Q 1. Bishan Singh Bedi says Sri Lankan spinner Muthiah Muralitharan's bowling action reminds him of
a) A javelin thrower
b) An octopus
c) Venus William's forehand

Q 2. India has decided to sign the Stockholm Convention which bans
a) Organic pollutants
b) Human cloning
c) Nuclear tests

Q 3. Indiva is the name that has been given to the new
a) All-India contest for female pop singers
b) International album to be released by Sharon Prabhakar
c) Car being made by the Tata Group

Answers: 1(a), 2(a), 3(c)

TELLY SCOPE
Bridging the Art Divide

RARE SHOTS: Behl captures Chola art

The novel thing about filmmaker Benoy Behl's 26-part documentary on Indian paintings, to be shown later this month on Doordarshan, are the shots of the rarely seen 10th century Chola paintings at the Brihadesvara Temple at Tanjore. Behl claims that these frescos of Shiva, made on a narrow passageway around the sanctum sanctorum, establish the continuity between ancient and medieval painting, otherwise thought to be mysteriously truncated. "The tradition at Ajanta, as most scholars believed, was not a flash in the pan," he says. "Now they are revising their opinion."

The series also shows that there were stylistic similarities between regions. For instance, the "protruding eye", an anatomical aggrandisement peculiar to western India, was also found, strangely enough, in the images of Ladakh, Myanmar and Orissa. And the Brihadesvara frescos resemble those of Pollonnaruwa in Sri Lanka or Bagan in Myanmar. For making such comparisons and trashing the notion that subcontinental art was fragmented, the team travelled extensively (and enviably) around India and parts of Asia, Europe and the US on a seven-month-long shooting blitzkrieg.

Behl has been documenting paintings, particularly those of Ajanta and Ladakh, for the past 12 years. But this is his biggest and most expensive project yet. "Doodarshan gave the basic grant but for the most part we ran on enthusiasm. Imagine, a can of Coke costs $3 in Japan. We let it go." Next is a series on Guru Padmasambhava who spread Buddhism to Tibet. Coke will be cheaper there.

-Anshul Avijit

MUSIC REVIEW
The Old Magic is Missing

It is the coming together of legends after nearly a decade. Lata Mangeshkar, her brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar and Gulzar earlier teamed together for Lekin. Their new musical collaboration, Lal Salaam, however, doesn't match up to Lekin.

Film songs sung by Lata are fewer and rarer these days so it is a surprise to listen to her crooning five songs, which include duets with Roop Kumar Rathod. The album starts with the duet Mitwa, a romantic melody but it takes time for the music to grow on you. Rathod seems to be the favourite for duets with Lata. Earlier he had sung for the bhajan album, Meera Soor, Kabeera. The lyrics of Hunkara Jage are outstanding but its rendering is ordinary. There are certain chords reminiscent of Maya Memsaheb and Lekin. The album winds up with the bhajan Tum asha vishwas hamare, the song rendered by Lata for Jabar Patel's film Subah. Its lyrics are penned by Pandit Narendra Sharma. Hridayanath has tried to blend classical and folk music. But this time his magic does not work.

-S. Sahaya Ranjit

SOTTO VOCE

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