November 2025

What an incredibly gratifying year this has been – our celebration marking 20 years and the new property we added to Platform - Creative Playground salutes all the efforts of the past two decades.

To have talents from various disciplines that were untapped when we first featured them, to today, virtuosos of their craft, present for our celebration, strengthened the bond we continue to share with them. To have the masters applauding our passion and dedication humbled us further and to have our loyal readers and cheerleaders encouraging us always, reinforced our belief in what we have been doing all these years – providing a toolbox for creativity.

This year also saw the start of another new chapter – Platform Books; a publishing platform that will explore diverse forms of the arts through content and bookmaking. The first book was what we unveiled at the playground - 20 Years 20 Interviews, a limited-edition book to celebrate 20 Years of Platform - a small culmination of inspiring interactions we have had in the past two decades. Platform Books will continue to champion the arts through various formats.

This issue celebrates all our six genres. Be it our cover that shines the spotlight on three extremely important voices of the contemporary art world. Nikhil Chopra, along with HH Art Spaces, is all set to present For the Time Being, the sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale; Shilpa Gupta, who continues to enthrall us with her provocative conversations through art, and Bharat Sikka, whose photographs capture the sensitivity of memory and modernity. We also present Martand Khosla, who is the principal architect of Lawh Wa Qalam M.F. Husain Museum in Doha that opens its doors this year. Award winner Kiran Desai shares her relationship with loneliness and making of her novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. While Midival Punditz deconstruct their sound and tracks from their latest album, Love and Machines.

Furthermore, we highlight vignettes from our playground. The Fashion of Now brings together four distinct ideologies that tell stories through fashion: we have Tarun Tahiliani, Gaurav Gupta, Ritwik Khanna in conversation with Arjun Saluja. The Film panel highlights hope for cinema and storytelling. Mira Nair, Kiran Rao, Ayesha Sood, Shahana Goswami, Christo Tomy and Jim Sarbh, all come together to discuss films and their future.

Amrita Khanna & Gursi Singh of Lovebirds, create, curate and enlarge the circle of lovebirds through the visual narrative that celebrates fashion and art.

As we embark on our next 20-year journey, we thank you all for your unconditional support. Platform is a product of collective ideologies with one strong love – The Arts.

Cheers to the next 20 and wishing you a Happy and Fulfilling 2026.


Shruti Kapur Malhotra
Editor-in-chief

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