Sea, sand and cinema

A scene from Breathing Without Air

Spring is in the air and it?s time for romance, adventure and new ideas. Add sun, sea, sand and cinema to this stirring mix and you?ll have some idea of the atmosphere at the Bring Your Own Film Festival at Puri this week. The BYOFF, now in its second year after a splendidly successful debut, is a free-wheeling festival of film, music and the visual arts where participants land up to showcase their skills to an audience of other filmmakers, students, artists and performers, and is an ideal platform for student filmmakers to make their mark. Last year, Kapilas Bhuyan?s short film Breathing Without Air went from the BYOFF to a good reception at the New York Short Film Festival ? after being rejected by the Mumbai International Film Festival.

Ramayana redux

Spring might be the season of rejuvenation but do we really need another reinterpretation of the Ramayana for younger audiences? I?m very sceptical about Gotham Comics' much-hyped Ramayana comics, retold by Deepak Chopra and Shekhar Kapur and marketed somewhat stupidly as Asia?s LOTR. The new comic-book epic reexamines epic themes in a modern urban context and stars a superheroine named Devi and an overworked police inspector. Yawn. But Gotham Comics has an excellent track record ? it's the leading provider of international comic-book titles to Indian stalls, and was last in the news for transforming Spiderman into a masked Mumbaikar named Pavitr Prabhakar, so the Ramayana retelling might not be all bad. But here's a plea to Indian comic-book publishers ? when you have funds to initiate big projects for a hungry audience, could you please at least strive for original content?

Fresh, Original and discontented ? that?s Chris Rock. The organisers of the Oscars are retaining the comedian as this year?s Academy Awards host despite his calling the event an idiotic fashion show that straight people didn?t watch.

Rhyme season

A slightly less discontented man is Anurag Mathur, who?s just picked up a Publisher's Recognition Award from his publishers, Rupa ? though why it took Rupa 14 years to recognise their best-recognised author is an interesting question. This spring, Mathur?s thoughts have turned, as any writer?s should, to poetry ? his first volume of poetry is on the verge of publication. He?s been working on it for over two decades.

Spouse sells

Shobhaa D?

On Valentine?s Day, five of Delhi?s Page-3 couples gathered in a plush hotel and tried hard to convince a largely disinterested audience how extremely happy they all were with their marriages. The occasion: the launch of Shobhaa D??s latest sure-fire bestseller, Spouse: The Truth about Marriage. The action on-stage was all about trust, companionship and compromise, peppered with occasional burning witticisms from the glamorous author; the air above the front rows was wet with fine spray from Delhi socialite air-kisses, and far at the back, in the shadows where predators of the literary jungle (like me) prowl, the only sounds to be heard were the occasional screams of hapless waiters as hordes of journalists and poor writers pounced on the food and wine trays.

AWARD OF THE WEEK

Mikhail Ali, a three-year-old British genius with an IQ of 137, is now the youngest member of Mensa. Mikhail knows the entire Arabic alphabet and teases his parents by spelling words backwards.