Simple Life: An Inquiry into the Joys of Simplicity in a Complex World
By K. Jayakumar (Shubhi Publications, New Delhi: 2021)

Discussants: Smt Shovana Narayan, well-known Kathak exponent and author; Dr. C.V. Ramanan, Director, Institute of Marketing & Management, Professor and Sadhak; and Shri K. Jayakumar, former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Kerala; Founder Vice Chancellor, Malayalam University; poet, translator and author of the book

Moderator: Ms Mandira Ghosh, poet and author

Chair: Dr. Sudha Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director, IIC-International Research Division

With his singular and unwavering style, Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) disregarded the established rules of cinema and created a visual language all his own. Precise compositions, contemplative pacing, low camera angles, and elliptical storytelling are just some of the signature techniques the great filmmaker used to evoke a sense of melancholy and poetry in everyday existence. The three films that Ozu made between 1949 and 1953 constitute his most enduring achievement. Dubbed the “Noriko Trilogy” after the name of the female protagonist in all three films, the films (Late Spring, Early Summer, Tokyo Story) co-star the two most familiar members of Ozu’s longstanding stock company: Chishu Ryu (1904–1993), the director’s favourite actor; and Setsuko Hara (1920–2015), who plays Noriko in all three parts of the trilogy. 

Early Summer (Bakushu/Japan) | (125 min; 1951; b/w; Japanese with English subtitles)

Director: Yasujiro Ozu

Recipient of the Blue Ribbon Awards 1952 for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director and Best Cinematography; Kinema Junpo Awards 1952 for Best Film; and Mainichi Film Concours Awards 1952 for Best Film and Best Actress

A family drama set in Kamakura, the leisurely, poignant Early Summer ends, as do so many Ozu films, in tears – theirs and ours. The Mamiya family takes up the challenge of finding a husband for Noriko (Setsuko Hara)), a happily unmarried "working girl." Her boss suggests a middle-aged businessman as a suitable prospect, but Noriko impulsively accepts another proposal and the family begins to disintegrate – ever so quietly – in the wake of her marriage. Consistently ranked with Late Spring and Tokyo Story as the best of Ozu’s postwar films, Early Summer is perhaps the most freely structured of his late work, with its elliptical narrative logic and constantly shifting rhythms.
 

The Inner Eye (India) | (22 min; 1981; English) 

A film by Satyajit Ray
Produced by Films Division

With his documentary on Benode Behari Mukherjee, Satyajit Ray delineates a beautiful portrait of the life of a remarkable man – a devoted artist, a born fighter and, in more ways than one, a great philosopher.

A three-part BBC series. Historian Bettany Hughes travels to India, Greece and China on the trail of three giants of ancient philosophy - Buddha, Socrates and Confucius. All three philosophers lived between the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, during a period of unprecedented and intense intellectual development.

Trailblazers whose radical ideas signalled a key change in human consciousness, each embodied the shift from a reliance on the supernatural, as the sole way to explain humankind’s place in the cosmos, to one where rational argument and logical reasoning offered new, exciting possibilities.

Drawing on archaeology and expert opinion, Bettany Hughes follows in the footsteps of these great figures, in her quest to unpack their philosophy in the context of their age. She reveals how, even though their ideas came about two and a half thousand years ago, their thinking still shapes, and continues to provide solutions to, our own lives.

Genius of the Ancient World: Episode 1 - Buddha | (59:10 min; 2015; English) | ( Click here to watch )

In this first episode Bettany Hughes investigates the revolutionary ideas of the Buddha. In his 20s the Buddha abandoned his family and homeland in the foothills of the Himalayas to embark on an ambitious philosophical quest to find a solution to human suffering. 

Before the Flood | (96 min; 2016; English) | ( Click here to watch )
Director: Fisher Stevens

Recipient of the Hollywood Film Award 2016 for Documentary Film of the year

This epic documentary follows Leonardo DiCaprio, actor, environmental activists and U.N. Messenger of Peace as he travels to five continents and the Arctic speaking to scientists, world leaders, activists and local residents to examine first-hand the devastating effects of climate change, and to investigate concrete solutions to prevent catastrophic damage that could make the Earth unsustainable for human life.

Bharatanatyam Recital video recording ( Click here to watch )

By Binal Wala from Ahmedabad, disciple of Smt Ellakshiben Thakore, Shri Kubernath Tanjorekar and Guru Swathi Daithankar 

Accompanists: Somnath Natarajan (vocal); R. Natarajan (mridangam); Alap Parikh (flute); and Hemanth Sadhu (violin)

Binal Wala and artists of Kalamandir Performing Art, Ahmedabad – Dipal Khajanchi and Misha Shah will present Tanjore School of Bharatanatyam

Nelson Mandela: The Man of Our Times
Opening Remarks: Suhas Borker

Speaker: Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, Ram Sathe Chair Professor, Symbiosis School of International Studies, Symbiosis International (deemed University), Pune and formerly India’s Deputy High Commissioner in Pretoria, 1994-97

Closing Remarks: H.E. Mr. Joel Sibusiso Ndebele, South African High Commissioner to India
 
Chair: Ambassador Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, former Indian High Commissioner to Pretoria

(Collaboration: South African High Commission; and Working Group on Alternative Strategies)
 

Lead presentation by Shri Ranjit Sabikhi, well-known architect
Introduction: Ms Meena Mani

Followed by a dialogue between Shri Ranjit Sabikhi; Prof. Aneerudha Paul, Professor, and Director, Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture (KRVIA), Mumbai; and Ms Tanuja Kanvinde, partner at Kanvinde, Rai and Chowdhury  

Chair: Shri Ashok B. Lall, practicing architect based in Delhi

As towns and cities expand and grow across India, there is a need for design intervention by trained architects. This need has largely remained unrecognised

Higher Defence Management Reforms – Some Challenges

Chair: Shri N.N. Vohra, President, IIC

Panelists: Lt. Gen. Deependra S. Hooda (retd.), PVSM, AVSM, VSM & BAR, ADC, former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command,  Presently Senior Fellow, Delhi Policy Group; Admiral Arun Prakash (retd.), PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC, former Chief of the Naval Staff and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee; and Air Chief Marshal Fali H. Major (retd.), PVSM, AVSM, SC, VM, ADC, former Chief of the Air Staff, Indian Air Force and former Member, National Security Advisory Board

Moderator: Lt. Gen. Satish Dua (retd.), PVSM, UYSM, SM, VSM, former General Officer of the Indian Army and former Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee

The military is in the midst of a major restructuring exercise with a focus on enhancing jointness and carrying out integration in the three Services. The first step in this direction is the creation of integrated theatre commands that will exercise operational control over assets of the three Services, enable joint planning and warfighting, and lead to resource optimisation. However, there are some apprehensions, particularly in the Air Force, that air resources are limited and the allocation of these within the integrated commands could lead to a weakening of our overall capability.

While much of the debate is focused on integrated commands, reforms in higher defence organizations have a crucial impact on operational decision making within the government, and on the nature of civil military relations. The IIC webinar seeks to look at all the challenges ahead.