Bicycle Thieves

The theme for the Republic Day float for Delhi from the city has larger than life jungle characters taking a merry ride on miniature bicycles and tricycles. Parbina Rashid takes a peep at the arty handiwork in progress

After making its mark with a series of murals for several metro stations in New Delhi, the College of Art is gearing up for another milestone. This time, through a float of carnival characters for the Republic Day parade. Though it’s the winter break for the college, the flurry of activity has not receded yet, especially for 20 students and a team of four teachers who are giving final shapes to the models, which will soon be sent to Delhi for the approval of the Defence Ministry.

“We had earlier sent the models, but they were rejected on the ground that the faces of the riders on all vehicles were hidden from the public view, which would not do for the security reason,” says D. S. Kapoor, the brain behind the project, as he distributes home-baked cakes, adding to the feeling of bonhomie.

The miniature bicycles and tricycles on which larger than life jungle characters are being erected will surely floor the audience in the parade –with their bright colours and funny expressions. One bicycle has been converted into a colourful peacock, another into a huge porcupine. There are bunny rabbis, birds, caterpillars and dragons too. It is a complete jungle theme, complete with ‘Mogli’ riding one of the miniature Chinese bicycles.

“Finding out those toy bicycles and tricycles were the most difficult part,” says Kapoor, giving direction to his students as they make a mesh of wire to fix on a cycle, which serves as the skeleton for the character they finally plan to erect. “But then since we have done it before for the Chandigarh Carnival, we are not facing much difficulty with these models,” he adds. And to believe Kapoor, it is more difficult to make the models than the actual floats.

The details are amazing and so are the colour combinations. Colourful papers are cut and sometimes torn with hand to give the feathery effect to the birds and animals. “We will paint the faces of the riders in the actual parade,” he informs. The students themselves will ride their creations on that day.

“We have a meeting with the Defence Ministry by the end of this month and once we get the green light from them, we will start with the actual work which will be done in Delhi itself,” says Kapoor. His fellow teachers Rakesh Bani, Manmad Rao and Jaydeep Singh Jolly assist him.

The final creations are not difficult to visualise and we can almost see the proud faces of our students riding their creative floats with millions of viewers’ eyes fixed on them. And it’s time to give them a pat on the back! 

Herbal cure
Saurabh Malik

He saw the light after a local Himachali administered herbal drops in his eyes some five years ago. For first half an hour, everything around him was dizzy. Even the medicine’s benefits were obscure. But then he caught a glimpse of the world with a new clarity.

The headache, accompanying electrical engineer R.S. Guleria since long, disappeared and the world was once again ‘bright and cheerful’. Visualising the advantages of the aromatic plant, the idea of coming up with an herbal garden started to grow on him.

Soon the man behind the ‘herbal revolution’ in Himachal Pradesh formed the Herb Antique Research Botanical (HARB) Society for promoting Ayurveda. And now the society has over 1500 farmers and Ayurveda experts associated with it.

In Chandigarh after being honoured by the Ayurved Vishva Parishad, Kangra-based Guleria talks of cultivating an international image for himself by growing ‘Basanti’ — an herb that can cure AIDS. “As soon as we have enough plant material, we will start the work of producing anti-AIDS medicine,” he asserts in a voice full of confidence.

Just in case you do not know, Ayurved Vishva Parishad was established by the Independent India’s first President, Dr Rajendra Prasad, way back in 1957. It encourages the revival of Ayurveda and aromatic plants.

Adjusting his cowboy hat, Guleria says in another three months they plan to come out with medicines that can cure not only stress, diabetics, asthma, arthritis, stomach and heart ailments, but also lever and sexual problems.

“For producing anti-cancer medicines, we are growing 28 herbs,” he says. “Some of the plants were at the verge of extinction due to over-utilisation and heavy smuggling across the border. But our society has managed to revive most of them.”

Back to basics
Going back to basics of interior design means focusing on room sizes, utility and aesthetics.

To create a feeling of largeness in your room, eliminate the shadows that tend to slice a room up into smaller spaces. Work on lighting the room with a soft, even light. Avoid ceiling lights as they tend to make the ceiling feel lower. Diffused, ambient lighting will tend to enlarge the room.

