Time. Space. Don’t worry, the next word isn’t ‘continuum’. This isn’t a sci-fi story. In fact, to borrow a line from one of the subjects from the first video in this piece - “no scam, no luck, just hard work.”
The sixth and the latest season of Asian Paints’ popular non-fiction series, Where The Heart Is, features celebrities from both Indian sports and cinema. True to its name, the show gives us a front row view of what it’s like when our favourite stars invite us inside their lovely homes. You know when you step into a friend’s new home for the first time, and they excitedly show you around the home, especially their favourite spots? It’s that same loving feeling here, except that friend turns out to be someone you’ve mostly likely only seen on the big screen or from far in the spectators’ stand in a stadium.
When Bollywood legend Anil Kapoor ushers us into his home, the first thing that strikes you is how the different floors have different styles. Not only is that a design choice, it’s also the story of how this once-a-building-of-different-individual-apartments is now a bungalow the Kapoor family calls home. You see, Anil Kapoor and his family moved into one of the floors right after Sonam Kapoor was born, and since then, over the years, their family have bought more floors in the same building. Kapoor says - “Usually people turn their bungalows into buildings. For me it was totally different. It was a building and I made it a home.” This is what we meant when we said “time”. A home is not simply the summation of the area it occupies, but also the story of how it came to be. Time and planning are the variables that separate a house from a home.
And then there’s Harshavarrdhan’s modern, functional, beach-facing pad. A stark contrast from his family’s home, Harshavarrdhan Kapoor’s entire flat is designed around who he is - someone who loves to put their feet up to enjoy a good movie at home, and then sashay onto their balcony the next moment to enjoy the Mumbai-rain or the sunset over the Arabian Sea horizon. Wait till you see the man’s sneaker collection and how beautifully he’s designed the room to house those bad boys. And that brings us to the ‘buildbook’, a quintessential part of every episode of this season’s Where The Heart Is. When Harshavarrdhan lays out his buildbook for his home, you really get an idea of what goes on inside people’s heads when trying to come up with space optimization ideas.
Actor Mouni Roy and her husband Suraj Nambiar’s cosy place is what we imagine the ideal home looks like, especially for modern couples today, who are constantly moving around for work and yet, need a low-key safe space to unwind and relax. They’ve perfected the art of being around each other and yet, letting the other person ‘do their own thing’ - something we could all use in our lives. And their spacey home compliments that like an absolute boss!
Mouni’s buildbook shows how it’s the little, subtle things that make her home special to her - like the rounded mirrors in one corner of the home, or the subtle gold accents in an otherwise neutral-walled space. Space, and how well it’s optimised here, is the takeaway from the sixth episode of this season of Where The Heart Is.
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