Mayakkam Oxymore Takes Hyderabad By Surprise

It was indeed surprising - a very pleasant one; for it is not something that Hyderabad has ever witnessed before. Non conformist dance interwoven with magnificent use of light and sound resulting in 90 minutes of pure magic – that was Mayakkam Oxymore in one line for you.

Sangeeta Isvaran, the lead dancer and choreographer combined her expertise in Bharatanatyam with some street style and finished it with some fine ballet moves too. Sangeeta, an alumnus of Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, UoH, respects tradition. “But classical forms have to grow and be connected with society,” she said. Her co-dancers Lakshya Rajesh, Thilagavathi Palani and Nancy Boissel complemented her perfectly in the dramatic journey that ventured to explore the feminine self.

The world famous hip hop graffiti artist Marko 93 painted the stage with multiple hues as the dancers performed. This style, which puts to use coloured LED bulbs and wands, was developed by Marko himself. The real time projection of lights mixed with the images on the screen and the performers on the stage produce a splendid effect of optic dynamics.

Cyrille Brissot loves rendering music through computer. His addiction with technology came live on stage when he produced an array of sounds that was far from the soothing dance accompaniments that we are used to. Mind you, it was not a playback of a pre-recorded piece. They were reactive sounds produced live based on expressions of dancers who often improvised while on stage. He is also the one who co-ordinated Marko’s light, Sangeeta’s moves and his sounds by switching among multiple softwares, cameras and consoles.

Mayakkam was performed at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre on 14^th January in connection with Bonjour India. It is a festival organised by France across Indian cities from December through February to reaffirm its friendship through cultural association.

Many among the audience were heard saying that the performance was highly abstract and confusing. It is bound to happen because, as a city, we are only waking up to alternate forms of entertainment. But if the instinct to deconstruct and demystify is kept aside, nobody would have a disagreement on the awe they experienced through the performance.

Destruction Of Differences Is The Death Of Democracy – Dr. Dibyesh Anand

Being seduced by Hindu Nationalism without being aware of it is a huge threat that young Hindus face today, said Dr. Dibyesh Anand while delivering a lecture on ‘The Myth of Tolerant Hindus’ on January 6 in connection with the Centre for Integrated Studies (CIS) Lecture Series.

Dibyesh, who is a Reader in International Relations at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at University of Westminister, London, also emphasized that the attempt of Hindu Nationalists to make Muslims live on Hindu terms is against the spirit of democracy. The day differences become undesirable, democracy comes under serious threat.

The speaker, who has authored a Routledge publication called ‘Tibet: A victim of geo politics,’ said that an attempt to study Gujarat riots led him almost naturally to Hindu Nationalism. Use of identity politics by creating a Hindu Self and a Muslim Other and an extreme reductionist approach of representing all Muslims in a stereotype of terrorism prove that any theory of ‘tolerant extremist Hindus’ is farcical. “Coining terms like ‘Love Jihad’ for inter-religion marriages does not romanticize their cause at all,” he said. He also confidently mentioned about the Gujarat riots that any violence of such scale is impossible without state complicity.

While concluding, he said that democracy is not about majority rule, but protection of dissent and minority. Dr. Sheela Prasad led the discussion that followed.

Gen X Doles Out Diwali Dhamaka In Bollywood

It was indeed a special Diwali this year as Bollywood witnessed three releases – all by new age directors with a fresh perspective.

Big budget Blue, India’s first under water adventure movie, has many names to boast of. Kylie Minogue, the Australian pop star who is internationally famous, and our desi Oscar winners A R Rahman and Resul Pookkutty are just some of them. The man who made these stalwarts come together and also made a multi super star ensemble cast possible is Anthony Dsouza, taking his first shot at Bollywood. However, he is no novice and has a host of ad films under his belt.

Anthony must be making a toast now as Blue has emerged the clear winner in the Diwali race. It apparently grossed around Rs. 19 crore over its first weekend in India and made good business in the international market as well.