Keep the surfaces free of heavy textures. Smoother surfaces tend to reflect more light and make the room feel larger. Choose lighter woods or tile over patterned or textured carpeting. Reflective and shiny surfaces such as mirror and chrome also can be used effectively. Use cream, beige, grey or cool pastels on your walls and floors to make them recede. The ceiling should always be the lightest colour in the room.

Limit the use of patterns for an accent piece. Selection and placement of furniture in a room is crucial in defining the space. Keep the largest pieces against the walls whenever possible. Choose furniture colours that are the same or similar to those selected for the walls and floors.

If you want a cozy and comforted ambience, create spaces through the use of directed light. Lighting from the ceiling will seem to lower it. A reading lamp or down-shaded lamp will cast light only in its relative vicinity. Use incandescent rather than halogen or florescent lamps for a warmer glow. Choose strong colours for your walls and floor.

A dark floor with walls of brown or deep red, blue or green tones will help create the feeling of a smaller, cozier space. Heavy, soft textures add warmth to a space. Use rougher textures for the hard elements in the room; iron instead of chrome, brick instead of smooth tiles. The use of pattern in a room can also lend a sense of coziness to the space. The subject of mixing patterns in a room will be covered at some future time.

Choose dark finishes and fabrics to create a sense of the piece being larger than it actually is. Heavy textured fabrics and large patterns will add a cozy feeling to a sofa or chair. Place pieces away from the wall and use tall pieces to divide and define smaller spaces within a room for greater intimacy.

With a little imagination you can make the corner space work for you and create a beautiful area in your room. Silk tree or an up lighter will give a beautiful look. Pedestals of varied sizes look good in corners. A table top with a runner and a couple of chairs to each side with coordinating fabric on the seats can give a very dramatic look. Add a lamp, your favourite pictures and collectibles for a gorgeous table scape. A corner cabinet or hanging cupboard is a handsome solution and adds needed storage and display areas as well.

One of the most important basics in decorating a small space is to purchase furniture that does double or triple duty for storage. Purchasing multiple purpose accessories and furniture allow options that give your living space character and flexibility.

Sofa cum bed is your comfy sofa for living room area, containing a bed for unexpected visitors. Tables containing drawers or shelves give you other options further storage or extendable dining table for occasional large parties. Bookshelves with or without doors can be appropriate for entertainment centres, home offices, kitchen storage or bedroom storage. Bathroom storage units are great for under or beside sink storage. Don’t ever get restricted by the given spaces. Choices are endless who seek an opportunity in every designing challenge.

Courtsey: A.P. Singh Besten & Co

Fab furniture

FABINDIA is ready to showcase its new range of furniture, made from seasoned solid wood, in a range of beds, tables, chairs, consoles and seating arrangements to add to the warmth of sheesham and mahogany to every home, at an exclusive exhibition-cum sale from December 14 to 17 at its outlet at SCO 127-128, Sector 9.

Providing flexibility to adapt according to needs and space constraints most of the furniture in the range can be dismantled and reassembled easily, bringing in a new world pf convenience for young professionals who move home often. From special coffee tables to an interesting computer table, the new range showcases affordable items that are perfectly crafted and beautifully finished,” she added.

As part of its new range, Fabindia has brought in floor, table and wall lamps in both traditional and contemporary styles in materials which range from resin to paper, wood, terracotta, ceramic and brass. The lampshades are in different sizes and vibrant colours to match the décor of a room.

Among accessories, a whole range of ceramic pottery has been introduced that consists of vibrant and classy flower vases, jugs, fruit bowls etc in reds, whites and off-whites.

Fabindia has also brought in stationery that will brighten up an office space with handmade file folders, file boxes, wastepaper bins and notebooks. Zonal Manager, Fabindia, Ms Diltaj Grewal says, “With its classic, clean lines and contemporary look, Fabindia’s new range of furniture offers a combination of quality and style.” — TNS

NEW RELEASES
Enter Kabul Express

Yash Raj Films latest production Kabul Express is directed by Kabir Khan and produced by Aditya Chopra. Kabir Khan, a well-known documentary film director having shot films in over 50 countries makes his debut as a feature film director with the film.

