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| ARTS TRIBUNE | Friday, June 8, 2001, Chandigarh, India |
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Govt
neglecting art of magic, says Samrat Shankar God save the king The dramatic and terrible events in Nepal flushed out everything else from the small screen. Not only in India, but in the entire subcontinent and in many foreign countries, particularly in Asia, most people must have been glued to their sets, watching this human drama, perhaps we should call it a Greek tragedy, unfolding on the screen in all its horror, not to speak of its political overtones. No looking back for Hum Log’s Chhutki This young lady surely signifies the empowered woman of the 21st century while maintaining a no-nonsense attitude both at work and at home. A bit of arrogance pays in the line of work that she is in, otherwise you might not be taken seriously enough. |
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Titanic
discoverer takes plunge again Robert Ballard refreshed the most awesome of all tragedies by discovering the ruins of the Titanic that had remained in their watery grave unperturbed and unseen by human eyes for some 73 long years. But this compulsive underwater explorer rates the unglamorous "hydrothermal vents" in the ocean floor that spew toxic gases as his most important find. Not that the Titanic is not important to him. It took him 10 long years to discover the ship. And the sight of the mighty liner ripped into two at almost the centre left Dr Ballard emotionally shaken. "The sight of the ship hit me with the tragedy with full force. The object ever-present in the collective imagination of mankind was right there in front of me. It moved me like nothing else ever can," says Dr Ballard, a veteran of over 100 expeditions spanning three decades. His latest achievement is the uncovering of the "real story" of the Pearl Harbour attack. Partnering with historian Stephen Ambrose, Dr Ballard, an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, studied the underwater remains of the most captivating of World War II episodes to piece together the complete picture. Filming the ruins of the battleships and submarines that lay undersea for the first time ever, Dr Ballard’s crew also spoke to some of the survivors of the sea battle to find the "whole" truth. The result was a National Geographic Special, "Pearl Harbour: Legacy of Attack", aired to a record television audience in 128 countries to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the attack on May 27. But Dr Ballard, whose other significant discoveries include the German battleship Bismarck, the lost fleet of Guadal canal and the American aircraft carrier Yorktown, still considers the hydreothermal vents he discovered in the Galapagos Rift in 1977 his important find". It is the scientist in Dr Ballard that makes him see the hydrothermal vents as being so important: "They constitute the kind of place where life must have originated on earth and are also a model for what extraterrestrial life could be like". "They are a new ecosystem with exotic life-forms that survive not on the energy derived from the sun, but on the energy of the earth in the form of chemicals being spewed out through vents in the ocean bed," he explains. As for the scientific point of view, Dr Ballard says it is necessitated by his urge to explore. "I cannot be an explorer without being a scientist. The very nature of underwater exploration makes a scientific perspective indispensable," says the author of more than 50 scientific articles and winner of the Newcomb-Cleveland award for an article he co-authored in "Science". Moreover, the scientist in him has made invaluable contribution to the development of the technology of submersibles (vehicles taking the deep-sea explorer into water) as well as remote-controlled robots that are used to explore and film places in the sea man cannot go to. In a 30-year-long association with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he helped develop manned submersibles and remotely operated vehicles for marine research. "The technology was very primitive and, hence, unsafe when I started out as an underwater explorer. I had many near-death experiences courtesy the quirkiness of the submersibles used in those days. I still remember the time when I had a miraculous escape after crashing into the side of a volcano. Thank God, those vehicles are now in the museum," recalls the 58-year-old marine expert who is also a navy man, a Commander in the US Naval Reserves. Growing up in San Diego, California, a navy town, the atmosphere lent him the ambition to captain a ship. "I grew up wanting to be Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues of the Sea’". But when on a dive, although the commander part of him plays an important role, it is finally the explorer who dominates — "The commander has to make sure everything is OK with the dive, that we are heading in the right direction and that the expedition has to yield fruit. But once we have found the object we’ve been chasing, the explorer in me takes over in a big way," says Dr Ballard. A winner of 13 honorary degrees and six military awards, Dr Ballard received the National Geographic Society’s Hubbard Medal in 1996 for "extraordinary accomplishments in coaxing the secrets from the world’s oceans and engaging students in the wonder of science". It was the discovery of the Titanic that resulted in an ever-growing association between the explorer and children across the globe by way of setting up of the Jason Foundation for Education. "I was inundated by thousands and thousands of letters from children after I found Titanic, which prompted me to make children a part of my deep sea expeditions using satellite imaging. "Thus was born the Jason (the name of a remote-controlled robot used in underwater exploration) Foundation, part of the Jason Project that gives children a chance to witness an underwater expedition in progress through images transmitted via satellite," says Dr Ballard. Right now on top of the agenda of the founder and president of the Institute for Exploration in Mystic is "to find clues to the ‘Great Flood’ which is dated back to a time 7,400 years ago and is linked to the Biblical story of ‘Noah’s Ark’". "I will be
