Bhawana Somaaya

Yesterday was Gurupurnima. On television all the spiritual channels were full of devotees paying obeisance to their gurus. It is a day all artistes pay tribute to their masters.

When I was working on the biography of Hema Malini, she explained that there are three kinds of gurus. The first, the teacher who imparts vidya in school days…The second, in her case a dance guru who helps her accomplish as a dancer. “I had many teachers from who I learnt dance but I revere just to as my gurus. The third is a spiritual guru who leads you through the right path of life and they come into your life only when you are ready to receive the guru…Just in the way a shishya is in search of the right guru so is a guru on the look out for the right shishya…And when that happens it is magic…”

I never believed it but was witness to a magical evening when I was invited on the Gurupurnima day for a dance recital by Pt Birju Maharaj. The emperor of Kathak nritya makes it a point to celebrate the special day with different students in different city every year. Last year it was in Mumbai.

Held at the picturesque Sardar Patel Sabhagrah in Mumbai, Kalashram Academy in association with Bhavan’s Cultural Centre, Andheri hosted a unique three-day Kathak work shop cum festival to celebrate the special day.

Titled Panch-Tatva (Five Elements), the first Paavak meaning Fire was performed by Sandeep Mahavir’s disciples of Mumbai and another group from Kolkata. The evening was concluded by Maharaj’s staunch devotee Shaswati Sen who performed natya abhinaya based on Chitra Banerjee Deevakaruni’s English poem

The following day was Gagan portrayed through an interactive seminar participated by the maestro himself. Later in the evening was Neer Jal performed by the renowned Nidya Deshpande and Uma Shankar’s disciples. On the final day were Kshiti, which emphasized that art is eternal… and Sameer or Vayu, that art is exotic… performed by Asha Joglekar and Parvati Dutta’s disciples.

It was a humbling experience to watch skillful, devoted disciples offer dances like prayer to the Almighty…. The evening was a reinforcement of the ancient guru-shishya tradition that is almost extinct today.
The magical moment of course was a cameo by Birju Maharaj demonstrating the nava rasas… He was simply magnificent! When it was time for him to make his concluding speech, the auditorium echoed with a thunderous applause and by the time he finished everybody was overwhelmed.

To reproduce the golden words of the maestro, he said “Our Academy is not just a school for students to learn dance but it is an institution to teach you a way of life. Our effort is to make them not just great artistes but also great individuals. We impart values of life. As their guru I would like to see them blossom into accomplished artistes but it would bring me a greater joy if they blossomed into evolved souls…

“At Kalashram we have emphasized on virtues of simplicity and purity… I have inspired my students to dance with a passion and to follow their heart… For the audiences these performances may be just another entertainment show but to the performers, the podium is a lesson of life…! Very early in their career they learn to value their space and the space of their co-artistes. No art form can blossom in isolation…Every sur, taal, mudra, abhinaya and step has to be in place only then it can spell magic.

“All performing mediums have to be a healthy mix of give-and-take. Every beat, every pause, every finger and hand movement, every footstep and phera has a role to play, a message to deliver and if you miss even a single expression the meaning alters. All art forms are conceived to spread peace and happiness. I sometimes feel that God created artistes so that the world can be a better place…Artistes ensure enrichment…”

“On this special day let make a confession. Today, the world reveres me as a legend but I know that I’m nothing without my ghungroos. It’s the blessings of my Lord that in all these years my ghungroos have never let me down. I’m always anxious and excited before a performance be it a small mehfil or a grand recital in India or abroad. But every time I have tied the bells on my ankles a strange calmness comes over me. My ghungroos have never let me down; they have come to my aid whenever I have beckoned them…

“On this special day I acknowledge my gratitude to my ghungroos…to all my disciples for bestowing me with so much love, devotion and faith…”

It was the best gurupunima function I have ever visited. Thank you Panditji for who you are and blessing us with so much grace and art.

Bhawana Somaaya
www.bhawanasomaaya.com

For the first time Prithvi Theatre and British Council have come together to present Complicite’s award winning British play A Disappearing Number inspired by the legendary mathematical collaboration of Ramanujan and Hardy. It was the most mysterious and romantic mathematical collaborations of all times – G. H. Hardy recognised the genius in Ramanujam when others dismissed him as a crank.

The magic of the play lies in the way it spirals out of this mathematical relationship to focus on the concepts of infinity and string theory. More than the theory the play is a philosophy of connectedness. It is easily one of the most extra-ordinary narratives that cross three continents and several histories to weave a provocative theatrical pattern about human being’s relentless compulsion to understand.

