18092023-LSTC-01.qxd 9/17/2023 10:08 PM Page 1 c m y b TRIBUNE Greatest joy Priyanka Chopra Jonas is celebrating her marriage with husband Nick Jonas and has called him the greatest joy of her life. Nick turned 31 on September 16. IANS CHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 18 SEPTEMBER 2023 A tune of liberation Sheetal U Not a model life! Cindy Crawford’s dad thought modelling was ‘another name for prostitution’ Supermodel Cindy Crawford said that her father thought modelling was a euphemism for prostitution. The 57-year-old, who became one of the world’s most popular pin-ups in the 1980s and ‘90s, has also admitted that she initially struggled to convince her mum and dad she was on the path to a lucrative and respectable career. “My dad really didn’t understand that modelling was a real career. He thought modelling was, like, another name for prostitution,” she said in a preview for a new documentary show The Super Models about her dad John’s reaction to her going into modelling. Crawford’s father and her mother Jennifer Sue Crawford-Moluf were eventually supportive and went with her to her first modelling appointment. The model added in the preview she “never even thought about modelling” before she ended up in the business. She said, “I didn’t even know it was a real job. I didn’t know how I would get from DeKalb, Illinois, to a magazine.” In 2016, Cindy told Vanity Fair about how she did her first modelling job aged 16 when she was still living with her parents. She said, “When I was 16, Roger Legel, a local photographer in my small town of DeKalb, Illinois, asked to photograph me for the college newspaper.” “I agreed, and he shot this picture at the backyard pool of my high school boyfriend. I was still a teenager and dreamed of becoming something big – a nuclear physicist or the first woman president, the two biggest jobs I could think of.” “Doing this first shoot changed my life. The photographer encouraged me to go to Chicago to try to find an agent. I went to Chicago, ended up signing with Elite, and from there started doing catalogue shoots as well as working with Victor Skrebneski - the most important photographer in Chicago. This one photograph opened my eyes to a whole new world and started me down the path of modelling.” — IANS GANDAN singer Awori landed in Chandigarh for her first-ever India tour in collaboration with Alliance Française India. She performed at The Backroom, Sector 34 on Saturday in association with Alliance Française de Chandigarh, which was jam-packed with electronic and hip hop music lovers. On her early influences in music, Awori recollects, “I started writing songs when I was about nine years old. And then performing at school functions made me realise that I wanted to pursue it for life.” Awori, who has a decade long career in music, says, “While earlier I wanted to win a Grammy and make my mark in the mainstream music world but now I find solace in independent music as it gives me the freedom to experiment. I feel today music is not just about having talent but more about becoming an overall performer with an attitude to reinvent yourself.” Awori, who is currently studying Jazz at the Paris College of Music, tries to incorporate her culture, politics and everything under the sun into her music. She says, “My motive is to adapt to the everchanging environments with Paris-based Ugandan hip hop artiste Awori tries to blur the dividing lines like language, race and culture through her music subjects ranging from vulnerability, self-image, heartbreak, love to migration and protest. As I do this, I also try to blur the dividing lines like language, race and cultures.” Awori is fluent in English and explains, “Speaking my mother-tongue in public was prohibited in my native country when I was growing up.” Awori, who started her India tour with Chandigarh, is in awe of the city’s architectural brilliance. She will be performing in Mumbai, Pune and Delhi. She says, “While growing up, I was into traditional Percussion instruments and the tabla fascinated me. I also love this Indian clothing brand called NorBlack NorWhite, which has stores in Introducing Sirat Deepa Mehta’s documentary I Am Sirat, which unravels the inner life of a Delhibased transgender woman, has created a big buzz after its premiere at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) here. Shot on smartphones, I Am Sirat explores the troubling and complex duality of her life. Sirat has to suppress her inner urge to live like a woman so that her mother, and a married sister and extended relatives are not scandalised. —IANS Deepa Mehta’s film about transgender woman creates buzz at Toronto fest Portrait of an artist MF Husain On MF Husain’s 108th birthday on Sunday, veteran actress Saira Banu took a trip down memory lane and recalled how the Indian artist started sketching the portrait of late legendary star Dilip Kumar, who was having a high fever. Saira took to Instagram, where she shared some throwback images of the artist along with the actor. She wrote, “Maqbool Fida Hussain was a dear friend and admirer of Sahib alongside other close friends. Often, they would meet at The Taj Hotel Chambers for Saira Banu recalls when MF Husain made a portrait of Dilip Kumar high tea, lunch, dinners, and family functions at home, and also at midnight when Pran Saab and Satish Bhalla would honk the horn outside our house asking Sahib to wake up for a midnight drive! Ooof! We wives have to exer- cise patience!” She then jogged her memory and recalled, “I vividly remember Mr Husain’s visits to our home. Once Sahib had a high fever, and Mr Husain and Mrs Bakul Rajni Patel visited, they sat by his bedside, and suddenly, Mr Hussain pulled out a drawing paper and started sketching a portrait of Sahib. I always treasure that sketch. Next time he came equipped with tons of pristine painting canvas which he stretched out on the drawing room’s floor, made Sahib sit on a chair, and made a portrait. Later, he submitted it to a museum in Hyderabad.” She added, “I proudly remember that he had declared that Pari Chehra Naseem Banu’s face was the most beautiful that he ever painted.” — IANS c m y b Mumbai and Delhi. I am looking forward to visit as it celebrates the old ways of craftsmanship.” All for sustainable fashion, Awori shares her grievances as Africa has become the dumping ground of fast fashion of global brands. On hip hop completing 50 years, she says it has been a great journey for the genre but feels the real voices of protest that hip hop is known for is getting lost. “While there are artistes who are carrying forward the true legacy of hip hop, but they aren’t among the ones that are globally popular and most heard singers. But thanks to streaming platforms, independent artistes have found the much-needed exposure.” One of Awori’s latest projects, Ranavalona, is about the last Queen of I CAN BE ANYWHERE IN THE Madagascar. Queen Ranavalona resisted the WORLD BUT I DO NOT FORGET colonial forces. “I can be WHERE I COME FROM. I CARRY anywhere in the world MY IDENTITY NOT AS A BURDEN but I do not forget where BUT PRIDE ON MY SHOULDERS. I come from and carry my identity not as burAT THE SAME TIME I LEARN FROM den but pride on my MY EXPERIENCES WHILE STAYING shoulders. At the same IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. IT time I learn from my experiences while stayADDS TO MY IDENTITY. ing in different countries. It adds to my identity which helps in keeping my individuality in my music alive.” RING ON HER FINGER Actress and content creator Prajakta Koli on Sunday morning announced that she and her beau Vrishank Khanal have got engaged, to which Varun Dhawan, Guneet Monga and others, reacted. Prajakta took to her Instagram and shared a picture along with Vrishank, who reportedly is a lawyer by profession. — IANS