Mantras help one to meditate and reinforce positive thoughts in one’s life. Apart from relaxing one’s mental being, each mantra if repeated, addresses specific needs. “Mantras when sung have a healing effect,’’ says vocalist Pandit Jasraj, who starts his concerts with a chant. While bhajans have always been popular, traditional chants have hopped up the charts. Some musical groups have also experimented with mantras from religious texts by giving them a lounge-like feel.

Prarthana is a series of 10 double volume mainstream devotional albums composed by santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and the master of the bamboo flute Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Every double CD album is a compendium of Gayatri, Kavach, Stotras, Chalisa, Namavali, Aarti, Kshama prarthana and much more. Each album is a dedication to a deity and encompasses all aspects of daily prayers.

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Chaurasia (left) and Sharma turn to mantras

The series includes prarthanas such as Shri Ganesh, Shri Rama, Shri Gayatri, Shri Saraswati and Shri Surya composed by Sharma, while those for Shri Krishna, Shri Shiva, Shri Vishnu, Shri Durga and Shri Hanuman have been composed by Chaurasia. Hum along and relieve your stress.

-By S. Sahaya Ranjit

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The exhibition is a canvas of talents and expressions

Arul Doss has presented a figurative work on canvas, Smriti Dixit has a mixed media on canvas and Mumbai’s Vilas and Jinsook Shinde’s abstracts are a riot of colours. Other participating artists are Aditya Basak, B.V. Suresh, Srinivasa Chari, Laxma Goud, Narendra Babu, Smriti Dixit and R. Baala. Till June 13 at The Fourth Floor, Kitab Mahal.

-By Aditi Pai

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Takia and Kapur

While most Bollywood filmmakers are experimenting with themes, some are trapped in a time warp. Firoz Nadiadwala, a flashy mix of Jerry Bruckheimer and the late Don Simpson, is one of them—his movies wear their big budgets like red badges of honour. So there are some stunts, some hip hop clothes, vast expanses of desert, even a Mike Tyson, but nothing redeems this foolhardy enterprise, not even a fine assemblage of comics from Paresh Rawal to Johnny Lever. The jokes are flat, the actors are wasted (even the fetching Takia and Deol, now increasingly playing a caricature of himself). Not worth watching even for the morbid fascination of watching Mr Nadiadwala blow up his money.

-By Kaveree Bamzai

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A Valay installation (above) Intimate Thoughts exhibits works by women artists

KOLKATA ‘Intimate Thoughts: Pristine Fables’ showcases works by eight modern women artists—Chandana Hore, Pampa Punwar, Rima Kundu, Shrabani Roy, Mahajabin Majumdar among others—from Santiniketan. The show, jointly curated by Pranabranjan Ray and Nandini Ghosh, will open with a panel discussion tracing the evolution of the female artist from the early 20th century onwards. The discussion features Nandini Ghosh and Aparna Roy and will be moderated by Tapati Guha Thakurta, head, journalism department, Calcutta University. At Akar Prakar from June 11-24.

-By Swati Mathur and Swagata Sen

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A work by Shankar

A WORK BY SHANKAR

MUMBAI The Environment-Space Experiential is an experience for all animal lovers. Conceptualised by artist Himanshu S., the exhibition is an artistic attempt to sensitise people against doing away with or killing stray animals. Himanshu uses soft-toy dogs placed on green acrylic at a reasonable distance from each other to form a random formation through which people will be able to walk. “For those of us involved in this exhibition, animals are our loved ones. We have gone through the pain of losing them. And now we don’t beg for a space for them”, explains Himanshu. On till June 23 at the Guild Art Gallery.

-By Swati Mathur

Index