I’ve spent the entire weekend at Kala Ghoda!! I’ve been a regular visitor to the festival these years and thus far my KGAF experience has been limited to perusing the sidewalk outside Jehangir Art Gallery and ooh-ing and aah-ing about the artwork. This year I’m super-excited this time round because of my increased participation. Like last year, I’m writing for the Kala Ghoda Gazette and for the first time I’m actually participating in the events. You can see my more detailed account of the events here.

The Festival is in its 10th year of existance. In the past years I’ve seen a gradual decline with the one rather regrettable year where all I remember of it was a row of food stalls (though my first experience of Kheer Kodom from Sweet Bengal did leave sweet memories). However it looks like the Black Horse has given itself a good shake since last year was an improvement. And this year is positively mind-boggling!
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Did you ever think of performing poetry? Or SMS as an art form? Did you ever think that Bollywood was Mumbai’s only claim to culture? It’s time for you to meet the black horse then.

Welcome to the Kala Ghoda Art Festival - an eclectic extravaganza of art, music, poetry, theatre, film and writing expression. The KGAF is an annual event and yes, the 2008 edition starts tomorrow!

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Here is an oppurtunity for all shutterbugs to capture some gr8 moments of the city, meet some more people passionate about photography and have some unadulterated fun together.

Here’s the idea:

Amature / Professional photographers take a day tour of Mumbai, clicking shots based on 3 distinct themes. Everyone submits 12 best shots from the ones they have taken, and we pool them together. All participants may meet at the end of the day and share their photos and stories.

What do you get?

Privilege of participating in first such even in Mumbai
An opportunity to experience Mumbai
A reason to freak out
So what are the themes?

Roadside Mumbai
Mumbai Rush
Tourists in Mumbai
Drop an email if you would like to join. The email is blog (at) kapilb . com

Or
Visit the blog and leave a comment

On the occassion of the ‘World Theatre Day’ , the Academy of Theatre Arts, University of Mumbai , brings for Mumbaikars a bouquet of India’s finest plays, in an 11-day ‘National Vasant Natya Mahotsav’.

The Mahotsav, to be staged between March 22 and April 1, 2007 at the Kalina Campus of the University of Mumbai , will present plays by renowned directors like Ratan Thiyam, Ramesh Verma and Ranjit Kapoor.

Famous Indian theatre groups like the Chorus Repertoire Company from Manipur, The National School of Drama Repertoire Company and the Mysore Rangayan will be performing in Mumbai after a long time. “This is the speciality of the festival. There will be plays in various Indian languages by some of the prominent directors this country has produced,” says Mr Waman Kendre, Director of the Academy. Along with this, several theatre luminaries like Anupam Kher and Naserrudin Shah too might grace the festival. Professor Waman Kendre himself is a very famous Marathi Theatre artist.

Some of the outstanding plays that Mumbaikars will have the pleasure of watching are:
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Massive round bindis, a whole bunch of kajra (garland) that she wears in her head, and colorful Kancheepuram sarees.. Am sure these are just enough to bring Usha Uthup’s name at tip of our tounge. As a child I remember mom and me shaking a leg to her “Zupi Zupi” to liven up those sleepy afternoons. Usha Uthup is attractive in her own, inimitable way. Draped in her signature Kancheevaram, sporting jasmine flowers and a chestnut-sized bindi she, almost always, calls for a second look. As I grew up I always admired her for the way she carried herself in sarees despite the fact she sang ultra modern pop songs and sometimes sang desi songs with pop twist. She can sing in different languages and famous for her unique voice quality.

Now she has taken on a new Avtar in the new movie Hattrick. The bindis are gone, instead she sports a stylish pair of glasses , the long hair full of kajra is replaced by a chic short colored hair style and she has taken on to colorful Kaftan isntean of her signature Kancheevaram.

Am not sure if the movie is that good enough to watch it in a theater, but yeah Usha Uthup has managed once again has made people take a second look at her. She kinda looks like a modern granny - sort of a cute and loving but with mordern thinking types. But I also love her old traditional with a tinge of flamboyance look much more.

Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray has said that if he feels that the film Black Friday glorifies Dawood, then he’ll shut it down.

The controversial film on the 1993 Mumbai blasts had finally made it to the theatres two weeks ago.

“I haven’t seen the film. I plan to watch it, and if it glorifies Dawood, I will make sure the film is never shown again,” said Bal Thackeray, Leader, Shiv Sena.

But the threat has shocked the makers of the film. They say that they had already screened the film for the Thackeray family and even accepted the cuts that they had asked for.

Moreover, they say that there’s no attempt to glorify Dawood or the underworld, but instead it is a graphic depiction of the city’s darkest hours - the 1992 riots, communal polarization and the coming together of the underworld to trigger a series of blasts on March 12, 1993.

However, Bal Thackeray’s threat is just the latest in a line of setbacks for the film, which has already faced legal censorship.

