Tag: watch

Categories
Watch

Film screening: ‘Pitruroon’ at NCPA

The critically-acclaimed Marathi film marked actor Tanuja’s comeback to the silver screen after three decades; is directed by Nitish Bharadwaj.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

We all love a good mystery, and if that mystery is portrayed on celluloid by able actors, it’s a good combination to watch out for.

Today, the National Centre for Performing Arts’s (NCPA) Little Theatre presents critically-acclaimed Marathi film Pitruroon. The film stars renowned Marathi actor Sachin Khedekar in a double role, and marks the much-feted comeback to cinema of yesteryear actor Tanuja, after nearly three decades of her last film.

Pitruroon is based on a short story by Sudha Murthy. Written in Kannada, the story describes the life of Venkatesh Kulkarni (played by Khedekar) who has recently lost his father and is keen to fulfil his father’s last wishes. In doing so, he travels to Konkan and finds his lookalike and namesake, and also befriends the latter’s mother, Bhagirathi (played by Tanuja). As he hears about the other Venkatesh and his life, he begins to wonder if the two men have more in common than just looks and a name.

The film was acclaimed for its stellar performances by its lead actors, and also marked the directorial debut of actor Nitish Bharadwaj, who we last remember as Lord Krishna in BR Chopra’s television adaptation of Mahabharat.

Admission for the screening is on a first-come-first-served basis. The film begins at 6.30 pm. 

(Picture courtesy www.fridayfirstshow.com)

Categories
Watch

In pictures: St Peter’s Church

This stunning church based in Bandra houses the most astonishing stained glass windows made in China. Here’s a closer look.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

It is a prominent church in Mumbai, and like most churches, it is serene and quiet, inviting one to sit and pray a while before moving on to other mundane chores. But what takes the breath away at St Peter’s Church is its array of exquisite stained glass windows – which were crafted by a Spanish Jesuit priest Bro Antonio Navascues in China and brought by ship to Bombay in the 1930s, when the Church was rebuilt.

The earlier St Peter’s Church was built in 1851 as a simple place of prayer, but the structure began to show signs of wear and tear in the next century. The building was then demolished and a newer, bigger structure was built in its place, the foundation stone for which was laid in 1938.

We are grateful to parish priest Fr Errol Fernandes for allowing us an unrestricted access to the Church’s upper floor to photograph the stained glass windows.

See our pictures of St Peter’s Church below:

 

(Pictures courtesy Vrushali Lad) 

Categories
Watch

Chitresh Dash performs in Mumbai tonight

Known for the ‘fastest feet’ in Kathak in the world, the dance exponent will perform at NCPA with Vikku Vinayakram.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

If you’re in the mood for some divine dancing tonight, make your way to National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) tonight.

World renowned Kathak exponent Chitresh Das will perform at the NCPA tonight, with musician – Vikku Vinayakram. The show, titled ‘Dynamic Feet, Dynamic Rhythm’ is bound to create artistic history with two doyens from two ends of the world representing two corners of India (North Indian dance and South Indian percussion) as the two come together on stage for the first time. Das has very recently arrived in Mumbai – he works and teaches Kathak in the USA – and a documentary film made on him and Emmy Award-winning tap dancer Jason Samuels Smith was recently aired on PBS National Television in the USA on January 20. 

The show is bound to be an extraordinary one, what with Das dancing to the reverberating beat of Grammy Award winner Vikku Vinayakram’s ghatam. Three generations of percussionists – Vikku Vinayakram on ghatam, son N Ramakrishnan on mridangam and grandson Swaminathan on the kanjeera will play as Das’s performs his legendary take on the Draupadi vastra haran. Add to this the terrific Hindustani quartet, Biplab Bhattacharya and Satyaprakash Misra on tabla, Jayanta Banerjee on sitar and Debasish Sarcar on vocals, and the audience is sure to have a fabulous evening.

A representative for Das also revealed that while he is in India, there is also “a scientific study about to begin on him, to measure the parameters in his body that make him cross boundaries of age and race to achieve unparalleled speed and power in his dance technique.” Das is 70 years old and holds the distinction of having the ‘fastest feet’ in Kathak in the world.

Head to NCPA, Nariman Point at 7 pm. Tickets are priced at Rs 1,000, Rs 700, Rs 500 and Rs 300.
(Picture courtesy www.iup.edu)
Categories
Watch

Screening: Ekti Nadir Naam

The Root Reel is screening a film on the life and work of Ritwik Ghatak at Alliance Française Auditorium today.

