| INDIA TODAY - The most widely read newsweekly in South Asia. | INDIA TODAY - The most widely read newsweekly in South Asia. | CURRENT ISSUE FEBRUARY 27, 2006 | | | | YOUR WEEK: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT |  | | | | ART | | Topical Shabari | | |  | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | SABARI IN HER YOUTH: Works on paper by Atul Dodiya | | DELHI Here is a coincidence that only Ram Lalla could have decreed to happen. At a time when the VHP is busy scaring the daylights out of hapless Christian tribals in Dangs, Gujarat, by holding the Shabari Kumbh, the most celebrated and though-provoking Gujarati artist of today's globalised generation, Atul Dodiya, is presenting a large and stunning exhibition of his works with a dual title: The Wet Sleeves of My Paper Robe (Sabari in Her Youth: After Nandalal Bose) at Delhi's Bodhi Art Gallery. The artist had created large collage-type multi-media works during his residency at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute, and they were displayed there earlier this month. The show will travel to Mumbai and Bangalore too. Dodiya, 47, is known for his highly cerebral-yet-quirky works that combine popular images and personal memories in highly innovative ways and mediums from paper to iron shop-front shutters. He often uses what are widely labelled post-modernist techniques of appropriation and representation of works by artists, who may have created works that he feels the need to re-visit in his own oeuvre. In the past, Dodiya has done works taking off from those of his seniors like David Hockney and Bhupen Khakkar and in this series he "quotes" from that "partisan idol of the nationalist movement", Nandalal Bose (1882-1966), who painted a series of temperas on the theme of Ramayana's most marginal but enduring symbols-the innocent tribal woman Shabari. Post-modernism aside, "transcreation" as the scholar Mukund Lath points out, is a very old practice in Sanskrit poetry and classical music wherein a poet or a musician picks up a well known work or idea of a predecessor and casts it in his or her own vision. Dodiya's idiosyncratic Shabari is juxtaposed with symbols of 21st-century popular far-eastern cultural economies: the rising sun, gold-leaf roses, long braids of false hair and linen shirts. A must-see show, on at Bodhi Art till March 2. -By S. Kalidas |
| | EXHIBITION | | Frames of Faith | | | | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | Kar Seva by Malkiat Singh | | DELHI Three years ago, a young man from Chandigarh showed me some pictures he had taken of Holla Mohalla, a colourful celebration by the Sikhs at Anandpur Sahib. These were very impressive pictures. In his painterly frames, Malkiat Singh, who trained as an artist, had not only captured the colour, festivity and exuberance of the occasion but also that indescribable element of faith that drives his community to gather at the historic temple each year. Singh's opus included the kar seva of devotees dredging the holy tank at Amritsar's Golden Temple and the arduous pilgrimage to Hemkunt Sahib, high in the Himalayas. Happily now, Singh has been signed by Rupa Books for a coffee-table book (to be released on April 14) and he has found a curator in Alka Raghuvanshi who has put up an exhibition of these amazing pictures at Delhi's Lalit Kala Akademi galleries. The show shall travel to Mumbai (Kalakriti February 20-March 2) and then to the UK and Canada later this year. -S. Kalidas |
| | MUSIC | | Generation Next | | | | NEW DELHI The generation next in classical music is now holding forte. On February 23, Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra presents two young artistes belonging to the Jaipur gharana. Yogesh Dutt (sitar) and Priya Darshini Kulkarni (vocal) will perform at Triveni Kala Sangam. Dagar Brothers Memorial Trust pays homage to the late Dhrupad maestro Ustad Faiyazuddin Dagar on February 27 with Gaurav Majumdar's sitar recital and Dhrupad singing by Wasifuddin Dagar. Venue: India International Centre. |
| | ART | | Picasso in India | | | | DELHI That Indians are into buying art these days is not really news anymore. But they just got better. Now they are fighting not just over Husains but also over Picassos. Yes, the opening of Vadehra Art Gallery's exhibition (in collaboration with the Grosvenor Gallery, London) of 40 works on paper by the Spanish cubist master had society ladies squabbling over who booked a particular work first! Well, if you have between Rs 15-85 lakh to invest, you too can own an original Picasso. "At present, the art market here comprises only half-a-percent of the global art market of around $30 billion (Rs 13,2600 crore)," says Arun Vadehra of Vadehra Gallery, adding that a show like this would "internationalise our art market". However, M.F. Husain, who previewed the show a day before the opening, had a revealing take on the artist's influence on Indian art. "It is great that people here will get to see his works in the original, but as far as our own art scene is concerned, Picasso had very little impact on it." Amen. On at Vadehra Art Gallery till March 2. -By S. Kalidas |
| | FILM REVIEW | | Exotic Angst | MIXED DOUBLES
Director: Rajat Kapoor
Starring: Ranvir Sheorey, Konkona Sen Sharma, Koel Purie. Those who expect sleaze, as befitting a movie about wife-swapping, be warned. This movie has more subtle laughs than sizzling heat, reducing as it does one night of adultery to a matter of logistics (where will the child sleep, whose house will it be?). A couple is in the midst of a mid-marriage crisis and the man decides to tide over the boredom by swinging, "as they do in America". The wife is not willing but goes along when the man feigns a heart attack. Sen Sharma looks and plays the part of a harassed but still sexy working mother. Kapoor is appropiately practised as the weary seducer while Koel is perfectly over-the-top as his sultry wife. The movie is elegantly designed, its exotic colours making urban angst look Wong-kar-wai moody. -By Kaveree Bamzai |
| | THEATRE | | Earthy Ado | | MUMBAI Watch Claudio, Beatrice and Hero spout dialogues in Hindustani. Actor and director Imogen Butler-Cole's adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing is set in the hill districts of 20th-century Uttar Pradesh. Major portions of the text have been translated into Hindustani to reflect the layers of language used by Shakespeare in his play. Live Hindustani classical music complements the romanticism of one of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies. The magnificent gardens of the David Sassoon Library, a heritage structure in Mumbai, form the backdrop of the play as the audience is actively integrated into the atmosphere. The two warring lovers are played by Heeba Shah and Mukul Chadda. Every evening at 8 pm from February 22 to 26. -By Aditi Pai |
| | MUSIC REVIEW | | Pancham Punch | | The combination of music director R.D. Burman and singer Asha Bhosle has been one of the best in Hindi film music. Immortal is the word. Asha Reveals Real RD (HMV, Rs 290) features 21 of Panchamda's favourite numbers rendered by her and Sudesh Bhosle. She has reinterpreted and rearranged the tracks with techno advancements. The music is reproduced and rearranged by Nitin Shankar. She has handpicked the songs, which have been sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Usha Uthup and others. And thankfully they are not remixes. But why is she doing so now? "I am not in the rat race anymore. Let me live my life as I want to," says Bhosle, who never tires of reinventing her voice and style. She sings the famous, One two cha cha cha from Shalimar, originally sung by Uthup to which she has added her own resonance. Lata sang Jaane kya baat hai in Sunny. Here Bhosle sings the same number but only improves by adding her inimitable style. "I can't sing it as well as Didi," she says. Sudesh Bhosle's voice has that robustness very nostalgic of Kishore Kumar. All the songs sung by him have an intensity, be it Pyar diwana hota hai (Kati Patang) or Dhanno ki ankhon mein (Kitaab). Panchamda has become an industry. -By S. Sahaya Ranjit | | Index | | INDIA TODAY - The most widely read newsweekly in South Asia. 
 |  |  |  | | South Asia's most influential and most read newsweekly presents the fourth Conclave India Tomorrow 2005 : Perception vs Reality | | |
|
