Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 490

Ungli is time waste!

28/11/2014

Dharma Productions produced aur Rensil D’souza directed Ungli kahani hain paanch doston ki jo bhrashtachar ko apne tarike se khatam karte hain.

70 aur 80 ke dashakon ki filmon mein hero Robin Hood ki tarha villan se ladkar aam aadmi ko nyay dilata tha.

Ungli mein bahdur doston ki toil Sarkar aur system ke khilaaf jaakar aam aadmi ko nyay dilate hain.

Idea acha hain magar execution disappointing, sab kuch bohat hi zyaada simplistic hain...

Screenplay predictable hain, characterizations illogical...Na music engaging hain aur na hi ek bhi performance!

Haan writer Milap Zaveri ke kuch dialogues mein dum hain magar film bilkul entertaining nahi hain!

Ungli ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 1.5 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 488

Set designer Chhel Vayeda no more

27/11/2014

There’s nobody in the theatre world whose not familiar with Chhel Vayeda, 79, veteran Art-director (of 'Chhel-Paresh' duo), father of writer director Sanjay Chel, Vayeda expired on 12 November 2014 but his is a fragrance that continues to linger.

 Vayedya started his career as a set designer in 1963-64 and has over the decades designed more than 700 plays in almost all languages that span from the mainstream Khubsurat (1999) to international Train to Pakistan(1996), from the middle of the road Sagar Sarhadi's Lorie (1984) to Amol Palekar's artistic Ankahi (1986). He worked with the best talent on stage and cinema be it AK  Bir's Udiya film Aadi  Mimansa or Ashwini Chaudhary's National award winning film Laado.

For Vaeda no production, no play and no serial was small or big, He extended himself to five generations starting with stalwarts like Kanti Madia, Praveen Joshi, Honey Chhaya, Adi Marzban, Shailesh Dave, Arvind Joshi, Arvind Thakkar, Barjor Patel, Satyadev Dube, Nadira Babbar, Dinesh Thakur, Purushottam Darhvekar , Prabhakar Panshikar  and worked harmoniously with competitive banners be it INT, Natya Sampada, IPTA, Ank and Ekjut.

Chhel was an expert in providing multiple sets with 'Revolving Stage'. He excelled in the Jack Knife Technique where a bungalow turns in to airport, a village house in to Wagha border! Vayedya is the only art designer to put up his sets in all theatres be it Prithvi or NCPA and also the only one whose sets created as much of a stir in foreign countries during their shows abroad.

To be continued...

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 487

Ashok Da Ranade Memorial Lecture

26/11/2014

This annual memorial lecture series in memory of late Dr. Ashok Ranade started in 2012 and the idea was to pay tribute to his vision, scholarship and interests. Every year experts are invited to speak on subjects for instance Dr. Sandeep Bhagwati on theatre, music and theatre and media aptly titled Softwares and Songs, then Dr. Ganesh Devy renowned cultural activist and literary critic who spoke on Towards Indian Aesthetic.

This year, Naresh Fernandes, editor of Scroll.in, digital news publication and author of City Adrift: A Short Biography of Bombay and Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age will explain the journey of Jazz.

From the 1940s, a passionate group of Indian jazz musicians had been attempting to find an Indian way to play jazz, both in art music and in popular music. Many of these musicians had learnt their craft listening to and playing alongside African-American jazz performers who had started performing in India from the early 1930s.

As Independence approached, jazz became one of the forms used by artists to project an Indian internationalism. Some, like the Goan trumpet player Frank Fernand, had embarked on the project because of their admiration for Gandhi. Others had more commercial compulsions: they were trying to add a contemporary edge to Hindi film music.

The next significant push came from John Mayer and the guitar player Amancio D’Silva. The project was lent a great deal of momentum by Niranjan Jhaveri, the impresario who spearheaded the Jazz Yatra biannual festivals that brought some of the most accomplished jazz performers to India between 1978 and 2003.

