Photographic tribute His passion for photography born during his early days in college, Asit Poddar began his professional life as a designer for HMV covers. A sensitive photographer and painter, he, like many of his generation, was inspired by the films and writings of Satyajit Ray. Working with renowned cinematographer Saumendu Ray gave him his first opportunity to observe Ray from close quarters. Studying Ray at work was an experience that left an enduring impression in his mind. Besides attempting to reveal the man behind the filmmaker, Portraits of a Director, the ongoing exhibition of his photographs on Ray, is his way of paying tribute to a person who, he confesses, has taught him more about his work than anyone else. Capturing Ray’s passion, enthusiasm, discipline and attention to detail in his work, the photographs on show bring alive special moments from the director’s life that Poddar feels he was fortunate enough to share with him. They also provide a glimpse of his profound curiosity, acute intellect, wide knowledge, natural charm, warmth and geniality as well as other aspects of his personality that he laid bare only among close friends. Event: An exhibition of photographs on Satyajit Ray by Asit Poddar When: Till May 30 (except Sundays); 11 am - 8 pm Where: Gallery Kanishka’s, 2/1 Hindusthan Road

art

Till May 3 at Kanvas Art Gallery, 53 Syed Amir Ali Avenue, #3052 3243; 3 pm - 7 pm: Staring Inscriptions, featuring art works by Jayanta Naskar, Lina Ghosh, Maneswar Brahma, Paula Sengupta, Pinaki Barua, Rajen Mondal, Romendra Nath Kasthya, Sabita Pegu, Samita Nag, Siddhartha Ghosh, Som Sankar Roy and Srikant Paul. Till May 3 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of recent paintings by Subrata Chowdhury. Till May 3 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place, #24604246; 11 am - 7 pm: Visual Rhapsody, an exhibition of paintings by contemporary Bengal artists. Showcasing the works of Paritosh Sen, Suhas Roy, Jogen Chowdhury, Parthapratim Deb, Ashok Bhowmik, Tapas Konar, Samir Aich, Manoj Dutta, Prabhat Basu, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Atanu Bhattacharya, Chhatrapati Dutta, Abheshbivore Mitra, Atin Basak, Prabal Roy, Prasun Ghosh, Suman Roy, Partha Dasgupta, Debasish Manna, Tanup Nath, Sk. Sahajahan, Debashish Barui, Rejesh Deb, Sandip Roy and others. Till May 5 (except Sunday) at Mon Art Gallery, 6 Hungerford Street, Regency, 3rd floor, #22895438; 11.30 am - 7 pm: Shizen, an exhibition of recent paintings by Prabir Sen, Krishnendu Chaki and Nilanjan Banerjee. Till May 7 (except Sunday) at Emami Tower, ECA, EM Bypass, 687 Anandapur; 11 am - 7 pm: Emami Chisel art presents the art expo, Art Now - A Glimpse, an exposition of 10 contemporary artists’ works. Till May 10 at Tejas Art Gallery, 11 Mayfair Road, #98300 49825; 1 pm - 7.30 pm: Journey Continues — an exhibition of paintings by Gobardhan Ash, Nirban Ash, Deborshi Ash, Jyotirmoy Ash and Chinmoy Ash. Till May 10 (except Sunday) at Gallery Sanskriti, 5C Alipore Park Road; 11 am - 7 pm: The Street, an exhibition of paintings by Yusuf Arrakel. Till May 15 at Genesis Art Gallery, 8B Middleton Street, #2229 3886; 2 pm - 7.30 pm: Endless Resonances — an exhibition of recent paintings by well-known artists. Till May 25 at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, 36C S.P. Mukherjee Road, #2455 6942/43; 2 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of the works by Somnath Hore.

DRAMA

May 3 & 4 at Academy of Fine Arts: Bohurupee celebrates its diamond jubilee with the staging of Mister Kakatua (Direction: Kumar Roy) on May 3 at 3 pm and Chhanch Bhanga Murti (Direction: Tarapada Mukhopadhyay) on May 3 at 6.30 pm; the premiere show of Birjashulka (Direction: Tulika Das) on May 4 at 3 pm; felicitation to Suchitra Mitra, Khaled Choudhury, Arghya Sen and Biren Das on May 4 at 6 pm to be followed by Tagore songs (from plays produced by Bohurupee) by Arghya Sen, songs from various Bohurupee productions to be sung by Debajit and Riddhi Bandyopadhyay, and songs from Piriti Param Nidhi by Rajat Gangopadhyay and Madhumita Sen Choudhury. May 3 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Nandipat presents Kah.... Drama: Ujjwal Chatterjee. Direction: Bimal Chakraborty. May 4 at Sujata Sadan; 6.30 pm: Kasba Uttaran will stage Bhalo Thaka. Dir: Sujit Ghosh. May 4 at Girish Mancha; 6.45 pm: Rang Roop will stage Byaram Biram. Direction: Seema Mukhopadhyay. May 4 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Aurangzeb, Rangapat’s latest production, starring Deb Shankar Halder, Bijoylakshmi Barman, Rita Dutta Chakraborty and Harimadhab Mukhopadhyay, who also directs. May 4 at Mukta Angan Rangalaya; 6.30 pm: Shouvanik presents Fakka, directed by Chandan Das. Drama: Ashok Basu.

