Music, classical or filmy, is a fine art that awakens aesthetic consciousness in the depth of your mind. Music excels all other art forms with its spontaneous and melodic appeal to the ears ” opines the Bollywood music director Omi Sonik of the Sonik-Omi duo who registered their presence on film music, ruling the industry for six decades.

Credited with over 120 Hindi feature films, this uncle-nephew team stole the limelight with debut film Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya, with all the nine songs rated as super hits. Their repertoire included films like Sawan Bhadon, Mahua, Umar Quaid, Abroo, Mujrim, Beti, Rafter, Rang Khush and Do Chattane.

Born in Sialkot, Om Prakash Sonik migrated to Bombay in 1948 with his extended family when he was only eight. His uncle Manohar Lal Sonik later teamed up with him. Omi Sonik, at present the director of The Indian Performing Right Society Limited, an organisation dedicated to the welfare of music directors, writers and publishers, is in the city on the invitation of the Department of Information and Public Relations, Haryana, to preside over the a cultural programme to mark the death anniversary of legendary maestro Mohammad Rafi on Friday at Tagore Theatre.

Excerpts from an interview with Omi Sonik:

How was the journey to Bollywood?

It took one year for my family to reach Bombay in 1948 from Sialkot, travelling on goods trains and even cattle-driven rehra amidst the violent crowds. This sensitised my mind and soul, which reflected in my singing and composing music. Artistes are born with this gift aamad and strange though it may sound, many composers like O.P. Nayyer, Ravi and others had no training in classical music. I started singing chorus with music director Roshan in films like Babar and Chitralekha before the emergence of Sonik-Omi duo.

What do you feel about cinema after 60 years of your association with Bollywood?

Like any industry or art form, the cinema too in terms of commercialisation has scaled the horizons of success, but at the same time, has failed to retain the sobriety and sanctity of the golden era. Replete with ethical content, emotional appeal and close to life, majority of films used run into silver, golden or platinum jubilees. Today, a grand publicity greets the release of big-budget films, pregnant with false emotions and west- influenced stunts, but they hardly survive for a week. You will agree old is gold. The Delhi press flashed news that Sonik Omi are the hero and heroine of a musical hit Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya to earn the ire of Dharmendra.

How do tunes come to your mind and why are they mainly ghazals or classical based?

By remaining engrossed in music always and translating observations into music compositions. Once as a chief guest at a Qawaali session by Jani Babu – Aziz Naz, I was inspired by their throw of lyrics and adaygi which I incorporated in my best ever qawwali for Dharma. Not many actors and lyricists can catch the finer nuances of Urdu.

Any memories of Rafi saheb?

An epitome of humility and down-to-earth, Rafi saheb was like a farishta from heaven. We became close during rehearsals. A few months before his demise, one morning at 8 am, when he was at the pinnacle of success, I saw him strolling in the corridors of the music studio and when I asked him what was the matter, he said with all innocence, “Mainu nau baje bulya hai ji, aje nau nahin baje naa..” . And today, superstars move with dozens of security guards.

You are actively associated with the IPRS as director since 1970. What is the achievement?

The Indian Performing Rights Society Limited is a copyright society, aimed at ensuring the flow of royalty to the composers, writers or publishers and serve veteran artistes. The IPRS has just facilitated music rights royalty of Rs 15 lakh to R.D. Burman, Rs 4 lakh to S.D. Burman and many more.

Okay, you have watched programmes and even messaged your friends frantically about the harmful consequences of global warming. You have participated in the Go Green rallies. Yes, you have even opted for a car pool to save petrol. All this and a lot more at some level to save the planet earth. Now, how about just scrapping the grey cells to find out if they are still in running condition?

Well, a team of 13 engineers (mechanical, electronics and communication departments) of the Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology, Rajpura, Punjab, tried to find answers to both-- answer to the problem and dependence on grey matter. And, succeeded in both.

They team has come up with an answer to fuel efficiency in the form of a car Stealth which was admired at the International Car Fiesta Shell Eco Marathon 2009 Fontana, California from April 15-18 and won the first prize in the perseverance category for strategic planning and team spirit and fifth rank in the designing category. Team Stealth, the only team from Asia, made Stealth out of fiberglass shell covering, aerodynamically proven car with a net weight of 115 kg. Puts in Amit Khurana, the team leader along with Siddharth Bahuja, Amit Jamwal, Anirudh Jethi, Ayush Nijawan and Abhimanyu Sharma, “It was a collective effort by the members, the faculty and teachers. Despite the difficulties, which were many, we made the car in a short duration that managed to cross all 15-safety checks to be finally awarded winner in the perseverance category.”

