Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Pic/Ashish Raje

The tricolour sheen

The Gateway of India looks resplendent in the colours of the Indian National Flag as people gather around it to click photographs

Azaadi, unplugged

Umar Khalid and Ankur Tewari

It's going to be almost a year since activist leader Umar Khalid was arrested by the Delhi Police in the Delhi Riots case - a move that many have seen as a clampdown on dissent. In solidarity with Khalid, and many defenders of dissent who remain in jails, the Stand With Umar Khalid campaign over the weekend brought together performing artistes such as Ankur Tewari, Sushant Singh, Sarah Hashmi, Sabika Naqvi and Saeed Mirza, among others, to explore the meaning of freedom at a virtual gathering - Azaadi ka matlab kya. Songs were sung, couplets were recited, and ahead of India's 75th Independence Day, a collective prayer was whispered, for a different kind of azaadi.

The humannes of our heroes

Ranveer Brar and Nishchay Gogia

On the eve of Independence, a new storytelling session took audiences back in time and helped them identify their heroic voices. Producer and storyteller Nishchay Gogia presented Jan Gan Man, a prose and poetry session that narrated tales about some of the nation's bravehearts. Gogia said the idea of communicating episodes related to our freedom struggle through simple stories has always appealed to him. "There's a general conception that discussions on freedom or patriotism mostly involve preachy monologues. That's something we tried to debunk through this production." Stories presented in the piece allowed viewers to see heroes as ordinary human beings who did some extraordinary deeds. Actor Nakuul Mehta, trans activist Sushant Divgikar and chef-actor Ranveer Brar came together for this unique project. Brar, who spoke about Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, shared with this diarist, "Bose had an unreasonable rebel in him. Each one of us has that unreasonable rebel in ourselves, but over time and due to the world we live in, we tend to lose that voice. I have also written a small poem on the spot." Relive these stories in a new light @1947.productions on Instagram.

Local diaries

Bombay Local by Surabhi Banerjee

Illustrator Surabhi Banerjee's (in pic) Instagram handle will please the art-inspired Mumbaikar. Her recent artwork, Bombay Local, caught our eye. Sharing about her process, she told this diarist, "Travels during my college and architecture school years made me marvel that so many people could contentedly coexist in a small space." Banerjee's drawings are informed by the Ligne Claire style that was pioneered by Herge, and is usually a stripped-down image with crisp line work.

Trans-forming plastic

Shivkala Mudaliar and Priya Jadhav

When Priya Jadhav of the Devamrut Foundation met Think Etc founder, Shivkala Mudaliar, it led to an interesting project. Mudaliar shared, "The transgender community is still feared, rather than welcomed and accepted." On Rakshabandhan, Mudaliar and Jadhav launched an enterprise to help the community sell hand-woven plastic bags for daily use. "They want to earn a living so that they are respected and appreciated," the entrepreneur told us. With 50 members from the community already involved, the team plans to train them as per their skills to facilitate efficient production. "By October, we will have them ready in time for Diwali. The first step is to sell 100 bags, at least," she revealed.

A win in Locarno

Filmmaker and illustrator Gitanjali Rao was awarded the Kids Award la Mobiliare for her body of work in cinema for a younger audience last week by the Locarno International Film Festival. "The honour is satisfying as it is for my work both on and off the screen," Rao admitted. The fact that children are called young audiences, said the filmmaker, is proof that they are treated with a mature sense of understanding. "Not limited to cartoon films for children's entertainment," Rao remarked. Sadly, it might take a few more years for India to look at animation in the same way. But Rao implied change is on its way. We defer to her knowledge in this matter.