Tagore Festival @ kadambazhipuram, a village in palakkad, Kerala.

Kadambazhippuram is a remote village in Palakkadu district Kerala, almost 6 kilometers from Srikrishnapuram the nearest town and about 25 km from the district headquarters Palakkadu. In this typical village space a national theatre festival on the literature of Rabindranath Tagore is to take place. And the productions include works of Late Habib Tanvir, Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, Anuradha Kapoor, and Neelam Mansigh Choudhary. Actors like Seema Biswas, Gopi Sopanam are performing.

It is heartening to see that theatre of this magnitude and quality happens in a remote village, where most of our theatre is decided by a few cities; it can be said that the present scenario of Indian theatre is such that its predicament is decided by the city based sensibility and the concerns and pre-occupations of the urbanite. The major landscape of the Indian rural reality is sidelined and, marginalized in its physicality, aesthetics, and content, mode of operation and in all realms of its existence. It is at this context this festival become important. it is not just a festival, it is the continuity of the village based theatre movement named Natyasastra, which organizes workshops, produce new plays and perform it, organize seminars and festivals and all allied activities in connection to theatre, ably lead by Dileepan and a host of his friends, dear and near ones. Kudos to him and his team.

The theatre festival is scheduled feom 24^th of December to 28^th of December. The plays included are

24 December 5.30 pm Inaugural session. Ms Anuradha Kapoor inaugurates the festival ; Neelam Mansingh Chaodhary releases the festival book. The keynote address is given by Ms. Maya twen berg from the theatre academy of Finland, Helsinki.

7.00 pm Play Jeevit Ya Mrut dir Anuradha Kapoor, by Vivadi New Delh

Vivadi’s Jivit ya Mrit, dramatized by Geetanjali Shree from the short story in which a widow Kadambini . People think of her as dead while she is alive all the time. To prove that she was indeed alive, she has to die in the end.
Seema Biswas performs this solo, less realistic and more a mental landscape of imaginings that displayed her marvellous speech range from high screams of fear to bass rumbles entertaining her young nephew.

The play was directed by the director of National School of Drama Anuradha Kapoor.
Sunday, December 25
10.30 a.m.: Meet the artists
7.00 p.m. "A Wife's Letter,' (Adaptation of Tagore's play, 'Streer Patra'), dir. Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry, for The Company, Chandigarh
The protagonist of the play is a child bride Mrinal who secretly writes poetry to assuage the listlessness of her routine and mundane life. She finds companionship with the cows and buffaloes in the house while fulfilling the routine chores of her household. In this monotonous universe enters Bindu, the orphaned sister of her older sister-in-law. This simple event becomes the trigger which unravels layers of experiences that are then shared and collectively explored. The two characters become the pivot and everything revolves around their beautiful and haunting relationship, fraught with ambiguity.

The director has  used teo actors two play Mrinal - one is participating in the physical action on the stage and the other who is taking the narrative forward. ‘The male actor who is playing Mrinal is not constructing the role as a female impersonator nor is he playing androgynous. He is creating a de-gendering of his role, leading perhaps to a more egalitarian approach to performance’ says the director.

Monday, December 26
10.30 a.m.: Meet the artists
6.00 p.m.: Tagore Sketches (Short Plays) presented by Thrissur Natakasangham, Dir: C.R.Rajan, K.B.Hari.
7.00 p.m.: 'Bali,' (Malayalam adaptation of Tagore's play, 'Bisarjan,') presented by Natyasastra, Dir. Narippatta Raju.

Gobindamanikya, Tripura’s monarch, on realizing the futility of blood sacrifices, issued a ban on these unnecessary slaughters at the altar ofthe Goddess. Undoubtedly, this caused a general discontent in the state that was encouraged by high priest Raghupati, who held himself supreme in the matter of religion. He felt that by prohibiting the ritual, the king had definitely committed a grave crime and to punish and humiliate him, he tries various means to drive everyone against Gobindamanikya.

Tuesday, December 27
10.30 a.m.: Meet the artists
6.00 p.m.: Tagore Sketches (Short Plays) presented by Thrissur Natakasangham
7.00 p.m.: 'Chandalika,' presented by Sopanam, Thiruvanathapuram, Dir. Kavalam Narayana Panicker

Tagore's Chandalika (Untouchable Girl), which was modeled on an ancient Buddhist legend describing how Ananda, the Gautama Buddha's disciple, asks a tribal girl for water.

8.00 p.m.: 'Khud our Khuda,' presented by Sopanam, Dir. Kavalam Narayana Panicker, performed by V. Gireesh. 
Through the highly inventive imagery and rich and thought provoking ideas contained in the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore, a dramatic text is created to highlight their subtle, but powerful theatre potentials. The basic theme envisaged in the production, as the name Khud and Khuda suggests is the inevitable relationship between the individual and the universe, the man and the God, the micro and the macro. Tagore’s poetry celebrates the time immemorial theme of the struggle of the human spirit, its continuous search for the ultimate, its expectations and failures, sorrow and joy all described in the subtle and gross perspective. Following the path of the classical poets of the yonder past like Valmiki and Vyasa, Tagore also contemplates on dharma and nurtured the grand vision of the ultimate liberation of man. In his lofty message, the constant chase or the hunt that man is engaged in within and without for his own identity proves that the hunter and hunted for are one and the same.

The text for the performance consists of selected jewels from Tagore’s short poems and Gitanjali as well as certain essential excerpts from Raja and other plays to do justice to the theme. The vocal rendition is in four languages, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Hindi and English.

Talking about the play, ‘Khud aur Khuda’, Panikkar described how the play in four languages and yet the most effective was the fifth language i.e. the language of theatre. The Director ensured smooth transition from one language to the next.

Wednesday, December 28
10.30 a.m.: Meet the artists
3.00 p.m.: Seminar . Noted journalist Venkitesh Ramakrishnan will present the paper and the participants are Raghuthaman, Chandradasan, Gramaprakash, Ramesh Varma, Ratnakaran, and Sreeja.

5.30 p.m.: Tagore Festival Valedictory Function
Inauguration: Kavalam Narayana Panikker
Keynote Address: Prof. K.Satchidanandan

7.00 p.m.: 'Raj-Rakt,' (based on Tagore's 'Bisarjan,' and 'Rajarshi,') presented by Naya Theatre, script, design & direction, Habib Tanvir.
Tagore’s Visarjan is one of his most powerful and most flawed plays, based on a clash between the priest of a kingdom and his king over whether animal sacrifice should be banned. Tanvir’s instinct was to go back to the far stronger novel, Rajarshi (1887) on which Visarjan was based, and meld the play and the novel. Raj-Rakta is one of the last productions directed by Habib Tanvir, and he has utilised minimalism as the theatre language. He has insisted the actors to control and restrict the gestures, movements, and be specific and sharp so that the idea and politics behind the performance will be crystal clear. This work is a classic example of how to write an adaptation. I remember watching Habib doing the rehearsals and insisting on the specificity of each moment, the clarity of the political connotations he tried to bring up in this production. This play is about the religious fundamentalism taking over the nation, and its system. The political power being manipulated by the religious fundamentalists this is a highly contemporary situation.

