The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Suresh Karkera
Khaki on call
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A unit of Mumbai Police on guard at Azad Maidan, as workers from the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation continue to protest at the spot.
The objective of their theatre
(From left) Choiti Ghosh and Padma Damodaran in a play called Dhaaba. Pic courtesy/Instagram
A theatre company that was born when actor-artiste Sanjna Kapoor said, “Natak karo, Prithvi Carnival pe karo,” has now completed 10 years. Actor-puppeteer Choiti Ghosh, also the founder of Tram Arts Trust, told us, “Object theatre is still the most fun thing I do in the day. Tram Arts came into being spontaneously, but we continued because it’s so much fun. Thankfully, we now have players in the group who ideate and envision; if not for them, I wouldn’t be going through old pictures and posts to mark the year.” She added that they’ve already celebrated the milestone with Thing-A-Magic, an international object theatre festival last month, in association with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. The trust has a busy year ahead: “Our artist support programme that was launched during the pandemic will be an annual tradition from now on. We commissioned three new performances by regional artistes with three micro-grants. One of them is yet to premiere; that will happen in March. The public premiere of our film/object play, Khidkiyan, is also due in the first quarter of the new year. We could work on the project and bring it out due to the challenges imposed by the pandemic,” Ghosh said, adding that there’s more to come.
Making its name on foreign shores
Tanmay Dhanania
Nazarband, a film by Suman Mukhopadhyay, toys with the idea of home. It is a story that summarises a natural urge — searching for a place to belong. On winning the Audience Award at River to River Florence Indian Film Festival 2021, Mumbai-based actor Tanmay Dhanania, who played the character of Chandu in the film, told this diarist, “It’s always wonderful to be appreciated by viewers. It feels great to know that an audience as discerning as the Italian recognised our work.” Being released from the prison after five years, Vasanti must find her way to the slums in the busy city of Kolkata. Her husband hasn’t come to receive her and she’s on her own. She takes Chandu’s help, a man with vile intentions, only to realise a mall has replaced her neighbourhood. When this diarist asked Dhanania about why the film is a must-watch, he said, “It is such an honest film around a basic idea; the honesty shows the urban landscape of Kolkata in a new light.”
Straight from the art!
A sketch of cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar from the calendar
A large packet arrived on this diarist’s desk recently, courtesy cartoonist and caricaturist Austin Coutinho. The thoughtful gesture entailed two copies of his cricket-themed calendar for us. We couldn’t help thinking that this is an extension of Austin’s daily collage of caricatures to remember sportspersons on their birthdays. Since Austin doesn’t reveal the name of the sportspersons in his profiles alongside the caricatures, it serves as a nice early-morning quiz on social media before you scroll down to the comments section for the answer. Where his “autographed and numbered” editions of his calendar are concerned, Austin could service only a limited number of buyers. But, he is happy about striking a chord with cricket lovers in an age where selfies are gaining huge importance over autographs and collectibles. By the way, autograph collectors are big losers in the pandemic. That is a topic we’ll keep for another day.
And now, it’s Pune’s turn
Vivek Dudani
The alternative music space AntiSOCIAL will open its doors to music-lovers in Pune later this week. The opening of this brand new spot will be kicked off with a three-day showcase. “Pune has a wealth of culture, but not enough dedicated spaces for music. It usually has bars, nightclubs and cafés that host events. We believe this could be the place for good music,” shared Vivek Dudani, programming head for SOCIAL and AntiSOCIAL. With the sheer amount of homegrown musical talent coming out of Pune in the recent times, it is only fitting that there’s a designated venue to explore the upcoming voices the city has to offer. He added that although it is a small venue, the place has been adorned with state-of-the-art acoustics, lighting and technology. “Our intention is not just to help young musicians grow, but also devise a space for culture. There is a lot of regional talent that we wish to focus on,” he maintained.
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