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| ARTS TRIBUNE | Friday, May 25, 2001, Chandigarh, India |
Breathing life into
dead wood Americans too dance to drum beats
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Actor-director par excellence TO be invited to present a play at a national-level festival, along with productions directed by theatre stalwarts like Naseeruddin Shah, Nadira Babbar, Shyamanand Jalan, Shantanu Das, Ratan Thiyam, K.N. Panikker and Habib Tanvir, to name only a few, can be a matter of honour as well as a challenge for any amateur director. This privilege came to Pahlad Aggarwal, under whose direction Chandigarh-based Abhinet’s “Kimidam Yaksham” was staged at the National School of Drama’s Third National Theatre Festival held in Delhi recently. The presence of playwright Nand Kishore Acharya, who came especially from Bikaner to watch his script being enacted into a bold and gripping drama on stage, provided a rare moment of pride to the director and his team. Pahlad’s journey into the world of theatre beginning from Government College, Sector 11, Chandigarh, spans over almost three decades. During the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, he produced many off-beat one-act plays which won acclaim at Panjab University Youth Festivals. Two experimental plays Bhartendu Harishchander’s “Andher Nagri Chaupat Raja” and Mohan Rakesh’s “Chhatrian”, casting mostly African students, won PU Inter Zonal Youth Festivals during 1991 and 1992. It was due to the sheer grit and determination of this virtuoso that novices with a totally different accent could be trained to deliver their dialogues in fluent Hindi. Wilfred, a Kenyan student, remains to date the only foreigner to have bagged the best actor award at an Inter Zonal/University Youth Festival. Pahlad was also instrumental in reviving the unique tradition of staging full-length plays in Government College, Sector 11. Under his overall direction, the college produced Badal Sircar’s “Bari Buaji” (Hindi), J.M. Barrie’s “The Professor’s Love Story” (English) and Ishaq Mohammed’s “Quqnas” (Punjabi) during 1979-81. In 1977, Pahlad’s passion for theatre brought him into the fold of Abhinet, a repertoire of theatre intellectuals of City Beautiful. Since then, there has been no looking back and his graph, both as an actor and a director, has been steadily rising. From 1978 to 2000, he played stellar roles in Abhinet’s master-pieces “Ant-Nahin”, “Dulari Bai”, “Ala Afsar”, “Andha Yug”, “Mudra Rakshas”, “Mitti ki Gari”, “End Game”, “Ek Prashan Mrityu”, “Bhagwadajjukam”, “Charpai”, “Madhyam Vyayog”, “Barnam Van”, “Shakuntlam”, “Hastinapur”, and “Kimidam Yaksham”. He also directed for Abhinet many challenging plays, including “Lal Kaner”, “Dehantar”, “Surya ki Antim Kiran se Surya ki Pahli Kiran Tak”, “Neel Panchhi”, “Purani Haveli”, “Shakuntlam”, “Hastinapur” and the latest “Kimidam Yaksham”. This ardent artiste’s theatre operations have not remained confined to Chandigarh. In 1996 he directed for MLN College, Yamuna Nagar, Asgar Wajahat’s utopia of Hindu-Muslim co-existence “Oh Janmaya hi Nahin Jis Dekhya Nahin Lahore”. Again, it was a rare recognition of his expertise in directing chaste Hindi plays when, in 1998, this genius without any professional qualifications in drama was invited to direct the Hindi adaptation of Jyotirishwar’s Sanskrit classic “Dhoort Samagam” at the Department of Theatre, Punjabi University, Patiala. A special show was held at Andretta (HP), in addition to its four shows staged at the Patiala university. Children have a great inborn potential. To harness and promote their talents, the Cultural Centre for Children was established in 1991 at Lajpat Rai Bhavan, Chandigarh, under the stewardship of this versatile actor-director. Apart from daily sessions in dance, music, painting, literature etc, long-term workshops in theatre were held at this centre. The workshops culminated in the production of “Neel Panchhi”, “Purani Haveli”, “Khel Ghar”, “Bal Ramayana” and “Nand Nandan”, all directed by Pahlad. It goes to the credit of this innovator that a unique programme to promote national integration through the interaction of children from different states of India was organised by this centre in 1994 and then again in 1995. Each participant from outside Chandigarh in this “Child-to-Child” programme stayed with a host child from the city and shared his/her lifestyle for a week. Various cultural activities were undertaken jointly by the children, making it a lifetime experience for them. The execution of this massive project speaks volumes of Pahlad’s conviction in the theory of “Catch them young”. Can such a talented actor remain unnoticed by the electronic