Multiple characters are threaded through a pattern of engaging stories… A man mourns the loss of his beloved…A mathematician mourns his fate… A businessman travels from Los Angeles to Chennai to pursue his career…A physicist worries about his future. Set in the chilly English surroundings of Cambridge during the First World War it the story of GH Hardy seeking to comprehend the genius of Srinivasan Ramanujan who strives to create some of the most complex mathematical patterns of all time.

The play raises questions about not just mathematics and beauty; but imagination and the nature of infinity like what is continuous and permanent and why we are attached to past, or why past affects our future and finally how we create and love… It is a story every one is going to identify with as it draws parallels between scientific notions of connectedness and emotional bonding. It is a story about Indians spread out across the globe, but held together by a sensibility that defies limits of time and space – different yet alike, apart yet together, bonded by an unfathomable experience, quite like Ramanujam’s mathematics.

It is a special play performed by a very special group and it’s not surprising that Prithvi has begun preparations for the mega event two months in advance. The play is to be staged at Jamshed Bhabha Theatre on August 9 10 and 11.In the meantime a host of activities connected to the event are being planned at Prithvi Theatre, some involving junior school and colleges which explains the presence of so many collaborators.

At the press conference held at Prithvi Theatre in Juhu Sanjana Kapoor revealed that a Maths mela will travel to varied schools across the country and address education systems. “It is going to be an experience of a lifetime.” Sanjana added that it has been a long and arduous journey over past three years to bring this production home. “It called for a great amount of persistence, perhaps sheer stubbornness and many heartbreaks before the dream could come true. A Disappearing Number is a compelling piece of theatre and important for several reasons – one, the sheer magnificence of its theatrical form and two because it celebrates our great mathematician Ramanujan. He had to be celebrated and applauded in his own country, his fascinating concepts that touched millions of hearts and minds.

“Often you start out on a project not knowing your goal. That’s what happened with A Disappearing Number I feel. The most amazing things happen most unexpectedly. I was approached by Prof Raghunathan, a mathematician at TIFR who said that International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) held august gathering of the world’s best minds every four years and the 2010 meet was scheduled in Hyderabad. Prof Raghunathan said they would love to host the showing of A Disappearing Number at the meeting. It was a superb opportunity and I agreed. This could not have happened without the support of The British Council and all our other collaborators”

Sanjana recalls her aunt Felicity kendall had been recommending her to invite Complicite to India more than 10 years ago. She was first introduced to them when they were visiting India to show Measure for Measure at the Prithvi Theatre Festival 2005. In all probabilities the seed of the new play was germinating in director Simon McBurney’s mind at that time. Then two years later in 2007 Sanjana was in London and watched A Dissappearing Number. “By the time the play ended I was moved to tears. Here was a masterpiece showcasing India’s biggest genius, his creative impulses and wondrous patterns. Similar patterns run through all our lives and that is why everybody connects to the play in more ways than one. A part inside me jumped to bring the play to India, the practical side dissuaded me from indulging in such an ambitious endeavor. I was overawed with the sheer immensity but my wisdom was short lived. Soon enough I submitted to my dream and made the fatal decision.

“It has taken me seven years to transform the dream into reality but the madness has won. A Disappearing Number is coming to India!!”

It has been a long wait and we will soon discover if the play lives up to the hype. But it is not everyday filmmakers like Richard Eyre, Stephen Daldry or Peter Brook lavish praises on a colleague. Eyre attributes Complicite for ushering European influences in to the country’s theatre while Daldry compliments Simon McBurney for creating remarkably vivid imaginative world and Brook describes him as tradition and treasure.

Founded in 1983 by Simon McBurney, Annabel Arden and Marcello Magni, Complicite is a constantly evolving ensemble of performers whose basic human need is to sing, dance and celebrate…Complicite is more than a theatre company- it is a state of mind.

In that sense it is very similar to Prithvi Theatre- which is a state of art, the heart beat of the city.

Bhawana Somaaya
www.bhawanasomaaya.com

So the Octopus was right. Spain ruled over Netherland and the world watched the football game with bated breath.

While all of us were focussed on the spectacular closing ceremony closing ceremony, another depressed fashion model Natasha Padbidri 31 committee suicide in her Yari Road flat in Mumbai. It appears that depression drove her towards the drastic step. I have often said that showbiz is not a place for the weak. You need nerves of steel to be able to survive the highs and the lows of this world and remain grounded. Those with support system like family and friends are able to survive the storms the others succumb to the mounting pressures.