November 25, 2014 7pm Tuesday Venue: Hall of Harmony, Nehru Centre, Dr. A. B. Road Worli Mumbai – 400018 Entry free

Bhawana Somaaya / Tweets- @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 486

Nritya Smragini quits kingdom

25/11/2014

As long as she lived Kathak queen Sitara Devi made every admirer of her feel special. It was the way she moved on the stage and her spell lasted for a lifetime. Born in 1920 Sitara Devi was just 12 years old when a dance director cum filmmaker saw her perform pheras on stage and met up her parents and signed her for a dance sequence in Usha Haran released in the thirties. Success came early to dancer Sitara Devi.

She was just 16 and performing on stage when Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was in the audience and was so mesmerized by her performance that he bestowed a title on her as India’s Nritya Samragini. Sitara Devi got married to KAsif director of Mughal-e-Azam and continued performing Kathak shows all over the world. She continued to work in films whenever there was an opportunity for a great dance and her last recital on screen was a holi dance where she appears in the role of a boy in 1957 release Mother India.

For a long time Sitara Devi was confined to bed and for the past many weeks she was on a ventilator. On Tuesday 25 November the talented dancer breathed her last. The country has lost the queen of dancers.

Bhawana Somaaya/ Tweets - @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 485

Remembering Adi Marzban

24/11/2014

Adi Marzban was the heart beat of Gujarati and Parsi Theatre. He was the voice on radio and the face everybody paid tickets to watch. As long as he lived Adi Marzban or Adi bhai as he was popularly called entertained his listeners and fans.

Years went by and it seemed like the theatre world had forgotten the genius apparently not because in a fresh leap to recall the genius Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan has dedicated an entire event to the theatre maverick.

That is what is admirable about Bhavans, one it is an apolitical institute that promotes cultural events where offerings for development and propagation of performing arts are a priority. This year, Bhavan’s Kala Kendra, The Art & Cultural wing of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Radhey Group & Shubham Production have jointly come up with a show titled Bhavan’s Adi Marzban - Gujarati Open One Act Drama Competition. This will be a tribute to a veteran artiste and also a tradition following for the school that has for more than six decades worked towards raising theatre awareness.

Schedule:  December 1-6 2014. There will be two rounds of competition for the participants, the elimination and the final round. 

Bhawana Somaaya/ Tweets - @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 484

Happy Ending is Happy Entertainment

21/11/2014

Saif Ali Khan- Eros produced aur DK Raj directed Happy Ending kahani hain ek successful writer ki, jo kuch naya likhna chahta hain, magar likh nahi paata.

Signing amount ke saade paanch saal baad bhi, jab Yuddi apni doosri kitab nahi likh paata, tab Yuddi ke publisher unki gaadi unse wapas le lete hain.

Iske pehle ki Yuddi ka ghar bhi publisher wapas le le, Yuddi ko apni doosre kamyaab kitab jald likhni hain.

Superstar Armaan Yuddi se apni nayi film likhwana chahte hain aur romantic film likhne ke liye, Yuddi ko zaroorat hain pyaar ke anubhav ki.

Pyaar mein kuch naya nahi hota, isliye Happy Ending mein bhi kuch naya nahi hain...

Pyaar karne wale bhi repetitive hote hain, isliye hero Saif Ali Khan wohi karte hain jo unhone Hum Tum, Love Aaj Kal aur Cocktail kiya – yaane confusion!

Film ka minus purana plot… Film ka plus film ke performances.

Hero ke dost ki bhumika mein Ranvir Shorey superb hain aur superstar ki bhumika mein Govinda lajawab!

Saif Ali Khan double role mein hain aur mota wala Saif hero se behtar hain.

Happy Ending kuch khaas nahi phir bhi khush mizaaj manoranjan hain!

Happy Ending ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 3 stars – 1 Ranvir Shorey ke liye, ek Govinda ke liye aur ek Saif Ali Khan ke liye!

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 483

Kekoo, Kali & Jehangir Framing a Collection

19/11/2014

Kamini Sawhney presents her second event in the series of programmes conceived around the current exhibition “Kekoo, Kali & Jehangir Framing a Collection”. 

Three leading gallerists of the city Dadiba Pundole, Shirin Gandhy and Sree Goswami will discuss the transformation of gallery practice over the years, with cultural theorist and curator Ranjit Hoskote.

Date:  Wednesday 19 November Venue: Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, CSMVS . 

Tea will be served at 5 pm and the programme will begin at 5.30 pm.

Bhawana Somaaya / @bhawanasomaaya