02112024-LSTL-01.qxd 11/1/2024 8:42 PM Page 1 c m y b ED SHEERAN’S HALLOWEEN LOOK Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has surprised fans with his Halloween outfit. He dressed up in a monkey costume, hinting towards an AI-generated image of himself. Sheeran is seen bending over on a table, smiling and gazing directly into the camera. TRIBUNE Honour board Life Angelina Jolie is all set to be honoured with the Performer Tribute at the 2024 Gotham Awards on December 2 in New York City for her role as Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain’s upcoming film Maria. LUDHIANA | SATURDAY | 2 NOVEMBER 2024 Trailblazer Akshai Sarin has etched his name in history by creating the world’s largest musical installation — a colossal, playable cruise ship! Anandita Gupta E VER travelled on a cruise that doubled up as a musical instrument? Well, Punjabi boy Akshai Sarin has turned this vision into a beautiful reality. A pathbreaking music artiste, technologist and innovator, Sarin has set the world record for creating the World’s Largest Musical Installation — transforming an entire cruise ship into a breathtaking musical instrument! Sarin traveled to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand — transforming one of the world’s largest passenger cruise ships — Royal Caribbean Cruises’ Spectrum of the Seas — into a music installation. This mammoth vessel, exceeding 1,100 feet in length, stands as tall as an 18-storey building and weighs a staggering 1,69,379 tonnes. Cruise control “I’m supremely excited about creating The World’s Largest Musical Installation. This is a testament to the limitless possibilities of Sonokinesis and its potential,” chirps Akshai. The magic-maker is now flooded with exciting offers to transform iconic international monuments, buildings and even designer stores into musical installations. Akshai, who started playing the keyboard at age 12, credits his love for music to his genes. “Both my maternal and paternal grandmothers played instruments and sang. My dad also plays guitar and sings.” Interestingly, it was technology that inspired him to make music. The rise of computers and technology allowed him to record at home (instead of expensive recording studios) and experiment with music. “I used to take apart my Walkman, tape up wires together to make rudimentary samplers, connect them to a toy Casio keyboard (yes, like the one Ross played in Friends) and a computer,” recollects the Bengaluru-based musician, who remembers playing at the Taj Hotel in Chandigarh many years back with Hard Kaur during her debut Ek Glassy tour. Akshai wanted to study Artificial Intelligence and Holography, but ended up doing Liberal Arts at Lawrence University in USA. There he studied Physics of Music, Psychology of Music, joined the Improvisational Music Orchestra and also had the most talented musician-friends. So, how did he get into converting objects into musical installations? “I got the original idea while tapping a rhythmic pattern with my fingers on the dining table. And thought it would be cool to have music notes come while doing that. So, I started converting small objects like tables and walls.” Moving ahead, Sarin’s original plan was to convert the Ritz Carlton Hotel building into a music instrument for their 10th anniversary. However, he got tempted by the sheer human imagination and engineering feat behind a cruise ship. “A floating city, 18-storey high, 1,100 feet long, with 5,000 human beings on it? That’s bigger than 10 hotels on land.” Sarin and his team started work on it in April 2023 and went on board three times, did two sailings to understand the dynamics. Throughout the process, he faced a barrage of obstacles — technical glitches, skepticism from industry veterans and the weight of his own expectations. “Since I had only done this in simulations, there were a lot of variables we had to deal with — strength of the wind out at open sea, vibration of the ship’s engine, even things like the availability of a sound system to transmit the sound.” While testing the equipment at Dance-off comparisons are fine as long as these are healthy, says Madhuri Dixit The dancing diva After The Dance Of Envy and Dola Re Dola, Bollywood’s twinkle toes Madhuri Dixit Nene had another dance-off in the song Ami Je Tomar 3.0 with actress Vidya Balan. The dancing diva has talked about the comparisons and the competitions that are set between female stars, and said that as long as it’s healthy, nice, and everybody is loving it, it’s fine. In The Dance of Envy from the 1997 film Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Madhuri had a face-off with actress Karisma Kapoor. In the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Devdas, which released in 2002, the actress danced alongside Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Dola Re Dola. Two decades later, she has done kathak alongside Vidya, who performed Bharatnatyam, in the third installment of the Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchise, featuring Kartik Aaryan. Asked about competition set between actresses and comparisons to previous dance-offs, Madhuri said, “Well, I look at it as stars, you know, have fans and the fans are going to support the stars they are fans of. So it’s okay. I mean, it’s all part of the game. And as long as it’s healthy and it’s nice and everybody is loving it, you know, it’s fine.” As for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, she found it great that she has done ‘something different’ than what she has attempted before, “Well, it feels great because it gave me something different to do.” The actress revealed that she did not watch horror movies much, as she gets ‘spooked’. “I’ve always been, you know, enamoured by spooky films. Though I myself don’t watch too many horror films because I get spooked later on, I thought it would be great to be in this role and try some- thing new because I’ve never played this kind of a role before,” she said. However, the actress has previously featured in a psychological thriller film 100 Days in 1991, which too had its own ‘spooky’ factors. “It was spookiness, but it was spookiness from the other side. Like, it was not me being that way. It was more of, you know, intuition and how she sees the future and how it comes true. And it was more like a thriller, mystery, a little bit of spookiness to it, you know. So after 100 Days, I think this is the spooky movie I have done.” So, did it feel like a debut in a new genre? “Oh, yes. And I think I really am excited about it. And I enjoyed this role thoroughly. I think people will have to watch the film to see. But yeah, I mean, it added a different dimension to the kind of roles I’ve played so far,” she added. — IANS c m y b Vidya Balan and Madhuri DIxit the ship’s poolside, because of the scorching heat, my laptop and equipment would over-heat and hang. The long hours and emotional toll often left me drained.” The emotional rollercoaster of this high-stakes venture was relentless. Yet, his unwavering passion for pushing the boundaries of art and technology kept him going. “When the project finally came to fruition, the success was not just a professional milestone — it was a profound moment of emotional validation for me.” Sarin, who has previously converted Armani Exchange’s retail store into a music instrument, has his sights set on performances — converting iconic monuments like Taj Mahal, London Eye and Eiffel Tower into the lead instruments in an orchestra, led by AR Rahman or Hans Zimmer! Akshai’s journey is a powerful testament to the transformative power of art and the emotional fulfillment that comes from realising a vision against all odds!