Mumbai Diary: Sunday dossier

Two eyes are better than four
(From left) Actor Ashish Vidyarthi and actor-director Rajit Kapoor take an innovative selfie as TV and theatre actor Nagesh Bhonsle looks on at the opening ceremony of Prthivi's annual theatre festival in Juhu on Friday night. Pic/Asish Raje

Ram Ke Naam in Bangla now?
This diarist has learnt that veteran documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan (in pic) is currently working on the Bengali version of his National Award winning film Ram Ke Naam (In The Name of God), that he plans to screen for a select audience in the city. We hear that actress Konkona Sen Sharma has been roped in to aid in the narration and subtitling. Patwardhan, who is known as one of the most quiet and private filmmakers in the business, wants to keep things under wraps. "We are working on the subtitles right now. The film is over a decade old, and it's all being done on a very informal level, for a close circle essentially. He [Patwardhan] does not want to make much noise about it," says a source close to the filmmaker. The reticence regarding the matter could also be due to the run-ins the film has had with political authorities in the past. Ram Ke Naam is a 1992 documentary that traces the journey of Babri Masjid from build-up to demolition. Following controversial reactions from muscle powers that have threatened to disrupt screenings in the past, the director made the film available on YouTube two years ago.

Tishani Doshi. Pic/Carlo Pizzati

Yes, the girls are coming out
WHILE the #metoo campaign has snowballed into a strong force on social media, closer home, poet and journalist Tishani Doshi's poem Girls Are Coming Out Of The Woods from a recently-released poetry collection, which goes by the same name and published by HarperCollins India, is also hitting the right notes. Over the last few weeks, Doshi's poem - dedicated to her friend, Monika Ghurde, who was murdered in her apartment in Goa last year - has gone viral with many calling it an apt tribute to the #metoo brigade. "I began writing this poem in July 2013 as a reaction to what happened to Jyoti Singh in December 2012," says the writer. "I knew I wanted the poem to be a kind of anthem - Girls Are Coming out of the Woods, repeated like a battle cry. Women were finally able to tell their stories. There is a moment of realisation that there is hardly any woman on this planet who can't say 'me too'. For the poem to resonate the way it has is to reassure me of the gifts of poetry - wonder, resurrection and the reminder that we are not here alone," she adds.

Getting high on cricket in Lower Parel
GidEON Haigh (in pic), quite easily the best cricket historian in business today, was in Mumbai earlier this week to discuss sports writing with sports analyst Ayaz Memon at an event organised by Pomegranate Workshop in Lower Parel. Melbourne-based Haigh's audience were enthralled by his observations on the game and cricket literature. Quite a few in the lounge included admirers of Haigh's literary works and there was more than just one cricket enthusiast who brought along his collection of Haigh books for inscriptions. One young Haigh fan had got in touch with him and requested him for a copy of The Summer Game, a book on Australian Test cricket from 1947 to 1971 and Haigh was happy to oblige. As he inscribed his books, this diarist couldn't help thinking about how Haigh managed to write the first of his 22 cricket books - The Cricket War - published in 1993. The finest account of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket packed in a 398-page paperback was written in a one-bedroom flat on a borrowed computer with cereals being the most affordable product to consume. Haigh didn't find a publisher easily and found it a task to convince some of the biggest names in world cricket to share their memories with him for the book. Today, he'll sail through on both these counts be it writing books on business, crime or cricket. We have nothing but admiration for you, GH.

This show ain't a drag
There are a few LGBTQI-friendly clubs across the city, and that's why we are impressed with Kitty Su's weekly drag nights. And now the club at The Lalit is bringing down famed drag artist, Alaska Thunderfuck 5000, who was also the winner of RuPaul's Drag Race. Alaska will be performing at both Kitty Su Mumbai and Delhi, on November 10 and 12, which is also in order to celebrate a decade of the Gay Pride Parade in India. She will be joined by Mumbai performer Sushant Divgikar as well, who has been performing as Rani Ko-He-Nur at Kitty Su for a while nights now. "I am a huge fan of drag culture and probably the biggest fan of Alaska, ever!," said Keshav Suri (in pic), Executive Director, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group. "My aim is to change the notion of India as a non-inclusive country worldwide by bringing all the marginalised communities into mainstream." Good going.

Kiran Nadar

More power to Indian art
We are pretty chuffed to learn that some of India's best-known names in the art fraternity have made it into the Power 100 list by ArtReview. The global list, considered to be one of the best in the contemporary art world, has already been lauded for prizing ideas over money, and we are happy to tell you all that the RAQS Media Collective has been bumped up to No 36, from last year's position at 86, for "combining art, curating and theory". Kochi-Muziris Biennale's artist founders, Riyas Komu and Bose Krishnamachari, are on the 84th spot, a point down from last year. The list also welcomed the entry of Kiran Nadar, who opened the first private museum in India.