It is a human story set in the backdrop of post 9/11 Afghanistan. Kabul Express is Kabir Khan’s first film going international and the script is based on his experiences in the war torn country as a documentary filmmaker. This one has been shot entirely in Afghanistan. The movie will see a release today at Neelam Chandigarh and Fun Republic Manimajra. John Abraham and Arshad Warsi along with Salman Shahid from Pakistan, Hanif Hum Ghum from Afghanistan and Linda Aresenio from USA play the lead roles.

The eagerly awaited film is the first international film to have been shot in post Taliban Afghanistan. After winning hearts at the Special Prestigious Programme at 31st Toronto International Film Festival and 11th Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea, Kabul Express may be ranked as one of the top films of 2006.

The multi-instrumentalist and singer Raghav Sachar makes his debut as a music composer. The peppy lyrics have also been written by debutant Aditya Dhar.

— D.P.

Browse in style
Gayatri Rajwade

The Indian bookshop is changing face. Not a fretting change, oh no, but one that is warm and welcoming and will hopefully bring back readers anew! From bookstore to library to café to lounging it is all within arm’s reach (okay a few steps up or down!) at The Browser Library and Bookstore, Sector 8C.

“Something different” is Browser’s Chief Executive, Pankaj P. Singh’s mantra, a line he never fails to do or deliver on! In the last one year, fuelled by his own passion for books, he has built a space that is briskly cheery!

Now Browser is completely ready in its all-new avatar. So let’s take a peek.

“Change is a concept that libraries all over the world must deliver on. It is not just about books. It is a lifestyle factor. People are looking for better ways of doing things. For instance, could you ever imagine ITC selling vegetables!” smiles Pankaj.

Okay, so perhaps you may not get that luxuriant green capsicum here (just yet!) but what you do get is DVDs, over 1500 titles now, including a special children’s collection, Wi-Fi zone spread across the entire space, a café that sizzles with some of the brightest ‘coffee and nibble’ options on offer, home delivery and online access to books and yes the piece-de-résistance, the lounge for the Magnum members.

“Ambience is the buzzword these days. It is all about your surrounding space and the lounge is that,” says Pankaj.

Quiet comfy, snug and friendly, this is no dark teak wood, heavy Persian carpet routine, but a ‘optimistic’ space in saffron yellow and buff with rocking chairs et al!

Shelves filled with select choices to browse through, walls holding onto paintings with a ‘booksie’ finish and even a centre table with a violin, books and a sheaf of musical notes in ceramic, along with ‘pens’ for door handles and you have a seating area that is deliciously inviting.

As for the shelves, take your surfing pick from interesting selections like Osamu Tezuka’s ‘Buddha’ in comic-strip form to the ‘1001’ series which tell you about the greatest natural 1001 wonders in the world to the 1001 things you must read before you die! Leaf through poems that promise to ‘change your life’ or ‘open your heart’ or ‘set you free’ or then pull out a book from the library, a racy Dan Brown if you please, and devour it with a coffee and brownie next to you!

Coinciding with all this is the ‘membership week’ (concluding on December 16, Saturday) which assures the first 250 ‘early birds’ gift coupons of Rs 250, 300 and 350 (depending on your membership value) along with the chance to take part in a lucky draw which you get land up with a coupon of Rs 2,500 to buy books with, get additional memberships with or even to gift away! (Incidentally being a member also allows you to avail of 15 to 20 per cent discount on buying books).

But finally, books no books, come have a look, sniff the whiff of freshly published ‘paper’, feel the wizened stories, take a wander, peek into corners, surf the net and read between the lines, you are about to get converted, to browsing that is!

FILM & FASHION
Spielberg high on fashion

Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg has teamed up with supermodel Christy Turlington and her husband, actor Ed Burns to develop a TV series on high fashion world.

The couple will write a drama series set in the fashion world and based on Spielberg’s idea. The storyline will focus on five twenty-somethings with fashion jobs such as photographer, designer, makeup artist and model, reports Contactmusic.