Insecurity is an overwhelming emotion in any creative profession, in the film fraternity even more so. Film stars are peddlers of emotions and there are more emotional wrecks here than anywhere else. There is shame and scandal, exhibitionism and eccentricity, but there is also energy, a fatal attraction about the world of cinema that is obsessive. Once you have been a part of it you feel incomplete without it.

Last month leading fashion designer Tarun Tahiliani sought income tax exemption under section 80 RR of the IT Act that is offered against the category of artists. The court accepted the argument of Tahiliani’s counsels that a fashion designer is an artist and is therefore eligible for tax exemption. Taahiliani’s counsel argued that the person who stitches a dress is not an artist but the one who conceptualises it certainly is.

Next day the newspaper report had the court referring to cinema’s leading costume designer Bhanu Athaiya as a tailor. Bhanu is not just the most senior and the most successful designer of her time to dress top heroines like Vyjantimala, Hema Malini and others from 50s to 70s but she is the first Indian to win an Oscar for Gandhi. Filmmakers doing period films have always relied on her experience and acumen and she has never let them down.

The comment has not gone down well with Hindi cinema’s current costume designers like Neeta Lulla and Manish Malhotra and they have jointly protested against the counsel’s thoughtless remark.

Stylist Manish Malhotra is particularly angry at the superiority projected by mainstream designers. “Everybody is attracted to the glamour world, everybody wants film stars to showcase their labels, but who grooms these stars, it’s us costume designers. We give them a makeover, we supervise their grooming from hair to nails and it is because we make them beautiful that other brands are attracted to them and after all this they have the cheek to call us tailors and they become artists.”

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Bhavans Cultural Centre Andheri champ-ion of Performing Arts

It was in October 2003 that Dr. M.L.Shrikant, Chairman, Bhavan’s Andheri Campus, visualized a dream of multi-lingual and multi-dimensional cultural centre within the campus.

A makeshift office space was provided in Gupte Blocks.

On 22 November, 2003, BCCA was formerly inaugurated with a Hindustani Classical Vocal recital by Sanjeev Abhyankar in SPJIMR Auditorium.

Since then BCCA has entertained and enthralled its elite members by showcasing programmes related to all performing arts and culture.

Its attempt has been to revise and promote classical and semi-classical art forms, encourage regional and traditional folklore.
BCCA has developed a distinguished programming profile since 2005, which includes not just theatre, music, dance and films but also book releases, poetry readings and folk art. There are active seminars on yoga, ecology and environment and a novel concept of Listener’s Club that get together and recall maestros or Coffee House inviting prominent personalities to talk about their experiences.
They are fortunate to have a great ambience, a sprawling campus of 1, 82,800 sq surrounded by trees and ample parking space. It is the only campus in the city that hosts multiple theatres to suit all kinds of moods and events. First, the beautiful ‘Amphi’ theatre on the lakeside, a place of pride and inspiration for all creative artistes…Next SPJIMR Auditorium for film and music festivals, open air ‘Gyanganga’ held under the blue sky, another larger open theatre ‘Sardar Patel Sabhagriha’ for 700 seating accompanied by three AC rehearsal halls for theatre groups. That’s not all three large grounds ‘Kalangans’ to host mega award shows and all kinds of exhibitions.

Now in its sixth year Bhavan’s Cultural Centre – Andheri is the heart beat of those living in suburbs. For an honorary annual subscription of rupees 500 the members are exposed to the best in performing arts. The week end at the campus has become a way of life for them. It is the only hope for budding artistes to showcase their talent without caste, creed or religion discrimination.

Every year come July BCCA brings out a scrap book documenting the year that was. Members look forward to this spectacular collection which is a nostalgic journey of the events hosted at the campus. Conceived and executed by the creative team in-house the book is segregated by subjects and also dates. The colourful pictorial book is a nostalgic journey of the movers and the shakers of performing world. Publishing houses bring out special issues end of every calendar year and spend extravagantly on the creative designs of these collector issues. Top models and film stars devote special time for photo shoots and top columnists write the stories. The special issues are lavishly packaged and exorbitantly priced but lacking in an important ingredient, the soul.

On the other hand BCCA year after year comes out with a 135 page issue that tells you about the lives and passions of real artistes… It presents their story simply and candidly through real pictures without drama or star trappings…It may not be as sensationally packaged as Verve or a Vogue but it is not exorbitantly priced either. The book is not for commercial gains, it is a service to culture and performing arts, a true labour of love. It is something all of us need to appreciate and applaud wholeheartedly.
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Bhawana Somaaya
Author and editor
blog.bhawanasomaaya.com