Long way to go

If Sur Taal’s maiden presentation of Hindi-Bengali film songs at Birla Academy on September 26 was the result of four months’ of hard labour, it wasn’t very evident. The honesty of purpose was there, the love of melody and rhythm too. But both have a long way to go. Surrya set the programme rolling with Mohd Rafi’s Bahaaron phool barsaao, went on to S.P. Balasubramaniam’s Sach mere yaar hai and then Kishore Kumar’s Zindagi ke safar mein jo guzar, but retained his own tone for all of them. We are not sure if that’s a great idea. Suparna, who began with a Bengali number, and then joined Surrya in a duet (Deewaana hua baadal) was equally diffident.

Anil Grover

Malhar magic

Perhaps God was also listening and decided to make the atmosphere perfect for Rabi-Mallhar presented by Mallhar at Sisir Mancha on September 21. The rain added that magical touch to the dance ensemble of Tagore songs set to raga Malhar. It started off with Eso he ore megh, which was performed brilliantly. Dressed in blue and white, the performers were successful in bringing out the spirit of the song. The narration by Gouri Ghosh, Partho Ghosh and Soumitra Mitra helped the audience understand the context of the songs. Just like Tar Haathe Chilo Haasiro Phulero Haar was written by Tagore while on his way to Italy from South America. Performances on songs like Rim Jhim Ghano Ghano Re Barshe, Tomaro Geeti Jagalo Sreeti, etc, gladdened the heart. All in all, it made for an unforgettable evening.

Shibani Chattopadhyay

Imaginative angles

Twenty-one photographers under the banner of Foto Friends hoisted the 5th Annual Member Photography Exhibition at Gaganendra Pradarshasala. There were 91 exhibits, of 12”x 15” size. Of these, 30 were black-and-white. The quality of the photographs was reasonable. The only woman photographer was Tanusree Coomar, whose work focuses on fashion. One of her pieces showed a well-dressed model leaning in a relaxed way against a railing. The dim light gives it a special effect. Jayanta Shaw’s imaginative low angle shot showing the dancing feet of drummers in a puja pandal is interesting. Abhijit Roy’s well planned,well organised detail and painstaking photo essay on Purulia’s famous rural festival, Tusu, is praiseworthy.

Sunil K.Dutt