The Munich director came up with the concept after attending New York’s fashion week, and specifically sought out Burns and Turlington to handle the project.

Sharon tries to look bad

While mere mortals spend an entire lifetime trying to look their best, Hollywood beauty Sharon Stone had to wear an extra-large fat suit to play a grieving mum in new movie Alpha Dog, for she looked stunning in everything the director tried to put her in.

Moviemaker Nick Cassavetes was desperate to capture the real life weight problems Susan Mark Markowitz suffered as she attempted to cope with the death of her son at the hands of Jesse James, but Stone couldn’t look unattractive even if she tried.

“The woman gained a bunch of weight... She had an extremely tough time with the events that happened, a really difficult time,” he was quoted by Contactmusic, as saying.

No more dying for Douglas

It seems that veteran Hollywood actor Michael Douglas now believes in keeping it natural, for after regular attempts at camouflaging his grey hair with blonde streaks the actor has now decided to revert to his natural grey look.

Pictured leaving The Ivy restaurant in Beverly Hills with his 37-year-old wife Catherine Zeta Jones, Douglas sported grey hair.
Wearing a cream jacket and lilac top with purple trousers and sunglasses he walked in front of Zeta-Jones who looked stunning in a low-cut black dress and diamond necklace.

“It was weird to see him with grey hair. He looked his age but that’s better than dying it grey when you’re over 60,” an onlooker was quoted by the Daily Mail, as saying.

Clooney aspires to be in Bollywood

Oscar Winner George Clooney warns aspiring movie actors to think twice before launching themselves in Hollywood, as the industry is not as glamorous as it first seems.

The Syriana star recalls he was desperate to make it big in movies and his ambition knew no bounds.
But he now confesses success has changed his perspective on movie stardom, making him far more aware of the price he pays
for fame.

“I think when you’re young and getting started, fame is like a bug light - you’re driven toward success so intensely as an actor because you’re pointed that way. And when you get it, you realise most of the things that you thought would be great are not,” Contactmusic quoted him, as telling the New York Daily News.

Meanwhile, Clooney has said he’d like to appear in one of India’s spectacular song-and-dance movies and help expand the Indian film industry.

De Niro gives up director’s hat

Acclaimed actor Robert De Niro has apparently lost the zeal to be behind the camera, as he’s considering hanging up his director’s hat once he’s ‘revisited’ his current movie The Good Shepherd.

The Raging Bull star says he’s almost done as a moviemaker after taking charge of just three films, but he’s keen to make a sequel to his latest project before leaving his director’s chair.

“I’m not gonna direct many more movies. I directed three and I think that’s it for me,” Contactmusic quoted
him, as saying.

“But I’d like to do a second part of this story from 1961 to the fall of the Berlin Wall. I would love to revisit the characters and see how they wind up. That’s really something that would be worth doing,” he added.

No more mix-n-match

To have Victorian paintings, Chinese pottery and elegant lamp shades in our house is perhaps everyone’s dream. But not all of us get a chance to adorn our homes in a unique way, for reasons ranging from unavailability to the price range. And one is left with no choice than to mix-n-match and creating ‘contrasting contrasts’ in our homes.

Driven by these thoughts, Simmi Singh of Sims in Sector 8 launched her store. “Being a Chandigarhian, I have faced similar problems and thought of coming up with a store that caters to everyone’s need,” tells Simmi. A computer engineer by profession, Simmi did a lot of research and market analysis before finally opening her own store. “Having travelled a lot internationally, I felt our city doesn’t have much to offer when it comes to decorative items for homes and offices”. Interestingly her interests in creative interiors are inherited from her mother who happens to have a formal training in fine arts.

At her store one can pick from a wide range of home décor products for centre tables, consoles and underneath staircases. Simmy’s USP is to offer reasonably low prices for elegant and quality home products. One can get oriental Chinese pottery as well as Victorian lamps, flower vases in all colours at affordable prices imported straight from manufacturers abroad.