In continuation with their feature presentation of some of the treasured cinema from our country, The Root Reel is organising a screening of Anup Singh’s essay, exploring the life and work of Ritwik Ghatak. The film is titled Ekti Nadir Naam/Name of a River.

Anup Singh’s debut feature, The Name of a River, is an ambitious, evocative docu-fictional essay exploring the life and work of the great Indian filmmaker, Ritwik Ghatak (1925-1976). Ghatak’s reputation as India’s most important filmmaker has been steadily growing since the first major retrospective of his films was organised internationally in the 1980s. Satyajit Ray described him as “one of the few truly original talents in the cinema this country has produced”. Although largely ignored in his lifetime and usually overshadowed by the illustrious Ray, Ghatak was a legend to a whole generation of Indian arthouse directors and was seen by many as the father of the Indian New Wave.

Born in 1925 in what is today known as Bangladesh, he was 18 in 1943 when the Great Bengal famine drove him and his family from Dhaka to Calcutta as refugees. India’s simultaneous independence and partition into India and Pakistan in 1947, and a further partition later into India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, made it impossible for him to return to his homeland. The Partition of India and Ghatak’s separation from his homeland act as the driving force in his life and work.

In The Name of a River Anup Singh uses a love story between a man and a woman crossing the river between Bangladesh and India – playing the roles of refugees, divine beings and literary and cinematic characters – to understand the mysteries of the events that led to the massacre of half a million people and forced ten million people to migrate across the newly established borders. Covering a huge area of visual, aural and intellectual ground within its 90 minutes, this exquisite film presents its audience with a dreamlike odyssey through a history, a life and a work that we, the viewers, encounter in the shape of stunning landscapes and music, lovers and gods, myths and memories, literature and cinema.

The Name of a River has been screened at numerous international film festivals, winning the Aravindan Award, India, for best debut filmmaker in 2001, and the Silver Dhow Award for best feature at the Zanzibar International Film Festival in 2002.

Head to Alliance Française Auditorium, Theosophy Hall, near Nirmala Niketan, New Marine Lines, at 6.30 pm. Entry is free.

(Compiled by Medha Kulkarni. Picture courtesy worldcinemafoundation.org)

Categories
Watch

Screening: French film ‘La Fille du 14 Juillet’

The French film will compete for ‘My French Film Festival’, the world’s first online film fest that is currently underway.
by Medha Kulkarni

Today, January 20, 2014, the Institut Français will present the film La Fille du 14 Juillet as part of the ‘My French Film Festival’.

My French Film Festival is the first online French film fest in the world, and is currently underway, having started on January 17, 2014. It will conclude on February 17, 2014. During this month, cinema lovers from the world over will be able to access online 10 feature films and 10 short films in 13 languages. On this occasion, Alliance Française de Bombay will present a film in competition.

La Fille du 14 Juillet is a 1988 film by Antonin Peretjatko. The films tells the story of Hector who encounters Truquette at the Louvre on July 14, he’s had only one thing in mind: to seduce this girl whom he’s mad about. The best way to do so is to take her to the seaside. His pal Pator agrees wholeheartedly, particularly if she comes along with her friend Charlotte…

The film is lighthearted and playful. The cinematography is beautiful, filled as it is with stunning vistas of France.

The film is subtitled in English and entry is free although seating is limited. Head to Alliance Française Auditorium, New Marine Lines today at 6.30 pm.

(Picture courtesy www.20minutes.fr)

Categories
Watch

Screening: Have You Seen The Arana?

Alliance Française Auditorium is screening 2012 documentary that examines the relationship between man and nature, today in partnership with Vikalp.

What happens when we finally manage to wipe out our natural resources, especially our farmlands? A 1973 documentary by Sunanda Bhat, Have You Seen The Arana? attempts to answer this question.

A traditional healer’s concern over the disappearance of medicinal plants from the forest, a farmer’s commitment to growing traditional varieties of rice organically and a cash crop cultivator’s struggle to survive amidst farmers’ suicides, offer fresh insights into shifting relations between people, their knowledge systems and the environment. As hills flatten, forests disappear and traditional knowledge systems are forgotten, the film reminds us that this diversity could disappear forever, to be replaced by monotonous and unsustainable alternatives.

Sunanda worked on the film for over six years, looking for ways to capture and represent the complexity of the people and place. Much of the film rests on the relationships she was able to build with the characters over this period.

The film is presented in partnership with the Vikalp Film Archive. The screening of the film will be followed by an interaction with the filmmaker.

Head to Alliance Française Auditorium, New Marine Lines, today at 6.30 pm.

(Compiled by Medha Kulkarni. Picture courtesy dearcinema.com)

Exit mobile version