Beneath the umbrella of political intrigue, the play deals with religious and social issues. Central to the plot is the moral confrontation between the King and the Purohit. A child's simple query makes the King question the validity of bloodletting. After an animal sacrifice, a young girl asks the King, "Itna khoon kyun?

This play is performed by the seasoned artists of Naya Theatre.
This festival is going to be truly meaningful tribute on the 150^th birth centenary celebrations of Rabindranath Tagore. A festival set in a village atmosphere for a poet and dramatist who was searching for the villages of India for the cultural identity and the spirit of the nation. many of his characters dreamed to travel to the villages and the peaceful serenity of the rural nature, its people that can cure many diseases caused by the urban chaos.

Kalamandalam Gopi, Chandrasekhar Kambar, Kanhailal, KM Raghavan Nambiar, Alakhnandan honoured by SNA

The General Council of Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, New Delhi at its meeting held on 13-14 December 2011 elected eleven (11) eminent personalities in the field of performing arts, including Kalamandalam Gopi, Chandrasekhar Kambar and Heisnam Kanhailal. Others include Mukund Lath(musicologist and writer), Hariprasad Chaurasia,(flute), Shivkumar Sharma (santoor), Amjad Ali Khan(sarod), Umayalapuram Sivaraman (mridangam), M Chandrasekharan(violin), R K Singhajit Singh(Manipuri dance), Padma Subrahmanyam (Bharathanatyam), as Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellows (Akademi Ratna). The Fellowship of the Akademi is the most prestigious and rare honour, which is restricted to a very limited number at a given time. Presently there are only 40 Fellows of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Kalamandalam Gopi (born 1937) is the living legend of Kathakali who blends the solid body grammar of the highly stylised Kalluvazhi tradition in which he was groomed with the more flexible, part-realistic, emotion-laden southern style techniques he acquired later in his career. Gopiyasan is known for the romantic and dramatic portrayal of the virtuous pachcha roles in Kathakali, including Nalan, Karnan and Rukmangadan. He is equally adept in essaying the choreographically denser roles like Bheeman (of Kalyanasougandhikam or Bakavadham), Arjuna (Subhadraharanam) and Dharmaputrar (Kirmeeravadham). He also excels in the yellow-faced pazhuppu roles such as Balabhadra, and the anti-heroic Kathi (Ravana, Keechaka and Duryodhana) black-bearded Kaatalan (Kiratham), red-bearded Bali (Balivijayam) and even the semi-realistic looking Brahmanan in Santanagopalam.

He was initiated in Kathakali by Guru T.Ravunni Nair and later trained as a disciple of Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, Kalamandalam Padmanabhan Nair and Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair, at Kerala Kalamandalam Shoranur. Before that, he had a brief career as a practitioner of Ottamthullal.

The duo of Kalamandalam Gopi as the male protagonist and Kottakkal Sivaraman, in the female role was great to watch and attracted great a fanfare.

He was awarded with the Padma Shri awardee, and ia recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award.

Chandrashekhara Kambara (born January 2, 1937) the prominent poet, playwright, folklorist, film director in Kannada language and the founder-vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi is selected as the fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi. .

Dr. Kambara's plays mainly revolve around folk or mythology interlinked with contemporary issues, a blend of the folk and the modern theatrical forms.

He has been conferred with many prestigious awards including the Jnanpith Award in 2011 for the year 2010, Sahitya Akademi Award, the Padma Shri by Government of India, Kabir Samman, Kalidas Samman and Pampa Award. After his retirement, Kambara was nominated Member of Karnataka Legislative Council, to which he made significant contributions through his interventions

Dr. Kambara has to his credit 22 plays, 8 anthologies of poems, 3 novels, 12 research works and several scholarly write-ups on folk theater, literature and education..^[15]

He has written 22 plays including the much acclaimed Jokumaraswamy, Sirisampige, (for which he was conferred with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1991) Alibaba and forty thieves. He other plays are Rishyashringa , Chalesha , Jasisidanayaka , Kaadu Kudure , Naayi Kathe , Harakeya Kuri , Sambashiva Prahasana , Huliya Neralu , Mahamayi , Nela Sampige and Shivaratri

Kambar With his rural upbringing and scholarship in folklore, he introduced folk motifs, themes and myths into Kannada literature. Kambar's work is imbued with a poetic sensibility, laced with earthy humour

Kambar argues that the Indian cultural sensibility was marked by its non-linear notion of time: ‘Time is not a controlled sequence of events in our minds, but an amalgamation of all events, past to present’. Against the Western notion of “history”, Kambar posited a view of “many ages and many worlds including the mythic, constituting the Indian sense of present reality. “We imitated the West in creating museums to house the relics of our past, whereas traditionally we had lived with our past in our daily present. This British notion of history forced us, Kambar said, to see our own literature through a distorted perspective. “We are obsessed with the ‘original’ nature of historic texts and with the need to separate them from later interpolations. Instead of swallowing the Western notion of the integrity of a text and its sole author, we ought to celebrate the way in which Indians continually told and retold the Mahabharata, adding to it and modifying it. It is a matter of pride, Kambar declared, ‘that an entire country has collectively created the epic over a period of 10,000 years’.

It is this idea of continuity of culture and tradition, its organic relationship with the present day reality makes the works of Kambar distinct. Even when narrating the story of Alibaba Kambar can very well place it inside a temple (where thieves also can be hiding) and place Ganesha as one of the important characters.

I remember my interaction with his Alibababayum Nalpathu Kallanmarum which I translated into Malayalam, (yet to be published), designed and directed for our children’s theatre group Mazhavillu.

Heisnam Kanhailal (born 1942)is a noted art theatre director from Manipur. He is the founder-Director of Kalakshetra Manipur, established in 1969, a theatre laboratory that explores a new vocabulary in the existing language of theatre.

Kanhailal , a drop-out from the National School of Drama in New Delhi, Identified himself in his early years with the ‘Third Theatre’ tradition of Badal Sircar. He explored non-verbal, physical, ensemble acting in numerous theatre pieces, steeped in the indigenous myths and conventions of Meitei culture. After experimental plays like Tamnalai (Haunting Spirits) and Kabui-Keioba (Half-Man, Half-Tiger), Kanhailal created a sensation with his sharp and lyrical retelling of a popular folk tale Pebet (1975), in which Mother Pebet, a mythical bird, succeeds through subterfuge in reuniting her children, who have been abducted by the Cat. Thinly disguised as an allegory of neocolonial domination, with the Cat masquerading as a Vaishnavite monk, the play was condemned as ‘anti-Hindu’ and ‘anti-Indian’, even as it was hailed as a theatrical masterwork.

