Night of the long knives The tragic epic, Meghnadbadh Kabya, is the most famous and outstanding work of Michael Madhusudan Dutt. Dutt ventured into unknown territory as he unfolded the story in chaste Sanskritised Bengali and innovated the amitrakshar chhanda (blank verse) in this ballad. More importantly, he portrayed the characters of Ram, Lakshman, Ravan and Meghnad in an unconventional way. His brilliance and originality remain unparalleled in the annals of Bengali literature and has ensured his place in the history of world literature. The story is told in several layers and he followed the Western grammar of epics, specially Virgil. Contemporary theatre icon Goutam Halder has dared to present the entire epic on stage, performing solo. No easy task this! In fact, the group, Naye Natua, heralded its arrival with the staging of this epic. Though written way back in 1861, its theme is as contemporary and holds true as it did two centuries ago. Ravan and Meghnad are victims of destiny (Bidhi). The powers that be (the Gods, in this case) conspired against the great warrior. The honest, fearless and invincible Meghnad was surreptitiously deceived and assassinated by the politically ambitious usurper, Ram. Times have changed, but hunger for power and political supremacy drive the ambitious to take the narrow and dark path of deception and cunning. Real heroes die tragically, all victims of intrigues and lowly plans of conspirators. Halder has used the classical elements of Natyashastra and amalgamated elements of folk dance movements, martial arts, song, narration, et al superbly in his performance. Music plays a vital role in the play and musicians share the stage with the performer and like the Chorus, help the movement of the play. Event: Play in Bengali, Meghnadbadh Kabya, produced by Naye Natua When: Today at 3 pm Where: Academy of Fine Arts

ART

Till August 14 (except Sundays & public holidays) at CIMA Gallery, Sunny Towers (2nd floor), 43 Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue, #2485 8717 / 2485 8509; Mondays: 3 pm - 7 pm, Tuesdays - Saturdays: 2 pm - 7 pm: Summer Show 2010. Featuring works by Manas Acharya, Akhilesh, Rashmi Bagchi Sarkar, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Sumitro Basak, Shipra Bhattacharya, Bhuribai, Tapas Biswas, Sakti Burman, Jayasri Burman, Shreyasi Chatterjee, Jogen Chowdhury, Sougata Das, Chandan Das, Meera Devidayal, Anju Dodiya, Debraj Goswami, Ramendranath Kastha, Bhupen Khakhar, Goutam Khamaru, Bimal Kundu, Subrata Kundu, Paresh Maity, Chittrovanu Mazumdar, Asim Pal, Niranjan Pradhan, Mona Rai, Satyajit Roy, Suhas Roy, Sarbari Roy Chowdhury, Kingshuk Sarkar, Ajit Seal, Shakila, Lalu Prosad Shaw, Shuvaprasanna, Mayank Kumar Shyam, Paramjit Singh, T. Vaikuntam, Yusuf and others. June 5 - 7 at The Window on the River (Floatel 9/10, Calcutta Jetty, opp. SBI HQ Eastern Region, Strand Road), #22137777-85; 6 pm - 9 pm: To celebrate the World Environment Day, Floatel presents an exhibition of environmental paintings by Shyamasree Basu. Till June 5 at Aakriti Art Gallery, 12/3A Hungerford Street, #2289 3027/5041; 12 noon - 7 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Ritendra Roy. Till June 5 at Experimenter, 2/1 Hindusthan Road; #4001 2289 / 2463 0465; 11 am - 7 pm: Who Are You, Defenders Of The Universe? — a solo show by Pakistani artist Mehreen Murtaza. Featuring digital C prints, video, LED installation, and sound-and-light cube installation. Till June 7 at Gallery 79, 79 Raja Basanta Roy Road, #24662837; 4 pm - 8 pm: Perspectives on Nature — the fifth solo exhibition of paintings by Aditi Chakraborty Sadhu, an accomplished artist from Kathmandu. Till June 9 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Swapan Kumar Mallick. Till June 9 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm - 8 pm: Parallel Strokes — the first joint exhibition of paintings by Pooja Gupta and Raju Ghosh.

DRAMA

Till June 6 at Madhusudan Mancha: A comedy drama festival to mark Mukhomukhi 14. June 5, 6 pm: Presentation of Manu Dutta Smriti Samman to Sanchayan Ghosh, followed by the play, Dadu Chaye Nati Chaye (direction & performance: Swapan Sengupta) by Natyaranga. June 6, 6.30 pm: Lambakarna Pala by Mukhomukhi. Direction: Subhabrata Dey. June 5 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Sayak will stage Jnan Briksher Phal (based on Tolstoy’s Fruits of Culture). Playwright: Chandan Sen. Direction: Meghnad Bhattacharya. June 5 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Blank Verse will stage its latest production, Furrut, with Debsankar Haldar in the lead. Written and directed by Raja Bhattacharya. June 5 at Minerva Theatre; 6.30 pm: Nandipat will stage Ramani Mohan, with Chapal Bhaduri in the lead. Drama: Shekhar Samaddar. Direction: Prakash Bhattacharya. June 5 & 6 at Mukta Angan Rangalaya; 6.30 pm & 7.30 pm: Oihik presents a short length drama festival. Today, 6.30 pm: Karigarnama produced by Suchana, Nadia; at 7.30 pm: Jhumur produced by Aa-Ba-Sa. Tomorrow, 6.30 pm: Ichchemoton produced by Saptarshi, Purulia; at 7.30 pm: Chhagol, produced by Oihik. June 6 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: The 101st show of Ajnatobaas, a Nandikar production, directed by Sumanta Gangopadhyay. June 6 at Sujata Sadan; 6.30 pm: Greenpark Abhijan presents two short-length plays: Sadgati (dir: Ranadeb Basu), produced by Greenpark Abhijan; and Chor O Daroga (dir: Sujit Gupta), produced by Theatre for You.

