Where strangers bond over big ideas: Chennai’s Pint of View brings strangers together through lectures, drinks and conversations

CHENNAI: “Why is this a classic?” is the question a bunch of nerds tried to answer as artist Namrata Arjun led everyone through her lecture: Why did MF Husain paint horses? From Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David to MF Husain’s many paintings that had horses as their muse, the room saw how art evolved non-linearly and what happened to women artists along the way as we see art today.

The resto-bar in Chennai’s Nungambakkam, where Pint of View Chennai organised its third lecture of the month, turned strangers who awkwardly yet curiously entered into people leaving with brains full of new knowledge and hearts full of friends and conversations. Pint of View Chennai, inspired by its namesake in Bengaluru and founded by friends Sumyuktha Anand and Barkavi Magheshkumar, organises lectures throughout the month on varied topics covering science, business, art, economics and everything else under the sky. Sumyuktha is a neuroscientist, science communicator and educator with experience spanning research, scientific publishing and public engagement, while Barkavi is an entrepreneur and Executive Director at V Group of Companies. Pint of View has 14 chapters across the globe.

“We thought that there was a missing third space in Chennai where people could simply come and hang out and form a community,” they say as they begin to explain how the club came to be. Their first lecture was in November 2025, and since then, there has been no looking back. The crowd on August 27 was filled with people taking notes, people young and old, people with friends and those who were there to make some. “Most of our audience is either between the 25 to 30 age range or older people. And around 70 per cent of our people come alone,” says Barkavi.

The concept of their shows is simple. One grabs a drink or a coffee and goes through a lecture by an industry expert on the topic. While the other chapters across the country are primarily bar-based, the duo had to tweak their club a bit by adding cafés too for the Chennai crowd. “We started in a bar, but we noticed that people ended up ordering coffees and juices. And we all learned that some people wanted to attend but were intimidated by the idea of how a bar looked,” says Barkavi. “There have also been requests from our guests to have it at non-alcoholic places, so we decided to do a mix of both,” adds Sumyuktha.

The event follows a lecture, followed by interactive sessions where what is learned could also be applied to one’s own life. In Namrata’s lecture, the audience asked itself questions around what is a classic and the notions of art as one knows it. “In Chennai, we always like an activity, an interactive session. It is more of a conversation than mere passive listening. Sometimes we do digress, but we eventually come back to the topic at hand,” says Sumyuktha.

The duo go around looking for perfect venues for each lecture they want to host. “We have a roster of venues too, and we keep going around looking for new spaces,” says Barkavi. The duo plan, organise and manage everything on their own, from social media marketing to creating the rosters and finding the venue, while managing their daytime jobs.

They choose a guest, work out the logistics with them, and sit in on a demo so that the lecture is not too jargon-heavy. “Our guests are all experts in their fields. We want to make sure that someone who is not related to the industry at all understands what is being spoken about. That is why we have these demos; we work with them. We also have the activity planned,” explains Sumyuktha. The club’s primary aim is to bring together strangers who are on the lookout for similarly minded people through their lectures. They believe this is an extension of education. “In a way, continuing education, but you’re not in college anymore,” they conclude.

The next lectures hosted by Pint of View will be on September 6, 20 and 27.