Arts, Culture & Entertainment – Page 27

** Entries open for talent competitions to mark 75 years of Independence

Entries opened for public participation on Sunday.

Singer and Bharat Ratna awardee Lata Mangeshkar, Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman and sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik have given their backing to the nationwide talent competitions meant to celebrate the 75th year of Independence.

On Sunday, the three celebrities digitally introduced the competitions announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his ‘Mann ki Baat’ address a week ago, saying that the “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav must be filled with colours of art, culture, songs and music.”

** This Dutch baker is serving Kochi ‘sloffen’ and ‘boterkoek’

Sarah Lisa bakes typical Dutch confections out of her home in Kochi

Sliced strawberries in various shades of pink sit symmetrically on the base of strawberry sloffen, a Dutch cake-like cookie with almond paste and topped with buttercream, fresh strawberry and vanilla glaze. Boterkoek, butter cake, is another Dutch confection that Sarah Lisa, who with her husband Vibin Varghese, runs Zera Noya, a Dutch Bakery out of their home in Kadavanthra.

** The Man Who Would Be Rani

Story of Chapal Bhaduri who played jatra’s leading lady for decades.

Prabha Devi died and Chapal Rani was born. But I shall come to that later. This is the story of the last of the great female impersonators on stage.

A doyen of the Bengali folk theatre form of jatra, Chapal Bhaduri, or Chapal Rani, ruled the stage between 1958 and 1974.

He played Anjana in Raja Debidas, Amita in Sesh Arati and Iravati in Maharaja Parikshit.

** Violinist Prabhakar Jog dies

Noted violinist Prabhakar Jog died at his residence here in Maharashtra on Sunday due to age-related issues.

He had performed more than 80 solo programmes as part of ‘Ganare Violin’ shows in India and Dubai.

Jog, who worked as a musician and composer for more than six decades, had made significant contributions to the Marathi and Hindi film music

** Gajanan Upadhyaya: The father of Indian furniture design

In 1966, he left for Copenhagen to train in furniture design at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, worked with Poul Kjærholm, and a host of other designers during the golden period of Danish design.

In 2018, when I last met Gajanan Upadhyaya, he was as full of enthusiastic energy as in the 1980s when I was a student at the institute. He quizzed me in that inimitable way of his, ‘But you are not a furniture designer, you are a communication designer, why have you come to ask me about my chairs?’. As quickly and without waiting for my reply, he proceeded to explain the details of the particular chair he was holding up.

** 65 Indian artists will get together in Italy for a groundbreaking exhibition in November

The Hub India art show in Turin marks what one hopes will be the re-emergence of physical art viewing worldwide

Sometimes art is the best catharsis. Even as India emerges into what seems like the beginning of the end of the pandemic, a major project featuring more than 65 Indian artists will open in Turin, Italy, in the coming days, signalling the relaunch of public and overseas engagements for art. Coming in these fractured times, the Hub India exhibition seems like a testament to the irrepressible quality of the humane and artistic spirit.

** Isha Ambani appointed on the Board of Trustees of the prestigious Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art

In 2019, Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries’ Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, was elected to the board of New York’s The Metropolitan Museum of Art

** Different take

THE THIN EDGE | Reconstructing India’s freedom struggle on celluloid

Re-examining periods of the past is crucial to deepening our understanding of history. Today, when we are fighting a massive, relentless hijacking attempt on the history of our freedom struggle by the falsification factories of the Hindutva brigade, genuine re-examinations of the first few decades of the 20th century matter more than ever.

Shoojit Sircar’s recently released film, Sardar Udham, positions itself as such a project, one which brings to light the almost forgotten story of Udham Singh, who also went to the gallows, ten years after the execution of his younger and much more famous HSRA comrade, Bhagat Singh.

** Meet Savita Singh, the ‘camera ma’am’

Savita Singh’s film not only won the National Award for Best Cinematography, it is also India’s short film entry for the Oscars

If cinematography is the art of making the invisible visible, then Savita Singh has mastered it. Her short film Sonsi is not only winner of this year’s National Award for Best Cinematography, it is India’s entry for the Oscars in the short film category.

Savita, who hails from a family of farmers in Hisar and is the first female graduate from her village, has gradually emerged as an ambassador of the growing tribe of women cinematographers in the country.

** ‘Znehazandram’ award presented

Honour for display of inspirational talent despite odds

Cherupuzha native Elizabeth S. Mathew was presented with the maiden Znehazandram Excellence Award instituted by the Kozhikode-based Zmart Foundation for inspiring personalities.

Ms. Mathew was chosen for the honour comprising a purse of ₹50,000 and memento considering her inspirational musical talent despite her continuing struggle to overcome the neurological disorder Tourette syndrome.

Kerala