Comical satire Full of quips and witty repartees, Nandipat?s play Ballavpurer Roopkatha exposes, through the medium of a genial satire, the pompousness and false grandeur of the erstwhile wealthy, land-owning classes. Bhupati Roy, the insolvent yet proud descendant of such a landowner, is trying in vain to elude his creditors. In a desperate bid to save himself from humiliation, he lets out the news that he is selling off his ancestral mansion to repay his debts. His friend, Sanjib, posing as his estate manager, gets hold of a prospective buyer, Mr Halder. Besides being impressed by the old building, Mr Halder is attracted by its incredibly low price. Moreover, his daughter falls in love with Raghupati, a phantom inhabiting the mansion, to which Mrs Halder strongly objects. Meanwhile, Mr Chaudhury, a rich merchant, also expresses interest in purchasing the property. Poised for an exciting climax and, finally, a surprising revelation, the play provides all the ingredients for an evening of rollicking entertainment. Play: Badal Sarcar. Direction: Prakash Bhattacharya. Event: Play in Bengali, Ballavpurer Roopkatha, by Nandipat When: Today at 6.30 pm Where: Academy of Fine Arts

art

Till January 4 at Asutosh Birth Centenary Hall, Indian Museum; 12 noon - 8 pm: Avantika, New Delhi (a group of contemporary artists ad intellectuals) and Manab Jamin, Kolkata (Welfare Society for Human Resource and Natural Development) present the 4th Regional Art Exhibition 2005. Till January 5 at Gaganendra Shilpa Pradarshasala; 2 pm - 8 pm: Hey Jyotirmoy, an exhibition of drawings and sketches on Tagore and his works. Participating artists: Charbak Sen aloong with Sunil Ghosh, Sujit Halder, Chirosree Ghosh, Sudipta Saha, Sritama Majumdar and Mousumi Sarkar. Exhibition orgranised by Lalit Kala Sangam to mark Charbak Sen?s 75th birth anniversary. January 6 - 11 at Netaji Indoor Stadium, Booth # 21 & 22: Masters Collection will display Indian contemporary art and oil reproductions on canvas at Mega Expo - Interiors 2006. Till January 7 at Victoria Memorial Hall; 10 am - 4 pm: The French Embassy in India, the French Association, Calcutta and the Victoria Memorial present the exhibition, enkibilalinindia. Till January 8 at Proscenium?s Art Centre, 46 AJC Bose Road; 4 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by Adin Bhattacharya, Krishna Seal, Kaushik Gupta, Rajrappay Ray, Sambhunath Bera and Utpal Naskar. Till January 10 at Quality Inn, 166C Rashbehari Avenue: Exhibition of painting by Abhijit Mollick. Till January 20 at Standard Chartered, 21A Shakespeare Sarani; 11 am - 7 pm: Small is Beautiful, an exhibition of paintings on leather and vellum by Anirban Seth. Till January 31 at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road; 10.30 am - 7.30 pm: The Pageant of Life ? an exhibition of Indian art and sculpture by renowned artists. Till January 31 at Arts & Ideas Designshop, UZ 213 Swabhumi; 12 noon - 8.30 pm: Arts & Ideas presents Down to Earth, an exhibition of Bengali pottery. Participants: Arun Mukhoty, Gourab Malakar, Manik Das, Manoj Kumar Das, Mousumi Roy, Payel Sarkar, Partha Dasgupta, Soumen Basu and Tanmoy Das.

DRAMA

Till January 5 at Sarat Sadan-1, Howrah, January 6 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: 8th Dwandik Natyotsav in memory of Achintya Choudhury. Today: Sanjhbela (Direction: Meghnad Bhattacharya) presented by Sayak. January 3 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Ajitesh Natya Academy will stage Sher Afghan. Adapted and directed by Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay. January 3 at Bharatiyam, IB 201 Salt Lake; 6 pm: EZCC presents E Parabse, a Doubarik production directed by Sarbadaman Som. January 4 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Theatre Workshop presents Utpal Dutt?s Lohar Bhim and Michael Madhusudan Dutt?s Buro Shaliker Ghare Rno. Direction: Ashok Mukhopadhyay. January 4 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Hattamela presents Rakshasbadh Pala. Direction: Gurudas Bandyopadhyay. January 5 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Eso Natak Shikhi presents Tatan Aar Sada Payra. Written and directed by Tapas Das. January 7 at Padatik Little Theatre-II, 6/7 AJC Bose Road; 6.30 pm: Padatik and Brainchild Theatre present Thaneer Thaneer, a play in Hind directed by Kunal Padhi. January 7 & 8 at Proscenium?s Art Centre, 46 AJC Bose Road; 6.30 pm: Bikhartey Rishtey, one-act play in Hindi, an adaptation of Ugene O?Neil?s Home Coming. Dir: Ashok Churiwal.

PERFORMING ARTS

Till January 8 at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture, 3 Regent Park: Aspiration 2006, a celebration of dance, music and various aspects of culture. Today at 6.30 pm: Sitar recital by Purbayan Chattopadhyay, with Subhankar Banerjee (tabla). January 3 at Swabhumi; 6 pm: Creative and folk dances presented by Monika Dance Troupe. January 5 - 9 at Rabindra Sadan: 19th annual classical music conference hosted by Paschimbanga Rajya Sangeet Academy along with Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre and Sangeet Natak Akademi. January 6 at Santosh Mitra Square, Sealdah; 6.30 pm: Sobar Aanondey Shastriyo Sangeet, an evening of classical music organised by Maddho Kolkata Sangeet Sammelan. January 10 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Bhavna presents an evening of Tagore songs by Manisha Murali Nair and Manoj Murali Nair.

EXHIBITIon

Till January 7 at 8/2 Loudon Street: Earthy Myths exhibits handcrafted sarees created by using elements of batik, tie dye and embroideries. Till January 15 at 108 Raja Basanta Roy Road; 11 am - 7.30 pm: Design?s annual silk saree exhibition along with costume jewellery in silver and gold.

TALK

Till January 8 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 5 pm - 8.30 pm: Sampurna Ramayan by Swami Advaitananda of Chinmaya Mission. January 3 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6 pm: Vandana Shiva will speak in English on Womnen?s Right in Today?s India. January 3 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math; 7 pm: Swami Atmabodhananda will discuss Sri Sri Mayer Katha.

CONFERENCE

January 7 at Science City Auditorium, 2 pm; January 8 & 9 at Maha Bodhi Society of India Hall, 4A Bankim Chatterjee Street, 10 am: As part of the 2550th Buddha Jayanti Celebrations, Maha Bodhi Society of India hosts an international conference on humanism.

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

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