#BazaarBehindTheScenes: From sitarist Rishab Sharma to Pero's Aneeth Arora, this photoseries shows where seven creatives make magic

Before the big reveals, before the headlines, there’s the making, the process—the messy desks, the fabric scraps, the walls plastered with half-formed ideas a long way off from being finetuned. These are the rooms and corners where the magic happens, long before it’s ready for the spotlight. A pile of swatches here, a mirror ringed with brushes there. With #BazaarBehindTheScenes, we get an inside look into the worlds of India’s most exciting names in fashion, art, beauty, music, and culture. What we find isn’t just the making of the work—it’s the making of the person.

Rishab Rikhiram Sharma, Musician

 

 

 

The youngest and final disciple of sitar legend Pandit Ravi Shankar, Rishab Rikhiram Sharma is a classical prodigy who began training at ten. He is also the creator of 'Sitar for Mental Health,' an initiative born in lockdown that has since grown into India’s most extensive classical music tour of its kind. His studio is a study in contrasts—heritage sitars handcrafted by his family rest beside modern audio consoles. Under the warm light, you can almost hear the hum of unfinished ragas and smell the faint scent of polished wood. 

Aneeth Arora, Founder, Pero 

 

 

Aneeth Arora's Péro turns handwoven cottons, linens, and wools into garments that can travel the world yet remain firmly rooted in Indian craft traditions. Every piece is a conversation between artisan and wearer, between the local and the global. Her studio feels like stepping into that dialogue, sun-washed tables strewn with hand-embroidered swatches, shelves lined with buttons sourced from far-flung markets, and racks of clothing where past collections stand shoulder to shoulder with the new. It’s a place where time slows, allowing detail the space it deserves.

Jayesh Sachdev, Artist

 

 

For Jayesh Sachdev, art doesn’t live in white-walled galleries—it spills onto garments, murals, and street corners. As the founder of Quirk Box and the first Indian artist to collaborate with Zara, his work crackles with colour and wit, underpinned by meticulous precision. In his workspace, the rules of scale and surface dissolve: a half-finished canvas leans against a mannequin draped in illustrated silk, paint trails across the floor like a map of ideas, and mood boards sit layered with sketches, pop iconography, and bursts of neon pigment. 

Jaya Asokan, Director, India Art Fair

 

 

At the helm of the India Art Fair, Jaya Asokan has refined the balance between commerce and culture, curating a space where the established and the experimental coexist. Her leadership has amplified India's artistic talent on the global stage, while also opening the fair to new, underrepresented narratives. Her office is part command centre, part creative laboratory—fair layouts pinned alongside photographs from past editions, catalogues in neat stacks beside artist proposals, and always, always planning in the air. Every element speaks to orchestration, each choice shaping how thousands will experience Indian art in the span of days.

Shaan Mu (Shaan Muttathil), Makeup Artist, Educator

 

 

Shaan Mu has long been the man behind Bollywood’s most memorable beauty moments, shaping red-carpet and on-screen looks for stars with an instinctive eye for glamour. Trained in fashion design before turning to makeup, his work moves between high-octane drama and understated refinement. Inside his Mumbai studio—part atelier, part classroom—mirrors are theatrically framed greenroom-style with bulbs, tables are lined with palettes in every hue, and ring lights stand ready for his tutorials. It’s here that he balances celebrity artistry with education, sharing the craft with an audience far beyond the film set.

Aparrna Gupta, Beauty & Wellness Writer, Consultant

 

 

With over twenty years of editorial leadership across platforms, Aparrna Gupta has shaped how India thinks and writes about beauty. She’s known for distilling complex trends and cultural rituals into thoughtful, resonant storytelling. Now, through her platform Lavenderoom, she shifts toward wellness-rooted content, always firmly grounded in authenticity, often focused on rituals, and never shying from informed analysis. Her workspace reflects this poise: curated shots of beauty products, personal writing, and mood boards that feel both editorial and personal. 

Manu Chandra, Chef, Lupa

 

 

Conceived by chef-restaurateur Manu Chandra and hospitality veteran Chetan Rampal, Lupa's expanse unfolds like a Mediterranean dream—courtyards lined with terracotta roofs and hand-carved marble fountains, interiors where Art Deco elegance meets Italian villa warmth, and silent architectural flourishes pulled from Chandra's travel journals and design memory. Think Indian marble, wrought-iron accents, a brass-clad bar, a salumeria, gelato lab, and a subterranean wine cellar with 2,000 bottles—a choreographed exploration of discovery, flow, and sensory resonance. Behind the scenes too, fine dining doesn’t just serve cuisine—it composes an experience, inviting the minds at work to wander, linger, and be transformed by texture, echo, and taste.

 

Compiled by Khushii Surana

Lead image: Jaya Asokan, Rishab Sharma, Aparrna Gupta

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