A golden journey Half a century is a long period and to survive for so long, dedicated to the theatre of conscience, is no mean feat, and Sundaram has achieved this with flying colours. So now it’s time for celebration. A year-long festival beginning today, has been slated to commemorate the occasion. The first phase of this programme begins today with Reliance Suvarno Sundaram, a five-day festival of plays from the Sundaram repertoire, written and directed by its founder member, dramatist, actor Manoj Mitra. Curtain to this prestigious cultural event will be raised this afternoon at Academy of Fine Arts at 3 pm with a play-reading of Ja Nei Bharote. Manoj Mitra’s take on the great epic, Mahabharta, is from a very different perspective and hence, very contemporary and refreshing. Distinguished actors from various theatre groups of Calcutta will present a shruti-natak (play-reading) of this play. Participants include: Ashok Mukhopadhyay, Meghnad Bhattacharjee, Soumitra Mitra, Koushik Sen, Shyamal Chakraborty, Prabir Dutta, Anish Ghosh, Suranjana Dasgupta, Dolon Roy, Mayuri Ghosh, Sushmita Hati and Manoj Mitra. The presentation will be conducted by Bibhas Chakraborty. In the evening at 6.30 pm, the historical play, Galpo Hekimsaheb (a still from the play appears here), will be staged. This classic Sundaram production is often considered a milestone in Bengali theatre. Directed by Mitra, this play has been revived after a long hiatus and the audience will be treated to a rare fare today. Event: Five-day theatre festival by Sundaram When: Till August 19; 6.30 pm (Today at 3 pm & 6.30 pm) Where: Academy of Fine Arts (August 15 - 17) & Madhusudan Mancha (August 19)

art

Till August 15 at New Sabhaghar, Swabhumi; 2 pm - 8 pm: Vikalp Art Shop presents The Red Palette, an exhibition of recent paintings by Samir Sarkar. Till August 18 at Gallery ’79, 79 Raja Basanta Roy Road; 4 pm - 8 pm: The 11th solo exhibition of Anirban Ghosh’s work. Till August 20 at Angan Art Gallery, 11 Fern Place; 4 pm - 8 pm: Tribute to Ganapati, an exhibition of works by Manoj Mitra, Ekta Singha, Bagesree Dutta, Dipti Chakraborti, Nirmalendu Mondal, Subrata Choudhury, Jayanta Ghosh, Anup Ray and others. Till August 20 at Chitrakoot Art Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Dream (Imaginary World I & II), an exhibition of paintings by Archita Sen. Till August 20 at Academy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by Biswajit Mandal. Till August 21 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Panchu Gopal Dutta, Bijoy Chakraborti, Durgadas, Biswaroop Dutta, Sumitra Dutta Choudhury, Bagesree Dutta, Millie Basu Roy, Sajal Mukherjee, Arup Ranjan Chatterjee and Monimala Sen Gupta. Till August 22 at Aakriti Art Gallery, 1st floor, Orbit Enclave, 12/3A Hungerford Street; 3 pm - 7 pm: Freedom: What it means to me, an exhibition of the works of well-known artists. Curator: Pranab Ranjan Ray. Till August 22 at Tejas Art Gallery, 11 Mayfair Road, ground floor, East End Gardens Building; 3 pm - 8 pm (weekdays): Recent artworks by Dhiren Sasmal and Ashok Ganguly. Till August 25 at Genesis Art Gallery, 8B Middleton Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: Born Free, paintings by Ajay De, Asit Kumar Patnaik, Bratin Khan, Bhaghat Singh, Nitya Kundu, Partha Bhattacharjee, Pradip Maitra, Sanatan Dinda, S. Harshvardhan, Subrata Gangopadhyay, S.K. Shahjahan, Saptarishi Naskar, Wasim Kapoor and others. Till August 25 (Sundays by appointment only) at Gallery Kolkata, 2nd floor, Duckback House, 41 Shakespeare Sarani; 2 pm - 7 pm: Signature Images — an exhibition of works by Paritosh Sen, Akbar Padamsee, Suhas Roy, T. Vaikuntam, Sunil Das, Jogen Chowdhury, Jatin Das, Prakash Karmakar and Shuvaprasanna. Till August 25 at Samokal Art Gallery, Gol Park; 4 pm - 8 pm: Chitrakala Arts, a group show by contemporary south-west, west and central India art schools. Till August 30 (except Sundays) at Mon Art Gallerie, 6 Hungerford Street, Regency Building, 3rd floor; 11 am - 7 pm: Embracing Modernity, a solo exhibition of paintings by Ramesh Gorjala of Andhra Pradesh.

