Society, psychology and suspense Inspired by the adventures of Byomkesh Bakshi, the sauve and soft-spoken Bengali investigator in Saradindu Bandyopadhyay’s detective novels, Checkmate is a thriller set in the turbulent Calcutta of the 1970s. It is a murder mystery set against the backdrop of the Naxalite movement, the Hippie cult and the gradual decadence of Bengali middle-class society. The play also addresses a number of existential issues under the garb of a whodunit. The main characters of the play, the detective, his wife and his publisher, are clearly influenced by characters created by Bandyopadhyay — Byomkesh, Satyabati and Ajit. Recreating the violent, amorous, complex, yet quintessentially Bengali social milieu which the author portrayed in his novels, the play also evokes nostalgia about a bygone era, albeit with its bitter-sweet references. Characterised by a gripping storyline that has its fair share of dramatic twists and turns, this production by Pandora’s Act is embellished with a period soundscape that has works of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Joan Baez and Simon & Garfunkel, along with an ensemble cast and crew and a blend of realistic and abstract sets. Drama and direction: Srijit Mukherji. Event: Play in English, Checkmate, produced by Pandora’s Act When: May 15, 16 & 17 ; 6.30 pm Where: G.D. Birla Sabhagar

Art

Till May 15 at Academy of Fine Arts, Central Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of bronze sculpture by Jyotirmoy Roy Chowdhury. Till May 15 at Eye on Art Gallery, 3 Pretoria Street, 2nd floor; 12 noon - 8 pm: Forms of Narration, featuring the works of Arnab Mukherjee, Arpita Pradhan, Biswajit Mukherjee, Nandita Mukherjee, Subha Basu, Sudipta Dutta, Sumana Biswas, Sumana Ghosh, Sushmita Rakshit and Utpal Dutta. Till May 15 at Academy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Society of Working Artists presents its 54th exhibition of paintings. Featuring works by Arun Mukherjee, Asesh Kr. Majumder, Subir Sen and Sankar Sinha Roy. Till May 15 at Gallery with Difference, 152 S.P. Mukherjee Road, near Rashbehari crossing: Narrative Movements 2009 — a group exhibition of art, curated by Bibekananda Santra. Till May 16 at Ganges Art Gallery, 33A Jatin Das Road, #24653212; 11 am - 7 pm: Waiting in the Wings — recent works of Mrinal Dey. Till May 16 at Karma Art Gallery, 505 Keyatala Road, #9830005441; 11 am - 7 pm: Art Perfection presents Drishti, a solo exhibition of painting and sculpture by Raj Rishi. Till May 17 at Nehru Children’s Museum: An exhibition of artworks, based on Tagore’s work, by the students of Nehru Children’s Museum. Till May 17 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, 1st floor; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of artworks and photographs by Satyajit Ray, entitled Rayimages. Till May 17 at Museum & Art Gallery, The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Gol Park; 10.30 am - 1 pm & 2.30 pm - 6 pm: Glimpses of Ancient India — paintings by Prabhatmohan Bandyopadhyay (1904-1987). Till May 17 at Metropolitan Art Salon, S.N. Banerjee Road; 3 pm - 8 pm: A group exhibition of paintings by young artists Sachin Chandorkar, Sukanta Maurh, Karim Ali, Sawrat Saw, Sujoy Halder, Sonali Smith, Ashis Dutta and Nilabja Bhattacharya. Till May 17 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: The first group exhibition of ARTery. Featuring paintings by Dr Jayanta Chaudhuri, Tapas Basu, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Siddhartha Karmakar and Subrata Kar. Till May 18 at The Promenade, Taj Bengal lounge; 10 am - 11 pm: An exhibition of artwork by Arunava Mondal. The artists will be painting live between 3 pm and 6 pm on most days. Till May 18 at Chemould Art Gallery, 12F Park Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: Nature and Flowers — a solo exhibition of paintings by Rajarshi Adhikary. Till May 20 at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, 36C S.P. Mukherjee Road; 2 pm - 8 pm: The Seagull Foundation for the Arts presents Somnath Hore: Bronzes, Drawings, Watercolours. Till May 20 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Samaya presents its group exhibition of painting and sculpture. Featuring works by Kanti Choudhury, Tapan Chakraborty, Dipankar Pal, Sanjib Das, Papia Chakraborty, Prahlad Prasad, Muktiram Maiti, Aparna Biswas and Rathin Modak. Till May 22 (except Sunday) at Akar Prakar, P 238 Hindustan Park, #24642617; 2 pm - 7 pm: A retrospective show of sculptures by Sarbari Roy Choudhury. Till May 23 at Experimenter, 2/1 Hindusthan Road, #98300 15854; 11 am - 8 pm (Monday to Saturday): Tell-Tale: Fiction, Falsehood & Fact 2 — contemporary artist’s narrative perspective on stories and storytellers. Featuring works by Amritah Sen, Anupam Chakraborty, Rajesh Deb, Sarnath Banerjee and Sujay Mukherjee. Curated by Dr Paula Sengupta. Till May 24 (except Monday) at Bose Pacia, Stephen Court, 18 Park Street, #40010148; 11 am - 7 pm: The Vase and The Lines — new works by Tarshito. Till May 25 at The Halo Heritage Art Gallery, 26 Ritchie Road, #9830050568; 3 pm - 8 pm: Heritage Happenings — an exhibition of sketches and watercolours by Samir Biswas.

