PICTURE SPEAK

Work by Pushpamala and Arni; (bottom) a Gorjala

DELHI Fourteen different artists, various media of expression, three different phases of art. This exhibition attempts a confluence of many kinds. With an all-encompassing theme like "Turning the Wheel: Traditions Unbound", the choice of exclusively south Indian artists needs some explanation and curator Alka Pande provides one convincingly. She says that over the ages, creativity in south India blossomed mostly within traditional boundaries. Myths and rituals are an integral part of the collective imagination of the South.

Creativity and inroads made by technology are at work within this tradition and this is what the exhibition tries to present. The exhibits have been divided into three groups: Traditions, Bridges and Modernity. Ramesh Gorjala, raised in a family of traditional Kalamkari artists, gives a fresh perspective to the art form of temple clothes. Moving away from the comforts of tradition, K.T. Shivaprasad's work explores the conflicts in contemporary lives. Placed in the Bridges category, his fragmentary images have only wit to weld them together. Photographer Clare Arni and artist Pushpamala N. re-contextualise south Indian women in different histories-a way of empowering them by taking them out of their milieu.

This exhibition by south Indian artists in collaboration with the UN Information Centre, Delhi, celebrates the UN's 60th anniversary and is on at the India Habitat Centre from October 19 to 26.

The celebration of India's association with the UN will extend to "Building Bridges", a festival organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. It will include a symphony of Kathak and Buddhist chants by Shovana Narayan and fusion music by writer-singer Amit Chaudhuri. From October 24 to 28. At Kamani Auditorium.

-By Divya Bhushan

MUMBAI With an exhibition titled "Solstice and Equinox", can we expect anything but an ever-changing palette from artist Brinda Chudasama Miller? Come October 24 and Miller will present 25 works inspired by "the weather, changing seasons and landscapes". And this was inspired by a city that doesn't see much of a change in seasons? "First the deluge and now the oppressive heat, this year the weather has impacted Mumbai in a big way," says the artist whose work has the sun, the meridians and shifting colours. At Museum Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda, till October 30, and at India Habitat Centre, Delhi, from November 8 to 14.

PICTURE SPEAK

Audio guide at the museum

DELHI Ever missed a handy guide who gave a lowdown on the history of the Harappan bronze statue and Thanjavur paintings? In a language of your choice and one you could start, shut up and rewind? The hand-held audio guide has made an entry to Delhi's National Museum and it covers 54 masterpieces of the museum in a 5,000-year sweep of Indian history. Tune in.

KOI AAP SA
Director: Partho Mitra
Starring: Aftab Shivdasani, Natassha and
Dipannita Sharma

When a movie's promotional material is better than itself, you know there is trouble. This is a silly little extravagance by Ekta Kapoor who was perhaps feeling a bit chuffed by the success of Kya Kool Hain Hum, and thought a movie with "promise rings" and T-shirts with labels was enough to sell it to the youth. It doesn't work. Shivdasani has not lost his Farex baby looks but we all know he is too long in the tooth to play a college footballer. Natassha is too much a prisoner of her tv presence and Dipannita Sharma is too tall for the screen (and for most Bollywood heroes). There is a father who seems to have strayed in from a Balaji set, a college set that looks like a leftover from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and students who look like the most impoverished segment of junior artistes.

Anything redeemable? Yes, if you are the kind who gets joy from watching Mumait Khan's gravity-defying acrobatics. Kapoor clearly has an inside track on what audiences want, but here she is trying too hard to be hip-friends may not be lovers but lovers have to be friends (wow). It is good advice to stick to one's core competence. Keep those domestic dramas burning, baby.

-By Kaveree Bamzai

PICTURE SPEAK

Iyer's painting; (below) a work by Harsha Vardhana

GURGAON Don't miss "Rendezvous with French Cinema" as Alliance Francaise and PVR bring you seven films by a new generation of French directors, including Gerard Pires and Jean-Jacques Annaud, among others. The special screenings will take place at PVR MGF between October 21 and 27.

DELHI Art Alive brings together eight artists whose abstracts have brought a difference to the Indian canvas. They move away from the geometric, measured form and the emphasis is on more dispersed, tactile, unlimited sorts of space. Take a look at the works of Nupur Kundu, S. Harsha Vardhana, Akhilesh, Shobha Broota, Sujata Bajaj, Jyotee, Manish Pushkale and Mona Rai. The exhibition "Roop Vidhan" will be on at the Art Alive Gallery in Panchsheel Park. It will continue till November 10.

DELHI Uniting colour, lines and shapes to depict the eternal flow of energy through the universe, Sridhar Iyer's exhibition titled "Profession: Journey Through Colour, Line and Images" is a must-see. On at the Shridharani Gallery in Tansen Marg from November 19 to 29.

Tum Bin, Ninad
Rs 250

In music, it is difficult for students to get away from the shadow of their gurus, especially if they are legends like Pandit Jasraj. But his disciple Sanjeev Abhayankar has created a style of his own in keeping with the tenets of the Mewati gharana.

"My style is an extension of my guru's and I want my singing to be termed classic, something that lasts," says Abhayankar. His album Tum Bin focuses on the Viraha rasa, the pain and anguish on separation from the beloved. Tum Bin can soothe lonely, restless and longing hearts. From Radha's passionate yearning for Krishna to a spiritual longing, it covers an entire spectrum.

The six soulful pieces are based on various ragas: Barase more akhiyan and Ja jare pagal in Raga Yaman, Bikal bhayi aaj in Raga Jaijaiwanti, Sej sadaa jare in Raga Malkauns and Tum bin kal na pare in Raga Maru Bihag. The maturity of style is evident in these compositions. For a change switch over from Bollywood's tone-deaf ballads to something classical. Abhayankar's voice will not let you down.

-By S. Sahaya Ranjit

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