drama

August 15 - 17 at Academy of Fine Arts; August 19 at Madhusudan Mancha: A festival of plays by Sundaram to mark its golden jubilee. August 15: Ja Nei Bharate (Reading along with acting by distinguished artistes; Presenter: Bibhas Chakraborty) at 3 pm & Galpo Hekim Saheb at 6.30 pm. August 16: Munni O Saat Chowkidar at 6.30 pm. August 17: Ranger Haat at 6.30 pm. August 19: Sajano Bagan at 6.30 pm. Drama, direction & acting: Manoj Mitra. August 15 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Niva Arts presents Banglar Mancha Gaan by Devajit Bandyopadhyay, followed by the play, Tagore’s Bidushak, directed and performed by Koushik Sen. August 15 at Mukta Angan Rangalaya; 6.30 pm: Shouvanik presents Abalilakrome. Drama & direction: Bimal Bandopadhayay. August 17 at Max Mueller Bhavan Auditorium; 6.30 pm: Max Mueller Bhavan Calcutta and Tritiyo Sutra present Agunmukho, based on original German play Feuergesicht by Marius von Mayenburg. Bengali adaptation: Bratya Basu. Direction: Suman Mukhopadhyay. August 17 at Bijon Theatre; 6.30 pm: Shyambazar Blind Opera presents its latest play, Banijya Bistar. Direction: Ashok Pramanik.

PERFORMING ARTS

August 16 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6 pm: A sarod recital by Kalyan Mukherjee with Asish Pal on the tabla. August 17 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Manipuri Nartanalaya presents Jagoi Pareng, a series of classical Manipuri dance compositions of Guru Bipin Singh, and Tagore’s dance-drama Kalmrigaya, choreographed and directed by Bimbavati Devi.

talk

August 15 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 6 pm: Swami Narendrananda will speak on Sri Sri Ramakrishna Lila Prasanga. August 15 at Ramakrishna Math, Baranagar; 7 pm: Swami Vamananandaji Maharaj will speak on Spiritual Retreat and Guided Meditation. August 15 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Buddhatmananda will speak in Bengali on Bani O Bichar.

PHOTOGRAPHS

August 14 - 20 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm - 8 pm: Commune-I, a group of young photographers, under the banner of Third Eye, presents its first exhibition of photographs.

AUROBINDO JAYANTI

August 15 at Mahajati Sadan; 9.30 am: Ari Aurobindo Pathamandir observes the 135th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo. Govinda Gopal Mukhopadhyay will preside. August 15 at Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, 8 Shakespeare Sarani: Homage at the shrine of Sri Aurobindo by Hon’ble Justice Chittotosh Mukhopadhyay, Hon’ble Justice Shyamal Sen and state minister Kshiti Goswami. Jayanti function at 6 pm. Speaker: Anshu Banerjee. Reading and recitation by Arup Basu and Debasish Mitra. Song by Rahul Mitra.

GOLDEN JUBILEE

August 16 at Rabindra Sadan; 6 pm: Surangama, a Rabindrasangeet institute founded by Acharya Shailajaranjan Majumdar, celebrates its golden jubilee with the staging of Tagore’s dance-drama Chandalika. On this occasion, Rabir Chhayay, an audio CD of 20 Tagore songs, rendered by Majumdar, will be released by Gopa Roy on behalf of Bhavna Records and Cassettes.

ALBUM RELEASE

August 16 at Max Mueller Bhavan; 6.30 pm: Usha Uthup will release Pran Bhore Gai, a CD of Bengali folk songs rendered by Rathin Kisku. To be followed by a live concert by the artiste.

exhibition

August 16 at Gorky Sadan; 4 pm - 7 pm: Embroidery of needle and thread by Runu Panjal. Till August 16 at 10/4D Elgin Road, Roy Mansion, Flat 6; 11 am - 8 pm: Bahar presents an exhibition of handloom saris. Till August 18 at Finesse, 11/1B New Road, Alipore: Spinning dreams and weaving spells of sarees and suit pieces from Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Bengal by Sujata Sarawgi. Till August 18 at Sen Bati, 3 Mandeville Gardens: Garvi-Gurjari hosts Adivasi Mela, with tribal artisans and craftsperson join with their live demonstration of their products. Till August 20 at Soumya’s Creation, 57/9 Ballygunge Circular Road; 10.30 am - 7 pm: Rainsong Roulette, an exhibition of handcrafted and woven wearables and accessories as well as home linens in innovative packages. Till August 21 at 108 Raja Basanta Roy Road; 10.30 am - 7.30 pm: Paramita Viswanathan’s Puja collection of silks and tassars from West Bengal and traditional sarees from the South.

SEMINAR

August 16 at St Xavier’s College Auditorium; 3 pm - 5 pm: Aptech Computer Education and CompTIA host a seminar on Emerging Opportunities in Hardware and Networking.All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to: Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001; Fax: 2234-8244

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All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001;
Fax: 2234-8244