Book Reading: Shashi Kapoor: The

SHASHI KAPOOR NOSTALGIA! Beat the dog-days of winter over a leisurely brunch followed by an interactive Book Reading Session with NY Film Journalist Aseem Chhabra and his biography on: SHASHI KAPOOR: THE HOUSEHOLDER, THE STAR Saturday, Jan 21, 3-5pm In conversation with award-winning journalist and Film Critic Anna MM Vetticad, Aseem's Reading will be illustrated by anecdotes and clips from Shashi Kapoor's films. Hosted at Serendipity's beautifully restored Haveli, meet the author and other film buffs, and enjoy the ambience of Serendipity's lovely terrace and Cafe. Books will be available for sale at the event. About the book: India’s first biography of Shashi Kapoor sheds light on one of the country’s most enigmatic personalities - an actor who straddles the worlds of commercial Hindi cinema, theatre and small-budget art movies; who is, at once, an earnest householder and a committed star. In this rare book, we are offered glimpses of Shashi Kapoor, the family man - son of Prithviraj Kapoor, husband of Jennifer Kendal, and father to Kunal, Karan and Sanjna. We are led through Shashi Kapoor’s film career - his debut as a bright-eyed child-actor in Awara; his emergence, in the hectic 1970s, as India’s busiest performer - with a slew of hits including Deewaar and Trishul; and his rise to international prominence with Merchant–Ivory’s The Householder and a ‘trilogy’ of films on older men with fading pasts. About the author: Aseem Chhabra is a film journalist, freelance writer and film festival programmer in New York City. He has been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Outlook, Mumbai Mirror, Rediff.com; has a regular column in The Hindu and has been a commentator on Indian cinema and popular culture on NPR, CNN, BBC, as also ABC’s Good Morning America, Associated Press and Reuters. Aseem is the festival director of the New York Indian Film Festival and the Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival in Pittsburgh. He is also the voice of Shadow Puppet #1 in director Nina Paley’s award-winning animated film, Sita Sings the Blues. Aseem is from Delhi, lives in New York, and visits India often. He can be followed on Twitter @chhabs. About the Moderator: Anna MM Vetticad is an award-winning journalist, writer, social commentator and teacher. She is the author of the critically acclaimed bestseller The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic, an authoritative overview of Indian society as seen through the prism of the Mumbai-based Hindi film industry. A journalist since 1994, Anna has worked with India Today, The Indian Express and Headlines Today, and been a Consulting Editor with The New Indian Express. She is now a freelance journalist, a journalism teacher, a prolific blogger on her own platform annavetticadgoes2themovies in addition to being a sought-after speaker on gender, women’s rights, cinema, the news media, free speech and other social concerns at national and international forums. She recently won a Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award 2015.