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| ARTS TRIBUNE | Friday, April 26, 2002, Chandigarh, India |
Amita Malik It seems that TV is becoming one big world of make-belief. The only thing real is the news and that is only too painfully real. When we have people, especially from the world of culture and the arts and more particularly the cinema, popping up ad nauseum day after day, both the interviewers and the subjects are so busy projecting their own screen images, that they tend to forget that in such situations, when they are not supposed to be acting, we would like to see their real faces.
ASC IS DUNIYA KE GHAM (Venus): Many of these songs have been heard before and yet they sound ever so fresh. That is the hallmark of the greatness of an artiste. Boy captures agony on camera
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Satriya dance keeps pace with time Everything changes with time. Even an ancient and rigid dance form such as the Satriya nritya, which has been an integral part of the Assamese cultural scenario for the past 600 years, is going through the process of modernisation to suit the taste of the new generation. Thanks to people like Ghanakanta Bora Borbayan, a pillar of the Satriya culture introduced by Srimanta Shankar Dev, this particular dance has stepped out of the "satras" (a place of worship for the followers of Shankar Dev) into the masses. "The Satriya dance was introduced by Srimanta Shankar Dev to propagate religion, but it later became an important part of the Assamese culture," says Ghanakanta Bora Borbayan who was recently awarded the Sangeet Natak Academy Award for his contribution to the Satriya dance. "So it is only relevant that within the boundary set by great gurus like Shankar Dev and his follower Madhavdev, a few improvisations have been done," he adds. The beauty of the Satriya dance is that it is the only dance form which has been continuing without any break eversince its inception. Most classical dances had "died" at some point of time but Satriya is the only dance that lived throughout, he says. The Satriya dance comprises three parts — guru vandana, Ramdani and geet abhinaya. While guru vandana and Ramdani (which is performed without any music) remain immune to the modern-day invasions, it is the geet abhinaya part, based on the childhood tales of Lord Krishna, that gets a facelift. "Initially, in the satras for the geet abhinaya part we used ‘taal’ and ‘Khol’, but now other instruments like harmonium, tanpura, violin and flute have been introduced to make it more interesting," says Ghanakanta Borbayan. There are other changes too. Like in satras, the dancer enjoys a more interactive rapport with the audience which sits at the same level surrounding him, while on stage the movements have been modified and restricted to a certain extent for entertainment. And the major change that has come over the Satriya dance is that now even girls are taking part in this particular dance form which was initially forbidden in the satras. Though the Satriya dance ceased to be an exclusively religious dance since the mid sixties, it gained popularity among other religious sects only recently, courtesy persons like Maniram Dutta Muktiyar Borbayan and Dr Maheshwar Neog. Maniram Dutta Muktiyar Borbayan was the first dancer who took this dance form to the centrestage when he received the prestigious Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1963. Ghanakanta Bora Borbayan, disciple of Maniram Borbayan, is the fourth Satriya dancer to have received this award. It is good news that the Satriya dance has come out of the satras, says Ghanakanta Borbayan. Now it has come to the ambit of the educated class which can put this dance form into the national scene. The author of two books, "Satriya Nritya" and "Khol Shiksha", Ghanakanta Borbayan has been a major driving force in popularising the Satriya nritya among non-Assamese.
Ghanakanta Borbayan, who has been performing the Satriya dance ever
since he was four, has now dedicated himself to teach the young
generation the finer points of the Satriya dance through his academy
in Guwahati called the Satriya Kala Kendra. "There is no short
cut to learn this dance," says Ghanakanta Borbayan. "One has
to merge himself in the spirituality of the dance to catch its right
essence," he adds.
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SIGHT &
SOUND It seems that TV is becoming one big world of make-belief. The only thing real is the news and that is only too painfully real. When we have people, especially from the world of culture and the arts and more particularly the cinema, popping up ad nauseum day after day, both the interviewers and the subjects are so busy projecting their own screen images, that they tend to forget that in such situations, when they are not supposed to be acting, we would like to see their real faces. Actresses, in particular, keep on tossing their hair, pulling it back, swinging it over their eyes and acting as if their very existence depended on somehow hanging on to their hairdos. Nalini Singh also belongs to this school of compulsive hair-tossers. Mercifully, sometimes, in a real life context, we find real people in real situations. For instance in the BBC series "Commando" with Niret Alva as anchor-commentator we believe in the boys undergoing intensive training, voicing their concerns, their fears, their ambitions, relaxing after a taxing exercise and, above all, being themselves. They look, speak and act naturally, which makes us warm to them. Then we have had serials about contemporary life which restore our faith in reality. Neena Gupta may have figured, in different capacities, in many serials not worthy of her talents, but with "Saans" alone she showed a degree of sensitivity and attention to detail which kept many of us glued to our sets and the fortunes of a credible family undergoing credible problems even when it dragged on for too long. Kavita Choudhury’s "Udaan", about the life of a woman in the IPS, based on the experiences of her IPS sister, was also real life. And also to an extent her serial, "Your Honour" about a woman wrongly accused and her experiences in prison and with the law. To many viewers, these serials about contemporary life are worth all that saas-bahu sob-stuff and one wishes one had more of them. Even the new Zee serial, anchored with natural charm and spontaneity by Faroque Sheikh, has its moments with someone like Shah Rukh Khan. Because Shah Rukh is a natural for TV and does not act coy, or giggle or do "nakhra" like some others who have appeared in the programme, who are more concerned with their star persona than being themselves. In contrast was Madhuri Dixit in Vir Sanghvi’s Sunday interview. She was refreshingly and candidly herself and spoke like an intelligent human being rather than put on a baby doll act. And some anchors, incidentally, need to control their false smiles and excessive bonhomie and stop acting too. They are getting on everyone’s nerves. I have known Tavleen Singh since her cub reporter days, I have read and reviewed her books and I think she is one of the most professional media people around. I think she is aware of my pride in her. But with all that, I must confess I am disappointed in her BBC programme, a sort of filler for Question Time India’s annual sabbatical. For one thing, I wish Tavleen did not have what appears to be a deliberately cultivated senior citizen cum-school-marmish look with glasses perched precariously on her nose and hair flying loose. She is far too young and lively for that and it creates an impression of sloppiness which is not her style at all. For another, I usually find Tavleen very good as a panellist herself and when interviewing. But when conducting this panel discussion, there is a lot of meandering and cross-talk which takes away from the tautness of discussion. I am saying all this because I know no one else will and Tavleen will not misunderstand. I respect her professionalism as much as the BBC’s and I think both need to give the programme a second thought and look. Most people tell me they find the programme dull and switch off.