The film’s release was earlier stopped for two years by the court hearing the 1993 blasts case. The reason for that was that the film could bias public opinion.

Now that the trial is over and the film is out, it appears that it has run into Mumbai’s moral censors. I feel its better to leave the choice to the viewers. After all they are the once who pay for the tickets. For once why cant these politicians look into something which really requires their attention ? Poverty, Disease, Unemployment, Pollution, Gov officials who accept bribe and so on… The list is endless.. Mr Thackeray are u listening ??

February comes and Mumbai and the pedestrian plaza around South Mumbai’s lively historic art district ‘Kala Ghoda’ comes alive to the tune of the Kala Ghoda Art Festival. The setting is marvellous, the crescent shaped plaza is nestled around an array of heritage buildings such as Elephantine College, the David Sassoon Library and the Watson Hotel.

The Festival promises rich events in Arts, Literature, Music & Theatre - Seminars, Workshops and more. This years an entire host of events including a vintage car rally also expect performances from famed percussionist Shivamani. History buffs should also look out for the special heritage walks organised as part of the festivities. Also scheduled are many book readings including a “TETE A TETE WITH SHANTARAM” a freewheeling chat with author of the best selling book Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts this time without the cumbersome presense of Dolly Thakore.

The festival kicks off on the 4th February and continues up to the 11th February.

But what is really exciting is that the Kala Ghoda Association is blogging the event. The blog promises to bring the festival live to you with a mix of previews and impressions, reviews and reports, text and photographs, maybe even some audio and video. JUST LIKE LAST YEAR.

Here is all you need

The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival [A schedule]

and

The Kala Ghoda Gazette. [The Blog]

Legendary Prithviraj Kapoor

When one mentions Stage Plays and Coffee in a single sentence then the only place that instantly comes to mind is Prithvi Theatre in Juhu, Mumbai. Other than Bollywood, Theatre is the only form of entertainment and art that I feel passionately about. Blame it on my schooling days when I performed for the first time at this very theatre or my college days which were mostly spent at the Prithvi canteen rather than the classroom.

A theatre company called ‘Prithvi Theatres’ was started by the famed actor Prithviraj Kapoor around the 1940s with the aim of giving something to the society in return of the celebrity status and honor they had bestowed upon him. He commissioned original plays on circumstantial topics of the day, which his group then performed across India. In 1978, Prithvi Theatre was built several years later in memory of his extraordinary commitment and enthusiasm for theatre.

Prithvi Theatre has come a long way since then - with annually 400 shows, 100 plays, nearly 50 groups participation and an outreach of around 70,000 thousand audience.

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The Mid-Day reports that Madame Tussauds, the world renowned wax museum is going to open shop in Bombay. That is a great fillip for the city.

Madame Tussauds, London’s most famous tourist attraction known for its life-size waxworks, plans to open a branch in Mumbai, featuring replicas of Bollywood and cricketing stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar.

The plan to open a Mumbai office is part of a concerted push by Madame Tussauds’ new owners — Dubai International Capital — to expand beyond the UK. [ link ]

My only concern is, what will be the entrance fee ?? Here in NYC it is about 33 US$ and in London upward of 20 pounds.

Let’s hope they follow the “horses for courses” policy and don’t price it out of the market.

[A store in Bandra - the name and logo are purely coincidental I think]

One of the sad parts about living in Mumbai or any other Indian city for that matter is the lack of any worthwhile live music. It is so disconcerting to find only 3 entries in The Time Out Mumbai music listings. Two of which are Indo-Jazz fusion gigs at 5 star hotels and the third is “Bollywood Hollywood Karaoke Night” at Not Just Jazz by the bay. Gigpad adds a few more gigs to the list but let’s face it Mumbai is starved of good live music. Yes we do get a good gig are our way once in a while but than again Mumbai often magically disappears off the list whenever a good band announces a world tour.

Anyways this was supposed to be rant on the band INXS and on a sulk about music. Yes as you may know INXS is going to be playing in Mumbai and Bangalore in the coming week. Personally for me INXS died the day Michael Hutchence was found dead in his hotel room. The former Elvis impersonator and new INXS vocalist J.D. Fortune, a product of the reality television show RockStar INXS, in my book is nothing more than a hutchence impersonator. Then again the reviews of some of the concerts on their recent ‘Switched ON’ tour tell me they have been singing some of the older INXS numbers which could make the concert worthwhile.

INXS was recently dumped by their American label and also had to cancel the European leg of their tour - so this could well be one of your last chances to see them before they split and have to find a another reality television show to find a new vocalist - HA !

If you want to catch them they are playing on 5 th October at MUMBAI MMRDA GROUNDS, Bandra Kurla Complex. The gates open at 6.00PM and the concert suposedly starts at 7.30PM. Tickets are available at Rs 1200 and Rs 700.

For more info you can check out INXS’s website or called the organizer OranJuice at 32923989