rabindra jayanti

Till June 6 at Rabindra Sadan: Rabindra Sadan and the I&CA department, Government of West Bengal celebrate Tagore’s birth anniversary. Today at 5.30 pm: Solo recitals and reading/ recitation. Participants: Rabigeetika (chorus), Jhuma Khan, Rama Pal, Suchismita Bhattacharya, Shabari Mukherjee, Mridula Chattopadhyay, Swadesh Chatterjee, Surajit Dhar, Amit Acharya, Sandeep Chattopadhyay, Chaitali Halder and Nabonita Dey. Also, Janmodin (dir: Swastika Mukhopadhyay) by Madhuri; and Shapmochan (dir: Dr Abhijit Roy) by Chandril Academy of Dance and Music. B>Tomorrow at 5.30 pm: Vivekanander Priyo Rabindrasangeet (dir: Prasad Sen) by Sohini; Panthojaner Sakha (designed by Bani Basu) by Senjuti; Biraho Milan (dir: Saswati Basu Mallick) by Nirjharini; and dance-drama Kalmrigaya (dir: Mrittika & Arkodeb Bhattacharya) by Niharika Centre for Performing Arts.

PERFORMING ARTS

June 5 at Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, 8 Shakespeare Sarani; 5.30 pm: Rabindra-Jayanti, organised by Sonar Tari Kalakendra, features solo recitals of Tagore songs, recitation and group songs and recitation. June 5 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6 pm: Bhavna presents a solo recital of Tagore songs by Raja (Sandip Sen) of Santiniketan. Also, release of an audio CD of Tagore songs, Aguner Parashmoni, rendered by Raja. June 5 at Gyan Manch; 6 pm: Kolkata Cultural Centre presents an evening of Kathak dance by disciples of Sushmita Banerjee. June 5 at Rabindra Okakura Bhavan, near Salt Lake City Centre; 6 pm: Utsa presents Gabhir Manoney Antarey Antarey, a programme of music, dance, potery and drama. June 6 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6 pm: Bhavna presents Pathik Paran — a solo recital of Tagore songs by Shraboni Sen.

TALK

June 5 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 6 pm: Swami Tyagarupananda will speak on Swamiji’s Bhakti Yoga. June 5 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Prof. Pradyot Kumar Mukhopadhyay will speak in Bengali on Dharma, Darshan O Vijnan. June 5 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra; 7 pm: Parimal Kanti Das will speak on Sri Ramakrishna O Panihati Mahotsav. June 5 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math; 7 pm: Swami Paramatmananda will speak on Mystery of Death. June 5 at Ramakrishna Math, Baranagar; 7.05 pm: Swami Vamanananda will speak on Practice of Spirituality and Meditation.

SEMINAR

June 5 at K.P. Basu Auditorium, Jadavpur University; 10.30 am: The Science Association of Bengal hosts World Environment Day programme and a two-day state level workshop on Clean and Green Your Locality.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till June 5 at Gorky Sadan; 4 pm - 7 pm: PhotoPeer, in association with Russian Center for Science & Culture in Calcutta, presents a photographic exposition. Till June 9 at Academy of Fine Arts, Central Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: A photographic journey by Madhuchhanda Sen. Till June 13 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: Photography Utsav 2010, Phase III. Organised by Atanu Paul and members of Third Eye.

WORKSHOP

June 6 at 98A Charu Chandra Place East: Mind Your Language hosts workshops on Public Speaking (10.30 am - 5.30 pm) and on CV and Cover Leter Writing (11 am - 5 pm). For details, e-mail mylmindyourlanguage@gmail.com or call 9874679794.

AUDITION

June 5 at Nicco Park grounds; 9 am onwards: Auditions for India’s stunt bike reality show, Pulsar MTV Stunt Mania Reloaded. Also, one can learn to maintain the mean machines in ‘Bike workshops’ hosted by MTV VJ Rannvijay. Tattoo artists, face painters, food stalls, biking gear stalls and a live DJ to keep up the tempo.

AWARDS CEREMONY

June 5 at Kala Mandir; 5.30 pm: 17th Annual Bharat Nirman Awards ceremony to honour achievers and institutions in the fields of creativity and human utility.

QUIZ

June 5 at International School of Business & Media (ISB&M), EN-22, Sector-V, Salt Lake City (near WEBEL Gate): The World Quizzing Championship (WQC) Quiz, an individual written quiz. Registration starts at 3 pm. For details, contact Sudeep at 98314 33050 or Suprio at 92305 62601All 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