Dedicated news reader
By Arvind Katyal
A cute face appears every day on Jain TV News channel. It belongs to none other than Chandigarh damsel Charul Malik who has removed the notion that it is not at all necessary to have any previous experience of modelling or fashion shows to get inducted into a career of facing the camera.

Audioscan by ASC

Punjabi lyrics now right track
THE soil of Sunam, a small town in Sangrur district of Punjab, has given birth to such brave persons and artists who taught a lesson to anti-Punjab and anti-human culprits. It was Udham Singh of Sunam who avenged the massacre of innocent people at Jalianwalabagh by killing General Dayer though he had to wait for 20 years.

Blend of human relations and nature
By Anjana Datta

ART lovers of Chandigarh never had it so good. With a series of exhibitions and art shows being held in various art galleries of the city, the art scene has become alive. And there have emerged quite, a few names on the art front.

One such name is that of Anju Pasricha, who held a solo exhibition of her paintings at Chandigarh recently.

Anju paints themes of social life and naturalism. Her richly varied works depicting subtleties and complexities of human relationships and various aspects of nature, mirror the artist’s impressions. They present contrasting facets of modern art. Resplendent in rich and bright colours, they are archaically expressive, striking and thought-provoking. The pure beauty and serenity of her works reveal a whole world of ideas, images and emotions dictated by her faith in human relationships. Each painting has a distinct personality of its own.

There are images depicting various aspects of a woman’s life. For instance, in one of her paintings Anju has depicted the blossoming of a woman in her natural environs. Standing alone with the backdrop of bamboo trees, it is a picture of compelling liveliness and vitality. Another painting of a woman with a kind and serene face, holding her child close to her heart, is highly emotional in its content and form. Yet another painting depicts a woman who seems to be in love with herself. It is equally realistic and individualistic.

Through this series of paintings on women, she tries to offer a vital insight into a woman’s understanding of herself and her relation to her environment. Her work is all conscience, passion and joy without a trace of triviality. “I try to explore the physical and spiritual world in which we live”, she remarks.

Sometimes, Anju’s works draw one’s attention to the varied aspects of nature. Being a lover of nature, she is immensely fascinated by its beauty. And she beautifully captures the phenomenon of nature on her canvas.

“Nature is inseparable from man”, says Anju, “and man, too, is inseparable from nature. It’s sheer joy to incorporate all wonders of nature — the glorious sunrises and sunsets and the bright stars on my canvas”.

There is a painting of a mighty tree the roots of which are embedded in the soil and fruit-bearing branches in full bloom. According to her, everything in nature has its roots and a unique form. The same is the case with man.

In one of her pictures, Anju has depicted nature as a jumbled mixture of many kinds of trees. Set against a carpet of rich foliage in the background, it has a pleasing rhythm due to the shapes of the foliage masses and consistent brush strokes. One is simply charmed by the lovely and diverse textures of the leaves and their softness which is emphasised by brilliant and vibrant shades. The arresting quality of the picture, however, comes from the incongruous contrast of the plants and leaves which symbolise growth and life.

Diversity is one of the obvious characteristics of Anju’s work. Some of her paintings are just abstract and expressionist. What she tries to express in her works is an array of ideas and varied aspects of life. “Life offers the artist a wide range of interesting, complex and rich material for her work”, she maintains. “Every object and emotion that deeply and sincerely stir me suggest a host of new ideas, themes and images for my work. And, I know of no greater joy than to see on my canvas the beauty of my own thought. Whatever I feel, I translate it into a new theme and put it on my canvas”, she states.

The beauty and serenity of her works suggest her consummate style. The unforgettable saturated hues peculiar to her own style, exhibit a remarkable quality of expression in everything she puts her hand on — be it oils or acrylic.

No doubt, her paintings are sold even before the exhibition begins. For her buyers are legions and her fan-following tremendous and increasing further day by day. Her paintings have been acquired by various Army clubs, leading hotel groups, including the Piccadily group of hotels, Best Western and Surya, New Delhi, and private banks, apart from numerous private collectors both in India and abroad.

The essence of her art is the quality of her work. “I cannot compromise on my elaborate decorative style”, she remarks, “for that is what my buyers like”. So layer upon layer of heavy paint on her canvases decorate those heavy faces that stare daringly right back at you. Besides, instead of repeating or reproducing a composition, she always looks for something new for her work.

Anju is a born artist. As a child, she used to dabble in painting. After doing O’Levels from Zambia, where her father was posted with the Defence Accounts of India, she did B.Com from S.D. College at Chandigarh. Later, she joined Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan in Calcutta and did post-graduation in Public Relations. After a brief stint with Grand Oberoi in Calcutta, where she worked as a Public Relations Officer, she came to Chandigarh. After her marriage to Sanjeev Pasricha, a local businessman, she settled down in Chandigarh. After her marriage, she even joined CITCO as a PRO. But the job failed to inspire her and she quit it.

She tried her hand at painting and produced some beautiful pieces of art, which were appreciated by her family and friends. In order to learn the basics of the art, she sought guidance from Ram Kumar Sharma, a renowned artist. She held her maiden exhibition under the title “Meditation” which proved to be a big hit. All her paintings were sold as soon as they were put on display.

