The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

Revival of guru-shishya parampara
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — For those wedded to the classical form of dance, it is actually an occasion for celebration, with the founder-secretary of the Pracheen Kala Kendra, Madan Lal Koser, deciding to revive the guru-shishya parampara.

Little was it fresh to the memory that the founder-secretary of the kendra had a history of rhythmic grace behind him. But today as Koser went public about the fact that he could no longer avoid the itch to get back to dancing, a lot of his association with nritya came to the fore.

Koser, who earned the reputation of tandav samrat, has now got his feet back in the dancing form as he today announced the formation of a choreography troupe. The announcement, came coupled with another news which obviously interested the dance lovers more than anything else.

Koser also announced that he would revive the guru shishya parampara and would give personal attention to all his students who would form part of his ballet troupe. As for the content of the course to be offered, Koser would teach anything ranging from Kathakali and Bharatnatyam to Kathak.

COURTS

Notice to Registrar on ex-Judge’s contempt plea
By Our Legal Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — Mr Ishwar Chander Jain, a former Additional District and Sessions Judge of Haryana, who had been compulsorily retired on the court’s recommendation, moved a contempt petition against the Punjab and Haryana High Court and its Registrar, Mrs Nirmal Yadav.

Mrs Justice Bakhshish Kaur issued notice of the petition to the Registrar for October 5. She refused to issue notice against the court.

The petitioner stated that he was a member of the Haryana Superior Judicial Service and was working under the supervision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. On being compulsorily retired on May 15, 1996, by the Haryana Government, he challenged the order in the High Court which quashed his compulsory retirement with all consequential benefits. The High Court preferred an appeal in the Supreme Court, which was dismissed.

The HC Registrar allegedly asked him to submit a joining report, but when he submitted the report on June 14, 1999, he was placed under suspension, in contemplation of the revival of dropped inquiry against him by the High Court. He again approached the High Court questioning his suspension. A Division Bench again quashed the order on June 2. He submitted that under the June 2 order he was reinstated in service and was entitled to full salary and posting as Additional Sessions Judge. However, despite his request the respondents issued no posting order. Besides, he was only being paid subsistance allowance and that he was being treated as under suspension in official letters, he alleged.

He contended that the High Court order dated June 2, was not being given due effect although three months had passed and that the respondents were intentionally not implementing the judicial order of this court and were thus wilfully disobeying it.

Order to court on bribery charge

Mr Justice S.S. Nijjar of the High Court today directed the trial court at Sirsa to take notice of the statement allegedly made by Mr Roshan Lal, a resident of Sirsa, before the S.D.M. under Section 164 of Cr P.C. against the them S.H.O. of Malout, Mr Harmohan Singh, and A.S.I. Anwar of allegedly having demanded bribes from him.

The petitioner had earlier complained to the High Court about the bribes, but today the Deputy Advocate-General submitted on behalf of the SSP, Muktsar, that Roshan Lal was not cooperating in the probe into the charge. Earlier the SSP had been directed by the High Court to hold an inquiry about the complaint.

The Judge directed the trial court to decide the matter on merit and directed the petitioner’s counsel to ensure his client’s presence in court on September 18.

Gurmeet Kaur refused bail
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — The bail application moved by Gurmeet Kaur was today dismissed by the UT Judicial Magistrate (1st Class ) in a case of storing adulterated petrol in the farmhouse.

The accused was arrested by the police for allegedly storing the adulterated petrol in cricketer and film star Yog Raj Singh’s farmhouse under Sections 420,285,286 and 120B.Yog Raj Singh was apprehending arrest in a cheating case registered by the Chandigarh Police on June 30 under Sections 420,286 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code.

The judge observed that accused Gurmeet Kaur had allegedly committed serious crime, therefore could not be granted bail.

CULTURE

Film on Himachal folklore
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — Negi films, a Chandigarh-based film and TV serial production company, announced its second production in the form of a Hindi feature film, Sui, here today. The film is based on a 10th century folklore of Chamba.

The story goes that Sui, the queen of Chamba, sacrificed her life to bring water in the parched kingdom. Even after 1,000 years have passed by, water in the kingdom is still being supplied from the same source where the queen laid down her life. Centuries later also, the people of Chamba still feel highly indebted to the queen and pay tributes to her by organising a fortnight-long festival every year in the month of Chaitra.

The film under production is an attempt to present the immortal folklore and it is being directed by Sunil Babbar. Research on the film, being produced by Bhupinder Singh Negi, is being done by Pawan Parkhi and Dev Badotra. The script has been written by Bharti, a Haryana Sahitya Akademi award winner. The film will be released on November 16.

