Article
Kalyug – An Art Film For The Masses
LIKE every other Shyam Benegal film, Kalyug, slated for release next month, has already received more than its fair share of media attention. The focus, however, seems to have been on the fact that the director has cast commercially established stars such as Rekha, Shashi Kapoor and Raj Babbar in its major roles. The criticism […]
Article
Music – Prabha Atre – Low-Key Virtuoso
Dr Prabha Atre, 45, vocalist, is a simple, unassuming person, not given to talking about herself. Watching her go about the modest Mahim flat, worrying about the carpenter not coming in, or the snacks being served right, it is difficult to imagine the same woman on stage at a concert—dignified, even a little aloof, and […]
Article
Performance – A Musical Fair
IT was no different from other music festivals that Bombay is treated to during the peak music season, except that it was organised by Protima Bedi, and her Odissi Dance Centre students. And since Protima is a commercial password when it comes to all things cultural, the festival drew to its charmed circle, big names. […]
Article
Zakir Hussain – The Tabla Maestro
About five years ago, Zakir Hussain, like all other talented tabla players, was known merely as an accompanist. Being the son of a world famous artiste, Ustad Alla Rakha, he had far more exposure than those with less exalted family connections, but he did not draw crowds for himself, as he does today. This star […]
Article
A Perfect Pair – Vijaya And Farrokh Mehta
ARROKH MEHTA has just completed a full-house run of the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, where in his role as Mitch, he stole the show. His wife, Vijaya has just successfully launched a classical theatre production in Sanskrit, Abhigyan Shakuntal, which is amassing rave reviews from critics. Right now however both the Mehtas are going […]
Article
Girish Karnad – Interview by Interview by AHMED RIZVI and NANDAN NILEKANI
After Basu Chatterjee’s ‘Swami’, Girish Karnad is much in demand as a ‘character actor’ in commercial Hindi cinema. But he first made his mark as a playwright (‘Tughlaq’, ‘Hayavadana’) and as one of the pioneers of the new cinema movement in Karnataka. Karnad maintains =his varied involvement in theatre and cinema— as a writer, an […]
Article
Choas At The Kendra – DOORDARSHAN STRIKE
Bombay Doordarshan, that bureaucratic monolith, has now been in existence for just over eight years. Almost unremarked upon by the press so far for its gross ineptitude and mismanagement, it suddenly became the focus of attention early this month. The Doordarshan Programme Staff Union (Dpsu) announced their decision to begin a massive strike to express […]
Article
Crime – Murder – A Bloody Affair
It seemed incredible that a murder could be committed in a building right on the main road of one of the City’s busiest areas—Chowpatty. But on November 12, ex-judge of the Bombay High Court S.M. Shah, 75, and his wife Dr Mira Shah, 61, were found in a pool of blood in their home in […]
Interview
Ghasiram Kotwal – An Inconclusive Muddle
SUDDENLY, eight years after it had first been performed, Ghasiram Kotwal was in the news again. Bombay’s theatre world watched, stunned, as a dispute that everyone thought had been settled forever, grabbed the headlines last fortnight. Contributing to a sense of deja vu was the fact that the opposing sides in the dispute were old […]
Article
Event Of The Fortnight – The Karnad Wedding
The event of the fortnight was the catch of the the year, Girish Karnad, tying the knot with his lady love of 10 years’ standing, Saraswathy Ganpathy. That the evening saw the big names amongst playwrights, film-makers, socialites, ad men, and models emerge from, their respective niches, speaks volumes for the bridegroom’s versatility. View PDF […]