All inventions are nurtured in hardships, and this was no different. According to the team, right from adjusting within the given budget (funded by Chitkara and Bharat Petroleum), arranging for the raw material, to putting it together, brains storming, reading day and night on Internet, leafing through magazines, and matching up to the criteria was indeed a challenge. “The rest of the participants had an edge over us in terms of tools and raw material. However, we managed with whatever we had,” echoes the team, now all set for a party.

We would modify the prototype better,” adds the group but not before they tell us the problem with technology in India. “It gets drained. The best of minds leave the country to work outside.” Guys, we hope you are staying back to invent more solutions.

jasmine@tribunemail.com

Now that he’s out of the reckoning, can he spill the beans on any flings that participants have to get ahead, a la the Splitsvilla participant’s “link-up” with a host? (We want the ‘bare’ facts, don’t we?)

“Arre, yeh ladkiyan (on the show) kuchh bhi kar sakti hain. But I can’t say if any affairs are contrived to win.

“Some of them act real cheap, winning over some guys by calling them ‘bhaiya, bhaiya’ and what not.” (Hey, looks like it’s Rakshabandhan season on the show all the time!) “And look at their double standards. These girls will talk all rot among themselves, but if the guys say anything, one girl goes: ‘hai Allah, hai tauba…They’ll act all sweet with the guys,” adds Samrat. We begin to get visions of one big sugar factory in the name of reality TV! But then comes the disclaimer: “Par yeh sab meethi chhurian hain!”

Oops, the sugar factory image stands dissolved. Too sweet to be true!

It’s been a long time since one saw mother and child as a theme. Specially, in the city’s art circuit, which is quite a detour from the early 90s, when most city artists painted at least one or two in every possible medium. As veteran artist Satwant Singh puts it — a phase which saw a strong influence of the Bengal School of Art that subsequently introduced us to the works of Nanda Lal Bose, Jamini Roy and Bikas Bhattacharya—who left remarkable creations on the subject.

Not that it was a theme any less popular prior to that. Talk of mother and child, and Raja Ravi Varma’s famous Keralite Mother and Child flashes through one’s mind. Another outstanding work one has come across is a mother and child charcoal line drawing in black and white on paper by Jamini Roy dating back to the 1940s.

Closer home, the early 90s saw Satwant doing a series on mother and child. Only this time abstraction crept in. In his series, Satwant used dolls as a metaphor for his lost innocence and nature as mother. Though abstract in theme, the artist used realistic forms like dolls and animals to represent his trend of thoughts.

And thus the simple mother and child theme got a complicated hue with others following in his footsteps. Feelings and bonding between two souls became more important than the physicality of the forms. One can mention Madan Lal’s works here. In his signature elongated human-like forms, Madan captured the love between a woman and her offspring in most abstract way – nature as mother pouring her caring feelings on her child.

The theme matures a little more on Navpreet Kaur’s canvas. Navpreet, the better-half of renowned artist Prem Singh, is an accomplished artist herself and works mainly in oil. In her frame one can see three generations of women – a girl chasing her dreams with a bunch of flowers as her mother and grandmother look on with concern and anxiety. The painting gives one the feeling that the umbilical chord between a mother and her child actually never gets severed.

Amongst the youngest lot, Kavita Singh, a lecturer of fine arts at Punjabi University, Patiala, has tried her hands to capture the bond in a surrealistic way. In her painting she puts the mother and child on a crescent moon to show their aspiration.

So, what’s keeping the youngsters away from painting this eternal theme? “It is considered an old theme which was popularised by the Bengal School of Art,” says Kavita. “People those days were prolific both at realistic works and abstract. But now surrealism dominating the scene, the mother-child theme has lost its appeal,” she explains.

Kavita may be right in saying that for youngsters, working on mother and child theme is passé, but looking at art auction sites offering replicas of all famous artists’ work like Leonardo da Vinci’s Madonna Litta (1450) or Vincent Van Gogh’s Mother Roulet with Her Baby Edmund C Tarbell’s Mother and Child flourishing, one can safely say that this is subject which will always touch the right chord with art lovers.

parbina@tribunemail.com

Weddings. They often make news. For the uncanny ways they are executed, marrying in a hot air balloon or a chopper, for the opulence, or for the parties (celebrities) involved in it, for the designer dripping dresses and jewellery, or for the brawl, a regular feature at many marriages. All said and done, marriage is good news (not sure really), and everyone would want to be a part of it. Rashmi Bindra, fashion creator gives you a chance to make news with Dream Weddings 2009, Bridal Affair at Hotel Taj-17, starting August 1. The exhibition according to this designer is an extension of the dreams of the bride, groom and the family. Here, they will see them acquire a form.