So are the people in Chandigarh really opening to the idea of doing their homes creatively? “The past few years have seen a sea change in the tastes of people in terms of their home décor,” avers Simmi. Her store also houses a variety of 60 different artificial plants, bushes and mimics of 30 different flowers and fountains both for indoors and outdoors. The flowers are priced between Rs 390-Rs 2,400 and the fountains made in polystone starts from Rs 2,500.With so many choices available in our city to embellish our homes who needs to go abroad?

— Smriti Sharma

TELLYWOOD DREAMS

Ghar — Ek Sapna’ is the story of a home that we all dream of. But it takes a lifetime of building relationships, for us to actually make it a dream home,” says model-turned actress Sayantani Ghosh as she talks to Lifestyle about her serial Ghar — Ek Sapna, which will be premiered on December 18. She plays the lead role in this serial directed by Ajay Sinha of Hasratein, Samay and Astitva. Excited and apprehensive she says, “It is a challenging role and it is very different from what we see these days” says.

Luck was with Sayantani Ghosh when she was selected by director Ajay Sinha to play the lead role of Kakul in Ghar — Ek Sapna.

The pretty actress says she put in a lot of effort to work on the character. It was not easy but I have tried to do it to the best of my ability.

About director Ajay Sinha, Sayantani Ghosh says, “He is a big name in Tellywood who has always done very good work”.

This Bengali beauty has been very active in modeling and ad films. Her journey, towards fame began with modeling and Bengali films like Nayak Shayno’ and Raju Aamtan. Though there were several other offers but she declined.

When she got the opportunity to visit Mumbai in March 2006 she bagged a role in Kumkum and later on she could not continue with the serial due to some controversy.

Sayantani says, “She is now concentrating on Sahara One Television eagerly awaited serial Ghar — Ek Sapna. She is quite excited about her role and working with Ajay Sinha, the excellent bold director, she says adding, “I am learning a lot from him”. It is a pleasure working with him.

— D.P.

Always a WOMAN

Malaysian theatre artiste Sabera Shaik casts a spell with her one-woman play In the Name of Love, says Gayatri Rajwade

There is an earnest honesty about her that translates into moving performances while she is on stage. Acclaimed for her heart-rending portrayals of the plight of the browbeaten woman, Malaysian theatre personality Sabera Shaik is a vociferous voice of change, without shouting, that is.

In Chandigarh for the first time, for a one-woman show of In the Name of Love written by acclaimed dancer Ramli Ibrahim and performed in the cosy confines of noted theatre person Neelam ManSingh Chowdhry’s rehearsal space at her home, Sabera captivates with her repertoire.

Portraying ache and sorrow of three different women, ‘each of whom has lost something she loved’ Sabera infuses the space with an anguish that echoes.

Telling trilogy

In this trilogy of one-woman plays, Deena, sassy and saucy laments her lost youth—of Bridge, Chocolate and Toy-Boys—and the horror of her husband’s death. Deena’s petulance gives way to an old woman’s lament of a livelihood and a life lost. Mak Su, a ‘Mak Yong’ dancer, has been reduced to selling squids to earn a living after her dance was taken away from her.

‘Mak Yong’, Sabera explains is an ancient theatre form which is performed only by women and which is a healing shamanistic ritual performance too. It has since then almost gone under after the Islamisation of the region from where it originated in Kelantan. Today the dance and performance associated with it is considered un-Islamic and its performers are living in near penury.

Mak Su’s old-woman gait, her distinct dialect, her ‘wanting for work to find me’, her disgust with the smell of squids on her clothes and finally her resignation to her lot, ‘I am Mak Yong and Mak Yong is me…When I die, Mak Yong will die with me’, resonates with pathos.

The final act is Sarasa’s. Depicting the love and anguish of a mother whose daughter has run away is an incredible over-the-top piece which reflects the near-perfect nuances of a woman who has moved from South India and made Malaysia her home. ‘I want her to dance, be on stage and do everything I did not have a chance to do’ evokes a life unfulfilled and seeped in ambitions for a daughter, ‘ungrateful’.

Looking inward

Each performance is richly layered but what appealed to Sabera was ‘the challenge, the picture of an old Malaysia that comes to the fore and the modern interpretation of Malaysian women, dramatic and full of energy’.

