Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Before he became saheb
Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays a young Bal Thackeray while shooting for the late politico's biopic, at Ballad Pier on Sunday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Six women artists head to Germany
April-end will see an interesting Indo-German artistic dialogue, one featuring six women artists from India.

From April 29 to October 7, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg will present Facing India, an exhibition featuring 94 works in various media by artists Vibha Galhotra, Bharti Kher, Prajakta Potnis, Reena Saini Kallat (inset), Mithu Sen and Tejal Shah.

Reena Kallat's Woven Chronicle

It looks at a new generation of women artists from India and what it means to be one. How do they position themselves today? Do they match the legacy of their feminist predecessors? How do they beat the rigid patriarchy in our country? These are some of the questions the show tries to explore.

It's time for change
The Obama Foundation Fellowship, which seeks to connect community-based leaders, kick-starts its first class this year. And of the 20,000 change-makers from 191 countries, who sent their applications for the inaugural call of entries, only 20 were selected, representing 11 countries.

India is one of them, courtesy Preethi Herman, global executive director at Change.org, an online platform for starting petitions and mobilising support. Yes, the very website that you use to raise your voice against cruelty towards dogs in Kerala to green movements. Herman, who has led many campaigns, advocates the marriage of association and technology as means of empowering regular citizens.

Because actions speak louder
The online campaigns and candlelight vigils that one sees in the wake of horrific incidents in the country are often described as knee-jerk reactions that tend to lose steam soon after the news stops being in the headlines. What's different with the protests against the Kathua and Unnao incidents, though, is that apart from the marches and online support pouring in numerous known faces, a crowd-funding campaign was launched recently to raise money for both the victims' families for their legal fight for justice.

The campaign has received support from actor-comedian Vir Das and actor Kunal Kapoor among others, where they have not only donated to the cause themselves, but Das's efforts to spread the word through social media has generated close to '2,30,000 additionally.

The campaign's goal stated on the website '40 lakh, of which '36 lakh have already been raised. But given the kind of support that has been pouring in, the website founders have kept it open-ended, where the final amount collected will be divided equally between the two families. Keen to make a difference? Go to crowdnewsing.com

Fish with a purpose
They say the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach. The protagonist in Maacher Jhol: The Fish Curry, directed by Abhishek Verma (inset), attempts just that. Dedicated to the LGBTQ community, the film pivots around the life of 28-year-old Lalit Ghosh, who falls in love with his roommate and finally decides to come out to his father over a meal of carefully prepared fish curry, his favourite.

A still from Maacher Jhol

The film is making waves after it won the National Award for the best animated film, but it first came to our notice when it won Best Indian Narrative Short Film award during Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2017. Interestingly, two films that have previously won in the same category at Kashish, too, have gone on to bag National Awards.

While Mitraa by Ravi Jadhav won the National Award for Best Short Film in 2015, Daaravta by Nishant Roy Bombarde won the National Award for Best Debut Director in 2016. Looking for a hint for the awards next year? The festival kicks off in the city next month.

Mom knows best
We often get a glimpse of the fun bond that actor Neena Gupta shares with daughter and ace designer Masaba. When the former put out a tweet with a brief description of herself as an actor keen to take up interesting assignments not so long ago, Masaba fully endorsed her move.

Yesterday, when mommy dearest landed up at Masaba's office, here's what she had to say, "Guess, who's come to office and is gonna slam all the new designs in 30 seconds?" Now we know who puts the designs to the ultimate test!

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