searching for evidence of human inhabitation under water that can tell
the story of the ‘Great Flood’. But I don’t even know what to
expect," says Dr Ballard, whose success in this expedition would
lend a whole new perspective for another milestone in the history of
mankind. PTI |
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Govt neglecting
art of magic, says Samrat Shankar Shankar Chaudhary, commonly known as Jadugar Samrat Shankar, believes that magic is an art and due to apathy of the government, the art is almost on the verge of being extinct. Mr Chaudhary, while talking to this correspondent here on Saturday, said of his total shows (nearly 15,000), more than 12,000 were performed for charity and public donations. Rather than cultivating scientific attitude and rational thinking the art is being used by some persons to mint money, he said. About the decline in people’s interest in the art, he said the TV, video, computer games and entertainment tax on magic had led to the present miserable state of the centuries-old art. "I am in touch with the governments of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi to get about five acres of land as donation to set up a magic academy." He said entertainment tax on magic shows had been exempted in various states, including West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and demanded that the same should be made free all over the country. Mr Chaudhary said he had used his tricks to weed out fake beliefs from people’s mind. He also demonstrated a number of skills and explained that magic had no component of extraterrestrial or superhuman element. |
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SIGHT &
SOUND The dramatic and terrible events in Nepal flushed out everything else from the small screen. Not only in India, but in the entire subcontinent and in many foreign countries, particularly in Asia, most people must have been glued to their sets, watching this human drama, perhaps we should call it a Greek tragedy, unfolding on the screen in all its horror, not to speak of its political overtones. I said the whole of Asia. But the BBC World Service, which does not seem to care much for local priorities, led off on the crucial first two days, with events in the Middle East. Very important, no doubt, but for the people in this part of the world, Nepal, a neighbouring country with long associations with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh (Shades of the Mujib massacres) its other neighbouring countries including China and smaller South Asian countries, were more immediately involved with Nepal and not the Israel-Palestine flare-ups, which are always with us, many disgusted with the use of F-16s and the rest by Israel. And Ye Olde Doordarshan, which seldom has a sense of priorities, did not exactly cover itself with glory over its coverage of Nepal, where every satellite channel operating from India, not only got there first but did the kind of intrepid professional coverage which some of DD’s own correspondents could have managed much better than the Information Service boys. Experienced and highly professional correspondents such as Rudra Sanyal,Gitam Mishra and Chandralekha Verma. But much less forgivable is the way DD captures the monopoly for tennis events because of its clout with the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and gives viewers the minimum coverage possible. Sometimes, the early round matches, where Sampras or Venus Williams exits, are very interesting. In other years Star Sports and ESPN used to cover the earlier rounds with our favourite commentators such as Vijay Amritraj. This year we did not have even that consolation, only Atul Premnarayan on Zee News did a daily brief, round-up. But up to the quarter-finals DD treated us to a miserly half hour of highlights at a time when prime time news or top rating serials dominate the screen. Then, when it finally carried the quarter finals onwards, the National Channel made constant interruptions for news bulletins and many people do not get the Sports Channel, which is more continuous, because cable operators, saddled with two compulsory DD channels, prefer to stick to DD1 and the Metro Channel. Worse still, DD did not press for the Paes-Bhupati matches, not even the quarter-finals, to be shown when Indian viewers would far rather see them than the ladies’ singles. Surely whoever pays the piper calls the tune and it’s time that DD insists that its viewers are given matches of direct interest to India live rather than delayed edited versions or matches cut off half-way because it did not assert the preferences of Indian viewers. To more pleasurable topics and I can
only use the word pleasurable in the context of an obituary because it
was that of vibrant, brilliant actor Anthony Quinn. Obits on Indian TV
tend to be a bit too solemn, even if the departed personality was a
lively, witty person who hated long faces, although, mercifully, the
days of mournful sarangi and bhajan sessions on DD are over. I am not
a great addict of Larry King Live on CNN, because many of his subjects
