Less is more. The phrase aptly sums up India Art Fair that took off in the capital yesterday. The fair, in its ninth edition, has cut out the big and the bizarre to focus on local flavors – particularly from the South Asian region – and socio-political issues that surround us. Smaller and compact, the […]
Those who filmed themselves proudly as they broke cameras, vandalised property and beat up Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the sets of Padmavati know nothing about the culture they claim to be protecting. So let us begin with a slice of history. With the story of a man who was a devout Muslim and a bhakt […]
Ordinary people do not interest Hindi cinema anymore and that is why even if Mani Ratnam’s artifice free protagonists from OK Kanmani (who did not think it was necessary to interrupt their love story to endorse Vero Moda, Coca Cola and Anita Dongre’s wedding wear) are channelled in Ok Jaanu (a Karan Johar production), they […]
There is a scene in Rahul Dholakia’s Raees where Vijay, the symbol of conscientious idealism in Salim Javed’s cinematic universe of the 70s, appears for a few seconds on a screen in an open air theatre to take a greedy capitalist to task for a coal mine that has caused poverty, death and persecution of […]
Symbols matter. Symbols sum up ideals that are bigger than phraseology and represent the best of humanity. And no one knows how an intangible idea brimming with something vast and indefinable, gets distilled into a symbol and comes to belong to all of us. When artist Shepard Fairey created the iconic Barack Obama poster emblazoned with the word “Hope” in 2008-2009, […]
Time has a way with time itself And yet it falters at the close The best of times are untimely… even cursed And the worst of times are best at worst Where does that leave a plan or a scheme Where does a wish get fulfilled Once upon a time Comes but once in a […]
Fear is a friend. She’s been by my side for as long as I can remember. While most friends tend to drift away or come back into my life sooner or later, she’s never wavered. No matter how safe a country, city, street or home is, she’s taught me to regard all men with suspicion, […]
All I see is red. Urgent and arresting red. The blinking lights on the road red. Her hair in the wind red. Molten rage and dry wine red. Wrinkled sheets and horror-filled dreams red. Bonfire embers and crossed out ledgers Demanding a pound of flesh. A rose in a book to remember, A shirt […]
There are times when we look at the world and feel despair. Events over the months of 2016 and part way across the threshold of 2017, have given us justifiable cause for such malaise. Trump will be president within days. The Syrians are either forgotten or vilified, Britain is leaving the EU, the weather has […]
It is neither compulsory nor mandatory but I feel the need to make this admission: I am not an outsider. Though not of Kannada origin, I have been a resident of Bangalore/Bengaluru since the start of the 80s. That’s been over three decades, during which I have lived, worked, married, learned the language, savoured the […]
While performing a street play in Sahibabad township, on 1 January 1989, Safdar Hashmi, a member of the Communist Party of India , a playwright and activist, was attacked and murdered by the followers of an election candidate. What followed was unexpected. During the staid Doordarshan coverage of the National Film Festival Awards, Shabana Azmi […]
Khwab Sa, a 120-minute, gloriously colourful musical experience comes to a theatre near you! This is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed as a collaborative project with contemporary dance and movement, in Hindi gibberish as spoken word and live contemporary World Music- all performed by various professional artists chosen and brought together from […]