From exotic attires for the bride, groom and the entire family, designer jewellery, accessories, exotic flowers, memorable photography, furnishing to a sitting with weddings planner or marriage counselor, selecting romantic honeymoon places, Dream Wedding will provide all this and more.

Says Rashmi Bindra, "Dream Weddings will be one of its kind bridal event in the city, wherein people will get a chance to pick and choose from the best designers who can create the perfect wedding dress for them, make best bargains in jewellery, get the right information on designing from the wedding planners, book the best photographers who will frame your memorable moments, to buying the best home furnishing items as well, to selecting exotic flowers for decoration. The main consideration has been providing everything at nominal prices."

So, if you were eying a designer lehenga for 50,000 grands, at Dream Wedding you can get it for 20,000. A reason enough why you can drop by at the exhibition. "My clientele- everyone who wants to get married," smiles Rashmi, who will be putting up her collection of hand painted saris and more. "With or without recession, marriages will always be a grand affair and people don't mind splurging on it."

Panchkula based designer Gunjan Nagpal, who will showcase her collection 'Aura', has not only something for the dulha and dulhan, but has a bit for everyone who will be a part of the affair. Says Gunjan, "The bride and the groom are the centre of attraction at a marriage. However, I have also focused on the nanka dadkas, saki saheliyan and the dresses of yaar dost." Gunjan who is leaving for London to showcase her collection at London feels that marriage is a magic moment that everyone wants to live to the fullest.

jasmine@tribunemail.com

The newly opened lifestyle store Serenity-7offers a diverse collection of furniture, furnishings and accessories for your home. Located on the Madhya Marg, it houses a tasteful collection of wooden and cane furniture, furnishings, home decor, spa, yoga and meditation accessories. Says owner Panita Virmani, "Each of the products have been individually chosen keeping in mind distinctiveness, emphasising on limited yet affordable collections to suit customers' needs."

The furniture comprises drawing and dining sets. In addition, there are wine racks, book shelves, cabinets, coffee tables, centre tables as well as products to accessorise your walls like mirrors in wooden frames, framed prints and original artworks by noted artist Billy Malhans.

The spa section comprises natural soaps, aroma oils and candles, massage oils, diffusers and essential oils, incense sticks, bamboo woven towels that will all add to the luxury of relaxation and rejuvenation.

The yoga and meditation accessories include waffle mats, jute bags, floor and meditation cushions, eye pillows made with lavender and flax seeds, neck pillows in natural fabrics making them soft and comfortable.

The glass section is a celebration of colourful hand painted vases, candleholders, bowls, trays, and coasters in hues of green, pink and blue. For those who prefer more subtle things in life, there are soft whites with splashes of gold and silver finished to perfection.

For the connoisseur looking for that perfect wine glass there is a stunning collection of imported Italian wine glasses and decanters that are a pleasure to the senses. — TNS

Can you associate beads with Ronald Reagan? With an ordinary imaginary power no. But when Kirpal Singh gets his hands on some beads, the lot takes the shape of the former American President and many more.

For Kirpal Singh, a businessman from the city, crafting portraits of famous personalities is more of a passion than anything else. And his passion was ignited when he was just 12 years old and the portrait of Meera Bai, which he made from pulses won applauses at a school function. He worked on his skill and imagination and the result is about 30 very intricate looking profiles of world-renowned dignitaries, including homegrown ones like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Giani Zail Singh and Guru Gobind Singh to be named a few.

“When I see someone who inspires me, I get down to make his portrait. The first step is to do the outlining and then starts the difficult part – of finding glass beads and tubes in required colours. The process is quite intricate and takes at least six months to complete it,” says Kirpal Singh.

However, his efforts have not gone un-rewarded. In 1988 a portrait of Ronald Reagan a personal thank you note from the President and his creation now remains on permanent display in the White House. Earlier, in 1983, Qutubuddin bin Said, Sultan of Muscat, send him a check of Rs 18,000 for a bead portrait Kirpal Singh had sent to him.

So what’s the latest? “I am now working on a portrait of Barack Obama,” he says. What could be the better way of improving the East-West relationship! —TNS