are Americans of no direct interest to India but it can rise to
tremendous heights with the right person. Larry King was absent and
his substitute, Pat Sayak was a constant irritant, interrupting even
more than Karan Thapar in the bad old days. But he lined up six of
Anthony Quinn’s children and this a day after his death, and the
warmth, the humour the wealth of intimate detail with which they
described that their father as family man, loving father, just a few
days before his death at 86, outpacing one of his younger sons when
climbing a hill, how he set himself, up to the very end, to read three
books a week and managed at least one, was a brilliant insight into
this amazing character, of Zorba, of Viva Zapata, of Lawrence of
Arabia and his first encounter with David Lean who did not recognise
him on the sets with make-up. The tributes of fellow artistes Mickey
Rooney, James Coburn and Jacqueline Bisset, who described him as
"the most male actor I ever met" added up to a wonderful TV
portrait of a wonderful human being and actor. And a pointer to how
obituaries should be done. |
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ART
& CULTURE This young lady surely signifies the empowered woman of the 21st century while maintaining a no-nonsense attitude both at work and at home. A bit of arrogance pays in the line of work that she is in, otherwise you might not be taken seriously enough. Coming from a middle class family and with an older sister working in the AIR for over a decade, Loveleen Mishra enjoyed complete independence when it came to taking decisions for herself. The dictum from her parents was indeed a fair one: "It is your life, make it or waste it". And it goes to Loveleen’s credit that she decided well in time the chartered course of her career in acting and children’s theatre. "While still in school I got hand-picked by Sushma Seth who was rather fond of me and that is how I got the infamous character of Chhutki for the serial "Hum Log" in 1984", quips a petite Loveleen. She conducted a 10-day capsule as part of the ongoing series of the summer theatre workshop for the Strawberry Fields School at Durga Das Foundation in Sector 24, Chandigarh. After having basked in the fame of her charming and till date memorable performance as Chhutki in "Hum Log", Loveleen sensibly trained herself with theatre skills while doing workshops with NSD graduates and a troupe called "Sambhav" that was quite popular in the theatre circuit aiding her to build her confidence and conviction simultaneously in an arena that is consistently challenging and short-lived for many new entrants. On completing her graduation from Lady Shree Ram, Loveleen got affiliated with Barry John’s repertoire that dealt primarily with physically impaired children and performed a spurt of popular productions in the Capital. Knowing that the real action for acting lies in the star city of Mumbai, Loveleen moved from ‘a small pond’ in 1994 and started a fresh existence ‘in the vast ocean’ of talent and ambition. Having done feature film ("Aaghat" and "Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa") with a master director like Govind Nihlani. Loveleen’s credentials were pretty much stated in the cine world, it was only the ‘right’ sort of role that she needed to establish her as an actress with intellect and capability. Television serial "Teacher" got her the first popular break and after that it was a matter of her choice to accept or refuse an offer. "I had my fundas very clear before stepping into the den (Mumbai). For the sake of posterity I want to be remembered as a good performer who did not subscribe to short cuts or do run-of-the-mill roles but instead did few commendably memorable ones in her lifetime," says a stoic Loveleen. Now that is certainly an artiste with a firm head on her shoulders! Loveleen has also indulged in script writing, the maiden opportunity for which came from a colleague. Loveleen has maintained that it is the quality of work and not the quantity that should matter to an artiste. Anurag Kashyap (screenplaywriter of films like "Shool" and "Satya") provided Loveleen with opportunities in the field of writing scripts. And how is this creative exercise different from the previous?" For one, I feel that I am at liberty to create and recreate a character all together without any instructions from another person, it is my design all the way. Also, I get the chance to portray what I might not otherwise observe on a day to day basis but nevertheless feel convinced about it." And what actually compels the actress to perform either on stage or on the screen? "To put it bluntly, I need to get kicked into acting. Yes, the character has to be thought-provoking and motivating both intellectually as well as aesthetically." Any dream ventures regarding script writing in the offing?" Well, can’t say much about it as of now. However, I am thinking of doing something with the notion of present day image of India. It is obviously no longer the ‘land of maharajas and snake charmers’. It has travelled a great deal with respect to various issues. Take the case of the institution of marriage. There is a majority of urban poor where a conventional marriage is not necessarily expected from a ward, be it a girl/a boy. The choice to live with a publicly and socially acknowledged partner is no longer mandatory for either gender. Things have and are in the process of tremendous change in within the Indian social fabric." Well, that would be a topic of hot
debate with many! For someone as committed, energetic, focussed and
articulate as Loveleen Mishra, there is no looking back. |
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