12th results on May 25

New Delhi
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will declare the results of class XII examinations for Delhi and Allahabad regions on May 25.

The results will be available on the website, cbsersults.nic.in, from 1 pm onwards. OC

CULTURE

ARTSCAPE
Southern artists tug at the heartstrings of Delhiites
Rana A Siddiqui

THIS time around, two significant things have happened in Delhi’s artistic calendar, a few cool paintings from the southern states of our country and visits of artists to the Capital, with their representative works.

Whether it is the remote areas of Chennai, Baroda, Kolkata or the adjoining parts of the Capital itself, artists have different tales to tell, as also varied creations to exhibit.

“The Southern Breeze”, an exhibition of few artists from Chennai at ‘Art Alive Gallery’ is an attempt to bring South India out of the closet. The gallery shows those few artists from the Southern states who are well known in their areas but have not been introduced to Delhi art lovers.

These artists paint figuratives and semi-figuratives.

Take for example, Sripathy Acharya, who, despite being from the southern part of the country, is more drawn towards Rajasthani folk people. His ‘Parampara’ paintings show different people from Rajasthan, feudal lords and the typical village life in serene hues of shades.

While Rathan Kishore, who paints animal images from South India in brightest possible shades, proves to be a perfect foil to Acharya. An abstract by Achutchal and a man and dragon by Babu Xavier, take care of lighter shades in their works.

There are also Gauri and Aziz from the southern part of India, who are less known in the national Capital. No painting seemed to be the representative of the region for “all of them are painting divers”, says the curator.

The exhibitions at Shridharani and Habitart Gallery seem to be a cool breeze in the scorching heat of Delhi.

Classical dances may again catch the fancy of youth
Garima Pant

DANCE is elegance personified. It is an art inherent in all of us, but carried out by few. The traditional Indian dances are the best examples of this elegance. Pt. Birju Maharaj, Raja and Radha Reddy, Sonal Mansingh, Swapna Sundari, Shovana Narayan, Uma Sharma, are some of the contemporary light-bearers of our golden heritage.

They have preserved and added to our sundry dance forms. They have not only burdened themselves to maintain the high standards of this classical art form but have represented our countries varied expressions across the globe.

However, in the fast track of the 21st century, it seems we are losing this inspiration of life, which is often described as a journey through a valley of emotions.

Unfortunately, the Generation X seems to have been enchanted with the fast moving Western dance form.

The aerobic style dancing has replaced the graceful Kathak and Bharatnatyam. A bandwagon of western dance instructors has replaced our traditional dance gurus.

Reflecting the mood of his generation, Taruni, a class VIII student, feels that classical dance is tough and not very exciting. She prefers jazz as it is easier and more appealing.

However, it would be futile to blame the Generation X for his transformation in the thought process. After all, they are the product of their times. The media, to some extent, is responsible for this trend. Television and films clearly reflect this new trend.

Television programmes with western dances are immensely popular with the Generation X. Few teenagers would watch a classical dance programme with the same zeal and interest as rock concerts.

In an age of materialism, where competition and career mindsets dominate, traditional dance forms hold little scope for a good living. Even the notorious board examinations act as a major hindrance in the cultural development of a child. Come class X and parents pressure their wards to leave all the other activities and concentrate only on academics.

Tanushree, a first year student of mass communication, who has learnt western dance, feels that western dance has more currency in the market. She feels that our traditional dances are value-bound and do not focus on viability.

Diksha Upreti, a trained Kathak dancer and presently a teacher at The Heritage School, feels that opting for dance as a career and that too Indian classical dance, requires a great deal of patience, which is definitely missing amongst our youngsters. Family support is also of utmost importance, which makes one pursue this talent with zeal and fervour.

In her own case, she says that it was the tremendous support of her parents and constant exposure to this field that made her opt for it. Effectively, a helping and supportive attitude of the parents, proper and right kind of introduction to this world and to our culture and traditions is very important for the preservation of this great art.

However, the deep-rooted tradition and culture of 5,000 years, which forms the backbone of this art, cannot be uprooted easily.

Mercifully, this materialistic trend, which is on roll particularly since the last one decade, is slowly and gradually fading away. Rashi Kapoor, a member of her college choreography team, preferred to be formally trained in classical dancing because the Indian traditional dance forms involve more gestures than movements, which is an asset in choreography.

Moreover, she feels that the costumes adorned in the Indian dances are more comfortable and elegant to perform in.

Moreover, in an era where ‘more is less’, the Generation X has been saturated by overdose of the Western trends, including its dance forms.

Even as they continue to fiddle with it, they are gradually coming back to their roots. Ironically, one of the reasons may be the growing interest of the Western world in the Indian culture and traditions.