Seeking a less ethnically determined idiom of protest to depict the violence of everyday life in Manipur, Kanhailal dramatized L. Samarendra Singh's poem Africagee Wakhanda Gee in another memorable evocation of the survival of the human spirit in Memoirs of Africa (1985). His wife, the actress Sabitri, was central to both productions, performing with the power of a contemporary shaman. More recently, Kanhailal has attempted to deepen the communitarian and ritualistic dimensions of his theatre in the context of suffering. His plays have also begun to move outwards from their inner lyrical resilience towards a more verbal, layered, and ironic reading of myth and history, as in his reinterpretation of Karna (1997), the tragic warrior from the Mahabharata, and his adaptation of Mahasweta Devi's story Draupadi (2000). He has written 15 plays and directed over 35 plays.

He was awarded Padma Shri in 2004 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1985

Thonnakkal Peethambaran was born on Dec 2, 1939. After his primary education upto 12th he began to learn Kathakali under Pirappankode Kunhan Pilla. After his first performance he continued his studies under Oyoor Kochu Govinda Pilla for 2 years, after which he was trained at RLV College Tripunithura under the legendary Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair. He performs almost all the roles in Kadhakali , and excels in the role of Raudrabheeman in Duryodhanavadham.

In the field of Theatre, eight eminent persons have been selected for Akademi Awards 2011. They include Alakhnandan and Kirti Jain for Direction, Amitabh Shrivastav, Vikram Gokhale, Neena Tiwana and A R Srinivasan for Acting, R Nageswara Rao (Babji) for Major Traditions of Theatre – Company Theatre, Andhra Pradesh and Kamal Jain for Allied Theatre Arts (Lighting).

Alakhnandan has worked with eminent directors like B.V. Karanth, Fritz Bennewitz and K.N. Panikar. He discovered modernity in Indian playwrights instead of imitating Western dramatists.

Born in 1940 in Arrah district of Bihar, he spent his childhood in Jabalpur where he used to watch Jatra and acted as a child artiste during religious celebrations. Inspired by Karanth, he explored various folk theatre forms of Bundelkhand, including Bundelkhandi Swang form. Using these elements, he made his productions colourful, lively, fresh and meaningful.

Alakhnandan started his own repertory in Bhopal in 1987 called Nata Bundela. Recently Alakhnandan made theatrical performance of Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry

An M.A. (Hindi) and a Postgraduate Diploma holder in Public Administration, Alakhnandan’s directorial artistry ranges from stark realism to black comedy to folk theatre, from serious adult theatre to children’s theatre. The plays he has directed included Sanskrit and Hindi classics, translations from regional dramas, his own plays and European avant garde dramatic works. A poet himself, he has infused in his productions a distinct poetic and political sensibility. Alakhnandan has a special flavour to combine ingenuity and skill to create black humour in situations like death and mournful last rituals. A playwright and Hindi poet of repute, Alakhnandan, is also a master in the field of children’s theatre.

He was awarded the Shikhar Samman for theatre by the Madhya Pradesh government in 2006. Alakhnandan’s publications include Chanda Bedni, Ujbak Raja Teen Dakait, Swang Shakuntala (plays), Budhdhi Bahadur, Murkha Shiromani, Narad Ji Phanse Chakallas me (children’s plays) and Ghar Nahin Pahunch Pata (collection of poems)

Kirti Jain (born 1949) is an MA in English Literature, and has a diploma in theatre (direction) from NSD under the tutelage of Abrahim Alkazi. She was teaching theatre History in NSD and later became the director of it.

She has directed many productions including Baghdad burning, Lehron Ke Rajhans, (1992), Holi, Subarnalata, Tinka Tinka, kaun Thangwa nagariya Lutal Ho, Aur Kitne Tudke. The processes that precede a performance, of giving space to others, of working through consensus are all integral to Kirti's understanding of theatre. She says she is more lured by structures and shapes rather than scripts and scenes.

She has travelled to many countries including Pakistan, UK, USA, Japan, China, Germany, France, Poland, USSR, Philipines with her productions and for giving lectures. She has extensively written about theatre in englishg and also in Hindi.

She is associated with Natrang Pratishtan, a theatre Archives and Documentation Centre.

Amitabh Srivastava graduated from the National School of Drama (Acting) in 1979 Soon after, he plunged into theatre in Delhi where he associated with major theatre directors E. Alkazi, B. V.Karanth, Fritz Benewitz, Ranjit Kapoor, Barry Johnn, Amal Allana, Prasanna Devendra Raj Ankur. He visited the U.K, Germany, and Poland with the National School of Drama Repertory Company. For the last twenty-five years he has also been active with TV and cinema as writer, director, and actor and has been performing in numerous stage plays, T.V. serials, telefilms and films.

He has always considered writing and scripting to be his forte and has adapted world classics of drama such as The Tempest, Good Woman of Schetzuan, The Visit, Hedda Gabler, The Odd Couple, Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Can’t Pay! Won’t Pay! to name a few. He has also written screenplays for feature films such as Hey Ram, Abhay, and White Rainbow.

Vikram Gokhale is a well known film, television and stage actor, notable for his roles in Marathi theatre and Hindi films and television. He is also a renowned, director, consulting film editor and much more. He is a trained actor and director who learnt under the guidance of Mrs. Vijaya Mehta, He has acted in key roles in more than 30 professional Marathi and Hindi theater productions.

Neena Tiwana An actress from Punjab who was instrumental in establishing the  Punjab Kala Manch alongwith her husband Harpal Tiwana at Patiala to promote local artists. Neena Tiwana is a graduate from National School of Drama. Neena Tiwana and his son Manpal Tiwana are now playing a key role in promoting the theatre in Punjab, after the demise of her husband in a road accident in 2002.

A R Srinivasan (ARS) is a veteran Tamil actor from Chennai who has climbed the ladder of success both as an actor and as a high ranking officer because of a clear vision for himself. He has been an part of many stage plays, tele-serials and cinema – three dimensions of acting career accomplished successfully, while being employed full time as a high ranking officer of a company. He is fondly known to his fans as ARS

R. Nageswara Rao — Babji the secretary of the celebrated company theatre Surabhi is selected for this years award. Over 125 years, a theatre legacy has trickled from one generation to another of a family. Surabhi today lives on through five troupes spread over Andhra Pradesh, held together by over 3,000 family members. The productions thatturned out as Surabhi masterpieces include “Maya Bazaar”, “Srikrishnaleelalu”, “Chandipriya” and “Bhaktha Prahlada” R. Nageswara Rao — Babji for everyone — runs the Hyderabad-based Sri Venkateshwara Natya Mandali, the biggest among the Surabhi troupes. . “We are born to the stage, educated here. We rehearse, cook, sleep here.” Theatre is at the core of these lives, points out Babji. “From a three-month-old baby to an 80-year-old are here.” Together they make costumes, create sets and backdrop, play music and arrange lighting. Babji asserts the audience never deserted Surabhi, “We depend on ticket and audience.”