PERFORMING ARTS

May 3 & 4 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6.30 pm: Naba Pratisruti presents Ora Tin Jan, featuring Pubali Debnath (Rabindrasangeet), Sutapa Bandyopadhyay (recitation), Locket Chatterjee (dance accompanied by Tagore songs) and Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya (reading) on May 3; and Mohan Singh (Rabindrasangeet), Jiten Singh (dance accompanied by Tagore songs), Soumitra Chattopadhyay (recitation) and Sabitri Chattopadhyay (reading) on May 4. May 3 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place, #24604246; 6.30 pm: Amar Roechhe Bishwalok: “The wider world too is mine…”, celebrating the emancipation of women through the creations of Tagore. Readings by Chaitali Dasgupta and Saswati Guha Thakurta, and songs by Rohini Raychaudhuri. Concept, Script & Direction : Chaitali Dasgupta. May 4 at Rabindra Sadan; 5 pm: On the occasion of its foundation day, Bhavna Records & Cassettes presents Kavi Pranam, an evening of Tagore songs by Anurupa Mitra, Anuradha Biswas, Anindya Narayan Biswas, Rituparna, Chandrabali Rudra Dutta, Chandana Chowdhury, Dipak Rudra, Damayanti Bhattacharya, Pramita Mallick, Pubali Debnath, Pabitra Sarkar, Bikram Singh, Mrinmay Roy, Manisha Murali Nair, Manoj Murali Nair, Rakhi Sen, Shampa undu, Sreeradha Bandyopadhyay, Sharmistha Sinha, Swastika Mukhopadhyay, Sudeshna Basu and Subrata Sengupta. Also, chorus by artistes of Ananda Dhwani, Baikali, Manjish, Madhuri and Surangama. Compere: Debashis Basu. May 4 at South City Mall atrium; 6 pm - 8 pm: Sonodyne presents Sound Comes to Life, a two-part musical performance a musical performance showcasing young pianists of Calcutta to be followed by world fusion music.

IN MEMORIAM

May 4 at 11/3 Balaram Ghosh Street, Shyambazar, new Shaympukur police station; 10 am: A memorial meet and programme on well-known vocalist Shipra Bose, who passed away on April 22 at 8 pm.

TALK

May 3 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 6 pm: Swami Tyagarupananda will speak on Gitar Vani. May 3 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6 pm: Bandita Bhattacharya will speak in Bengali on Sri Sri Mayer Padaprante Nivedita. May 3 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Paramatmananda will speak in Bengali on Siksha, Samaj O Dharma. May 3 at Ramakrishna Math, Baranagar; 7.15 pm: Swami Vamanananda will speak on Spiritual Retreat and Guided Meditation.

BOOK LAUNCH

May 3 at Oxford Bookstore, 17 Park Street; 6.30 pm: Oxford Bookstore and Random House host the launch of Music Room (a memoir set in the world of classical music) by Namita Devidayal. Reading and music to be followed by an interaction with the author and Anjum Katyal.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till May 3 at CIMA Gallery, Sunny Towers, 2nd floor; 2 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of photographs, Calcutta: Chitpur Road and Neighbourhoods. Results of the Kolkata Heritage Photo Project executed in November 2006 by Peter Bialobrzeski and 21 of his photography students from University of Arts Bremen. Hosted by Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan and Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA). Till May 30 (except Sundays) at Gallery Kanishka’s, 2/1 Hindusthan Road; 11 am - 8 pm: Portraits of a Director — an exhibition of photographs on Satyajit Ray by Asit Poddar.

AWARDS CEREMONY

May 3 at Kala Mandir; 5.15 pm: The 15th Bharat Nirmal Awards ceremony with a musical programme. The awards will be given to talented ladies and institutions in the field of creativity and human utility.

reading

May 4 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 11 am: Professor P. Lal reads Sanjaya's report of Karna attacking the Panchalas, and Arjuna and Bhima launching a joint counter-offensive, in the 423rd weekly session of his sloka-by-sloka English transcreation of Vyasa's Mahabharata.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

---

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