The newly founded Travel Writers Forum recently organised their photographic exhibition at Gaganendra Pradarshala. Along with the photographs there were numbers of travel-oriented books both in English and Bengali. There were also interactive sessions between the members and eminent photographers like S.R. Mondal. This was something novel for an exhibition. Among the 57 exhibits, only two were in black and white and the rest was in colour. Most of them were of the pleasant pretty picture post card variety. Many photographers attempted to unveil the beauty of unknown places. Saktipada Chakravorty juxtaposed both land and life very brilliantly in his creation Dum Duma. Two boards showing the Andaman Island ? its beauty before the tsunami and after ? were a historic documentation by Tilak Ranjan Bera.
Sunil K. Dutt
Nrittakshetra’s Convocation 2006 (April 16) disappointed the huge turnout at Aban Mahal (CLT). The sound system was bad and affected the audio-visual presentation on Uday Shankar. Of course, the relevance of the fusion dance style proponent, to a Bharatanatyam school is questionable. The saving grace was children below six years bravely putting their best foot forward. But a lack of co-ordination played spoilsport. The students could have definitely done with more practice. The individual performances were a shade better. Even Krishnacharitam (a dance theatre production on the feats of Krishna) couldn’t save the event.
Shibani Chattopadhyay
The leading ladies of Indian cinema “come, perform and are forgotten” by the masses. “My paintings are an attempt to immortalise them and give them the due recognition,” Wasim Kapoor said on his latest exhibition, Shades of time, (Taj Bengal, April 23). The paintings, however, were just plain portraits that simply failed to capture the alluring charm of the subjects. Madhabi looked very morose and the painting didn’t do justice to her acclaimed beauty. Madhubala was better represented and Kapoor has captured her delicate looks very well. The best of the lot was Rakhee with a red and white sari covering her head. The sari’s colours were cleverly juxtaposed with different shades of grey and white in the background. Kapoor should stick to the surreal images that he is known for rather than paying obeisance to movie stars.
Monojit DasGupta
