Fermat’s Last Theorem (UK) | Click here to watch
(48m min; 1996; English)
Director: Simon Singh

Andrew Wiles stumbled across the world's greatest mathematical puzzle, Fermat's Theorem, as a ten- year-old schoolboy, beginning a 30-year quest with just one goal in mind - to solve the problem that has baffled minds for three centuries. 

A documentary about mathematics and mathematicians, but also about childhood dreams, ambition, obsession, passion, failure and triumph. 

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1btavd

(59 min; 1999; English and with subtitles)
Director: Paul Smaczny

Préludes for Piano, Book One by Claude Debussy. Performance by Daniel Barenboim. An explanation is given on these Préludes by Daniel Barenboim as well as readings of Debussy's own writings.

According to Claude Debussy, "Music begins where the words end." It builds a bridge between reality and unreality. In his Preludes, he left the music open to interpretation by the performer and the listener, wishing that "they be played only privately" and "among four eyes," (entre quatre-z-yeux). Debussy sets dance movements to music, evoking three bacchantes sculpted on a column in the Louvre Museum. "La fille aux cheveux de lin" derives from a poem by Leconte de Lisle, while "La Cathedrale engloutie" tells the story of the sunken cathedral of Ys, which rises again from the waters, becomes visible and sinks once more - a tone painting of cathedral-like chords. Claude Debussy endeavoured to revolutionize tone colour. He wanted to journey down new roads remote from harmonic "rules." "Music is mysterious mathematics whose elements partake in the eternal. It lives in the movement of water, in the play of the waves in the changing winds."

(54 min; 1985; English and with subtitles)
Directors: Alan Benson, Daniel Wiles

Marguerite Duras – 20th-century France’s greatest femme de lettres – was the sort of woman who spared neither herself nor others. In this vintage filmed interview, the late novelist and filmmaker talks openly about the hardship and the romance of her childhood in French Indochina, sharing how this period haunted her life and shaped her work. The film includes excerpts from her films and readings from her books by actress Elizabeth Rider and Duras herself, including The Lover, winner of the Prix Goncourt and translated into more than forty languages.

Illustrated lecture by Benoy K. Behl, filmmaker, art historian and photographer

Introduction: Sujata Chatterji

Benoy Behl and his office have digitally restored the Ajanta paintings and other ancient murals of India to reveal what they may have looked like many centuries ago. The Ajanta paintings have been acknowledged by art critics and historians the world over as “among the finest art of humankind”. The centuries have taken their toll and the resplendent beauty of these paintings has been obscured by damage. Over a period of many years, as a labour of love, Behl has digitally restored much of the damage and they can now be seen nearer to their original glory

Video recording of a lecture for IIC online programmes

Electoral Democracy? An Inquiry into the Fairness and Integrity of India’s Elections

Panelists: Shri K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC ; Shri M.G. Devasahayam, Chairman, People-First and Member, Constitutional Conduct Group, Coordinator, Citizens’ Commission on Elections(CCE) & Editor of the book; Justice Shri Madan Lokur, former Judge, Supreme Court of India & Chair, CCE; Shri Wajahat Habibullah, former Chief Information Commissioner & Vice-Chair, CCE; Professor  Subhashis Banerjee,  Department of Computer Science, IIT Delhi & Member, CCE; Dr. S.Y.Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner; Shri Jawhar Sircar, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha; and Professor Jagdeep Chhokar, Co-Founder, Association for Democratic Rights & Former Dean, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

Moderator: Ms.  Anjali Bhardwaj, Co-convener, National Campaign for People’s Right to Information 

Temple Complexes of the Western Deccan: Beyond the Tangible-Intangible Divide

Illustrated lecture by Prof. Parul Pandya Dhar, Professor of Art History, Department of History, University of Delhi

Chair: Prof. (Sr) Anila Verghese, historian who has specialised in religious and art history of the Vijayanagara empire and city and former Principal, The Sophia College for Women,  Mumbai

The talk focuses on early medieval temple complexes at Badami, Aihole, and Pattadakal in the Western Deccan. These magnificent monuments have been receiving worldwide recognition in recent decades and have also found a place in the UNESCO list of world heritage site. The talk draws from the speaker’s recent research to establish the importance of an approach wherein interpretations of ‘static’ monuments are ‘peopled’ or enlivened by exploring the motives, means, and methods that brought them into being and reaffirmed, transformed, or negated their presence from time to time.

Speakers: Dr. S.K. Singh, Professor of Mathematical Demography and Statistics, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai; and Smt Meeta Rajivlochan, IAS, Secretary, National Commission for Women

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Distinguished Professor, Symbiosis University

The National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS5) published in September 2021 is the largest such survey in the world. The survey’s findings tell us how healthy we are as a nation. Equally important, how much improvement we have registered in the social sector since 1947. The survey covered more than 6 lakhs of families and provides estimates on key indicators related to population, family planning, child and maternal health, nutrition, adult health, and domestic violence, among others. 
 

Rudraveena Maestro Ustad Bahauddin Dagar in conversation with Manjari Sinha, eminent music and dance critic

Introduction: Ashok Vajpeyi

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)

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Discussants: Prof. Nivedita Menon, Professor, Centre for Comparative Politics & Political Theory, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Dr. Gautam Bhan, Urban Researcher and Writer; Dr. Ghazala Jameel, Assistant Professor, Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Ms Dipta Bhog, journalist and activist

Chair: Prof. Apoorvanand, Dept. of Hindi, Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi