Play it again

Habib Tanvir, actor and playwright and creator of such iconic plays as Charandas Chor, will now reach a wider audience. His memoirs, written in Urdu and published in 2006, have now been translated into English. The book, titled Habib Tanvir — Memoirs, and translated by Mahmood Farooqui, will be released in Delhi on May 28. At the launch, Tanvir’s daughter is expected to sing some of the songs that lent her father’s theatre — Naya Theatre — a distinct identity. The memoirs touch both the private and the public aspects of his life and take the readers on a journey from his childhood in Raipur to the Bombay film world of the 1940s and thence to his days with the Indian People’s Theatre Association. It’s a great treat for all theatre lovers no doubt.

Hit singer

Remember S.P. Balasubrahmanyam? The man who did the playback singing for Salman Khan in films such as Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun? If you thought he had sung his last song, think again. After a long hiatus, the golden-voiced Balasubrahmanyam is back again. He has sung the title track of Shah Rukh Khan’s coming film Chennai Express. Getting the 66-year-old singer, who in an earlier era sang in the Kamal Haasan-Rati Agnihotri starrer Ek Duje Ke Liye, was a coup of sorts for music composer duo Vishal-Shekhar. All these films were monster hits, by the way. No doubt Shah Rukh Khan & Co. would be hoping that Balasubrahmanyam works like a charm and Chennai Express turns out to be a blockbuster like a Maine Pyar Kiya or an Ek Duje Ke Liye.

Sufi beats

When Sufism meets tabla, it has to be Bikram Ghosh behind the amalgamation. In a two-day musical extravaganza to be held in Delhi from June 1, Ghosh, along with Kavita Seth and Parvati Kumari, will take his fans on a journey where different Sufi styles will be merged with the tabla to create a new, rhythm-heavy sound. The concert is aimed at promoting Indian art forms among youngsters. But then if it’s Ghosh, it won’t be just the young queueing up for the show.

Daring diary

Silk Smitha’s life constitutes endless fodder for moviemakers. After Vidya Balan’s bravura turn as the oomphy Tamil heroine who died young, yet another biopic on the actress released this week. Oru Nadigayin Diary (The Diary of an Actress) is a Tamil film written by Anthony Eastman, who had introduced the controversial sex siren to the film industry. Sana Khan, who is the heroine of Salman Khan’s coming film Mental, plays the title role. Incidentally, the lady is apparently absconding after being wanted in a case of attempted abduction. Before this, she shot into the limelight when she featured in a controversial advertisement for Amul Macho briefs. It seems that like Silk Smitha, Sana Khan too has a lot to write about in her diary.

Right fight

Dayamani Barla, human rights activist and journalist, who belongs to the Munda tribe in Jharkhand, has been honoured with the Ellen L. Lutz Indigenous Rights Award in New York. Barla, said to be the first tribal journalist from Jharkhand, is at the forefront of a protest against the state’s attempts to acquire over 200 acres of farmland to set up a law university and an IIM campus. She was jailed by the Jharkhand government last year for allegedly causing roadblocks with her protests. The prize went to her in recognition of her “outstanding human rights work… and commitment to protecting indigenous cultures, lands, and languages,” says Suzanne Benally, executive director of Cultural Survival, an organisation that gives away the award in memory of Ellen L. Lutz, a human rights lawyer. More power to Barla!