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STATE OF THE MUSEUMS
Search for a soul
A government-appointed committee
has recommended a massive upgradation project to make the country’s
most important museums in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai more
popular for visitors. The Tribune reporters
check out the situation at the ground level
MUMBAI
 Old museum, new
look
Shiv Kumar
The
Bhau Daji Lad Museum, formerly the Victoria and Albert Museum,
the oldest in Mumbai got a facelift as part of a joint effort by the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the Indian National Trust for
Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). The museum was originally built in
1872 after the one in London by the former British colonial rulers as
a mark of honour to Queen Victoria.
A museum is more than mere artefacts on display. The Chennai museum.
— Photo by Sriram Selvraj
Highs and lows of
cricket telecast
Amar Nath Wadehra and Randeep
Wadehra
During
the 1981 Melbourne test, Sunil Gavaskar staged a walkout,
dragging fellow-opener Chetan Chauhan with him. Since, in those days,
we in India did not have the benefit of live TV coverage and advanced
technology, it was accepted that Gavaskar had done so because of the
manner in which he was given out and not because Dennis Lillee had let
loose a barrage of invectives against him. Were some of those remarks
racist? We do not know.
The land was their
life
The West Bengal Government
promised to give 1,000 acres of land to the Tatas in a bid to
encourage the setting up of industries in the state. The decision has
not only adversely impacted the peasant population of Singur but has
also endangered the livelihoods of landless labourers and small
tradesmen, reports Aparna Pallavi
He
used to love the land. He was a good farmer," says Sandhya
Das in a tremulous voice as she talks about her late husband Prashant,
who took his life at the age of 35 as a result of losing his farmland.
Sandhya’s is just one
of the many families of Singur in Hooghly district of West Bengal, who
recently lost their fertile farmlands when the state government
decided that their lands would be used to set up industrial giant
Tata’s small car factory.
Towering genius
called Vivekananda
He dazzled the world with his
impeccable lectures and stormed the West with his practical Vedantic
philosophy. His success revived the unprecedented sense of national
pride among Indians, writes Rashi
Sharma
Who
can forget the indomitable mammoth task of the great warrior
monk Swami Vivekananda? As an envoy of the spiritual legacy of India,
he has embossed his name with perfect emollient on the annals of world
religious history. Today we are celebrating the 145th birth
anniversary of this legendary figure. Born on January 12, 1863,
Vivekananda was the proud son of Vishawanath Datta and Bhuvaneshwari
Devi. In his childhood he was known as Naren.
Death of formula
The style of storytelling is
undergoing a change. Cinematic clich`E9s and stereotypes are being
challenged and whosoever is prepared to push the bar can have a winner
in his hands, says Derek Bose
Bollywood
is no longer a place where movies are made with six songs, two
rapes, five fights`85 and the hero crashing through glass to rescue a
damsel in distress. Many movies are made without songs these days. A
lot more do not have heroines. The villain too is getting edged out,
as have the comedians. And not all films are having happy endings.
‘My fame has
nothing to do with TV’
Shweta Thakur
While
most celebrities would agree that television remarkably
increases the visibility of a star, Bollywood actor Vinay Pathak
refuses to give credit to the small screen or theatre for his soaring
popularity.
‘I have worked on
my own terms’
Pankaj Kapoor talks to V.
Ananth about his latest film Halla Bol
Though
Pankaj Kapoor has been in the film industry for the last 27
years, it is for the first time that he has worked in a film under
Rajkumar Santoshi’s direction. "It may sound strange but Halla
Bol is my first film with Raji," says Pankaj.
According to Pankaj Kapoor, ‘Halla Bol’ means to make a noise and
then attack. "The film is about an individual’s journey to come
to terms with truth.
Honour for Bertolucci
Italian
director Bernardo Bertolucci will receive a star on
Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. The honour for the 67-year-old director
will be revealed on February 19 in front of Mann’s Chinese Theatre
during the Los Angeles Italia pre-Oscars Italian cinema showcase.
Seema’s comic act
Subhash K. Jha
Finally,
Seema Biswas of Bandit Queen fame lets her hair down for NRI
filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s comedy Stella. Mehta and Seema have
one thing in common. They both badly need to loosen up. Seema has been
doing an unbroken series of stern, wretchedly unhappy characters,
including the unforgiving mother in Sooraj Barjatya’s Vivah
and the profoundly grieving widow in Deepa Mehta’s Water.
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