What began with a “Keechaka Vadham” performance in 1885 at a wedding, today survives with a bit of government help and the zest of the audience. “I belong to the fifth generation of artistes. The sixth and seventh generation family members are already part of the group,” says Babji Babji's ancestors moved from puppetry to theatre performances with “Keechaka Vadham.” An assortment of mythological, folklore and plays based on women's issues make Surabhi theatre which are laced with stunning visual effects , Huge sets, intricate backdrops, elaborate costumes and tricks

Legendary B.V. Karanth conducted workshops and evolved three plays with them — “Bhishma”, “Chandipriya” and “The Good Women of Setzuan” an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's play. If “Bhishma” did away with Surabhi tricks and splendour, it did not do too well. So when it came to “Chandipriya” in 1997, Karanth left it to the Surabhi artistes to select the play, have “their tricks” yet ventured into in a modern way. I remember Karanth paying his tribute to the Surabhi tradition by saying that, “ I was not teaching the Surabhi artists, but was always studying from them.

Kamal Jain (Lighting) is the only one selected this year for the award from among the artists of the technical side of theatre.

Kashiram Sahu for Folk Theatre (Chhatisgarh), Mipham Otsal for Traditional Theatre (Jammu & Kashmir), Bellagallu Veeranna for Togalu Gombeyatta, Puppetry (Karnataka), Gopal Chandra Das for Putul Nach (Tripura) are also among the awardees.

KM Raghavan Nambiar  Important Malayalam Playwright, KM Raghavan Nambiar who wrote plays like Swathanthryam Thanne Jeevitham, and the former vice Chairman of Kerala Sangeet Natak Akademi Trissur was selected for the Tagore Puraskar, a one time award instituted in connection with the Tagore centenary celebrations.

Lankalakshmi@kollam fest

Kollam fest 2011 is an international event focusing art, culture, trade and tourism organized by the Kollam Corporation, which is scheduled to commence on 1st November.

Kollam Fest is destined to be the signature event in Kollam for year 2011 as well as the years to come. Kollam Fest aims to showcase our rich Culture & Heritage, Tourism potential, Investments for the new ventures, et al through the month long gala event. The fest aims to constitute an award in the name of the late renowned actor O.Madhavan for the best professional theatre group in Kerala.

Vayala Vasudevan Pillai Theatre Fest

A theatre festival to commemorate late Vayala Vasudevan Pillai is an important event in the fest.

Kollam is the abode of the largest number of mainstream theatre groups of Kerala; Kollam District hosted the first workshop on theatre was initiated by G Sankara Pillai that heralded the arrival of the modern theatre in Kerala, and Kollam the birthplace of eminent playwrights Pulimana Parameswaran Pillai, CN Sreekantan Nair, Kadavoor G Chandran Pillai, O Madhavan and Vayala Vasudevan Pillai. Thus this city should be a natural arena where meaningful theatre has to occur. The different plays featuring in this fest is aimed for the same.

The Vayala fest is inaugurated by the veteran actor from Tamil nadu Y G Mahendra and his play titled Venka 3 written by Chithralayam Shreeram, directed by YG Mahendra, and performed by UAA Chennai marked the opening of the fest on the eve of 21 11 2011.

The other plays and their schedule in the fest are

Melvilasam Directed by Soorya Krishnamurthy; performed by Soorya Theatre Group Thiruvananthapuram- 27/11/11 7.00 pm

Adapted from a Hindi play "Court Martial' by Swadesh Deepak and inspired from the experiences of Gopi Poojapura, an ex-soldier of Indian Army and mentor of Soorya Krishnamoorthy, the play highlights the caste differences in the Society. The trauma experienced by a jawan from a backward community, who is ill treated by his superiors is brought out through an emotional presentation and effective dialogues. All the characters of the drama, in military uniforms enact an emotional scene of court martial proceedings. The play goes into the reasons that compelled the soldier to commit the murder of his officer and seeks to depict the relentless fight between the privileged and the downtrodden.

Dr Raja Warrior will commemorate Vayala Vasudevan Pillai before the play.

Lankalakshmi written by CN Sreekantan Nair, Directed by Chandradasan and performed by Lokadharmi, Kochi- 03/12/11 7.00 pm

C. N. Sreekantan Nair's ‘Lankalakshmi' is a challenge for any director, for its text featuring poetic language and imagery. The production breaks the conventional approach to the text, design and acting and. The performance contextualises the play by sandwiching it between ‘Kamba Ramayanam' and Ezhuthachan's ‘Adhyatma Ramayanam.' While the Kamba Ramayanam handles the myth in a humorous manner, with no touch of piety at all, Ezhuthachan's ‘Ramayanam' was a creation of the Bhakthi movement. C.N.'s ‘Ramayana' is somewhere in between.

Chandradasan will commemorate CN Sreekantan Nair before the play.

Makkalkoottam, written by Suresh Babu Sreestha, directed by Pramod Payyannur, performed by Prakash Kalakendram Neeravil, Kollam- 05/12/11 7.00 pm

Makkalkoottam, directed by Pramod Payyannoor is based on a novel by TV Kochubava, and presented by Prakash Kalakendram, Neeravil, Kollam, won the second best actor awards for Rajesh Sharma and Sreeranjini. This play looks into the untouchable community of low caste Chakkilayan, who have been marginalised into the outskirts of the society; victims of social custom, ignorance, and exploited by the upper caste/class. The play uses a narrative style mixing up of traditional narrative of Theyyam, and Tholpavakoothu, along with realism. Innovative space design with good technical execution is the hall mark of the play.

The day’s commemoration talk is on Kadavoor G Chandran Pillai and will be done by Prof. Biyatrees Alex.

Spinal Cord, written and directed by Deepan Sivaraman, and performed by Oxygen theatre company Thrissur - 06/12/11; 7.00 pm

Spinal Cord narrates the story of a murder and its tragic consequences in a township. Twenty seven years after the incident the victim’s mother wakes up from a haunting nightmare with unpleasant memories of her son. Through the faded memories of the 80 year old mother, we start to know the tragic story of her son and the entire consequences of that honour killing. The play develops through the narration of the mother which often oscillates between past and present. When the newlywed Angela and Kunjavaran retire to their wedding night, Kunjavaran discovers that his wife is not a virgin. Shocked and angry, he returns Angela to her family home that very night, where her humiliated brother beats her savagely and demands to know her violator and she names Nasar. Nasar is unaware of the allegations that have been cast against him. But with Angela’s brother bent on avenging their family honour, the whole town is abuzz. They all know whom he plans to kill, where and when.

P Balachandran will talk on Prof G Sankara Pillai at 6.30 pm

Kalamkariyude Katha, written by Sreeja Arangottukara, directed by Smitha M Babu, and performed by Prakash Kalakendram Vanithavedi, Neeravil, Kollam - 08/12/11 7.00 pm

Kalamkariyude Katha,’ vividly portrays the creative sensibilities and inner conflicts of a potter woman. It unveils a widow’s zest for life and her struggle to survive in a society that still ostracises widows in many ways. The turbulence that Kalamkari has to undergo in her life followed by her husband’s death and her struggle to keep her creativity alive by making pots form the central theme of the play. But through it, ‘Kalamkariyude Katha’ also throws light on the survival instincts of human beings in a poignant manner, and the play oscillates between fantasy and reality. The play, scripted by Sreeja K.V., had won the Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi’s award for the second best script.

There will be a debate on women’s theatre at 6.30 pm

Lankalakshmi

“The plot of this play is not just the frailty of a king who is an admirer of beauty. War, diplomacy, ethnic conflicts, ups and downs of ethics, etc are engrossed in it… It originated from the blood that surged from the severed breast of Soorppanakha. That river of blood is ferociously flooding down, with all its fury. Betrayal, Deceit, Destruction, and Death have taken charge of the four destinations…. Now, there remains just a single resolution….”

This play is about the anxieties and agonies of war. It can be said that war is the protagonist and antagonist of this play, and is reflected in different shades in different characters, with Ravana as the key metaphor. Death is projected in all its intensity; the death of heroes is continuously taking place, one after the other. Amidst the continuity of deaths of dear and near ones, the play envisages the plight of Ravana caught in the cross-roads of life and death, the ultimate fate of an egoist reveling in his physical and mental prowess.

The play starts when Rama and his army has crossed the sea, reached Lanka and is waiting outside the fort of Ravana; the war is imminent and near. The first act of the play portrays the internal conflicts and turbulence in the Ravana clan at the face of the war; different voices rise within the race.

"All the treasures in the three worlds should belong to Lanka," is the motive force that leads Ravana. He went after women, not just because he fancied them, but also to enrich his pedigree, to glorify Lanka. In its wake might have come, lurking shadows of crime and curse. Sita is the priceless jewel that should be part of Lanka, even if she is married to another man.

The conflict between Ravana and his brother Vibheeshana goes back to their childhood. His companionship with his uncle Suparsvan reveals the generosity of give and take, although decision-making is the prerogative of Ravana. The conversation between them is like an inner monologue. The love for his brother Kumbhakarna is another tender knot that breaks his heart. His pride in his son is a pointer to his shattered persona as he hears the death of Meghanadhan. His intimate bond with his wife Mandodari is another aspect of his noble nature. Soon the enemy enters his palace, ravishes Mandodari.

The play is designed to be an intimate experience to the audience where the acting area merges and diffuses into the audience area. The presence of Sita and Soorppanakha depicted with paintings. The throne, palace, and the mighty Himalayas, where Ravana travels are abstracted into a multilevel set painted by monotones of blue.

The music has sounds of rain, thunder, wind, birds, and animals to create the ambience of a war field surrounded by ferocious sea of blood.

The narrative of the play takes place in a three dimensional space with varying perspective. The three different narratives used simultaneously merges and juxtapose to create a more universal meaning to the whole rendering. The text written by CN Sreekantan Nair is sandwiched between the Recital of Adhyatma Ramayana written by Ezhuthachan which is based on Bhakthi and Ramayana by Kambar (rendered as Tholpavakoothu) which treats Ramayana down to earth and looks into the potentials of the text as a performance.

The Artists Participating in the show at Kollam are VR Selvaraj, Sanosh Palluruthy, Johny Thottunkal , Ajaikumar Thiruvankulam , Madan Kolavil, Jolly Antony , Cijin Sukumar , Shaiju T Hamza , Joshua Antony K , Adithye KN, Muthumani Somasundaran , Kalamandalam Prabhakaran Jenson, Manosh, Kishore NK, Jebin Jesmes , Shirly Somasundaran K Viswanatha Pulavar & Group Koonathara, Shoranur , Pattanam Rasheed , Prasanth Madhav and Gireesh Menon.

This is the third performance of the play.

National Theatre Festival for Children at palakkadu

The regional centre of the national school of drama (NSD RRC) is organizing a National theatre festival for Children at Municipal Town hall Palakkadu from 02^nd 06^th November 2011. Eight beautiful children’s plays from Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will be performed in the fest. A theatre workshop for school teachers and a photo exhibition is also arranged along with the fest. The plays are scheduled at 6.30 in the evening.

Prof. Kumara Varma will inaugurate in festival at 6.30 pm on th second in which Chandradasan is the chief guest. Suresh Anagally, the director of NSD RRC will participate in the function.

The inaugural play is Nai Mari Natakam, in Kannada, written by Vydehi, directed by Jeevan Ram Sulia, and performed by Alvas education foundation, Moodbidri, Karnataka. Vaidehi born in 1945, in Kundapura, Dakshina Kannada District, Karnataka is a well-known Kannada fiction writer and poet, renowned for her espousal of the cause of women. Her writings, generally described as post-modernist, depict the plight of women in an indignant and rebellious tone. A versatile writer, she writes short fiction, novels, essays, children’s plays and poems.

On the third Land of Pongo in Tamil directed by Shanmukharaja and performed by comfort international school Coimbatore, and Kanniyude Makkal based on a story by Ravindranatha Tagore, directed by Gopi Kuttikkol and performed by Sunday theatre Kasargodu will be performed.

On the fourth two Malayalam plays are scheduled. They are Cyclist written by Vijay Tendulkar and directed by Satyabhama for Navarang Palakkadu, and Chipko, Chipko written and directed by Shirly Somasundaran for Mazhavillu Kochi, Kerala.

Chipko Chipko is based on this year’s World Environment Day message — Forest, Nature at your service; and is based on the lives of the 363 Bishnoi women who sacrificed their lives to protect trees in 1773. The protests by the Bishnoi women against felling of trees to build King Abhay Singh’s palace is considered the first attempt by women to safeguard trees in history.

On the 05^th of November the plays are Mandrika Kannadi written and directed by KV Ganesh, for Rangachethana Trissur, will be followed by Kaboolivalayum Makkalum written by Tagore and directed by Asok Sasi for Rangaprabhath Thiruvananthapuram will be performed.

On the last day  “Sadako – Savira Kokkugalu,” Kannada adaptation of the Malayalam play written by Vayala Vasudevan Pillai, performed by the Kinnara Mela team from Tumari, directed by B.R. Venkataramana Aithal will be performed.

The inauguration of the valedictory function will be inaugurated by PV Krishnan Nair, the secretary of Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi and the chief guest is Prof.G.Dileepan.

It is good to see that all the childrens theatre groups that are continuously working in Kerala are represented in this festival. The festival is organised by the local cooperation of Navarang Palakkadu.

Gursharan Singh passes away (1929-2011)

GURSHARAN SINGH, Director, playwright and legendary stalwart of modern Punjabi Theatre, born in Multan, Punjab, on September 16, 1929, passed away in Chandigarh, on Tuesday, September 27, 2011.

The legendary theatre artist, playwright and director, Gursharan Singh, affectionately called Bhai Manna Singh (after the character he created through his plays), was 82 and was struggling from illness for quite a long time.

He had created the rural theatre in Punjab with modern sensibilities, written and performed widely, and was instrumental in creating a socially meaningful theatre in Punjab, after the IPTA era. . Gursharan Singh was a "revolutionary, missionary and a socialist", who brought Punjabi folk and rural theatre to the forefront. The history of post independent Punjabi theatre is created by him, and has nurtured and groomed younger directors like Kewal Dhaliwal.

