Poetry in Corona Times

A discussion with Anamika; Prof. K. Satchidanandan; Priya S. Chabria; and Sudeep Sen

Moderator: Ashok Vajpeyi, Managing Trustee, The Raza Foundation

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)

Dusk to Dawn: Poetic Voices on the Current Times South Asia and Beyond
Edited by Chandra Mohan, Rita Malhotra and Anamika (Heritage Publishers, New Delhi: 2021)

Discussants: Shri Ashok Vajpeyi, eminent poet and critic; Prof. Sanjukta Dasgupta, academic, poet, Convenor, English Advisory Board, Sahitya Akademi and President, Intercultural Poetry and Performance Library, ICCR, Kolkata; Dr. Chandra Mohan, Chair, ICLA Standing Research Committee South Asian Literature and Culture and one of the Editors of the book

Moderator: Prof. Malashri Lal, academic, writer and Editor

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

Witness for the Prosecution (USA) | ( Click here to watch )
(116 min; 1957; b/w; English)
Director: Billy Wilder

With Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton

Multiple award winner including David for Best Foreign Actor, David di Donatello Awards 1958; Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, Golden Globes, USA 1958; Golden Train Award for Best Actress, Faro Island Film Festival 1957; among others

Ailing barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts is thrust back into the courtroom in what becomes one of the most unusual and eventful murder case of the lawyer's career when he finds himself defending Leonard Vole, a man being tried for the murder of a wealthy woman. With Robarts choosing to represent him, the two find themselves up against Leonard's cold-hearted wife, Christine - who, in a surprising turn of events, chooses to appear in court against her husband.

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 3 – Confucius | ( Click here to watch )
(59:01 min; 2015; English)
In the third and final episode, Bettany Hughes investigates the game-changing ideas of Confucius. Confucius is considered the first Chinese thinker to take a systematic, philosophical approach to the social, political and moral challenges of his world.

Born in a chaotic, violent age, he believed that harmony could be restored through the example of the sage rulers of history. A great innovator, he commandeered rituals and traditions of the past, to form a compelling philosophical vision. A pioneer in education, he attracted a loyal band of students, and tried to instil his principles of moral excellence and self-cultivation in China's rulers. 

Is Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia Nazi propaganda – or the greatest film about sport ever made? The two-part documentary has been acclaimed as a masterpiece that revolutionised the way sport was depicted on screen.  This epic record of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games attempts to combine sporting reportage with a celebration of physical beauty and the spectacle involved in this uniquely unifying event. And what cinema historians still debate today is whether Riefenstahl was defying Goebbels and Hitler all those summers ago, or whether she was doing exactly what they wanted. 

The two-part documentary will be screened over the next two weeks.

Olympia Part One:

Festival of Nations (Olympia 1. Teil – Fest der Völker) | ( Click here to watch )
(111 min; 1938; b/w; German with English subtitles)
Director: Leni Riefenstahl

Recipient of the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Kinema Junpo Awards 1941. Part One begins with a history of the Olympic games – with a mystical glide through the smoke-wreathed ruins and statues of ancient Greece depicting the traditions of the ancient games in the city of Olympia. The film floats through time and space until it reaches the lighting of the Olympic cauldron in Berlin – the torch relay was invented for the 1936 Games and continuing with a portrayal of many of the field events at the 1936 Berlin games.

(81 min; 2008; English)
Directors: Alan Dater, Lisa Merton

Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights and defend democracy – a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration.

Kuchipudi Recital ( Click here to watch )

By Avijit Das, artist, choreographer and musician. He is the disciple of Guru Manju Bhargavi, Guru Padmavani and Guru Jaikishore Mosalikanti. 

The artist will present Shivashtakam; Daruvu Koluvaithiva Ranga sai; Sri Thaalapaaka Annamaachaarya; Keertanam – Brahma Okate

Jugalbandhi: A Tryst with Prose and Poetry 
Panelists: Ms Achla Bansal, author of Vanilla Ice cream & Chocolate Sauce: A Collection of Short Stories (Spring Books, 2020); Shri Rajender Krishan, poet, Wanderer: Poetry (Setu Publications, 2021); Ms Hira Kartar Dalwani, playwright and poet, Suffer Little Children (a play about domestic child labour and Eternally Present: An Anthology of Poems; Authorspress, 2021); and Shri P.K. Dash, author of Invisible Poets and Other Stories (Notion Press, 2020) 

Chair: Ms Rajni Sekhri Sibal, poet and author

The Future of Afghanistan – Post US Withdrawal
Panelists: Mr. Faheem Dashty, Chairman, Afghan Journalists Union, Kabul; Ms Farkhunda Zehra Naderi, Member, High Council for National Reconciliation, Afghanistan; and Mr. Mushahid Hussain, Chairman Senate Defence Committee, Pakistan 

Chair: Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Ashok K. Mehta

The Taliban seems headed towards imposing a military solution in Afghanistan triggered off by the hasty and irresponsible withdrawal of US and NATO forces. The virtual collapse of Afghan National Security Forces after the Taliban offensive on 1st May has come as a big surprise. The Taliban have reportedly captured nearly 200 of the country’s 419 districts including trade and transit points on borders with Pakistan, Tajikistan and Iran. Afghanistan’s future seems to be returning to the dark past under the Taliban with Kabul’s mentors, failing the Afghans in preserving the two-decade old gains.