Rotary Club of Calcutta Inner City and Dr Anutosh Datta Memorial Eye Foundation organised a cultural programme at Birla Academy on July 23. Conceived by Nandita Datta and based on the compositions of Tagore and Nazrul, the programme commenced with Prathama adi taba shakti, performed by three male dancers. Notwithstanding the small space, which was not at all appropriate for dance recital, the artistes tried their best to bring out the mood of the song. Sahasa dalpala tor utala je, sung by Indrani Mukherjee was refreshing and tuneful. Anubha Ghosh maintained her style in Anjali laho mor while Rinki Ganguly impressed the audience with her wide range in Bharia paran.
Sharmila BasuThakur
Gandhara’s presentation of an exhibition of graphics and paintings titled Framed Spaces: Boundless limits II bonds young artists without any thought of curation. Yet the works of these talented artists are innovative! Apu Dasgupta and Kazi Nasir have used photographic images as references and enlarged them on canvas surface with acrylic. Dasgupta’s hockey players falling on each other with a blue bird and dark eclipsed sun above and Nasir’s birds in a glass cage remind one of the techniques of movie hoarding painters. Shekar B. Karmakar’s miniatures of strange figures have a sly humour. Debashis Manna’s dozen small drawings framed in one frame depict still life with vegetables.
Sandip Sarkar
The Kathakali performance presented by Bhavna at Uttam Mancha on August 5 was an absolute revelation. Tin Dharo, the dance by village girls to celebrate the joys of monsoon was well executed. It was a treat to watch very young girls performing brilliantly without missing a step. The expressions also brought out the feelings of joy perfectly. However, the next item Mukhyobati was a let down. It was supposed to showcase the loneliness of fisherwomen and how their neighbours came to cheer them up. The pathos didn’t come through. What stood out was the Karna-Kunti Sambad performed by Kalamandalam Murli and Bhama Murli. It tells the story of Karna not willing to give up supporting the Kauravas and Kunti disclosing his identity in order to sway him to the Pandavas side. The humiliation of Karna at being given up by Kunti was well portrayed.
Shibani Chattopadhyay
