Music Today CD: Rs 325

Unlike other artistic expressions, music addresses the more instinctive and intimate part of us which does not depend on the logical mind for a response. That is why it is said, when words fail, music speaks. Osho has often used this power of music to explore the inner journey of self, while nourishing its aspects of silence and celebration.

The celebratory quality of music is obvious but what one does not easily realise is its power to awaken the dormant spiritual elements. Now Music Today has launched 12 albums of Music from the World of Osho-an amazing series of meditative, joyous, inspirational, serene and uplifting music that explores its myriad effects.

These albums use a wide range of sounds from the slow, soft tinkle of a gentle piano that soothes you to the crashing drumming that rouses your soul.

Music has always been an aid to the world of meditation, relaxation and introspection. But this series is ideally suited to those keen on listening to something fresh, something that will stir the spirit.

Live From Osho Auditorium helps you use your energies in creative activities. And when you are exhausted dancing, let the spiritual energy take over and relax. Your rest will become meditation. Laughing Drums, on the other hand, touches something very primal in all of us for they remind us of the rhythm we have been hearing right from our time in the womb-the mother's heartbeat.

As Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music so famously quoted, "When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." So get set for a refreshing journey of spirited music with Open Window. Next To Silence features solo pieces on the Japanese and Indian bamboo flutes played at the Osho Samadhi by

Deva Yoko. If it still leaves you craving for more, get Ten Thousand Buddhas. Blissful ecstasy isn't very different.

-By S. Sahaya Ranjit

PICTURE SPEAK

The Akerkers at Indigo Deli

MUMBAI Floor-to-ceiling shelves lined with Riedel glasses, Alessi and Le Creuset cookware, Bodum mugs, assorted cookbooks, in-house vinegars and infusions, and we haven't even started on the food yet. Rahul and Malini Akerkar's latest venture is a delicatessen like no other. Indigo Deli promises to meet the high standards already laid down by the duo with their feted restaurant Indigo. "We believe Mumbai is ready for a kick-ass delicatessen," says Malini, even as Rahul is fine-tuning the menu at the 2,500 sq ft location. With over 25 types of tea and around 15 varieties of coffee on offer and wine, cheese, sandwiches and tapas on the menu, the Indigo Deli is a "back-to-basics" exercise for Rahul. This 54-seater, all-day dining deli will serve "wholesome comfort food" like burgers and fish 'n' chips, besides macaroni and cheese and some delectable pastrami. "People have tried to get too cerebral with menus. This is a more visceral, let's sit down, roll up our sleeves and eat kind of place," promises Rahul. Break bread and browse, we say.

-By Kimi Dangor

Classical singer Chakrabarty

KOLKATA Cine Central with The Dover Lane Music Conference is organising a film festival of Indian Classical Music and Dance. Ten films centring around the classical forms of dance and music and the maestros associated with them will be screened. These include documentaries Dhrupad, Meeting a Milestone, a biopic on Ustad Bismillah Khan. The final day will have a seminar on music and cinema with keynote speakers like Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty.

At Nandan II on June 28-30 from 4.30 p.m.

-By Dipannita Ghosh Biswas

Cinema of Absurd

Bachke isn't even a comedy

D
BACHKE REHNA RE BABA
Director: Govind Menon
Starring: Rekha, Paresh Rawal, Mallika Sherawat

Bollywood connoisseurs have a list of films so shoddily crafted, poorly scripted and badly enacted that they become genuine unintentional comedy. Think Sheetal's Honey, in which when the hero banged on a wall in despair, the cardboard caved in and the shot was retained.

Bachke Rehna Re Baba's tragedy is that it doesn't even make it to this list. The Heartbreakers' remake is embarrassingly bad. Sherawat shows skin and Rekha tries to dignify the proceedings but it's an uphill climb. Both are saddled with limp lines and feeble plot moves. But in one scene the excruciating tedium transcends into Honey territory: Rekha, pretending to be from Paris, says "mon cherie" and croons, "Eiffel Tower, I have power. Jo bhi mujhe dekhe, bole hello flower."

-By Anupama Chopra

A work at 'Mercury Raising'

DELHI Navsar (meaning a garland of nine strings) presents their fourth show "Mercury Rising". Nine artists will display paintings, sculptures, slide shows and installations at Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, from July 1 to 4.

BANGALORE From Ritu Beri to Wendell Rodricks, top Indian designers come together to auction haute couture items to raise funds for SOS Children's Villages. From June 24 at Windsor Sheraton and Towers.

Esha, Ahana perform Odissi

MUMBAI Actor Hema Malini pays a unique tribute to her mother Jaya Chakravarti on the occasion of her death anniversary. Hema's daughters, Esha and Ahana, will perform an Odissi dance recital at Nehru Centre, Worli, on June 25 at 7 p.m. Actor and MP Jayaprada makes her theatre debut with a ballet titled Amrapali, directed by Bhushan Lakandri, at the Jamshed Bhabha Auditorium, NCPA, on June 25 and 26.

Watch puppetry at the festival

Tale Spin

BANGALORE Kathalaya, in association with the British Council, will be heralding story time with Kathothsava, India's first international storytelling festival. Storytelling sessions will be conducted by master storytellers from America and Japan and Edgar Ortiz from Costa Rica. To add some colour, the festival will feature puppetry. A puppeteer from Jaisalmer, who can manipulate as many as 50 puppets at a time, will tell his many stories, while other sessions include the folk art of Yakshagana, Hari kathas, Burrakathas, musicals and ballads. There is also a special outreach programme where storytellers will travel to several schools in the city. At Chowdaiah Hall, Alliance de Francaise and Ravindra Kalakshetra from June 24 to July 10. There are special shows for children with tickets at discount.

-By Nirmala Ravindran

War and Peace releases

Docu Detour

MUMBAI Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) opened at No. 1 position and set records at the box office in the US. Back home, it is a different scenario for documentary films. It took Anand Patwardhan more than a year to release War and Peace in commercial theatres. The film, shot in India, Pakistan, Japan and the US, was completed in 2002. "We got the necessary clearances from the Censor Board and the Bombay High Court by the end of 2003. But we could not release it in commercial theatres until now," says Patwardhan, who feels that Indian documentary films have come of age and should be released commercially.

Winner of many awards, including the Grand Prize (Earth Vision Festival, Tokyo) and International Critics' Award (Sydney Film Festival), the 90-minute-long War and Peace traces the path of peace activism in the face of terrorism and war. Patwardhan, known for his other documentaries like Father and A Narmada Diary, says, "It's a tragedy that instead of being proud of our non-violent heritage, we have embraced nuclear nationalism. This fall from grace is documented in the film with Mahatma Gandhi's death and the Pokhran blasts." The film opens on June 24 at Fun Republic, Andheri. From July 1 on it will be screened at INOX, Nariman Point.

-By Vanita Singh

Index