To Your Heart's Content

"I need to give my team the time to fail internally"Anushka Sani is the founder of Thought Over Design, one of India's brightest design agencies, who've done work for a whole host of young growing brands. She is also a keen design thinker and speaker. She joined us to talk about how design is no longer superficial, on the balance between concept and orchestration and why she does...

Band frontman. Marketer. Sauce maker. Perfect TYHC guest! Sidharth Raveendran is the vocalist of Mumbai-based post-hardcore band Pacifist, and Hindi comedy rock band Tadpatri Talkies. His energetic stage presence and banter are central to both outfits. But Sid has several other facets to him - he thinks thoughtfully about content and creation. In this chat we get into several of those - especially...

Praveen, or PGK to everyone, speaks about building a business with journalism at its core - a fundamentally different framing from saying "journalism is a service".The Ken is a unique publication. In 2016, it tried the audacious move of publishing one long-form business piece a day, completely subscriber-funded. Close to a decade later, it's going strong, launched several more 'p...

Shephali Bhatt is an internet culture reporter and tech researcher. Her pieces have been published in The Economic Times and Mint, with an emphasis on how the internet shapes our lives. What she does is different from a lot of the 'tech' reporting and analysis out there that tends to be focused on leaders, business or features - Shephali's focus is more on how the culture and habits of...

Mental health and content creation. Two important topics over the last few years. This episode operates at the intersection of both. We speak to Manikantan Kumar and Shweta Srinivasan, co-founders of the mental health resource curation platform, The Mind Clan. The former is a technologist, the latter is a practising therapist. We speak about the positive AND negative impacts operating at the inter...

In a world where content is becoming second nature to brands, how can brands actually be meaningful and authentic to consumers? And how does a brand do this consistently? Answering this question is Heli Shah. Heli is someone who started her career when digital media was finding its feet, and she is amongst a handful of professionals today who have seen the evolution of digital media and content. H...

You've heard his work on AIB's videos, now hear him talk about his process. We speak to Mehar Chumble whose work spans playing on stage with said comedy group, to scoring ad films. Mehar is a musician and sound engineer who co-runs a studio called Mondeblue. He does a lot of work for commercial films, background scores and the likes. But he's also done music and sound design for a lot of your favo...

Once in a while, along comes a creator who exemplifies the sheer joy of creation. Our guest today, Hari Chakyar, is one of them. It's hard to pin down what Hari actually is. His output spans zines, Instagram comics, heart-wrenching written stories, physical cyanotype art, and even fonts made out of dosa (yes, you read that right). So we naturally wanted a peek inside his head to see how he thinks...

We always knew this would be a hilarious episode. What we weren’t prepared for was how profound it would be. Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only Abish Mathew speaks about content, comedy and his process. What’s your favourite brand of Abish Mathew comedy? The talk show host one? The musical comedy one? The one-man-act one? The weird Reels one? The sketch actor one? The good ol’ standup one? The...

Two people decided to grab a bite after their run. A few years later, that became a thriving community of 1000+ people with “slots” going in a minute. This is the story of Thindi Capital. Ajit Bhaskar is a tea scientist by day. By weekend, he curates ‘Thindi walks’ in Bengaluru - where he leads a group to sample some of the city’s best fare (dosa, idli, chaat and the like) from Darshinis (old-scho...

From the rise of comedy, to curating events; from appreciating comedy as a fan to selling it as a businessperson - there are few better people to speak to in India than Dhruv Sheth. Currently the co-founder and CEO of the m19collective, Dhruv cut his teeth at talent-and-events company OML Entertainment, where he went from (no joke) amp-carrying intern to COO in about a decade. He has seen up close...

We believe there is always a different way of looking at things, another layer to be peeled. For cities, for an interest, for any topic. And that should be liberating as a budding creator. In this episode, we speak to Gopal MS, who runs the popular Instagram page Mumbai Paused. Gopal is not just any photographer. He seeks out the stories that lie around us, that capture the dichotomy of the city -...

If there is one person who will convince you that having diverse interests will benefit you personally and professionally, it’s Berty Ashley, one of the most multifaceted people we know. He’s a quizmaster, musician, scientist, author, music artist manager - professionally. He’s also a vinyl record collector, coffee taster and (as he puts it) local jokester and punmaker. His diverse interests cross...

Kunj is someone who has seen content both as a creator and a businessperson. This quote-a-minute interview is a must-listen for anyone interested in the space. Kunj is currently the VP of content at audio streaming platform Kuku FM which has defied expectations, building a massive paying subscriber base from Tier-2 cities. He has built a Silver Button-winning YouTube channel at InsideIIM, apart fr...

Alicia Souza is an illustrator with an instantly identifiable style, and has been referred to as a "happiness illustrator". We speak about her evolution, process, love for stickers, and advice for impatient young creators! Anyone who's been on the internet in India over the last decade would have certainly seen an Alicia Souza illustration. Her work punctuates planners, mugs, stickers and of cours...

The leading design and brand strategist joins us and drops truth bombs about craft, what counts as content, and finding one's true audience. Meeta Malhotra is a veteran in the Indian branding and design space. She was a partner at the iconic design consultancy Ray+Keshavan, where she helped build brands such as Airtel, Kotak Bank, Mother Dairy, and Vistara Airlines. She continued founding firm...

The bassist and banterer-in-chief of folk rock veterans Swarathma talks about keeping your audience in mind, crafting a setlist, adapting with technology, and more. Oh, and Ga*nd Mein Danda, of course. For the inaugural episode of To Your Heart's Content, we are delighted to have Jishnu Dasgupta with us. His band, Swarathma, has been making a fun-yet-poignant brand of folk rock for close to 2...