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Sunday, November 30, 2003
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Return
of the ordinary
 Television
soaps started off on a realistic note to provide wholesome entertainment
to the masses but slowly headed for an estrangement from the lifestyle
of the common man. The divorce from middle-class realities perhaps got
the final seal with Ektaa Kapoor’s lavishly mounted, upmarket dramas
bombarding the tube. But the popularity of shows like Jassi Jaissi Koi
Nahin, Office Office, Khichdi, Astitva…, etc, symbolises the
small screen’s remarriage to realism and a reassertion of middle-class
identity, says Chetna Keer Banerjee.
Just
when small screen soaps appeared to have reached the end of the road,
having nothing better to do than flashing images of an elitist, opulent
India into predominantly middle-class living rooms, a crop of different
serials have given them a new turn by taking the common man’s living
room to the tube instead.
Adventure
Mountaineering in terra
incognita
P.M. Das
A team of 11 policemen departed
from Patiala for the Kalle Bank Glacier in the northern fringe of the
Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve of Garhwal recently. It consisted of P.M.
Das (leader), Haripal Sidhu and Vinod Chopra (both deputy leaders),
Ramesh Sharma, Inder Kumar, Nari Dhami, Kulwinder Kumar, Mohan Lal,
Palwinder Singh, Gurbachan Singh and Anand Singh.
Art
controversies at the Mughal court
B.N. Goswamy
One should have anticipated
this in some manner, but the perennial question came up again in the
course of the three-day workshop on mughal painting I was conducting at
Delhi recently: what view does Islam take of painting? We spoke of this
at some length, for a few things needed to be established, at least in
outline.
Preserving a theatre tradition
Kunal Khurana
Mumbai’s
famous Prithvi Theatre celebrates its silver jubilee this year. Named
after the legendary film and stage doyen Prithviraj Kapoor, it was set
up in 1972 by his son and daughter-in-law Shashi and Jennifer Kapoor and
is today run by their daughter, Sanjana Kapoor.
Crossing boundaries
Encounter with
Bittu in Brandenburg
Anees Jung
An eerie quiet hangs over the
dull green waters of Havel the river that flows through the city of
Brandenburg. A group of black ducks, a couple of white swans move
silently. At the end of the deserted promenade, seated on a bench is a
lone young man gazing blankly at the river. He is from India he says
nodding in recognition.
Director’s
special
Vickey
Lalwani
At
31, Karan Johar is rather young to be one of the most sought after
filmmakers of Bollywood. The feel-good Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was all
that was needed to kickstart his career as a director. And the multi-starrer
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham rocketed him to fame. However, for his
third film Kal Ho Naa Ho, Johar has relinquished the directorial
reins to his assistant Nikhil Advani.
Reel rewind: 1997
Year of a
war epic and laugh riot
M.L. Dhawan
J.P. Dutta’s Border was
based on the notes scribbled on the pages of a diary of Dutta’s real
brother — a fighter pilot who died in the battle of Longewala fought
between India and Pakistan in 1991. This
war epic was a star-studded parade featuring Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff,
Sunil Shetty, Akshay Khanna played the lead with authentic performances.
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