Soon afterwards, she started painting seriously. She participated in numerous exhibitions and won prestigious awards from AIFACS and the Bank of Punjab on 50 years of Indian Independence for her works in 1997. She then held a workshop for painting, organised by Lalit Kala Akademy, along with French artists in 1998.

Anju is an intense person. And this is obvious in her paintings. She wants to leave her mark on the Indian art scene like her favourite artists Claude Monet, a French painter, Anjali, Ela Menon and Manjit Bawa.

Dedicated news reader
By Arvind Katyal

A cute face appears every day on Jain TV News channel. It belongs to none other than Chandigarh damsel Charul Malik who has removed the notion that it is not at all necessary to have any previous experience of modelling or fashion shows to get inducted into a career of facing the camera.

Charul joined this channel in September this year through an open interview and has gone on to become one of the finest news readers in this vast expanding industry. Famous TV celebrities Prannoy Roy and Vinod Dua had even complimented her on her fine flow of speech on one occasion. “Their compliments have infused into me more confidence and inspiration”, says Charul.

Charul, who has hardly ever fumbled during these three months of news reading, says she does her homework properly before taking any VIP’s interview. Recently she was also signed for Rozana, a news bulletin of half-an-hour duration from 1.30 p.m. daily on DD News Channel, by an independent agency BAG.

Charul reveals that right from childhood she had the desire and aim to become such a celebrity because “everyone in every family is glued to TV.” Those days Doordarshan was the only available TV channel and Salma Sultan was her role model.

Charul’s twin sister Parul recalls one memorable incident when her sister was only four years old. One day when all members of the family were watching TV, Charul appeared before them with her face peeping out of a cardboard TV set.

But that was just the beginning of her aim. Her parents noticed Charul’s growing interest in becoming a TV anchor.

After finishing class X from Government Model High School, Sector 28, Charul took admission in Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, where she did her Class XII in arts subjects. But her aim was to go in for a course in current affairs. So her father, himself a practising advocate, told her to join LL.B. She recently finished her LL.B. from Kurukshetra University.

On her sister’s advice she joined Siti Channel and anchored the news as well as its ‘Paheli’ programme.

Charul says she never misses the news on Star and Zee News Channels. Barkha Dutt has impressed her the most, especially for her coverage of Kargil insurgency operations.

Charul says her interview was conducted in Delhi where she had to clear audition, screen and Intelligence Quotient tests. The most challenging test was of asking questions from politicians, as elections were just round the corner.

Twentyone-year-old Charul is fluent in both English and Hindi. She has proved that one needs only the determination and will to do something and of course the confidence to do it and then opportunities do come one’s way.

Audioscan by ASC
Ghulam Ali’s son rises

Only Mohabbat (Tips): Ghulam Ali has few equals in the field of ghazal singing. That is why the career of his son, Amir is bound to be watched with exceptional interest. However, the junior Ali does not seem to be endowed with the same genius. At least in this cassette, his voice sounds rather flat and uninspiring.

His classical base is not mature enough. And then he has begun consciously on the pop line. It took the talent of his father to make even the lowly dhol fashionable. Accompanying him, such sounds come out as commonplace.

Perhaps the main reason for the mediocre quality is that Amir has taken upon himself the task of writing the songs and the music also. With better lyrics, Lovely lovely... could have been a more enjoyable song. It is there in a remix version also, as are two other songs, Dil bole yaara yaara... and Mere saath jhoomle....

To Amir’s credit, he has made a refreshing fusion of the sitar and the tabla with western instruments in some of the songs.

JAADUGARIYAN (Venus): The accusation of recycling himself has been hurled at Gurdas Mann for a fairly long time. But every now and then he comes up with a song which catches the imagination of the nation. The title song here is the identified one. It has that electrifying effect—to send it zooming.

The unfortunate part is that there are not many other songs to keep pace with this one. In fact, most others look like template copies of earlier Mann hits.

Music has been composed by Amar Haldipur. The cassette marks flowering of Gurdas as a lyricist. Several songs have first-grade imagery due to which Gurdas excels more as a lyricist. He is now also willing to grow beyond the standard 1-2-3 beat in songs like Pyar pehla pehla... and Mudh ja ve mudh ja beeba....

SIGNATURE COLLECTION (Tips): When A.R. Rahman personally chooses his finest from a meteoric career, there is bound to be excitement about what he picks up and what he leaves out. His final list happens to tally remarkably with that of this reviewer. That the cassette begins (Taal se taal mila...) and ends (Ishq bina...) with “Taal” illustrates that he is not overly nostalgic about the past but is ever ready to move on. In fact, there is another “song” from “Taal” here, Beat of Passion....

“Rangeela” also comes in for such special attention. Tanha tanha..., Hai Rama... and Mangta hai kya... are all there. The others included are Awara bhavre... (“Sapnay”), Roja... (“Roja”), O bhavre... and Zahreela pyar... (both “Daud”) and Muqabla muqabla... (“Humse Hai Muqabla”).

