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MUSIC MAKERS
Name any musical instrument and it is made in the city. Parbina Rashid hunts out skilled craftsmen who have been catering to the needs of celebrity musicians
It all started with a friend’s desperate attempts to convert his tenor (an American folk instrument that reminds us of our own native banjo) into an amalgamated version of tenor, guitar and banjo. The music he aims to create with it is a blend of Mexican, Arabian and Indian. Sounds impossible? Not really, if you know the right people to do it for you.
Tito in town
Sukhwant Dhadda alais Tito is now considered a director to reckon with, says
Anuradha Shukla
Sukhwant Dhadda of Ek Chadar Maili Si… fame’, the tag just stuck on and his fame precedes him when you try to find out about one of the most acclaimed directors of our times. Not that he knows what to do with the acclaim, he is the one who created his masterpiece in the first go, it seems.
Playing on
Anandita Gupta
Stories about a talent for singing or love of music, passing from one generation to the other, are not unheard of. However, have you often come across a family that has the love of musical instruments flowing in its veins? If not, it’s time for a lunch date with brothers Surjit and Mohinder Singh.
GENE POOL: At Shimla Music Store one finds three generations of the same family catering to the city music lovers.
— Photo by Pradeep Tewari
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Makeover for Christmas
Christmas conjures up an image of a lush green pine tree decked with dozens of glass icicles and baubles, tons of chocolate treats and trillions of tiny lights. With Christmas just days away, shall we not spruce our homes in true festive spirit?
Give a Christmas makeover to your mirror frame and console with a holly wreath, a simple red bow, a fresh floral arrangement, and a small crystal bowl with a display of red, white, and gold ornaments.
Fill your stone birdbaths with bed of fresh greens and just put a large
gazing ball for an interesting focal point neat your entrance or
outside a window.
HOPSCOTCH
COLOURING CHRIST
Now that it is time to celebrate Christmas, one turns to the very rich world of Christian art to appreciate one of the finest images ever created in Western art and that of course is of Jesus Christ, second perhaps only to that of Madonna, the mother of Christ. Turning to the inspirational image of Christ, as it shaped over the times with a flowing beard to match the flowing robes, so like a Sufi faqir, it is the passion play of painters down the ages to paint the Lord as never before. |
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Beware!
Here comes Tughlaq
Smriti Sharma
Last fortnight proved to be a treat for theatre lovers of the city with so much happening on stage. After the professionals are done with, the focus is now on the budding professionals. It’s time now for the annual production of Department of Indian Theatre, Panjab University.
Keeping in mind the ‘single production obligation’ every year,
underway are some grand plans. And making the production truly
majestic is not only the name, but very character of the play. The
students are all set to stage Tughlaq, which was written by none
other than Girish Karnad way back in the early 70’s.
PERIOD PLAY: All set for Tughlaq |
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Living legend
Parbina Rashid
It took us every ounce of our will power to forego a cozy evening at home and rush to the Haryana Panchayat Bhavan to interview film director and TV personality Arvind Swami who is in town to do field research for his tele-serial Shunya Se Shikhar Tak. But as he started the conversation with ‘I was the one who gave Shah Rukh Khan his first break.’
Dream gambler
Gayatri Rajwade
There are no starry airs about Kunal Kohli. In fact, he is so unassuming that you might just pass, until the penny drops several yards away and you turn to gawk! After all, it is not everyday that you get to meet the man who brought two of Hindi film industry’s biggest stars face-to-face in Fanaa!
FACE OFF
Actor, producer and model Milind Soman’s face may be his personal calling card but as far as his production company is concerned, Face Entertainment, is not some narcissistic sojourn into fame but is a rather fitting acronym for ‘Focussed Action for Creative Excellence’!
Promises to keep
A little Yuletide spirit is how we would like to describe the art exhibition put together by students of Dikshant International School. Children, as young as pre-nursery students, drew and made whatever they could, to pull money for Thalassemic children.
The themes they chose for this exhibition was all positive.
Togetherness, a hand-painting by the pre-nursery children, Happiness
and United We Stand, a thumb painting by Kindergarten students Ready
to Face the World by class II and Basket of Happiness and Blooming
Flowers in various media like fevicol, Plaster of Paris and colours
are cheerful enough to brighten up anyone’s day. |
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YOUTH SPEAK
I was my own Santa Claus
When I was a child, I would wait eagerly for Christmas. Any child would because this is the season when Santa Claus would come down the snowy hills with a bag full of gifts. Days before the big day I would write a letter telling old Santa what to bring for me.
FILM & FASHION
Believe it or not, Ripley is in films
Jim Carrey’s much delayed Paramount Picture’s film, based on the life of curiosity collector Robert Ripley, is set for a planned release in 2009.
The film, directed by Tim Burton, was originally set for release in 2008 but the budget spiralled to reach $ 150 million, prompting Burton and Carrey to ask for a script rewrite by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood).
NEW RELEASES
Laughter ride
The year 2006 has started on a positive note for comedies as the flavour of the year happened to be frolicking laughter rides. Bhagam Bhag is yet another entry into the funny zone which could be categorised as a perfect comedy directed by uncrowned comedy king Priyadarshan, whose last film Malamaal Weekly was a super hit
and as per the trade pundits, he is all set to make us laugh around
a different and quirky subject again, which will be released in the
merry Christmas season today at Batra, Chandigarh, Fun Republic,
Manimajra and Suraj, Panchkula. |
A still from Bhagam Bhag
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