media? No wonder, he was called upon to play character roles in TV serials Sardar Anjum’s “Goongi Twareekh” and G.S. Channi’s “Bandhak” telecast from Doordarshan. Besides playing a leading role in “Giraft”, Pahlad is also the executive producer of the serial to be telecast from Zee TV soon. Despite his duties as a commerce teacher (now at Government College, Sector 46), Pahlad has been actively involved in many theatre workshops, seminars and festivals in various capacities. In fact, it is difficult to visualise him as an actor, a director, a producer and an organiser separately. He has been the secretary of Abhinet for a number of years. All these accomplishments are not the end of the road for this top-notcher. His dedication and passion for theatre knows no bounds. As he avers, he has miles to go and has some big projects in mind. We can indeed expect speedy fulfilment of these dreams from this man of indomitable spirit. |
Breathing life into dead wood WOODCARVING is an important craft of Himachal Pradesh. Wood has been used as a structural material and medium of creative expression since times immemorial. The abundance of forest wealth provided the raw material, while faith and nature the inspiration to local craftsmen who transformed lifeless planks of fragrant deodar into objects of art. Today this artistic expression can be seen in the intricate floral and geometrical patterns carved on wooden doors, ceilings, window frames, arches and balconies of the palaces of erstwhile rulers and the traditional houses of wealthy landlords in the interiors. The palaces at Rampur
Bushahar, Sarahan and Jubbal display the finest work of woodcarving in Shimla district. But perhaps the best woodcarvings and relief work are preserved in the numerous wooden temples scattered throughout the higher region of the state. The ancient temples of Lakshana Devi and Shakti Devi in Chamba district, Mrikula Devi at Udaipur
(Lahaul), Hadimba temple at Manali, Mahadev and Parshuram at Nirmand (Kulu district), Prasher temple in Mandi district, Bhimakali at Sarahan and Hatkoti in Rohru are renowned for their woodcarvings and relief work. In these temples, apart from the floral and ornamental designs, images of Hindu deities and scenes from the Hindu mythology are elaborately carved. Similarly, smaller village shrines dedicated to local deities are also richly carved in the folk style. In the tribal belt of the state, an interesting fusion of Hinduism and Buddhism can be seen in the woodcarvings where dragons and other Buddhist motifs are carved along with the universal Hindu deities. The woodcarvings preserved in the temples, palaces and traditional houses of Himachal have few parallels and speak of the high artistic skill and creativity of the local craftsmen. The art of woodcarving is still alive today. There are a few who have painstakingly carried forward this tradition and are keeping a part of Himachal’s culture breathing. Working with simple tools and the knowledge handed down through generations, rural artisans continue to chisel elegant designs and bold images of powerful spirituality in their own unique folk style. |
Americans too dance to drum beats BHANGRA, the Punjabi folk dance, is a hit not only among all South Asians in the USA, the Americans too dance to the drum beats in special discos every weekend, a newspaper report said. In the USA, the century old style of Punjabi folk, characterised by a distinctive drumbeat, has been updated with drum machines like percussion and other modern instrumentation, the Washington Post reported. “The popularity of Bhangra music snowballed during the 1980s and 1990s and now Bhangra scenes can be found in most cities in the UK and major American cities,” it noted. In a unique development in the USA, a South-Asian student group at George Washington University in the USA capital hosts annual ‘Bhangra Blowout’ intercollegiate dance competitions. Western instruments like guitars and bass were also incorporated into Bhangra, mostly performed at immigrants’ wedding parties, the Post said. The mixing of traditional ethnic music with contemporary Western music styles, began during the 1970s, and “it wasn’t long before Bhangra records were plundering up-to-date genres: the rhythm tracks and singing vocal style of reggae dancehall and the beats, bass lines and scratching of hip-hop,” it said. Disc jockeys, who play Bhangra, are generally male but there are females too. One of them, Rekha Malhotra, 29, who was born in London where her parents had emigrated from New Delhi and grew up in New York, said: “Bhangra doesn’t come from India anymore. I think of Bhangra as British music. It is one of the many genre of music produced by Asians in the diaspora.
