| INDIA TODAY - The most widely read newsweekly in South Asia. | INDIA TODAY - The most widely read newsweekly in South Asia. | CURRENT ISSUE NOVEMBER 06, 2006 | | | | YOUR WEEK: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT |  | | DANCE | | Awesome Twosome | | |  | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | REINVENTING DANCE: The Reddy family | | DELHI The Reddys sure know how to reinvent their festival every year. If last year's theme was Layaalayam-Abode of Rhythm, this year it is Sambhavami Yuge Yuge-the Glory of the Awesome Twosome. In the four-day music and dance festival, dancers and musicians will pair up and come together on a common platform. Each dancer and singer will perform solo first and will later come together for a jugalbandi, wherein each artist will interpret the other's creative muse.
The first day will feature Raja and Radha Reddy with classical singer Shubha Mudgal. Their perfect understanding and consonance are worth watching. Together with their daughter Yamini Reddy, they will interpret texts on Lord Krishna sung
by Mudgal. The second day will feature Ananda Shankar Jayant, a Bharatnatyam dancer from Hyderabad, and Yalla Venketeshwara on the mridangam. Jayant has imbibed not
only the technique but also the aesthetics of the Kalakshetra tradition which sets her apart from other dancers. She will perform Swati Thirunal's Bhavayami Raghuramam, featuring major episodes from the Ramayan. While the other dancers will interpret renderings of the texts by singers, it will be unusual to see Jayant interpret the sounds of Venketeshwara's beats on the mridangam and then showcase the nine rasas. Tradition and modernity come together in the performances of the kathak duo of Nirupama and Rajendra on the third day. The modern piece, Tadha, will have elements of jazz and global music. Sarathi Chatterjee, disciple of Hindustani classical vocalists Pandit Rajan Sajan Mishra, will be presenting traditional classical music before teaming up with the dancer duo. Chatterjee has a clear and captivating voice. The finale features a performance by the brother-sister duo of Odissi dancer Madhvi Mudgal and vocalist Madhup Mudgal. While he sings thumris in his meditative voice, his sister will interpret them in her inimitable style. Be there. From November 5 to 8. At Kamani Auditorium -By S. Sahaya Ranjit |
| | THEATRE | | History Interpreted | | | | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | The play is a youthful interpretation of India's history | | MUMBAI Numbers in the Dark has been devised by seven young actors and looks at India through the eyes of the youth. Based on the premise that everyone is born with the history of his corner of the world and of human race, the play attempts to understand the liaison between individual, his memories and the world's socio-political structure. Though the text is largely drawn from the actors' personal experiences, it also borrows from Calvino, Harold Pinter and Marguerite Duras. The performances, which are a mix of various arts-narrative, installations and dance-take us through some of India's most significant events like the freedom struggle, Babri demolition and Godhra. They offer an intent look at the self and society. The play will be staged at NCPA Experimental on November 11-12, at Prithvi Theatre from December 5-8 and in the Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival in Bangalore on November 18-19. -By Aditi Pai |
| | EXHIBITION | | Fusion Art | | | DELHI Akkitham Narayanan, a Paris-based Indian artist, paints geometric configurations of abstract forms. He depicts the fusion of European geometric art and Indian tantrik art. He studied art at the Madras College of Art and Craft. His warm shimmering tones are highlighted discreetly with gold, which look quite aesthetic. The feeling of light and shade achieved by applying a thin coat of oil paint on the canvas and then erasing it, gives a three-dimensional appeal to the canvas. From October 28-November 4. At Alliance Francaise De Delhi.
-By S. Kalidas |
| | FILM review | | Just Sheen | | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | Shah Rukh Khan in a still from Don | | DON: THE CHASE BEGINS AGAIN
Director: Farhan Akhtar
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra Don typifies everything good and everything bad about Bollywood today. It's glossy but hollow. Beautifully shot by the very talented Mohanan, it has some breathtaking special effects (a skydiving sequence and a car chase are the highlights) and a wonderful atmosphere. But it has no sense of character. Getting the big scenes right is important, but the little scenes which build the relationships matter more. Especially because this Don is not so much about Vijay, the paan-chewing fun-loving moral hero, as it is about Don-the cold-hearted, icy-eyed gangster who likes Tom and Jerry cartoons and jungli billis. Star Shah Rukh Khan tries hard to establish his silken menace-the lines are cool ("I like you," says a thug. "I have also always liked me," says Don), the accessories perfect, and even a golf club, swung just right, can be a weapon of destruction-but the screenplay doesn't deliver on its promise. If Farhan Akhtar had spent as much time detailing Don's character as he had his look, it would have been a superior film. The loving homage could have been a slick update with a stylish twist, helped by a showy performance by Indian cinema's man for all seasons-Boman Irani. As it is, the two songs borrowed from the original look comical. And as the skyline substitutes for chills, the film seems like a pretty poster. In motion. -By Kaveree Bamzai |
| | FILM review | | Tangled Triangle | JAAN-E-MANN
Director: Shirish Kunder
Starring: Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Preity Zinta The producer Sajid Nadiadwala bought the film on a one-line concept from newcomer Shirish Kunder, but clearly the director forgot to develop it. Salman Khan is the man-child who grows up when he has a girl-child, Akshay Kumar is the geek who becomes an astronaut and Preity Zinta is the pretty lady with the handbag in New York (now where have we seen this before?) The plot is a modern version of Cyrano de Bergerac which Kunder tries to elevate with special effects (a halo attaches itself to Akshay, a window shatters when Salman's heart breaks) and operatic music. Gulzar's lyrics are more evocative than the dialogues, the songs are staged like Broadway musicals, and Salman gets to wear costumes (including a rather fetching white halter neck dress). He also cries manfully as Akshay tries to look soulful. But nothing, not even Anupam Kher's disappearing dwarf, can save the audience from wondering: why on earth do all white people in New York speak with an Australian accent? Was it to match Salman's variable speech pattern? -By Kaveree Bamzai |
| | INTERVIEW | | Strings Attached |  SITARIST SHUJAAT
Husain Khan spoke to Assitant Editor S. SAHAYA RANJIT on his just released Hazaron Khwahishein (Music Today), a contemporary album in which he has sung the poetry of Hazrat Amir Khusrau, Mirza Ghalib and Mir Taqi Mir. Excerpts:
Q. So, another album where Shujaat sings.
A. Yes It is not an earth-shattering album. I have sung the age-old melodies and interpreted it on the sitar. It's an album you listen to after putting your feet up while sipping a cup of tea. I am no great singer. Q. Then why do you sing? Why not let your sitar do the singing?
A. It is part of the Imdad Khan gharana tradition which I come from. It is a dialogue between my voice and sitar. In this album, my voice forms only 20 per cent of the time, the rest is sitar. Q. So you are in the rat race, where every instrumentalist is singing and cutting albums?
A. I have retired from the rat race. And to put the record straight, I was the first to launch an album where I sang folk melodies. I just sing for pleasure. I sing because people ask me to.
-By Nirmala Ravindran | | |
Index | | INDIA TODAY - The most widely read newsweekly in South Asia. 
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