Is Fiza magic fading?
By Chitleen K Sethi
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — One week after Fiza was released, it seems that the initial craze for the movie has fizzled out. The movie is doing well but not as per the expectations as the madding crowd outside the halls for the first three days of its release projected.

The first three days of the release of the movie saw a phenomenal crowd outside the theatre in Chandigarh for each show and just a week after there are shows which are not going even houseful. What went wrong? Has the Hrithik magic gone down? Has the story let down? Or is it that all that our ever entertainment hungry audience wants to see is Govinda gyrating?

There have been a hoard of mixed responses about the movie by those who have seen it. For instance, a group of university students had several different opinions on the movie. Priti, a B.Sc (Hons) student, said,” The movie was really nice but the end was not very positive”. Jasleen, her class fellow says, “The movie is touching, and there is no doubt about it. But on second thoughts it is rather disturbing to the mind.”

But what about the performances? “The movie is very good and Hrithik is simply brilliant. Even he has a small role as compared to Karishma, still he has managed to make a mark. He might not be physically present on the screen a lot but the movie actually revolves around his character,” says Vishal, an employee of the Mountview.

It seems that most of the people have found some flaw or the other with the storyline and its complicity. Ms Renu Maheshwari, who had come all the way from Hoshiarpur to watch the movie, say that she is satisfied. “The movie is very well made and there is no dearth of acting abilities. The credit goes to the director for the performances of the three main artists. All that is lacking is the movie’s storyline which keeps dwindling all through,” she said.

Mr Gupta who has come to see the movie with his daughter-in-law and grandchildren says, “The movie reminded me of Maachis but then Maachis had a very strong screenplay while here the acting was good but the story did not justify the complicated theme they had taken up.”

“Karishma did a very good job of the difficult role that she had. Hrithik’s role was too little and it was a let down to go and see that all that hype that had been created about it being a Hrithik Roshan film was wrong, “says Rohit, a computer engineer. “The movie was good but I failed to understand the end. It was a brilliant performance by the actors but then at times it got too slow.” says Vicky, a student.

“Oh this movie made me cry so much, but not as much as I had cried while watching Maachis. I guess in an effort to make it commercially viable the story has been tampered with. As otherwise the theme and the story is unique,” says Ms Walia a housewife.

“Hrithik Roshan is going to be the next Amitabh Bachchan” gushed Chetna, a +2 student. “He is absolutely great. But Karishma at times is looking too beautiful to justify the trauma she is supposed to portray. Tabu would have done a justice to this role,” he added.

“I think that the film was a very well made one specially on an almost taboo theme. But commercially these kind of films do not run. People do not come to see movies which make them cry or make them feel bad about the injustice in the world. This is what this movie does.” say Poonam, a viewer. “It is the kind of film which is going to appeal only to the serious minded audience. To others the movie is just Hrithik and Karishma together in a film. But certainly it is not going to be a crowd puller for long,” says Monika, a computer student.

Correlating nature and man through art
By Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — Bold compositions etched in nature’s grandeur beckon the viewer at the very entrance of the gallery at Government Arts College, Sector 10. From one frame to another, all works tickle the imagination. And even as the mind gets occupied in reading between the various strips which give a distinctly novel impression to the etched works, eyes gaze into the aura of nature’s majesty created so effortlessly on the frames by the local artist Subhash Shorey.

Shorey, whose works will be on display till September 23, manages to impress the senses with his extremely experimentative inclination. The techniques employed in the 49 works on display are varied to one another and even within each frame of work, there is further reflection of experimentation. The artist, who has been awarded a two-year scholarship by the Government of India, presents novelty in his works of etching in aqua tint. Nature dominates his thought process and mountains have been especially painted to reflect power and perseverance which, the artist says, “are the two attributes that drive him towards creation.”

In the works of etching, Subhash further creates a maze by first creating the basic work in which he generally relates to nature and then rationally cutting the work and recomposing it thus to give birth top another composition altogether.

In most works of etching, the theme on the display is nature and its force. Then there is another set of works where the artist uses relief printing to put across his awe of nature. Yet another work display is the one which bagged the Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi award for the millennium drawing. This particular work combines pencil and pen to create a mystic effect.

Colours have also been employed but selectively. In this category one work stands out for the bright water colours used to first create the original work which is followed by an entirely different attempt. The artist cuts the work to misplace pieces and thus plays with the form by breaking its monotony.

Subhash Shorey, a local fine arts teacher with Government Model School, Sector 26, has to his credit several solo exhibitions, but this one reflects his works wholly.

The marked feature of the collection on the display, however, is the unique ability of the artist to cut his works into horizontal and vertical cuts and strips and relate the complexities of nature to that of the human mind. He also works on the male and female forms without inhibitions, and in many works, eulogises woman as the source of creation.