Allegorical act Being staged as part of Rabindra Utsav, a festival of Tagore’s plays in multilingual interpretations, Raja is a deeply philosophical story that questions conventional notions of beauty, love and fidelity. The Malayalam version of the play is a unique exercise in which words, phrases and metaphors do not signify a specific objective phenomenon as in other forms of literature. Instead, they function as profound symbols with multiple layers of meaning. There is an essential natyadharmi quality about the poetic interludes in the play, which is an integral part of Tagore’s style of storytelling. Moreover, native rhythm and cadence have been used in recreating the songs in Malayalam. Not an exhaustive or exact literary translation of the original text, it builds up its own chronological sequences to probe into its core, formless content. The layers woven by the parable have to be broken into to grasp its inner energy. Direction: K.N. Panikkar. Hosted by the department of information and cultural affairs, government of West Bengal, Airtel Expressions and Happenings. Event: Play in Malayalam, Raja, produced by Sopanam, Trivandrum When: Today at 6.30 pm Where: Rabindra Sadan

art

Till August 4 at Academy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Solo exhibition of paintings by Anindita Saha. Till August 5 at Galerie 88, 28B Shakespeare Sarani; 3 pm - 7 pm: Pioneer Printmakers of Bengal, featuring the works of Somnath Hore, Krishna Reddy, Dipak Banerjee, Sanat Kar and Lalu Prasad Shaw. Till August 5 at Gallery Sanskriti, 5C Alipore Road; 11 am - 8 pm: A Variegated Odyssey, a retrospective of the works of Sailen Mittra. Till August 5 at Akar Prakar, P-238 Hindustan Park; 7 pm: Erostrade, installation performance by The Alternative Art Group. Till August 5 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by a group of women painters. Till August 6 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Paintings and graphics by a group of artists. Till August 6 at Samokal Art Gallery, 23 Gariahat Road, 1st floor; 4 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by eminent artists of Bengal. Till August 6 at Gallerie 52D, 52D Hindustan Park; 12 noon - 7.30 pm: Ode to Masters, paintings, sculptures and graphics by old masters and renowned contemporary artists of Bengal. Till August 6 at Proscenium’s Art Centre, 46 AJC Bose Road; 4 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by a group of talented young painters. Till August 7 at Vikalp Art Shop, Swabhumi; 4 pm - 8 pm: Top Notch, paintings by Paritosh Sen, Shanu Lahiri, Prakash Karmakar, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Shuvaprasanna and others.

drama

August 4 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Cinetel presents Homapakhi. Drama: Dr Amit Ranjan Biswas. Performance & direction: Soumitra Chattopadhyay. August 4 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Sajghar presents two new plays, Mukhmukhosher Galpo and Prastab. August 5 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Arghya presents Bharat Katha. Direction: Manish Mitra. August 5 at Sarala Roy Memorial Hall; 6.30 pm: Total Theatre stages its latest production Byas. Direction: Santanu Bandyopadhyay. August 5 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Abhaash presents its new play Roopkatha. Drama & direction: Sekhar Samaddar. August 5 & August 6 at Proscenium’s Art Centre; 7 pm: Theatrecian theatre workshop participants stage two, short one-act plays, 64 Squares and Is It Real? Is It Fake?. August 6 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm: Swapnasuchana presents Hemlat — The Prince of Garanhata. Drama & direction: Bratya Basu.

performing arts

August 4 at Aikatan, EZCC, Salt Lake; 5.30 pm: Rabichhaya presents Ebong Rabindranath, featuring Pankaj Saha, Sriradha Bandyopadhyay, Sraboni Sen, Bimbavati Devi, Iravati Basu, Amlan Dutta, Biswarup Rudra and others. August 4 at Purbashree, Bharatiyam, IB-201, Salt Lake; 6 pm: Bhojpuri folk songs by M.K. Singh, Debojyoti Mishra and group. August 5 at Padatik Buildwell Theatre; 6.30 pm: Padatik Dance Centre presents Malabika Guha and members of the troupe, Kalamandir (New Jersey) with Africa and Rise, items based on Kathak, Manipuri and Kathakali. August 5 at Uttam Mancha; 6.30 pm: Bhavna presents Tagore songs by Manoj Murali Nair and Manisha Murali Nair. Also, Kathakali (Karna Kunti), Keralanatnam by Kalamandalam Murali and Bhama Murali.

centenary celebration

August 6 at Sankara Hall, 93A Southern Avenue; 5.30 pm: Tamil Manram celebrates the centenary of His Holiness Kripananda Varrier, a great Saiva Siddhanta Tamil scholar. Speakers: Mu Na, Rama Le, Nehru Narayanan and Ludiana Krishnamurthy. Thirupugaz Bhajan by Gouri Natarajan and party.

film show

August 4 at Max Mueller Bhavan auditorium; 6 pm: Goethe Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan, Calcutta and PeaceWorks, an initiative for The Seagull Foundation for the Arts present the screening of Natak Jari Hai, a film by Lalit Vachani.

talk

August 4 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Swami Tyagarupananda will speak on Upanishad in the Eyes of Swami Vivekananda.

seminar

August 4 at Rotary Sadan; 4 pm - 6 pm: Awareness seminar on Professional English Skills.

stamp release

August 4 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 5.30 pm: The Pankaj Mullick Music and Art Foundation presents a function on the occasion of the release of a commemorative postage stamp on Pankaj Kumar Mullick by Dr Shakeel Ahmad, minister of state for communications & IT, government of India. To be followed by a short documentary on the life and times of the legendary music genius.

exhibition

August 4 - August 7 at Taj Bengal; 10 am - 8 pm: Krishnakali showcases its festive and bridal collection of sarees, salwar-kameezes, ghagra-cholis and kurtas.

workshop

August 5 at Jadavpur University, UG Arts, Gate 4; 11.30 am - 2 pm: Movement and Dialogue, a workshop on contemporary dance, to be conducted by Dr Pallabi Chakravorty. To be followed by a Kathak and flamenco guitar recital by Dr Pallabi Chakravorty (USA) and Alberto Cuellar (Spain).

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