November 01, 2025

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For the Love of Anuv

Anuv Jain's fan base was not built in a day. Even though he has never really had formal musical training, the Husn singer has been singing for as long as he can remember. The 30-year-old picked up the guitar and began songwriting at 16. "I always imagined this to be a hobby, because I did not think that a singer-songwriter was really required in India, or that I could make it big," he says over a phone call. Jain released his first single Baarishein in 2016, but it wasn't until after the pandemic that he decided to quit his job at the family business in his native Ludhiana and take up music full-timeBorn in Mumbai and brought up in Ludhiana, Jain relocated to Mumbai earlier this year after having spent three college years in the city. His creative process, though, has always been a family affair. "I call my mom my bouncing board," he says, with a laugh. "I'll play her something or tell her a bunch of ideas for a new song, and she'll tell me what works and what doesn't. Sometimes, when my sister's visiting, she throws in her two cents too," he addsIf one were to characterise Jain's music, they would call it simple but intricate. He amuses himself by how easily he can "deceive" people, and often uses the word "complicated" while describing his songs. Jain composes all of his songs on the guitar. "I don't really have a band--it's just me with my guitar, my notebook, and my mom," he explains"Every word I have ever written comes from a personal space. I've had some insane experiences in my life and I love to observe people and write about my immediate circle, too," Jain says while adding that his songs don't talk about big stories with grand gestures of love--they are more realistic: "They have an everyday sort of feeling to them." When we ask him about something he finds difficult to write about, Jain muses, "Not to sound like a cocky narcissist, but I could write about anything." Then, almost as an afterthought, he adds, "I have been struggling to talk about myself and who I am as a person. I would love to write more about that maybe." LOVE AND LYRICS Jain got married to his long-term girlfriend Hridi Narang this February. Before the interview, he requested to avoid questions about the marriage and we didn't want to pry, but nonetheless, we ended up talking about how it has changed the way he writes about love. "You become sort of like an open book," he shares, adding: "There's no hiding anymore. I've written about longing and distance before, but now I want to write about comfort--the kind that comes from being with your person." His latest single Arz Kiya Hai, in collaboration with Lost Stories' Rishab Joshi, is the fifth track of the music show, Coke Studio Bharat Season 3. "Bro, it's one of my most favourite songs that I've ever made," he says cheerily. "Working with Coke Studio Bharat is a big milestone for me. When I came to know about it, I was almost euphoric and I wanted to give them my best performance," he adds. And so he did. The track has racked up 43 million views on YouTube, 63 million streams on Spotify, and almost 900k Reels on Instagram while this story was going to press. And, even though his songs often make the rounds of our social media feeds, virality never even crosses Jain's mind when he is making them. "My initial focus is to make a good song that is a story in itself. "Once the song is done, then we move to numbers because see, I am a business guy. You have to make sure that the song is big enough because there is a lot of money and hard work that went into it," he saysA criticism that follows Jain is that all his songs sound exactly the same. He takes it on the chin. "I'll try to do better if that's what people feel, because I know I've read about this as well," he says. "But I also think that a lot of this criticism would go away if people listened to my entire discography rather than just a few songs, or a few seconds of it on Reels." He goes on to list them: "Antariksh was pretty much a rap song, Meri Baaton Mein Tu is a rock song. I also released a Punjabi song with AP Dhillon called Afsos. I try to do my best, but there's always more to be desired. And I'll keep working towards making my songs sound more distinct." After his Guldasta tour, which concluded in January last year with one of his biggest sold-out shows in Mumbai at NSCI Dome, Jain has an upcoming tour called Dastakhat, forming a trilogy of tours, following the success of Dastakein (2021) and Guldasta (2023). The tour will kick off in January next year in ten cities across India, and will subsequently lead to the beginning of his global tour spread across North America, Middle East, Asia, Australia, UK and Europe, marking his biggest tour as an independent artist yet. Looks like the love isn't waning anytime soon.

SARA TENDULKAR IS IN HER Cosmo girl era

Being in front of the camera can be unnerving. Sometimes, it reminds one of all the " laws" that the mind has convinced one suffers from. At others, it nudges the quiet realisation that the photograph will be seen, dissected, saved, and shared by anyone and everyone with access to a Wi-Fi connection. But, how does the mind work when camera lashes and the love-to-hate-them paparazzi brigade has been a way of life? Enter Sara Tendulkar-- the 28-year-old, mild-mannered biomedical scientist, nutritionist, and health entrepreneur. It wouldn't be wrong to call her a social media personality, too, considering a following of 8.8 million (at the time of going to press) on Instagram, and brand deals that include associations with Tourism Australia and Cetaphil India. Beyond the multiple hyphens in her credentials, Tendulkar is aware that her surname often precedes any conversation about her. She is the daughter of cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, a fact that brings with it much curiosity: "Honestly, my brother (cricketer Arjun Tendulkar) and I had very normal childhoods. Pop culture and digital media weren't huge then. Now, yes, it's more challenging-- whenever we step out, there's a camera. Even on bad days, you need to keep your composure. So, those kinds of things can be a little bit stressful at times. However, having the surname that I do obviously comes with certain privileges which outweigh these limitations. I do think that it opens multiple doors and creates so many more opportunities in life that I'm very grateful for," she says, with refreshing candour. "And, if I look at it in an extremely positive way, it has given me the platform to use my influence for causes that really matter. So, my voice is much more amplified because of that, especially with the foundation that I work for, with my parents. That is something truly special, makes a big impact, and helps me contribute in a much more meaningful way," she adds. Sara is referring to the Sachin Tendulkar Foundation, where she works as the director. The foundation works across sports, health, and education sectors, focusing on the upliftment of children with disadvantaged backgroundsMeanwhile, she further builds on this politics of name and identity, touching on the scrutiny that accompanies the popularity: "And, even if there is this unspoken expectation to live up to the name-- it really pushes you to work harder and to keep proving yourself on your own merit." STYLING AUTHENTICITY While shooting for the cover of Cosmopolitan India's NovemberDecember issue, on a sunny afternoon in the coastal town of Alibaug, Tendulkar is acutely aware of her surroundings, even as a