“It is a long battle, the battle of changing mindsets,” Gursharan Singh, once said of his theatre movement.

Gursharan Singh, an engineer created a cultural revolution in Punjab through his new genre of theatre called Tharra theatre (‘platform’ theatre, a kind of street theatre) He performed widely from interior villages in rural Punjab to the corridors of power in Delhi.

Theatre for him was more a social activity, to convey a message, and to change the course of the society than an activity of ‘art or aesthetics’. His theatre talked about his society, its injustices, and was not concentrating on the ‘finer aspects of aesthetics, that may cater to the elite. He had a definite purpose for is theatre - the betterment of society and voicing the bitter reality that is seldom expressed.

Whenever he found that social injustice is prevailing and forces of oppression that suppresses the masses, he stood up with his theatre. He sensitized the people at the grass roots level against the social evil and unethical values prevalent in the system through the medium of theatre’. As actor, author or director, Singh aimed at a theatre for social change and for civil rights

He was a leftist to the core, a sympathiser of the Naxal movement; when youngsters were being killed by the police in fake encounters during the Naxalite movement in the 1970s, he questioned the state’s acts through Kiv Koorrey Tuttey Paal

During the dark days of Emergency, when freedom of expression was numbed by silencing he came up with the play Bund Kumre and was eventually put in jail in September 1976 . He was arrested under a trumped-up charge of “training the youth to blow up a bridge.” After going through the charge sheet the magistrate laughed and said, “it would have been better to implicate him in some theatre activity case.”

When the militancy and separatist movement nabbed Punjab in the 80’s Gursharan Singh dared to voice against the militancy movement as well as the blind military actions of the state. He and his team toured the nook and corners of Punjab staging plays like hamak Nagare dee, Bhai Mana Singh, and Miti da Mul which attacked the militant separatist movement directly. At the height of Sikh terrorism he continued to perform, regardless of the threat to his life. It was natural that he has to fight against the militants as well as the state power, but his plays and life was protected by the farmers and the village folk. Their anguish was reflected in the works of Gursharan Bhai, and it is those words which they wanted to speak aloud was echoed through his characters. The silent cries of the millions of poor, the marginalized of society, the people who for centuries have not been allowed to speak

When state terrorism was silencing every voice of dissent, he challenged them by staging Hit List in Amritsar

He worked relentlessly for an egalitarian society, gender equality and workers’ rights. He was the one who forced the state to make mention of the mother’s name in school certificates necessary.

“Dhamak Nagare Di” , “Chandni Chownk tu Sirhind Tak”, “Baba Bolda Hai”, “Kammiyan da Wehda” are a few of his very important and famous plays.

His theatre group also produced some world classics by Bertolt Brecht and Samuel Beckett in Punjabi, and he himself penned some of the most memorable dramas written in Punjabi language.

Gursharan Singh won several awards from Kalidas Samman and a fellow of the National Sangeet Natak Akademy.

‘Theatre transcends language and time’

Ram Kumar Ramaswamy

Chandradasan lives and breathes theatre, as he puts it. He has become the face to reckon with, for theatre in Kochi.

His obsession is evident in his detailed and scholarly take on subjects that range from Kalidasa to Beckett, from Shakespearean times to the modern era.

“It all started in 1982 when I was studying at St Albert’s college in Ernakulam when I discovered my interest for theatre. Sadly, there weren’t many avenues for Kochiites to learn and shine in the field then. Kerala did not have a vibrant theatre scene like Mumbai or Delhi,” says Chandradasan.

He would hold long discussions with legends like Shankara Pillai of the School of Drama. Gradually, several ideas began to shape up, and they decided to form his own theatre production company.

Collaborating with Gramavedi, a theatre group from Vallarpadam that consisted of workers, labourers, carpenters and masons, they succeeded in staging three adaptations of Badal Circar’s plays in 1987-88.

Rajavinte Chenda, the adapted play gained much appreciation all over Kerala. Chandradasan was soon recognised all over Kerala as a director of plays.

In the late eighties he developed a desire for instituting a learning centre for theatre in Kerala. That was also the time his group staged plays of M.T. Vasudevan Nair and gained a lot of appreciation.

“We instituted our training school Lokadharmi in a humble temporary roofed premises in Tripunithura in 1991. Later, it moved to the Sanskrit College campus with the gracious help of K.G. Paulose, the former Vice Chancellor of Kalamandalam,” says Chandradasan.

Lokadharmi has been conducting theatre workshops on all Sundays unfailingly, till today at Changampuzha park at Edapally. Their plays have been staged across the country, and abroad, many more than a hundred times over.

Adaptations are his forte. Chandradasan feels that be it Euripides’ Medea or Vyasa’s Mahabharata, epics live forever, and the human entanglements of ancient times astonishingly fit for today’s world too.

However, he believes in adaptations because, a play clicks only if it connects with the viewer with a strand that runs through our culture, language and issues that plague today’s life.

In 2000, his team toured Greece to stage Greek plays following an invitation from the Greek government, and received great appreciation and support.

“Plays are about experiencing, and not exactly about the story alone. Times have changed and people’s perception has changed too. Today, we have such fantastic equipment, lighting, sound systems, make-up men and trained actors. Sadly, the plays of today are very dilute in nature,” says Chandradasan who feels that vernacular theatre of today has brilliant works that sadly go unnoticed by the majority of the population because it doesn’t have the support that English plays enjoy.

“A good play is that which connects you to the land, its emotions and transports you to a different plane. Theatre transcends language and time,” he says.

Courtesy Deccan chronicle Kochi, August 14, 2011

Soorya Krishnamoorthi, TM Abraham, PV Krishnan Nair to head Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi

The Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi gets new office bearers. Soorya Krishnamoorthy, is appointed as the chairman, TM Abraham as the vice Chairman and Dr. PV Krishnan Nair as new secretary of Kerala Sangeeta Nataka academy.

Krishnamoorthy is the founder-director of the SOORYA Stage and Film Society, a unique organisation promotes Indian arts and culture which is renowned for organizing the Soorya Festival - the longest and one of the most prestigious cultural events in India - in which the finest and most accomplished artists in Indian classical dances and music participate.

Soorya Krishnamoorthy is a pioneer of the Light and Sound show in Malayalam that has completed 30 years. He has also written, conceived and directed various stage shows. He has directed plays including Melvilasam, Premalekhanam, and Parinayam

Earlier he has served as the director of the Kerala State Film Development Corporation, member of the National Film Award jury, the Kerala State Film Award jury, member of the Doordarshan Advisory Committee, the Expert Committee of the Department of Culture, Govt. of India to evolve the cultural policy of the country.

He had won President of India’s National Award for Stage Craft and Direction 1996. “Kalaimamani” Award for Stage Craft and Direction, "Special Recognition" Award for overall contribution in the field of art and culture 2004from govt of Kerala etc.

T M Abraham renowned director and playwright is coming back as the vice chairman of the academy for the second time. Earlier he was the Vice Chairman of the Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Academy during 2001–2004. Earlier he was a member of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Kerala Kalamandalam, an executive member of the Samasta Kerala Sahitya Parishad etc.

