Delhi.
It is exciting to see the different genres that audiences want to watch. The response to a show like ‘Mirzapur’ last year and to Delhi Crime earlier this year was so encouraging and a proof that good content is the new formula.
My father used to run a shop in Sadar Bazar in old Delhi, and most of my time would go spending days and evenings at the shop, whiling away hours doing nothing.
I left Delhi in 1989 and remember very little of how life used to be then. Increasingly, in my recent visits to Delhi, I’ve started to realize that the city has become intellectually very lively. It makes me want to discover the city over and over again.
Muslims remain the most convenient target for prejudice in a city like Delhi, which is far more ghettoized than Bombay or Bangalore, for example.
I was a runner in Delhi’s Army Public School. I started running when I was in class four and became the fastest sprinter in school and zone competitions by the time I reached class eight.
I spend Diwali in Delhi because it’s such a big festival.
If you look at Mohali, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, they host T20 games, IPL all in a year. That’s the reason the crowd stays away from the Tests matches.
It was only in the early 1990s – during my student years as an aspiring scientist at Delhi University – that I discovered the world of cinema.
It was Delhi that gave me the platform to achieve my dreams.
I grew fond of acting rather late. And that was because I was not getting any job. I had a few friends in Delhi who were associated with theater. They took me to see some plays in Delhi and Baroda. That led me to believe the I could also act. And it was after that I joined National School of Drama in 1993.
I love Delhi as it has always been a very good mix of cultures and when I was growing up, it was a city full of opportunities.
Today we’re dealing with metropolitan Shanghai, metropolitan New Delhi or Paris. If we’re competing at that level, our diversity, that richness of people coming from so many different backgrounds, is one of our greatest advantages.
I am from Chicago, but my dad is from Karachi, Pakistan, and my mom is from New Delhi, India. So, I’ve got a little Paki-Indie fusion going on here.
Anyone who has grown up in Delhi knows it’s horrible.
I am not a star kid, my parents are from Delhi, my dad manages a business, my mother is a professor, I have no filmi background, so if I don’t have skills, I don’t stand a chance in this industry full of star kids and people with influence.
Those of us who live in Mumbai or Delhi have notions about what women who live in Bhopal, or smaller towns, are like; and that perception is wrong. Some people are scared by how complex and subversive these women’s lives can be.
I was only 24 years old when a lady called Sabina Sehgal Saikia – the then ‘Delhi Times’ editor – asked me to host the ‘Times Food Guide Awards,’ so it was with The ‘Times of India’ that my career began in this field.
There are a mix of good and bad people everywhere, be it Punjab, Delhi or Haryana.
Political pundits in Delhi and Islamabad have berated the West for its relativism and double-standards. After all why should Britain have a nuclear arsenal but not India? It is a reasonable question.
There is something I don’t get about the party scene in Delhi and Gurgaon, especially in Gurgaon. Why do people dress up so much when they go out to the nightclub or disco here?
I am neither a Bengali nor am I from Delhi’s St Stephen’s. I am an Allahabad boy.
Delhi is my emotional home. I still dream of owning a home there.
As it is, I’m happy that the tourism department has sent out word to agencies in Delhi asking them to help filmmakers whenever they want to shoot their film in the capital. At least, they are in favour of the filmmakers.
Nobody wants to go back to the bad old days when some bureaucrat in Delhi decided what managing directors would earn, but how about more transparency in reporting pay and perks from multiple sources and giving teeth to institutional investors.
This is going to make me sound ancient, but I remember Juhu Beach when there weren’t any buildings on it. You’d go through countryside and arrive at this amazing beach. I remember driving from Delhi to the Qutab Minar through countryside. Mehrauli was a little village – that’s all gone.
Usually, I come for film promotions or events, but I have so many fond memories of Delhi.
I would love to live in India or in the South of France, but Roger Vivier doesn’t have offices yet in New Delhi or Jaipur.
Every weekend I would take a train to Delhi and sneak into startup events. I really enjoyed meeting entrepreneurs who were solving big problems. They were way smarter than me. I knew this is where I had to be.
There was a place I visited in Lahore that felt to me like old Delhi, and I’m sure Pakistanis who come from Lahore to Delhi feel the same.
I am a student of a business school in Delhi and went back for my final semester exams.
I had thought of joining my dad in his stock broking business in Delhi.
Distance and difference become irrelevant as our technology connects youth from Vancouver, Toronto, Iqaluit, Attawapiskat, Delhi, Nairobi – anywhere – to learn from and about each other.
I have found Delhi so much more beautiful than Mumbai. South and central Delhi, especially, are just so beautiful – the roads, the trees, the buildings, the history.
My films play only in Bengal, and my audience is the educated middle class in the cities and small towns. They also play in Bombay, Madras and Delhi where there is a Bengali population.
It was in Delhi when I started doing jingles and making money through music.
Whether it’s Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana or Odisha, we have seen similar patterns – hostile local politics transform into conciliation of some kind after the state elections.
The centuries-old history and culture of India, majestic architectural monuments and museums of Delhi, Agra and Mumbai have a unique attractive force.
It so happens that whenever I come to Delhi, my schedule is always packed. But sometimes, I call my friends to my hotel itself. And of course, I ask them to get the food I love. This way, I get to meet them and enjoy my favorite cuisines too.
India, being a sovereign state, has the right to decide what kind of nuclear deterrent New Delhi needs in respect of international security perception.
Whenever I get three-four days in hand, I fly down to Delhi to spend time with my family and my dog.
My father was a German architect and graphic designer, who travelled all over the world, teaching teachers on how to teach. On one such visit to the Max Mueller Bhavan in Delhi, he met my mother.
With the approaching winter the air quality in many Indian cities, especially in Delhi, becomes a public health hazard. Something so fundamental as breathing easy can no longer be taken for granted. It’s a wake-up call worthy of a civic revolution.