Performed first in 1991, it has since then encountered several changes. “Women today are more inward looking so we have edited it to make it more relevant to today,” she says.

Sabera’s own relationship with theatre is an old and impressive one. “I remember wanting to go to Hollywood since I was little,” she laughs.This passion took her through stage performances in school and college and finally she went to Pennsylvania State University, USA for a Masters in Theatre Arts and came back in 1978 to start producing, writing and acting for the stage doing what Peter Brooke referred to as ‘poor theatre’!

“In those days there was just not enough money but we did all kinds of works, from Africa, Japan, Shakespeare’s Macbeth and even Vijay Tendulkar’s plays. But now I want to perform what I write or emphasise on Malay works,” she explains.

In company

In 2003, Sabera started her own theatre company, ‘Masakini’ (which translates into ‘contemporary’) to write and perform about the plight of marginalised women in Malaysia.

Her style is not comic (because I end of laughing while doing comedy) but dramatic and understated like the women she portrays. Lady Swettenham (about a manic depressive well-to-do lady who was sent to asylums by her husband and who was finally divorced by him when she was 82 years) was one such production and on the cards for next year is Another Day of four women in an old folk’s home.

However, she has dabbled in musicals as well. Bollywood Summer took off from Malaysia’s love for Bollywood but music per se does not play a crucial role in her works unless it threads through a performance.

So what does theatre mean to her? Healing yes, like ‘Mak Yong’, but also “understanding and seeing another point of view which makes you think. In doing theatre or watching it you should be able to laugh at yourself, not take yourself too seriously,” she smiles.

Love conquers

Having said this, she is busy trying to instil this into workshops she has started conducting for young people since the beginning of this year, in Kuala Lampur where she is based. However, time is not a luxury right now for there are four productions on the cards for 2007, short ten minute plays by new directors and actors, Urmi based on Shakespeare’s Tempest, a dance drama and In the Name Love at which she already excels.

Theatre is observation, she says as we get ready to leave and going by her startling performance, we know she does her part well, very well.

Punjab da Super Star
S.D. Sharma

For me music is the elixir of life and I do not have to look for anything else for contentment,” maintains prodigious singing sensation, Prabhjit Singh. Standing tall with the coveted crown of Punjab da Super Star, Prabhjit at 24 feels honoured but not proud. He had been declared male winner of the ETC and Zee Punjabi TV channel ‘Star City Punjab da Super Star’ mega contest.

As part of the honour, Prabhjit will sing a song in forthcoming Hindi film Surkhab being produced by Zee TV.

Attributing his success to the grace of God and guidance of his gurus, especially Professor Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, he claims to be just a humble leaner of the music. ‘The Indian music is a vast ocean and very few can claim to possess its gems’ and I have miles to go, it is just the beginning,’ says Prabhjit.

He has already brought laurels to his institute, Mody College, Patiala, and Punjabi University by winning three gold medals and other awards in various national and international events.

He calls it a proud moment when Capt. Amrinder Singh, Punjab CM awarded him a cash prize of Rs 21,000 for winning the prestigious ‘Surtal-2003’ music competition of the Punjab Arts Council.

Hailing from a business family of Gurdaspur, Prabhjit was the only member to have passion for music. He was initiated into classical music by his teacher Pandit Hitesh Gulshan at school while later Professor Jabarjung Ali sharpened his aesthetic potential at Modi College.

Prabhjit is a final year student of MA music at the Punjabi University. He eulogises the gayaki of Gurdas Mann and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan among others.

SOAPY & SAUCY

How can our aunt suffer all this? Well, she always was a vernacular kind! Perhaps she de-stresses like that. Such were the remarks that my Anglacised nieces, well hooked to Bold & Beautiful, Friends and the like of the soapy variety, when I would sit down to my one hour of desi soap. I had never thought that this would happen to me but it did in a period of time homebound at Gurgaon some years ago. I actually got onto the Kahani… and Kyunki… bandwagon. Well, I could have told my saucy nieces with matching sauciness that if firang trash was good enough for them then why not desi trash for me?