Abraham has published 14 books in Malayalam in various categories, including novel, drama, monograph, and translations. His important plays include Pernthachan, Pr akvukal Ippol karayunnnilla, Keeri muricha Kannu, Raktha bali and his directorial ventures include Madhavi (by Bhisham Sahni), Aham Aham (own script), Waiting for Godot, Antigone, Oedipus and Thughlaq.

He has won awards including the state award for direction in 1980. Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award 1981, K.C.B.C. Literary Award in 1994, V. T. Bhattathiripad award 2001 and the Senior Fellowship by Government of India, Department of Culture, in 2004 etc.

Dr. PV Krishnan Nair who had an earlier term as the secretary of Kerala Sahitya Akademi is the new secretary to the Nataka Akademi of the state.

Hope that the new bunch of people, their experience in organisational, creative and administrative fields will rejuvenate the Akademi and create new energy and focus to its manifold activities.

A thought for forests and nature

 

Express News Service , The New Indian Express

KOCHI:� To propagate the message of nature conservation, ‘Mazhavillu’, a children’s theatre group, will showcase its new play ‘Chipko Chipko’ on July 24. Organised by Lokadharmi and Changampuzha Cultural Trust the play will be staged in Changampuzha Park, Edappally, at 6 pm.

Based on this year’s World Environment Day message — Forest, Nature at your service, the play was developed by the students during the summer camp. “The play is based on the lives of the 363 Bishnoi women who sacrificed their lives to protect trees in 1773.

“This is an attempt to make children aware of our culture as well as social realities that exist in our society,” said Shirly Somasundaran, director of ‘Chipko Chipko’. The protests by the Bishnoi women against felling of trees to build King Abhay Singh’s palace is considered the first attempt by women to safeguard trees in history. The play is set against a Rajasthani background. ‘Mazhavillu’ was officially inaugurated on December 15 with a premiere of children’s version of ‘Charandas Chor’.

‘Mazhavillu’ has produced many plays, including B V Karanth’s ‘Panjarasala’, ‘Chandrasekhar Kambar’s ‘Alibabayum 40 Kallanmarum’,  ‘Bommanahalliyile Kinnara Yogi’, based on the poem by Kuvempu which was designed and directed by Chandradasan, Rabindra Nath Tagore’s ‘Mughdhadhara’ and Arun Puthezhathu’s Tom and Jerry both directed by Sudheer Babu and ‘Girl in the Photograph’ written and directed by Shirly Somasundaran. The plays were performed in various festivals in Kerala and also in New Delhi and Ahmedabad.

Students from Government High school, Edappally, Vidyodaya School, Thevakkal, Government Girls High School, Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir and other schools who are with Mazhavillu will participate in the play.

Courtesy: The New Indian express .

Audition workshop for the new play Caucasiayile Chokku vattam

LOKADHARMI announces the audition workshop for casting in our new play "Cokesiayile Chokku Vattam" an adaptation based on the play Caucasian Chalkcircle by Bretolt Brecht. We are looking forward for 15-20 actors (male and female) who has the passion, time and energy for theatre.

The initial phase of the workshop will equip the actors to act in a Brehtain play and introduce with the text and also explore for the possibilities of adapting it in a contemporary Kerala situation. This phase will take place on Sundays from 10 am to 2.00 pm at Changampuzha park Edappalli. The second phase will be the actual rehearsal and play preparation which will be in the evenings. the whole process will takes place a time span of almost an year.

The play will be designed and directed by Chandradasan.

Those who are interested can contact 09447414200. Your queries are most welcome. Musicians, artistes, and other technicians can also associate with this project.

Please spread this message..

Endgame' returns to Malayalam stage

Special correspondent

KOCHI: Samuel Beckett's seminal play, ‘Endgame' is all set to make a much-desired comeback to Malayalam theatre. ‘Kadassikkali', an adaptation of the play in Malayalam, will be staged jointly by Lokadharmi centre for theatre training, research and performance, and the Centre for Heritage Environment and Development (C-HED) at the Town Hall here on June 30 at 7 p.m.

The Malayalam production is directed by Jithu Johny, a post-graduate student of theatre at the Sree Sankara University of Sanskrit in Kalady. Chandradasan, Lokadharmi director and eminent theatre activist, will don the lead role in the play. Actors Asha Devi, Sudheer Babu and Sijin Sukumar will also act in the play.

The one-act play, from the stable of the theatre of the absurd, problematises life's continuity and questions the meaning of familial bonds. It presents four physically-challenged people who are mutually dependent, but caught in an endless, bitter verbal duel. As in Beckett's other plays, stasis or stagnation in life forms a major theme in ‘Endgame' as well. The actions on stage are repetitive, almost ritualistic, reiterating Beckett's ‘habit is a great deadener' philosophy.

Written in the aftermath of the World War II that ended with a terrible nuclear tragedy, ‘Endgame' portends a life — read post-nuclear life — sans surprises. Even the death of a character fails to shock anyone. From their rants on stage, it appears to the audience that the characters shared a past, but a cheerful future doesn't appear to dawn for them. Its isolated setting points to a life without a social, cultural and environmental milieu

Courtesy: The Hindu daily 13th June 2011

The Legend remains, in bold strokes…

SHOBHA MENON
The vigor of his brush strokes, the flow of colors, the ease in creating drawings, the bold lines and incredible palettes … there is only one artist, who can paint like the wind… MF Hussain!

Maqbool Fida Husain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011)

Celebrated Indian artist MF Husain, who earned both fame and wrath for his paintings, died in London today after being unwell for over a month. He was 95. The artist breathed his last at the Royal Brompton Hospital at 2.30 am local time.
M.F. Husain was born in Pandharpur on September 17, 1915 to mother Zunaib and father Fida. His mother died when he was three years old. His father remarried and the family moved to Indore where he did his primary education.

As a child, Husain learnt the art of calligraphy- practiced the Kulfic Khat with its geometric forms and loved to read poetry while he resided with his uncle in Baroda. After painting many countryside landscapes and completing his schooling in Indore, Husain decided to move to Mumbai to make his career in art. He joined the J.J. school of arts.

In 1937, he started his career painting cinema hoardings for a livelihood. . In Husain's own words: “We were paid barely four or six annas per square foot. That is, for a 6x10 feet canvas, we earned a few rupees. And apart from the New Theatre distributor, the others did not pay us at all. As soon as I earned a little bit I used to take off for Surat, Baroda and Ahmedabad to paint landscapes”. Given this bad pay, Husain tried other jobs as well. One of the best paying was a toy factory, where he designed and built fretwork toys.
In between, Husain got married to Fazila in the year 1941 and they had two daughters and three sons.


In 1947, Husain won an award for his paintings (Sunhera Sansaar) at the annual exhibition of the Bombay art society and this marked the beginning of a vibrant colorful career ahead waiting for this art maestro. Husain did a lot of art experimentation in his early years by blending different ethnic and mythological themes to create luminous art forms.