Not far behind is Prem R Soni who hit a jackpot by bagging Sohail Khan Productions to make Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna (MAMK). The movie that stars Salman Khan, Sohail Khan and Kareena Kapoor has a plot that deals with issues of love, career and marriage. However, the bad news is that the movie has been slammed by critics and has got a shoddy response from audience as well. The film did much better in the key international markets though; probably because of a never ending obsession that NRIs nurture for the institution of marriage.

The third Diwali release, All The Best, is also by a young director who already has two super hits to his credit – Golmaal and Golmaal Returns. Rohit Shetty made the film for his friend and producer Ajay Devgn and managed to earn him big money too. The producer may want to think it is because he dropped an ‘a’ from his name; but trade pundits say it is all thanks to Rohit’s mastery over comedy that made this no-brain laugh riot such a huge success.

No matter what verdict the cash registers will pronounce for these films in the coming weeks, it is heartening to see production houses pin not just their hopes, but big money too, on new talent. Even earlier releases like Kambakkht Ishqq (Sabbir Khan), Wake Up Sid (Ayan Mukherjee) and upcoming ones like Kurbaan (Rensil D’Silva) Pankh (Sudipto Chattopadhyay) point towards a healthy trend where freshness is preferred over experience.

It looks like Gen X is all set to rule Bollywood and how!

Equal Opportunity - Myth Or Reality?

Change should be initiated at home and mothers should ensure that their children grow up with a gender sensitive value system, opined the panellists at a discussion organised by the Times of India (ToI) at Taj Deccan, Banjara Hills on October 15.

The event was a part of the Vox Populi series that the newspaper organised in the city in the month of October, in collaboration with Manjeera Homes. ‘Equal Opportunity – Myth or Reality’ was the overarching theme. Has the legendary glass ceiling really been broken, or are the age old perceptions and traditional mindsets still in place when it comes to the Indian woman were some of the questions that the event tried to address.

Dr. Lavanya Kannaiyan (Paediatric Surgeon), Leena Sil (Senior Consultant, PWC), Chandrima Roy (Chief PRO, South Central Railway), Usha Reddy (Principal, Meridian School), Dr. Alladi Suvarna (Neurologist), Suchitra Ella (Bharat Biotech), Kanchan K Malik (University of Hyderabad) and Anjana Sinha (Inspector General of Police) participated in the panel discussion. It was moderated by the Resident Editor of ToI, Kingshuk Nag.

The discussion was carried out under several sub topics like ‘The superwoman expectation,’ ‘Progressive is loose,’ ‘Single woman still not accepted,’ ‘The new-age stridhan,’ ‘Sexual harassment,’ and ‘The sidelined homemaker.’ While the panellists did not have a consensus on personally experiencing sexual harassment or parents-in-law demanding their salaries, everyone agreed that such things happen in lower classes of the society. They also asserted that evolution was not an overnight process.

A group of youngsters present in the audience gave fresh male perspectives that were much needed to balance the opinions of an all-female panel. They pointed at the direction in which the younger generation is heading by citing examples from their lives – some prompting their homemaker moms to start working and some being proud of their girlfriends who earn more than them.

Mr. Nag, with his witty demeanour, made the event quite a lighthearted one despite the sombre theme of the discussion. Roli Srivastava, a senior reporter at ToI, took the lead in organising the event.

Maya Ravan Enthralls Hyderabad

The glorious mystique of Ramayana unfolded on the dais of Ravindra Bharathi as Shobana and her Kalarpana team performed Maya Ravan on Friday, September 18. The dance musical, choreographed and directed by the veteran actress, made an earnest attempt to skim through the entire scope of Ramayana highlighting the heroism of Ravana, while maintaining a bohemian jouissance and filminess.

Shobana, of course, was the centre of attraction. Although a lack of vigour was visible in her body language, her elegant frame and graceful movements made up for it. Archana Ganesan, who played the part of Sita, earned brownie points with the audience too.

