| | Untitled Document | CURRENT ISSUE SEPTEMBER 04, 2006 | | | | YOUR WEEK: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT |  | | ART AUCTION | | Bidding Blitz | | |  | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | Paritosh Sen's work from Bengal Art auction; Surendran Nair's oil and silkscreen at Saffronart and below (L-R) Roddy Ropner, Ganieve Grewal and Hugo Weihe of Christie's in Delhi
 | | After the long summer lull, Indian art auctions are in the air again. From New York to Mumbai and Kolkata to Chennai, the art trade is busy holding previews, pushing catalogues and creating a media blitz. While auctions were traditionally meant to be bargain sales, where one could pick up art works and trinkets from disinterested heirs or owners in distress at a price well under the one for which they were originally sold, today they have become venues to push up the market values of new works by relatively upcoming artists and create global benchmarks for works of established masters. With the hunger for contemporary Indian art among buyers showing no signs of waning, such events are increasing by the year. Kicking off the bidding season is Sharon Apparao's Bengal Art auction, offering works from colonial oils of the early 20th century to water colours and gouaches of Abanindranath Tagore right down to modernists like Paritosh Sen and the present generation. Scheduled for September 2-3 in Chennai, the auction will be an online one, accessible to anyone with a computer. (For details see www.apparaoart.com.) Next comes Saffronart's Autumn Online auction over September 6-7. (For details see www.saffronart.com). Christie's will be holding their auction of Modern and Contemporary Art in New York on September 20 with Sotheby's followed by their Indian Contemporary Art auction two days later in the same city. Given the phenomenal success last year, the art world awaits results with bated breath. -By S. Kalidas |
| | MUSIC | | New Sound Wave | | | | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | MIXING MELODY: Musicians behind Mozart Meets India | | CHENNAI: Western classical harmony provides the backdrop for six soothing melodies based on Carnatic ragas in a new album called Mozart Meets India, on the composer's 250th birth anniversary. The careful blending of the two forms of classical music styles injects a fresh tenor that is both appealing and inspiring. The dramatic orchestra movements act as a perfect foil to the subtlety and depth of Carnatic ragas. The songs have been set to tune by a young composer from Tirunelveli, Nellai Jesuraj, and the participants include well-known musicians such as Bombay Jayshree, Kadri Gopalnath and O.S. Arun. The 60-minute album also brought together more than 75 instrumentalists and vocalists. "We want to reach the growing crossover audience," says Jegath Gaspar Raj, head of Tamil Maiyam, which is organising a string of concerts, the first of which will be held in Chennai. -By S.S. Jeevan |
| | THEATRE | | Staging a Coup | | | | PATNA: Vijay Kumar is a novelty in Patna. He spearheads a theatre festival, now in its 10th edition, which will feature his popular solo, Hum Bihar mein chunav lad rahe hain. Usha Ganguly's Rangkarmi group will stage Kashinama, which is based on short story writer Kashinath Singh's work, while Aniruddh Pathak from Mumbai will stage Mukhauta. Beginning September 11. -By Sheokesh Mishra |
| | FILM REVIEW | | Love Lacks Lustre | | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | Deol and Khan in a still from Ahista Ahista | | AHISTA AHISTA
Director: Shivam Nair Cast: Abhay Deol, Soha Ali Khan, Shayan Munshi It's refreshing to see a youthful romance which is not a variation on rich business family children loving each other. Abhay Deol is a Deol who believes in flexing only his facial muscles-a dimple, in particular. Soha Ali Khan is beginning to acquire her mother's charming grace. The story, written by Imtiaz Ali, who directed Deol's gentle gem of a debut, Socha Na Tha, channels Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Richard Linklater, taking the odd couple through the streets of Old Delhi, which have a character that is tapped not often enough. Deol's a drifter, Khan's an upmarket love-struck refugee from Nainital. Both performers excel and the ending is not dipped in saccharine and coated with honey. If the pace was a little less langourous and the dialogue had a little more spark, the movie would have been more riveting. As it stands, it will probably fade out, not so slowly slowly. Which is a pity because its silly boy-smart girl mismatch echoes urban reality. Deol, the new unsure man, tells the girl she is a "class one" and she, the smarter of the two, helps him learn English. -By Kaveree Bamzai |
| | FESTIVAL | | Melting Pot | | |
| | RECOMMENDATIONS | | DELHI: DELHI: It's an exhibition with an edge. Gallery Threshold presents Hyderabad-based painter K. Laxma Goud, who goes beyond etchings and exhibits terracotta, ceramic and bronze sculptures. The exhibits signify his attempt to reinvent himself. There is an underlying eroticism in the images, typical of his native Telengana. On view from August 30-September 7, at Triveni Kala Sangam. KOLKATA: The dance ballet, Samavratee, explores the moods and feelings of Vishnupriya, the wife of Lord Chaitanya. Choreographer-dancer Bimbavati Devi has used Manipuri dance and the basic steps of Raibanshee, the martial dance form of Bengal and Mayurbhanj Chhau of Orissa to introduce the flavours of Eastern India. On September 1, at Rabindra Bhavan. -By S. Sahaya Ranjit |
| | MUSIC | | "My thinking is of a vocalist" | | DELHI: Sitar player Hidayat Khan (above) looks nothing like a classical musician. This lack of convention is reflected in his music too, and in his debut solo fusion album. Khan's education at the feet of his father, sitar legend Ustad Vilayat Khan, together with prolonged riyaaz, has helped him accomplish Ziver (music today, CD: Rs 295), which embodies Khan's past, present and future. As he says: "My father told me, don't play the sitar because you are Ustad Vilayat Khan's son but play music because you love music and not stardom." Khan began his formal training at the age of four and continued to train till he was 14. He learnt to sing and then switched to playing the sitar. "It gave me an edge over others. I was producing gayaki on sitar. My thinking is that of a vocalist," he says. His album is different: there is a Latin influence in the song Ziver and a hip-hop angle in Jiya lage na. Mari dhimi payal incorporates a mand from Rajasthan, and Chhaap tilak is a classic qawwali. In keeping with the times, there is also a music video of Chhaap tilak, featuring Khan in his elements. -By S. Sahaya Ranjit | | |
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SEPTEMBER 4, 2006 | | |
