iWorld
Weekend Unwind with visual artist Santanu Hazarika
Mumbai: With another weekend upon us, it is time to unwind with the latest Q&A edition of Indiantelevision.com’s Weekend Unwind—a series of informal chats that delve into the minds of digital content creators through a fun lens, aiming to understand the person behind the creative journey a little better.
In this week’s session, we have Santanu Hazarika. Hazarika is a multidisciplinary autodidact visual artist based in Mumbai. He is a video gamer and an illustrator. He dropped out of engineering to become the first ever Redbull World Doodle Art Champion in 2014 in Capetown, South Africa.
So without further ado, here it goes…
Your mantra for life
You should be experimental and always be curious, you should also question everything and create things to surprise yourself. Not the people around you.
A book you are currently reading or plan to read
The book that I am reading is “Gödel, Escher, Bach” by Douglas Hofstadter. It’s a book that tries to go into the science of creativity. The book includes Physics text, old science, and new science including logic.
Your fitness mantra
Well, my fitness mantra is pretty simple: workout, run and eat as much as required. This is what I feel is important because overeating and overindulging causes stress. It doesn’t matter what you are eating, but the right proportion of food is important.
Your comfort food
Rice and Aloo Pitika l Assamese style mashed potatoes, with Assamese chicken curry and also there is a thing called Khar, it’s a special thing made by chat banana leave and water.
A quote or philosophy that keeps you going when the chips are down
Everything changes and you should always have hope.
The last time you tried something new
I can’t recall exactly when was the last time I tried something new, but more or less I am up for everything. I have mostly tried everything except for skydiving. That is something that I really wanna try.
A life lesson you learned the hard way
I have learned that you cannot be impatient and everything will happen in its due time. There are always things that are beyond your control so you shouldn’t get anxious or drive yourself crazy by thinking that you can control everything around you.
What gets you excited about life
Meeting new people, having experiences, and obviously enjoying life in a way where I get to do things that I’ve always dreamt of as a kid, so I think right now I am just trying to fulfill all the things that I couldn’t do as a child. That is what is exciting for me at the moment.
What’s on top of your bucket list
I really want to settle down in Japan. Have my own house in a quiet old town in the countryside in Japan and just be happy there.
If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be
Practicing more art. I wish I had started at a very young age to draw and sketch and was more focused as a teenager or a kid then, I might have had more skills to express myself more diligently and accurately.
One thing you would like to change about the world
I want to see people have more empathy towards each other. I would like to see people be more kind towards each other. I think that is something that we lack and forget, which is being kind to others and yourself.
An activity that keeps you motivated and charged during tough times
I love watching anime and every time I’m going through something really hard. I rewatched some of the old anime that I always used to watch while growing up like Naruto or Dragon Ball Z. It motivates me.
What lifts your spirits when life gets you down
Hope- because everything changes and the fact is I have started from zero and come this far, then I could do it again and I think that lifts me up.
Your go-to stress buster
Traveling, going out, being in nature, or playing video games throughout the day.
iWorld
Subedaar puts Indian original cinema on the global map with record-breaking Prime Video debut
MUMBAI: Prime Video has a runaway hit on its hands. Subedaar, the gritty action drama starring Anil Kapoor, has stormed to become the most-watched Indian original movie on the platform in its opening weekend, cracking the Top 10 across 31 countries and landing in 91 per cent of India’s pin codes within days of its March 5 premiere.
The film, a visceral, emotionally-charged story of a retired soldier, Subedaar Arjun Maurya, wrestling with civilian life amid crime and corruption, has struck a nerve. Directed by Suresh Triveni and co-starring Radhikka Madan, Mona Singh, Saurabh Shukla, Aditya Rawal, Faisal Malik, and Khushboo Sundar, the film is already being hailed as a showcase for what Indian original storytelling can achieve on the world stage.
“Subedaar’s success is a reflection of the growing scale and global resonance of Indian storytelling,” said Nikhil Madhok, director and head of originals at Prime Video India. “The film’s emotional narrative, its rooted portrayal of a soldier confronting his toughest battles beyond the battlefield, has struck a chord. Anil Kapoor delivers an acting masterclass, while Suresh Triveni’s solid direction and great performances from the ensemble cast have resulted in love and appreciation from customers across the world.”
Kapoor, 62, has been here before, but rarely at this altitude. Written by Triveni and Prajwal Chandrashekar, with dialogues by Triveni, Saurabh Dwivedi, and Chandrashekar, the film is a production by Opening Image Films in association with Anil Kapoor Film & Communication Network (AKFCN), produced by Vikram Malhotra, Kapoor, and Triveni.
Subedaar streams exclusively on Prime Video in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu across India, and in over 240 countries and territories worldwide.
For Prime Video, the numbers tell the real story: one weekend, one film, a global footprint, and a very loud signal that Indian original cinema is no longer just travelling well. It’s arriving.
