The Dance Series – Pursuing Excellence 

Bharatanatyam Recital 

By Christopher Gurusamy, Shijith & Parvathy Nambiar

Accompanists: Mahalingam Venkata Krishnan on nattuvangam ; Binu V Gopal on vocal; Ramakrishnan Eshwar on violin; Murali P – vocal support for Christopher Gurusamy;  Ramanathan Karthikeyan on mridangam; and Sri Sudarsini  on nattuvangam for Christopher Gurusamy

 

(Collaboration: Kalavaahini – an arts trust founded by Malavika Sarukkai )

ANJALI MONTEIRO AND K.P. JAYASANKAR RETROSPECTIVE: 21 TO 23 FEBRUARY 2018

 

A Fly in the Curry – Independent Documentary Film in India

By Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar (New Delhi: Sage, 2016)

 

The authors will be in conversation with Shohini Ghosh

 

The book looks at how independent Indian documentary film reworks the relationship between filmmakers, their narratives, their subjects and their audience, challenging the dominant idea of documentary as a discourse of the real

 

This book won a Special Mention for the best book on cinema at the National Film Awards, 2016

 

ANJALI MONTEIRO AND K.P.  JAYASANKAR RETROSPECTIVE: 21 TO 23 FEBRUARY 2018

 

So Heddan So Hoddan(Like Here, Like There)

(52 min; 2011; dvd; English subtitles)

Recipient of the Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IDPA) 2011 Awards for Silver in Cinematography, Silver for Sound Design and Silver for Script; Best Film Award, International Festival of Folk Music, Kathmandu 2012; and Basil Wright Film Prize, RAI Festival, Edinburgh 2013

 

Set in Abdasa, in Kachch, Gujarat, the film explores the life worlds of three cousins and the Fakirani Jat community

 

Jheeni Bini Chadariya (A Delicate Weave)

(62 min; 2017; dvd; English subtitles)

 

A Delicate Weave, set in Kachch, Gujarat traces four different musical journeys, all converging in the ways they affirm religious diversity, syncretism and love of the other. Drawing on the poetic and musical traditions of Sant Kabir and Shah Bhitai, as well as the folk traditions of the region, these remarkable musicians and singers bear testimony to how these oral traditions of compassion are being passed down from one generation to the next

 

ANJALI MONTEIRO AND K.P. JAYASANKAR RETROSPECTIVE: 21 TO 23 FEBRUARY 2018

A retrospective on the work of two leading Indian documentary filmmakers, Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar, Professors at the School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Involved in media education, research and production, they have made over 40 documentaries and have jointly won 32 national and international awards

 

The films will be introduced by Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar

 

YCP 1997(43 min; 1997; dvd; English subtitles)

Recipient of the Certificate of Merit, Mumbai International Film Festival 1998; Jury’s Award for Best Innovation, Astra Festival of Anthropological Documentary Film, Sibiu, Romania 1998

 

Built between 1865 and 1876, Yerawada Central Prison (YCP), Pune, is one of the oldest prisons in India with over 2500 inmates. In this film, six poets and artists of the YCP share their work, their lives

 

Saacha (The Loom; 31 min; 2001; dvd; English subtitles)

Abridged version of the film – Saacha is a portrait of a poet and a city. The poet is the late Narayan Surve, and the city is the city of Mumbai (a.k.a.Bombay), the birthplace of the Indian textile industry and the industrial working class

 

 

Our Family (56 min; 2007; dvd; English subtitles)

Recipient of the Special Mention of the Jury, Signs 2007; Certificate of Merit & special Mention of the Jury, MIFF 2008; Indian Documentary Producers Association (IDPA) Gold for Best Sound Design, Gold for Best Script, Silver for Editing, and Certificate of Merit for the Best Documentary

 

What does it mean to cross that line which sharply divides us on the basis of gender? Our Family brings together excerpts from Nirvanam, a one person performance, by Pritham K. Chakravarthy and a family of three generations of trans-gendered female subjects, Aasha, Seetha and Dhana, who are bound together by ties of adoption, belong to the community called Aravanis

 

Depicting the British Abroad: Johann Zoffany’s Tuscan and Indian Experience 1770-1790

Speakers: Dr. Arundhati Virmani, Indian historian who teaches at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Marseille; and Prof. Jean Boutier, Directeur d’ Études, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Marseille

 

The painter, Johann Zoffany who settled in England in the 1770s, is a typical example of a cosmopolitan artist in 18th century Europe. Trained in Rome by some of the most reputed painters of the time, and finally settled in London, where in the 1760s he became a very successful portraitist at court and amongst the British aristocracy. In his large production of artistic works, two paintings stand out particularly. Both are devoted to the British abroad. The first represents the travelers of the Grand Tour visiting Florence (1778), and the second, a cock match organized by Colonel Modaunt, commander of the bodyguards of the Nawab of Awadh (1788). Based on an analysis of these two works, the talk will discuss the emergence of new behaviours in British society during the course of the 18th century

 

Civil Society and Nuclear Disarmament: Why 2017’s Nobel Prize is Yours!

Speaker: Dr. Vidya Shankar Aiyar, Nuclear Disarmament activist based in Delhi and news media professional

 

Chair: Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar

 

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 has been awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN and against all odds, and in the teeth of opposition from nuclear armed states of the world, 122 of the total UN membership of 193 states succeeded in adopting a UN Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons on 7 July 2017. What does the treaty mean? What does it do and what does it not do? If nuclear armed states are unwilling to get on board, is there any hope for this treaty to rid the world of nuclear weapons? The rising fears of conflict such as one involving North Korea and the US or several other scenarios, now demand an urgent understanding of these issues. Does civil society have a constructive role in this?

 

Kahak Recital

By Pt Deepak Maharaj

 

Followed by

 

Tabla Solo Recital 

By Pranshu Chatur Lal

 

(Collaboration: Pt. Chatur Lal Memorial Society)

 

 

International Seminar: India and Indonesia: Exploring Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Pluralities and Inclusive Identities

Inauguration by Shri N. N. Vohra, President, India International Centre

 

Introduction to the seminar by Ambassador S. T. Devare, former Indian Ambassador to Indonesia

Address by H.E. Mr. Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro, Indonesian Ambassador to India 

Address by Dr. Lokesh Chandra, eminent scholar and author

 

(Organised by IIC-International Research Division)

 

Hindustani Vocal Recital

By Rindana Rahasya from Delhi, disciple of Vidushi Uma Garg

Speaker: Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, former Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE

 

Chair and Moderator: Vijay Naik, Convener, Indian Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondents (IAFAC)