Tail-piece:
Star Sports seems to have given advertisers the
divine right to decide the ratio between cricket and other sports and
advertisements. It has now become standard practice to cut off
commentaries and visuals before the last ball of an over has hardly
been hit, then to completely cut out the valuable analyses between
overs with loud and irritating ads which barge into the first ball of
the next over. And, of course, such niceties as a victorious team
returning to the pavilion and the reactions of the crowd and, as
happens now, crowding out the line-up of players for the closing
ceremony with endless ads for paan masala and obscene "Frenchie
briefs". Is there no fixed rule about ads not obtruding on the
game itself and the commentaries? If not, it is time Star Sports and
other channels woke up to the atrocities ads are thrusting on sports
lovers and kept their ads on leash.
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AUDIOSCAN IS DUNIYA KE GHAM (Venus): Many of these songs have been heard before and yet they sound ever so fresh. That is the hallmark of the greatness of an artiste. Not only the jacket cover but also the album is dominated by the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan who has sung two songs and has composed four others. All of them bear his unmistakable stamp. Of the two that he has sung, it is difficult to make a choice whether Is duniya ke gham… is better or is it Tanhayee… Laga dheere dheere gham… sung by Reshma in her typical style has been composed by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Equally fluent are Shazia Manzoor in Teri ankhon ne loota chaina… (music Mohmad Arshad; lyrics S.Gilani and N. Qureshi) and Tehsin Javed in Dama dam mast Qalandar (music Mohmad Arshad; lyrics S.Gilani and N. Qureshi). Side B is full of songs composed by the Ustad. There are two duets by Mehnaaz and A Nayyar. Mere sanson mein… sees Mehnaaz giving a good account of herself while Yeh nashila saman… belongs to the latter. Nayyar is also impressive in the single Hansti rahein yeh aankhen… All these three have been penned by Mohsin Naqvi. ANANT …THE ENDLESS (Music Today): What does silence sound like? The question may appear baffling to a layman but those who are into meditation know that the celestial silence has music of its own. This is also manifested in the intonation of sacred verses. The album composed by Vanraj Bhatia presents mesmerising melody coupled with sacred verses from the Vedas and Upanishads. While Side A has invocation and Om, Side B is devoted to Shanti : hymns to peace; prayer for well being; benediction and blessing for peace. Principal singers are Ravindra Sathe and Swapneel Bandodkar. A lot of care appears to have gone into ensuring that pronunciation is flawless. JALWA (Universal): Here is a particular brand of music which tells you from a mile that it belongs to a David Dhawan film. There is a lot of instrumentation and bandbaazi so that nobody goes looking for good lyrics or melody. It opens with the title song rendered by Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu. If you find that lackluster you can try out Dhire dhire… or Chudi khankayee re… (both by Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan) or Aankhen pyaari hain… (Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu). But the album is dominated by a fun song called Carbon copy… which is there in three versions. The one by Kumar Sanu and Shaan is a riot while Kumar Sanu also does a sad version. Another boisterous number is London mein India… by
Sukhwinder Singh and Pankaj Udhas. Dev Kohli’s lyrics have been set
to music by Anand Raj Anand.
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Boy captures agony on camera Trapped in the camera of a 15-year-old school boy, each imprint has a tale to tell — of gore, agony, plunder and medieval barbarism. Clicked by Sahir Raza, who visited the riot-ravaged areas of Ahmedabad, Gomtipur and Mahendrapur in Gujarat last week, each of his 76 pictures bear testimony to the uncontrolled violence that swept through the state. "If you see my pictures, they look like leaves plucked out of our history book detailing a foreign invasion on the Indian soil in the medieval ages. But, the sad part is both the invader and the invaded, the killer and the killed, the plunderer and the plundered belong to this soil. They are all my countrymen,’’ Sahir told UNI after the inauguration of his three-day photo exhibition in New Delhi recently. Aptly named "...And they killed him again’’ with a picture
of the Father of the Nation turning his back to his countrymen, the
exhibition displayed charred ruins of houses and religious places,
selective demolition of shops and business centres, petrified victims
with a stony silence and speaking eyes, an empty grave waiting to be
filled up — all shot in the areas hit by over-a month-long communal
carnage in Ahmedabad, Gomtipur and Mahendrapur. UNI |