At a time when one is exposed to an overdose of Western culture through the mass media, the Spic Macay society has played a prominent role in exposing our youth to the greatness of the Indian dance forms.

With Spic Macay societies being an integral and active part of college cultural scene, it has succeeded in attracting the attention of our youths. Performances by sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Zakhir Hussain, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and others, have attracted the attention of our young generation.

Moreover, the upsurge in the sale of folk music in the market because of its catchy beats, has attracted the attention of the younger generation. Diksha says she has noticed that her students want to listen and perform more on traditional numbers, which is a positive change.

Numerous young people have joined dance organizations like the Kathak Kendra to learn to the classical dance.

Certainly, it is only a matter of time when classical Indian dances will once again catch the imagination of our youths and jerky and bone-breaking movements, synonymous with modern Western dances, will be discarded.

PLAY TIME
It’s no joke to make people laugh

NOBODY would take him seriously before he did the most serious business—of making people laugh for a record 250 hours by becoming Charlie Chaplin for Dr Morepann’s month-long Health Carnival early this year. This Charlie Chaplin was Rajan Kumar, a 22-year-old lad from Patna, now based in Delhi, who is not just an actor and a dancer but also a model, yoga instructor, poet, writer and director.

Remembering his role of Charlie Chaplin, he says, “In order to make people aware of health related advantages in a lighter way, I was asked by the company to enact a comic role. Since people say that I bear a sharp resemblance with him and I could mimic him to the hilt since my childhood, I chose this character. I was woefully short of money those days. I would not eat anything for 13 hours at a stretch, for it would have damaged the make-up.” However, he was rewarded later for his hard work. Most established newspapers and magazines have given him good coverage.

Moving on, he acted in 13 episodes of Zee TV’s ‘India’s Most Wanted’. “I had a tough time on roads. People would try to catch hold of me,” he recalls.

Rajan’s talent is not restricted to acting only.

He is also learning Kathak dance and is deft at Indian folk dances, Chhau, Bhangra and tribal dance.

He was also awarded a certificate by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development for his dancing skills. “In acting, body language plays a very important role, hence, I learnt all types of dances,” he says.

Trained under theatre wizard Devendra Raj Ankur, he has also worked with Satyadev Dubey, a well-known name in the world of theatre. Not only that, he scored a hat-trick this year by working for three consecutive years with NSD’s recently concluded theatre festival, ‘Bharat Rang Mahotsava’.

Moreover, he wrote and directed a play, Rama ka Bharam that had many successful stage shows in the Capital. Apart from this, he writes Urdu poems.

Rajan has a special liking for children and his two books, ‘Hansta Bachpan’ and ‘Ankur’, revolve around them. Ankur was well appreciated both in his homeland and Mauritius for its simplistic tone and content. “I still receive letter of appreciation from both elders and children of Mauritius, though this book was published way back in 1998,” he says.

Rajan, who derives his poetic inspiration from Harivansh Rai Bachchan and goes gaga over his son Amitabh Bachchan, who is his idol. Presently, Rajan is busy with ‘Tirth Yatra’, a serial on Lord Krishna, being telecast on ETV.

Rana A Siddiqui

Marwah Studios, the backdrop to a few celluloid dreams
Our Correspondent

Noida, May 23
With the completion of the film, ‘Badhai ho Badhai’, Marwah Studios here has a reason to celebrate. After catering to the Bollywood crew for nearly 50 days, the wrap-up party in itself was an occasion to remember.

The film starring Anil Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty and Keerti Reddy was shot in

Marwah Studios where the work was carried out by the film crew in collaboration with experts from the Hollywood. The film, scheduled to be released on June 14, is expected to win a good response at the box office. The promos of the movies, which have been on air for a while now, are being appreciated. The music scores of the film have also created a place for itself on the music charts.

The wrap-up party was attended by the star cast, film’s director Rajkumar Santoshi, political big wigs Amar Singh, M. S. Bitta and president of the Asian Academy of Film and TV Sandeep Marwah and other page three regulars. They tell us that the impressed producer duo of Anil Kapoor and Satish Kaushik has already made up their mind to return to the studios to shoot their next venture.

Marwah Studios, which had made a name for itself in its associated with films like ‘Bandit Queen’, ‘Beta’ and ‘Abhay’, recently turned 11. The birthday was also a well-attended and talked-about bash in the city with the entire Kapoor clan attending it.

Marwah Studios has seen over 3,000 films and television programmes being shot in its well-planned and magnificent insides. From the rib-tickling ‘Ji Mantriji’ to the breakfast shows like ‘Good Morning India’, the corridors of the studio are witness to the histrionics of the good, the bad and the superstars.