An evening of conversation, music and drama based on the new book by Rami Chhabra, media veteran

The author will engage in a conversation with Dr. Shashi Tharoor, eminent author and Member of Parliament; and Amb. Veena Sikri, former diplomat and Convenor, South Asia Women’s Network

 Smt Sarita Vohra, theatre-director and members of Living Room Theatre will read extracts from Becoming the Storm and present an opening musical overture

YouTube: https://youtu.be/GRJ7EvDXv_o

Rabb Di Awaaz

(77 min; 2023; Hindi with English subtitles)
Director: Ojaswwee Sharma

Rabb di Awaaz follows R.J. Karan, a radio jockey whose perspective on life undergoes a profound transformation after an
interview with Shiv, a visually impaired individual

Followed by
The Steps of One Hand (Iran)
(39 min; Farsi with English subtitles)
Director: Kioumars Samadi Tari

Film about Mohammad Gomar, a differently abled athlete with no feet nor a left hand, who climbed to the top of Milad tower in Tehran using only one hand in a record time of 39 minutes, 50 second and 91 hundredth setting a new Guinness record. Milad tower is the sixth highest tower in the world

(Collaboration: Brotherhood; and Iran Culture House, New Delhi)

Programme Details

The tenth biennial edition of one of the oldest environmental film festivals organised in collaboration with Toxics Link. The two-day festival includes a screening of 36 films on diverse environmental issues like climate change, water, waste management, conservation, sustainable living and environmental justice 

At 09:45
Inauguration of the Festival

By H.E. Ms May-Elin Stener, Ambassador of Norway

Welcome Address: Shri Ravi Agarwal, Founding Director, Toxics Link

Address by Shri K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Followed by a cultural programme

Boond – Every Drop Matters

Presented by artists of Tapaswini Nav Sadhna

The dance emphasizes the critical need for water conservation

Nukad Natak

Presented by Bal Bhawan School, Mayur Vihar

The Beatles and India (India)
(95 min; 2021; English)
Directed by Ajoy Bose who will introduce the film

Screening will be followed by a discussion

A unique historical chronicle of the enduring love affair between The Beatles and India that started more than half century ago. The film uses rare archival footage, photographs, eye-witness accounts and expert comments along with location shoots across India to bring alive the fascinating journey of George, John, Paul and Ringo from their high-octane celebrity lives in the West to a remote Himalayan ashram in search of spiritual bliss that inspired an unprecedented burst of creative song writing. The film is the first serious exploration of how India shaped the evolution of the greatest ever rock band and their own pioneering role bridging two vastly different cultures across the universe
 

Lecture-demonstration by Vidya Shah, well-known Hindustani vocalist

This session is part of the two-day Seminar on ‘Syncretic Traditions in the Subcontinent over the Ages: Contemporary Challenges”

(Collaboration: Dara Shikoh Centre for the Arts)
 

Speaker: General Anil Chauhan, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC, Chief of Defence Staff

Followed by a

Conversation with Shri N.N. Vohra, Life Trustee, IIC and former Defence Secretary and former Governor of Jammu & Kashmir

Chair: Amb. Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Concert presented by Azure Quartet – Thomas Knollys (clarinet); Elana Kenyon-Gewirtz (violin); Hoda Jahanpour (cello); and Joel Banerjee (piano)

There are very few pieces in the Western classical music canon comparable to the Quartet for the End of Time. This rarely heard piece was written in Stalag VIII-A, a German prisoner-of-war camp during WWII where Messiaen was imprisoned. Its unspeakable circumstances and infinite subject matters culminate in one of the masterpieces of the Twentieth century
 
(Collaboration: Delhi Music Society)
 

Illustrated lecture by Dr. George Michell, architectural historian who has worked extensively in the Deccan region, beginning some 50 years ago with a doctoral thesis on early Chalukya temples. His collaborative publications with Dr. Fritz includes Hampi Vijayanagara, the popular guidebook issued by the Deccan Heritage Foundation. Michell’s most recent publication is the profusely illustrated Temple of Deccan India

Chair: Shri Ratish Nanda, CEO, Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC)

The late Dr John M. Fritz was the first American archaeologist to survey the ruins of Hampi Vijayanagara. Trained at the University of Chicago as an anthropologist with a special interest in prehistoric, Native American sites in New Mexico and Arizona, Fritz brought an entirely new perspective to South Asian urban studies. Together with Dr. George Michell, Fritz directed a team of volunteer architects and archaeologists to investigate the meaning of Hampi’s city plan. Building on more than twenty years
of fieldwork during the 1980s and 1990s, he concluded that the Hindu god Rama dominated the layout of the Vijayanagara’s Royal Centre by acting as a mediator in the everyday activities and ceremonial life of the Vijayanagara rulers. It is this innovative interpretation that Michell will discuss in his illustrated lecture.

(Collaboration: American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon)
 

Hindustani Vocal Recital

By Kshitij Mathur, disciple of Pandit Madhup Mudgal  and Shri Bhuvanesh  Komkali

At 19:00
Kathak Recital
By Srishti Junnarkar from Mumbai, disciple of Parwati Dutta and Pt. Jaikishan Maharaj
 

Crusader for environmental justice, Mike Pandey

In conversation with Sujata Prasad and Oroon Das

(Collaboration: Ahad Anhad)