The Manali mansion of Kangana Ranaut designed by Shabnam Gupta is where the actress is her real self–and which, inadvertently, is the ultimate party house
It’s 5.30am on the tarmac at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and I’m about to nod off, when I glimpse a bus approaching the plane. Inside, there are just two people, one of whom must be Kangana, I think blearily, knowing we are on the same flight to Chandigarh, and then to Manali, to shoot her at home in the Himalayas. I watch her stylist fix her hair inside, just before her dramatic exit from the now incongruous bus. She ascends the stairs with her hands in her pockets, wearing a green fur coat and a matching Hermès Kelly, channelling Victoria Beckham at Heathrow arrivals—except, no one is looking but me. It’s strangely intimidating.
I’m travelling economy, and I know from her rider that she’s in either 1A or 1F, so there’s no possibility of any awkward, it’s-too-early-for-this hellos. She saves that for Chandigarh, where her bodyguard looks at me suspiciously as I approach her. When she eventually recognizes me, she has that same... kandidness, for which she is known and loved. She tells me she came to the airport straight from Olive, where she had been partying with fellow actors.
There’s more cold-shouldering when we land in Manali, and it’s got nothing to do with the weather, which is glorious. Pulling her best strut, she walks straight past me into an SUV, while her stylist gets her bags, and I wait to be invited in. I’m not; there’s a separate car for me, and we travel in convoy for two hours, winding our way up to Manali. So far, so Bollywood.
HOME BASE
This story is from the May - June 2018 edition of AD Architectural Digest India.
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This story is from the May - June 2018 edition of AD Architectural Digest India.
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MAY/JUNE DISCOVERIES
Reuse, repurpose, restore: Here is our dispatch from the world of design and architecture with a spotlight on sustainability. Danish brand Mater taps Patricia Urquiola to craft a line of sleek furniture from waste material. Bottega Veneta's Matthieu Blazy finds inspiration in a classic Le Corbusier design. Mumbai's 165-yearold Afghan Church gets restored to its original glory. Enjoy this summer issue.
50 YEARS OF MAHENDRA DOSHI
As a child I remember accompanying my parents on their collecting trips. Going to museums, art galleries and furniture warehouses is what we did on Sunday mornings in the 1980s in Bombay. There were no malls and my parents felt guilty leaving us home. We were welcomed into these treasure troves of art and design with equal élan by their humble owners, who were always there on the shop floor. Holiday or not. And that is how one spring morning, I met the doyen of period furniture, Mahendra Doshi. We would spend hours with him in his dusty cavern-like basement, nestled against the Arabian Sea with a view of the entire Queen's Necklace. I remember seeing stars in my father's eyes. He did that when he saw things he liked. My parents may or may not have picked up a piece, but I always took back a story. For amidst those dusty alleys of piled up \"junk\" and heaps of old furniture lay stories of history, homes and heritage. Stories we were regaled with by the gentle giant. He was simply Mahendra bhai to my parents and Mahendra uncle to me.
The Historian
For this summer issue, we admire the quintessential \"cooling\" jali-one of India's great contributions to global architecture and look at a lesser known but magnificent piece from the extraordinary madrasa of Ghaziuddin Khan from the Mughal era.
TERRA PAVILION
IS A STARK STRUCTURE OF EXPOSED CONCRETE AND GLASS, BUILT AS A SUSTAINABLE, RESTFUL SANCTUARY IN A WINDING FORESTED EXPANSE OUTSIDE OF AHMEDABAD, DESIGNED BY KHUSH NU PANTHAKI HOOF AND SÖNKE HOOF OF STUDIO SANGATH.
PALINDA KANNANGARA'S
FIRST RESIDENTIAL PROJECT IN INDIA IS A HOME IN BENGALURU DESIGNED WITH HIS SIGNATURE
SAMRAKSHAN INDIA
Architect Ajith Andagere often quotes Mexican poet Octavio Paz: \"To be truly modern, we must first reconcile ourselves with our traditions.\"That central thought is the crux of Andagere's mission. In 2017, he set up Samrakshan India-a not-for-profit focused on documenting India's vernacular architecture, considering the inherent wisdom in vernacular typologies and making them relevant to our modern lives. \"Documentation, conservation, adaptive reuse, and education\"-that's the role that this architect has taken on. AD visits Andagere's studio on the outskirts of Bengaluru as well Shurpali HouseSamrakshan India's first restoration project-a 150-year-old ancestral home close to the Krishna River, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, a nine-hour drive from his studio. Andagere took it on, along with his team of architects and craftsmen, and today what we see, post-restoration, is someone's ancestral family home given a new life.
Condé Nast Traveller THE LAST WORD IN TRAVEL
In the shadow of the historic Vijayanagara empire, HAMPI ART LABS is a new arts programme brought to life by the JS W Foundation. Designed by A D 100 firm SP+a, it takes design inspiration from the ruins and landscape of Hampi, situated 35 kilometres away. An exhibition centre along with residences for artists, creative studios devoted to various art forms like printmaking and ceramics, a quiet yet communal space for artists to create and explore, Hampi Art Labs is a sanctuary as well as a pivotal step forward for the growing community of art in India. A patron with all her heart in it, Sangita Jindal, Foundation, summarizes her intent: chairperson, JS W had been to Hampi 31 years ago and fell in love with it then. Ever since I have wanted to do something here. And my other lifelong love is art. So I thought, why not bring the two together contribution This is my ongoing to the sea of artistic talent in our country.\"
WHEN WAS MODERNISM?
WITH A TITLE REFERENCING A BOOK BY HISTORIAN HOME IN GEETA KAPUR, THIS MODERNIST AHMEDABAD, BUILT IN THE 1 9 7 0 S AND RESTORED RECENTLY BY AD 1 0 0 ARCHITECT KUNAL SHAH IS A REMINDER OF A CLASSIC DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE THAT AN ENTIRE IN A GENERATION OF INDIANS GREW UP MODERNISM THAT IS TIMELESS, THAT WE ADAPTED TO SUIT OUR CULTURE, CLIMATE, MATERIALS AND OUR DOMESTIC RITUALS. THIS IS FOUZDAR, A GRANDFATHER'S HOME.
The Curator
AD’s Art issue would be incomplete without an essay on Peggy Guggenheim, the philanthropist and visionary who was collecting through the war years, and whose home-turned-museum in Venice has one of the most important holdings of modern art in the world.
Raw Mango Agama
TEXTILES HAVE BEEN INTEGRAL TO THE STORYTELLING AT AD IN PRINT. IN A NATURAL STEP AHEAD, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, THE AD DESIGN SHOW THIS YEAR OPENED WITH A GARMENT PRESENTATION. THE MOOD, THE MUSIC, THE PEOPLE, THE TEXTILES EVERYTHING WAS MAGIC.