An array of gifted voices lent believability to the mythical narrative. Naseeruddin Shah as Ravan was pure delight. The subtlety with which he rendered Ravana’s passion was out of the world. The atrocious Asura who threatens Janaka to give his daughter’s hand, the coy and love-struck demon who tries desperately to allure Sita, the penanced Rakshasa who confides helplessly in Mandodari – all the moods were safe in his experienced vocal cords. Other celebrity voices that Shobana put to use include Tabu as Mandodari, Rohini as Sita, Mohan Lal as Hanuman, Suhasini as Soorpanakha, Milind Soman as Rama, and Jackie Shroff as Dasaratha.

Maya Ravan boasts of a delectable compilation of music scores for its sound track. Put together by Ganesh Kumaresh, it forms the backbone of this epic dance drama. Tunes with an Arabian hint, Kurunthurai couplets, and soundtracks from the MGR era were all used efficiently to aid the narrative. Narumugaiye from Iruvar, one of A R Rahman’s all-time-bests, used as the signature love track for Rama and Sita, Chentharmizhi from Perumazhakkalam used during the Vanvaas sequence and Chinnamma Chilakamma from Meenaxi employed when Ravana naughtily disturbs Sita in Ashokavan were some of the delightful choices the crew made.

Maya Ravan acknowledges that it is inspired by the Ramayana Series by Ashok Banker. However, one genuine complaint that can be raised is that it did not do justice to its protagonist. Ramayana has enough variations that Shobana could have used to conceptually develop Ravana more. However, she chose to stick to the safe path and did not explore the possibilities that were available to demystify him further.

There were also cries that rose from the puritans that this performance should be bracketed out from ‘art.’ The criticism mainly rose from the fact that the performance was very ‘filmy.’ However, considering that Shobana had never made a claim that it was a pure Bharatanatyam performance, this is not a sound argument.

At one point in the dance drama, Ravana tells Sita, “Dharma can be interpreted differently by different people.” Art, too, can be defined and interpreted in various ways. Puritans may not agree, but Maya Ravan was art in one of the most entertaining avatars ever!

The opulent costumes added a great deal to the visual splendour of the production. Shobana herself had seven costume changes; others also indulged quite a number of times. It was remarkable how the colours of costumes were made to match the mood of particular scenes.

Tweets That Toppled Tharoor

Even before completing a year as Minister of State (Foreign Affairs), Shashi Tharoor was in a soup as a threat of forced resignation hovered around his head. Fortunately for him, this time, the Congress High Command (HC) gave a blind eye to his reference to they-who-shall-not-be-named as holy cows. If such a thing would happen again to give an opportunity to the HC to take more profound action, only Tharoor can tell us. It is most likely that he would not want that. Everyone learns their lessons, don’t they?

But why would someone like Tharoor make such a mistake? Is it because of lack of ‘Indian experience?’ Was it a mistake in the first place? The austerity measures were pronounced as part of party policy by none other than Madam Highness Sonia Gandhi. Yet, Tharoor had the guts to proclaim on the micro blogging site Twitter that he found the whole thing silly and made it clear that he vacated his five star accommodation only to please ‘higher powers.’

Whether Tharoor deals with his party bosses with respect or not is none of our business. He is also entitled to freedom of speech and expression like any other normal Indian citizen. But the problem here is that he is not just a normal Indian citizen. He is a man holding a position of national importance. With power, comes responsibility.

While playing with a public domain like the Internet, he should have remembered that his words will not go unnoticed as they would for another normal netizen. Being accessible and visible to common man is one thing; criticising your own affiliations and painting conflicting pictures is another.

It is a simple case of violation of decorum. An employee could very well be sacked if he goes to press openly criticising his company. Just because Tharoor’s comment was made in an online medium, which is not yet taken seriously in India, does not make it any less grave.

This is not to establish that Indians as a population should lose their capability to have a hearty laugh at intended pun. Tharoor’s case would come under this realm if he continues to show the courage to crack such jokes because he is convinced. However, if he chooses to mend his ways from now on, it will become clear that lack of thought is probably what made the earlier gaffe happen.

Time will tell, and we shall wait!