PTI |
SIGHT &
SOUND LIKE it or not, Indians are among the most vociferous political animals in the world. A politician-eating animal and no monkey-man getting away with scratching the surface. From the friendly neighbourhood paanwala, to hardened hacks at the Press Club, from wine-quaffing page 3 socialites to jhuggi-jhopri dwellers, they love their political arguments. They know whom to throw out when and keep the politicians and savvy analysts on constant tenterhooks and often leave pollsters and other sabjantawallahas with red faces. Indian soaps having descended to archaic levels with saas-bahu and pati-patni variations, mostly on the strictly conservative side with a few more modern-minded rebellious women thrown in, it was a good but very belated idea on the part of competitive channels to hit on politics for a change. Not that it has not been done before and top actors like Om Puri and TV chatterers like Shekhar Suman have treated us to wonderful cameos of our netas, who lend themselves so easily to both crude farce and subtle satire. Which is why, I think, there is so much discussion and comparison going on about “Ji Mantriji” on Star Plus and “Pradhan Mantri” on Zee and endless chases of ratings. They mostly leave me cold, because they are the business of the channels and the advertisers, while viewers faced with above-the-average programmes go by merit and their personal preferences. Of course it is the viewer who makes ratings, but rarities such as minority preference programmes surely have their place in the sun and need not be written off or thrown out merely because they are not popular with the lowest common denominator, which is the be-all and end-all of commercial TV anywhere. But there should be public service (guess who?) channels and public-minded private sector channels which at least sometimes keep the discriminating viewer, or should we call it the intellectual, happy. “Pradhan Mantri” is refreshingly different. M.J. Akbar, who has seen it all, has drawn freely, perhaps too freely, on contemporary politics. Rajiv Gandhi, of course (he is already discussing assassination attempts). There are shades of Tehelka, with the minister video-taped with his hands in the till saying it is an attack on the backward classes, Jessica Lall, (pulling of guns at a young drinking party) the Hinduja brothers (not allowed to leave India and the brother abroad fuming about it) Dhiren Bramhachari and mention of an arms factory, the PM’s secretary called John, the drop in shares illegal recommendations of gas agencies, not to mention a Naqvi in the Cabinet. It’s almost like that famous quote from Samuel Goldwyn, the Hollywood moghul who, on being asked to film Shakespeare shouted: “He is just a string of quotations”. “Ji Mantriji”, to be followed by “Pradhan Mantri”, may be deja vu for those who have seen “Yes Minister”, but I find it interesting to see how it has adapted to an Indian setting and how well the raciness of the English dialogue has been cleverly captured by the Indian translators who had a difficult job on their hands but have hit on the kind of easy colloquial language which everyone can follow. Also, far from finding Jayant Kripalani’s Hindi lacking, I know many bureaucrats who speak in clipped accents like sahibs and an equal number of politicians who speak the kind of involved shudh Hindi first introduced by AIR and DD and which raises the necessary titters. Frankly, I am enjoying both “Pradhan Mantri” and “Ji Mantriji” as much for their intrinsic, if differing, appeals as their professional nuances. There is plenty of room for both and hang the ratings. I initially found Amitabh Bachchan a little patronising, if not exactly indulging in baby talk, in “Junior Crorepati”, but he has found the happy mean, especially as the children maintain their poise admirably. But I do find the lavish star-worship in KBC very cloying (apparently on instructions from the producers) and getting totally out of hand. Cut it out, Siddhartha Basu. The programme can stand on popular support, particularly with many winners coming from middle-class backgrounds and small towns. Let’s keep it that way. |
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