Kakkar Bhai & Baba Freud

But I decided to trash the trash and find more intellectual reasons a la psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakkar, who has done a second take with aplomb a la Sigmund Freud on arty matters. If thousands of my sisters were watching these soaps all over the world, it was my business to find out what made them tick. A trip to Pakistan actually had women viewers asking me eager questions about Tulsi and Parvati and second-rung favourites like Kumkum and Kashish. Did the women in India dress like them? They asked me, a little surprised at my dowdy attire. So with Kakkar Bhai and Baba Freud called in for support, intellectual credentials are established far beyond the narrow gender concerns.

Family fiasco

The two bahus, Tulsi and Parvati, who have ruled over the Aggarwal and Virani family fiascos and have had millions hooked on at prime time for years, attract me for quite a different reason. In Freudian terms it would be penis envy perhaps but I see it more as a son syndrome. Not having married some son and not having mothered a son, one wonders what sonny situations would be. These two amazing women have all the answers as they go about with a holier than thou attitude of saving their families from disasters and disastrous demons. In the process the two come out as control freaks of sorts who are concerned about everyone’s lives but their own. In the process they don many avtars, playing a hard-hearted avenger, lest the viewers get tired of their goodie-goodie selves. Sakshi Tanwar is doing that with aplomb having turned herself into Janaki Devi in the 18-year absence from the scene when all thought that Parvati had been laid to rest finally. Here she is back again in a glamorous makeover. Star Plus is boasting of Kahani… as the top show and Parvati as the fairest of them all.

Tulsi trivia

Such claims are going to get hyperactive Tulsi into action. Smriti Virani who has lived up to the holy herb’s name in real life too. Losing the elections on a BJP ticket, she did the quick transition from ma to badhi ma from saas to badhi saas. What next?

— Nirupama Dutt

Body Art
Gayatri Rajwade

People captivate. Whether in life or on canvas the effect remains the same. An exhibition of life-size portraits ‘People’ by Elzevir, a French painter is remarkable for just this—it is great to see ourselves put up on the walls! And that is precisely why these paintings are worthy of a peek. They represent ordinary people in commonplace situations but their setting is not evident. Surrounded by colour—each series in a single tone—they look at you, right in the eye making you look right back at them.

‘People’, brought to the city by the Alliance Francaise de Chandigarh, Sector 36 and the French Embassy, consists of sleeping forms, body-builders, brides in motion, the upright layman or woman from France and India (during a stint at Pondicherry through an exchange programme), all taking on the hues of a caricature but not in a ridiculous way. The exaggeration is drawing them out, life-like, but that only serves to emphasise the effect. Most works are drawn over two panels rather like a life-size poster but definitely minus the kitsch!

These people are striking because they are just so, captured in a cultural milieu that comes from them alone and not their surrounding. Interestingly, they can be placed in context but again not really because there is no backdrop to them except colour. So the woman in a sari, the school girl with red flowers in her hair, the gawky Indian in a green kurta, the beauty queen combines what Elzevir is known for, capturing ‘the body’ in ‘culture’.

‘The most beautiful day’ reflects the heightened excitement of brides, one holding up her white dress, the other turning to look out of the canvas, one walking away. ‘Hybrids’, a series of painted faces taken from known works of European art that have been pulled out of context of the original work, attired in present day clothing and given again, that ordinary, everyday, status, in a backdrop of bright pink. While ‘On the beach’ portrays well, people on the beach.

However, each painting encapsulates something determined, something tenacious and something different. The sleeping forms ‘describe’ the abandoned essence of being asleep, the standing figures of a policeman, of a young girl with a mobile phone in her hand, of two beach bathers, of a woman in a bikini playing paddle, of a young girl bending down hair astray are all people you meet everyday. Even the bodybuilders, each sinewy muscle straining at the effort are depicted as if in a photograph.

Born in 1966, Elzevir lives and works in St Etienne in France and is no stranger to the world of art. He has been working on these forms for several years now, creating a series of personalities on themes concerned with Western society, its social classes, its costumes and habits giving a contemporary feel to even antiquated images.

His works are up for viewing at the Art Gallery, Alliance Francaise, Sector 36, till December 23.