Telugu Cinema Takes A Miss At National Awards

The absence of Telugu films on the winners’ list was conspicuous as the 55^th National Film Awards for the year 2007 were announced on September 7, 2009 by the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The Golden Lotus Award for the Best Film was picked up by Tamil film Kanchivaram directed by Malayali director Priyadarshan.

Prakash Raj won the Best Actor award for his remarkable performance as a hard core communist in the same movie. Umashree bagged the Best Actress laurel for her fine portrayal of Gulabi in the Girish Kasaravalli directed Kannada movie Gulabi Talkies. This film was also adjudged the best feature film in Kannada.

Padma Vibhushan Adoor Gopalakrishnan, the world famous director from Kerala, won his fifth Golden Lotus for the Malayalam movie Naalu Pennungal in the Best Director category.

While the other three South Indian languages walked away with all the top honours, Tollywood failed to bag even one in any category. In fact, except the award for the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment won by Geethanjali (Mani Ratnam, 1990) and Sankarabharanam (K Vishwanath, 1980), no other Golden Lotus for the Best Direction, the Best Film or the Best Children’s Film has ever come to Andhra Pradesh.

This year, Chak De! India by Shimit Amin won the Golden Lotus in the popular category, and Taare Zameen Par (TZP) directed by Aamir Khan won the award for the Best Film on Family Welfare.

The mellifluous track ‘Maa’ from TZP bagged two music awards – the Best Male Playback Singer (Shankar Mahadevan) and the Best Lyricist (Prasoon Joshi). Ouseppachan was chosen the Best Music Director for his composition of five songs based on the same Carnatik raga – Shubha Panthuvarali – in the Malayalam film Ore Kadal. Shreya Ghoshal, who drifted away from her melody queen image through the vibrant rendering of ‘Yeh Ishq Haaye’ in the movie Jab We Met, bagged the Best Female Playback Singer award.

“It was an exciting experience judging the feature films this year,” said Sai Paranjpye, chairperson of the jury for feature films, at a press conference held at New Delhi on September 7. “There were a lot of new films by new directors. In fact, there was a bit of a problem adjudging the best new director,” he added. The laurel eventually went to Shivajee Chandrabhushan for his directorial debut Frozen.

Darshan Jariwala, who played Mahatma Gandhi in Gandhi My Father directed by Feroz Abbas Khan, bagged the Best Supporting Actor award. Shefali Shah became his female counterpart for her power packed performance in the Arindam Chaudhuri movie The Last Lear. These movies also won the awards for the Best Screenplay and the Best English Feature Film respectively.

A heartwarming performance

Although Kanchivaram is set against the backdrop of a growing communist philosophy in the 1940s, the basic thread of the movie is a very personal experience of the protagonist Venkadam played by Prakash Raj. The struggles that he goes through to materialize his word that his daughter will be married in a pattupudavai is the crux of this movie. Prakash Raj convincingly portrayed the tragedy of a weaver who creates numerous expensive sarees for the affluent, but cannot afford one for his own daughter. His helplessness at various moments through the film - when he loses his wife and becomes a single father, when he has to forgo his ideals and steal from work and when he finally loses his daughter for whom he struggled all his life - will definitely move anyone humane. No wonder this gifted actor breathed life into this character without even taking remuneration!

Giving life to Gulabi

A veteran actress with close to three decades of experience in theatre and cinema, playing Gulabi must have been cakewalk for Umashree. It is this ease and effortlessness reflected on screen that eventually won her a coveted Silver Lotus for the Best Actress. Throughout the tight narration by the four time Golden Lotus winner Girish Kasaravalli, Gulabi, an innocent Muslim fisherwoman who is addicted to cinema, fails to understand how she is different from the Hindu fisherwomen friends of hers. It is this perplexity that makes her vulnerable, yet extremely lovable. Gulabi Talkies is entirely Umashree’s movie as the title suggests and she has justified it with a soul stirring performance. She has thus become the third actress to bag the Best Actress trophy for a Kannada film after Nandini Bhaktavatsala (Kaadu, 1974) and Tara (Hasina, 2005).