(From top) Chris Powell, Rajashree and Shakti Raychaudhuri

Long before multicultural ism became fashionable, Baron Bastien Felix de Conches had commissioned Imam Baksh Lahori, a miniature painter from Punjab, to illustrate the fables of Jean de la Fontaine. The baron was minister plenipotentiary in the French ministry of foreign affairs and a collector of curiosities with a passion for the French fabulist’s stories.

Although Lahori had never set foot in France, his early 19th Century paintings preserved in France still have not lost their relevance like the tales they were inspired by. The vine motif in the story of the fox and the grapes has been appropriated by contemporary illustrators of children’s stories. Thanks to the Alliance Francais in India and the French embassy in India, beautiful facsimile reproductions of these paintings along with the stories they illustrate can be seen at the Palladian Lounge in the Bengal Chamber of Commerce up to February 28.

Flick lit

Rajashree, who would not use a surname, was in the city recently to promote her novel Trust Me. It is the story of Parvati, an assistant director in the Hindi film industry, who realises like many women before her that all men are b*******. But like many women before her, she starts liking Rahul too much…

Sounds familiar? Rajashree doesn’t wince if her novel is called “chick lit”, but is happier with the Bollywood tag, for her story uses filmi devices copiously . Not surprising, as Rajashree has worked as an assistant director in Bollywood herself, has directed The Rebel, which won a National Award and had stood in a queue for five hours as a child to buy a ticket for Sholay. She is no Helen Fielding, and her English is too heavy with Hindi inflexions, but she writes warmly and funnily. Not a bad read (or girlie gift) for Rs 95.

Ad it up

After a huge career in advertising for over four decades, Chris Powell is now the chairman of BMP DDB Advertising Agency, UK’s second largest ad agency. Powell advised the Labour Party on advertising at four elections, including the 1997 landslide. He also chairs NESTA (National Endowment for the Science, Arts & Technology). Powell was in town to give a lecture at British Council on Winning Brands Winning Strategies. Should Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee have attended?

All in one

Shakti Raychaudhuri lives up to her name. Raychaudhuri, who presented four plays at the Birla Academy on February 14, could well have performed them impromptu. Masi and Bipannata were in Bengali, and Krishnajatra and Aj ki Sakuntala in Hindi, which is clearly not the actor’s forte. Raychaudhuri was most at home in Masi, impersonating an MLA, a para mafioso, a political goon and his “boys”, in a monologue that covered communal harmony, modern existential angst and tribal exploitation. With a little more attention to the script and production, particularly the music, the act would be as robust as Raychaudhuri. But it’s always a pleasure seeing spontaneity in action in the age of processed performances.