As one listens to all this fusion of jazz, western and classical music, what is noticeable is that with the passage of time, a strange serenity is enveloping his creations. One can only imagine what he will come up with once the wild streak is totally gone!

Songs are not only from Tips cassettes but also Gramophone Co. and Magnasound.

Punjabi lyrics now right track

THE soil of Sunam, a small town in Sangrur district of Punjab, has given birth to such brave persons and artists who taught a lesson to anti-Punjab and anti-human culprits. It was Udham Singh of Sunam who avenged the massacre of innocent people at Jalianwalabagh by killing General Dayer though he had to wait for 20 years.

After terrorism in Punjab, the rivers of singing-lyrics began to flow. Gradually its level began to decline. Some cheap songs did not spare even the mazars of peers and Faqirs. Now Punjabi singing has reached the level of “Tenu dekh ke ribbon na katya gaya, Toon pass te main fail ho gaya and Toon ghodi pher chhadi, pehla saab kar mere naal yaara....”

Unfortunately nobody, be it a writer-association or a political/cultural group, has raised its voice against this decline in Punjabi poetry. Even a religious organisation like the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has not taken any notice.

Even Jalandhar Doordarshan has made such songs ornaments of its programmes in “Lishkara”, “Goonj”, “Jhanjar Sugat”, “Akhaara” and “Apna Punjab” etc. Here is an example of Doordarshan’s efforts: “Channa teri hoor ajey saj muklai ve, tin din ghaar sohreya de reh ke aaye, mssa rakhya see man samjha ke, malo mali chanak payeena vanga yaar de boohe agge aa ke mallo...”

Bhagwant Mann of Satoj village of Sunam has taken up the responsibility of putting poetry on the right track. He has almost thrown a “cassette bomb” of “Jattan da munda gaon laggya” in the assembly of lyrics-singing.

Noticing the decline of the cassette culture he says he would keep his new cassette away from “doli cars” and “marriage tents”. This cassette has brought a storm in the world of Punjabi poetry. No doubt most of the present crop of “chalu geet” lyricists are feeling restless with the arrival of this culturally-rich poetry. They are feeling compelled to think and analyse their own writings. Bhagwant’s new cassette gives virtually a tongue-lashing to many social evils prevalent in our society, such as the dowry system, alchoholism etc.

“Kehi chal payee Punjab ch galat jehi reet,

Dheean, bhena wale, daso sunenge kehre geet,

Jis karke jhukana paya sar,

Na eho jhey karam karo,

Har kuri noo mashooq kehan waleo,

Oye thodi bahuti sharam karo...

Callege banatey tusi ashqui de adde,

Primary school wale bache veen nahin chade,

Paeran vich rolo na Punjabi maa boli,

Jan deo sukhi saandi kise di vi doli,

Sewa ho gayee vatheri sabhayachar de,

Band hun kalam karo

Har kuri noo mashooq kehan waleo...

* * * *

Bhanda, tinda, manja, piri, dangar vachha vech,

Sari ghar di zameen dhar gahne

Jatta da munda, gaon laggya

Channa bhan ke banna le chenae,

Jatta da munda gaon laggya.

* * * *

Pher aakhoo koi jaylalota,

Aise kaam nahin chalta,

Har tani ulloo beh gaye ne,

Kursi de pange pe gaye ne,

TV wale vee kahe gaye ne,

Votan layee raho tiyaar kure nee,

Oh tut gaye sarkar kure nee.

* * * *

Surkhi paper vich kadai,

Karda dollara vich kamai,

Amrica settle munda layee,

Kanya di lor bayee.

Bhagwant’s father Mohinder Singh and mother Harpal Kaur remember the naughty childhood of their son. His only sister Manpreet feels proud of her brother.

The young Bhagwant is very serious about corruption. His frank comments are a satire on the character of today’s politicians.

After completing his matriculation from Cheema village, he took admission in Government College of Sunam. He won a gold medal in a mono-acting competition organised by Punjabi University, Patiala in 1990-91 for his college.

His first cassette “Ghobi diye kachyee vparne”...., which was full of light comedy, proved to be a hit and established him in the upcoming young artistes’ category successfully. After that Bhagwant did not look back in scaling new heights of popularity. He has produced more than 13 cassettes so far. Some of them are: “Kulfi grama garam”, “Mithian mircha”, “Jagde raho” etc. He has touched upon all aspects of corruption prevailing in our society. He has acted in many Punjabi films, besides appearing in Delhi and Jalandhar Doordarshan programmes. Looking at the declining image of Punjabi poetry he feels the day is not far when we will have to print a statutary warning on our cassettes also, saying: “Bachchon ki pahunch se door rakhen”.

* * * *

He says lovers and politicians make false promises only. The lover always says to his beloved that he will bring stars from the sky. Though the beloved is fully aware of the falsehood of this statement, she believes him, like our public believes our politicians.

In an interview at his home, Bhagwant says the youth not only do aashqi mashooqi and suicide, also they become engineers, pilots, professors and journalists. He opines that the lyricist writes only on that percentage of the students who do not have a strong character, he does not write a single line about those students who are responsible students and about parents who have stopped their daughters from going to college only because of these low-level songs.

— Kuldip Dhanaula