His creativity, style and innovation in paintings have made him reach the pinnacle in Indian art. F.N. Souza, a member of The Progressive Artist's Group, which was formed to give new dimensions to Indian art, invited Husain to become a member of it in 1948.

Progressive Artists Group, a group formed to explore a new idiom for Indian art, paved new pathways for Husain’s artistic career. Progressive group’s involvement exposed Husain to the works of Emil Nolde and Oskar Kokoschka and made a strong influence, which led him to make some remarkable works 'Re Between The Spider And The Lamp', 'Zameen and Man' etc. He then visited Delhi, where he encountered ancient Mathura sculpture and Indian miniature paintings. This was a turning point of his career as an artist as he assimilated ideas from Western and Indian art.

From 1948 to 1950 a series of exhibitions all over India brought Husain's work to the notice of the public.
In 1951 Husain travelled to China. In the following year he had his first solo exhibition in Zurich, and over the next few years his work was widely seen in Europe and the USA.

By 1955 Husain went on to become one of the foremost artists in India and was awarded the ‘Padma Shri’. In 1971, Husain was invited along with Pablo Picasso at the Sao Paulo Biennial. Apart from the several solo exhibitions, Husain has many studios in major metropolitans of the country. In 1973, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, in 1989, the Padma Vibhushan. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986.
 
Husain has also made feature films, like "Through the Eyes of a Painter" (1967) and "Gajagamini”(Director, Art Director, Actor -2000), the former winning the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival. In 2004, Husain directed and has also written lyrics for two songs of the film Meenaxi: Tale of 3 cities.

After a long career, in 1996, when Husain was 81 years old, controversy arose over paintings originally created in the 1970s which were interpreted as anti-Hindu. After legal cases and death threats in his home country, he was on a self imposed exile from 2006.

Husain had an extensive portfolio from painting to film, and he mastered in both art forms to the fullest… His calligraphic skills might have made it easy to use bold, expressive, quick brush strokes that created figures that narrated the stories from Epics or the culture of people in each landscape wherever he visited. His lines were very expressive. It voiced the images, in vigorously running horses, notes of a Veena player, or the path of enlightenment to Buddha. Colors in his palette were so apposite with the audacious lines, being a symbol of hope, when he painted Mother Teresa holding the orphan baby in her lap, a new reading of Pietà from the contemporary period. Works on different religions in India shows his mastery over painting in minimalist idioms.

His skill over the medium enabled him to capture the inner essence of the religion, culture or landscape that he was transcribing to his large canvases; the transition of the subject/predicament embodied was complete, impregnated with his own interpretation, still narrating the essence of the source.

Husain developed a unique style that combined the sensuous female form from the classical period of early India; the strong colors of the Pahadi miniatures; and Indian folk art. These elements have come to characterize Husain's signature style. Husain's line casts into motion his dynamic pictorial spaces; his brilliant colors envelop the space with symbolic and expressive values; and his distinct human forms transform the narrative on the painting surface into an intimate experience of poetry.


Now MF Husain's works will continue to be a challenge to the conservative thoughts. Let it be an open dialogue...

Note : Shobha Menon is a Indian born artist, now living in Philadelphia USA, who has been deeply inspired by MF Hussain

Wading through the world of colours

K Surekha

Her paintings are dream-like and poetry flows from them just as visuals flood your imagination when you read her verses. Multifaceted but more passionate about painting, Philadelphia-based Shobha Menon was in the city, her home town, where she hopes to exhibit her work in the near future. Her new project is a series on women depicted in the epics. She looks at them from her own vision of life. “My attempts are to demystify moral notions, tear away the veil of holiness.”

She looks beyond the textual interpretation of women in mythology and shows how ‘his’ stories are not ‘her’ stories. How they were victims of male fancies and fantasies and tools to fulfil their  pride and prejudice even as tradition paints them in colours of idealised women hood.

Shobha’s hands lead Gandhari, Draupadi, Madhavi and Sita out of the epics into their own world of introspection.

She is looking forward to showing her works in Delhi and Kochi. “I visit Kochi every year to connect with my root reality and visit art galleries and see as many performing arts as possible.” And when moved by them, paintings take shape. “When I saw Lokadharmi’s play ‘Madhavi’, I wanted to paint her,” says Shobha. Chandradasan is doing a play on Draupadi in which Shobha’s paintings will be incorporated. She is working on them. “I am creating nine large paintings (48” x 30”) for the play.”

They will be part of the narrative which is Krishna-centric and viewed in contemporary light. More than a production exhibition, the frames will serve as background, comment, create a particular atmosphere and link other episodes. Shobha is working on the series which is more of Pahadi and Kangra style of the north but recreated on a larger canvas. “I was the art director for Chandradasan’s first play ‘Theruvujatha’ based on Badal Sircar’s text and have known him since my Kalapeedom days in the mid 1980s.”

This time, her visit to Kochi coincided with the workshop of Mazhavillu, the children’s theatre of Lokadharmi. She was invited to do a session on the basics of art.

“Limited by space and facilities, we created  masks using paper and recycled or casually available materials and objects. The kids were very clever and came out with mixed media masks. It was a great experience for me. The children explored their creativity and  enjoyed playing with clay. It seemed like they had suddenly found freedom and joy when the clay took the shapes they desired.”

Though there is talent, art in India lacks many facilities that are available in the West, she says. Kerala’s art scenario is changing for the better with more and more art galleries coming up but artists have not ventured into setting up one.  Unfortunately in Kerala, professional art groups don’t have a common space for interaction unlike in Philadelphia where there are many art centres that provide space for fine arts and performing arts at the same venue.

Shobha has studios at Philadelphia and San Fransico and does shows throughout the year. After completing MFA in Art History and Aesthetics from MS University, Baroda, and PhD, she taught art for two years. Later she worked for about 10 years in the IT field as graphics and IT consultant. She also had a stint with animation, web design and development. She believes her experience in all the fields helped her look at society and the world with a wider perspective.

“Right now, I am exhibiting at MCGOPA-SPP galleries at Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and Indo-American Council’s curated art show, Erasing Borders 2011, in New York. I am presenting a solo show “Behind the Fences…’ in Philadelphia from July 26 to August 4.”

Shobha likes to capture moods and emotions, internalised memories of myths and narratives, and the complexities and subtleties of human experience.

“The concept of core images that represent psychological dynamics has been important in relating my work with mythology. My works are best understood as a cultural construct with their own idioms formed by some universal values.” Though she prefers oil, she enjoys exploring other media. She loves looking at empty canvases and colours and enjoys the sensation of letting life’s mysteries and stories swirl around her. “Ultimately, I desire the visual work to offer a defined reading of my thoughts — past and present and a visual sensibility, a deep feeling to connect the viewer to the work.”

Shobha plans to return to her hometown for good.

Courtesy;  The New Indian express daily  on 4th June 2011.

Note;  Shobha Menon is part of Lokadharmi and she had designed the brochures, posteres website, and booklets of the group. she had documented the productions, and she is also a member of the director board of Lokadharmi.