Bollywood films are good for a laugh: Ritu Kumar

When it comes to picking her favourite genre in novels and books, fashion designer Ritu Kumar loves fiction and travel writing as she feels the odd thriller “is quite good for a long read on an aircraft”. 

Her favourite book is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen which she picked up from her school library. “I read the book for the first time when I was 13 years old and have only re-read it about three or four times since then,” confesses Ritu.

Which movie does she consider to be her favourite? “When it comes to films, I love documentaries shown on Discovery channel and films made by my cousin Deepa Mehta and my son Ashwin Kumar. I am also fond of any genre which is made sensitively conveying a strong message. I can’t take too many Bollywood films, though they are good for a laugh on a long flight,” says the stylish fashion designer.

Ritu is particularly fond of watching old Indian films and period films. “My favourite movie till date is 1947 Earth by Deepa Mehta. The movie has really appealed to me for its music, the way Nandita Das acted and also because it is historically well written,” she says.

Ritu doesn’t seem to recollect any one dialogue or scene but feels that every Indian film has a big appeal if its music is good whereas for Hollywood films, their appeal has to come through their content and presentation.

“The first film I ever saw was in Amritsar in the only cinema theatre there along with my school friends when I was just eight years old,” ends Ritu.