TALK

May 15 at Crossword, Elgin Road; 6 pm: Dr Aloke Thakore of Journalism Mentor (www.journalismmentor.in) to speak on Journalism as a Calling. May 15 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Ramaranjan Mukherji will speak in Sanskrit on Bhavabhutir Uttararamacharit. May 15 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 7 pm: Swami Sarvapremanandaji will speak on Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

DRAMA

May 15 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Rang Roop presents Jalchhabi. Direction: Seema Mukhopadhyay. May 16 at Padatik Buildwell Theatre, 6/7 AJC Bose Road; 7 pm: Little Thespian presents its latest production, Patjhad (Hindustani adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie). Adaptation, design & direction: S.M. Azhar Alam. May 17 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm & 6.30 pm: Gandhar will stage Kachher Manush, with Debshankar Halder and Bijoylakshmi Barman in the lead. Dir: Gautam Haldar, filmmaker. May 17 at Sodpur Lok Sanskriti Bhavan; 6 pm: Sukchar Pancham Repertory Theatre will stage Tagore’s Bisarjan. Direction: Moloy Mitra.

PERFORMING ARTS

May 15 at Madhusudan Mancha; 5 pm: Sur Sadhana presents an evening dedicated to Tagore’s work. The first half features Aamaar Paran Jaha Chaye — dances accompanied by songs. To be followed by Rabindrasangeet by Purabi Mukhopadhyay, Rajeshwar Bhattacharya, Pramita Mallick, Srikanto Acharya, Sreeradha Bandyopadhyay, Shraboni Sen, Anusheela Basu, Debarati Shom, Dr Tania Das and others, and poetry-reading by Bratati Bandyopadhyay, Chitra Lahiri and Keshav Ranjan.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till May 15 at 46 Satish Mukherjee Road, near Kalighat Park; 2 pm - 8 pm: The Seagull Foundation for the Arts and Tasveer present A Long Exposure — photographs by T.S. Satyen. Till May 15 at South City Mall; 12 noon - 8 pm: Memorable Outdoors — an exhibition of photographs taken by Asish Bal, Samir Basu, Sandipan Das, Sanjay Thakur and Subrata Bose. Till May 15 at Gaganendra Pradarshashala; 3 pm - 8 pm: Images for Change — an all-India exhibition of photographs on human struggle and triumph over poverty, challenges of livelihood and climate change. Curated by Drik India. Being held as part of World Fair Trade Week 2009.

BOOK LAUNCH

May 15 at Oxford Bookstore, Park Street; 6.30 pm: Launch of My Friend Sancho, written by Amit Verrma and published by Hachette India. To be followed by an interactive session with Anjum Katyal and the author.

EXHIBITION

May 15 - 17 at Starmark, 3 Lord Sinha Road; 11 am - 8.30 pm: Starmark, in association with India Post, hosts a philatelic exhibition on cricket. Till May 15 at Sasha (27 Mirza Ghalib Street; 22521586) & at Silence (G-43 Dakshinapan; 24237387); 10 am - 7 pm: Exhibition of handicrafts, textiles, natural bodycare and food items as part of World Fair Trade Week 2009. Till May 15 at 23 Raja Santosh Road, Ambika Gardens, Flat 8C, #24792697, 9831746323; 11 am - 7 pm: Namrata Kanoi showcases her range of designer footwear and chic summer bags for the season ahead.

WORKSHOP

May 15 - 17 at Hotel Senator, Camac Street: Moon Star Foundation hosts Vaastu courses by Dr N.H. Sahasrabudhe. For details, call 9836242668 or 9874646290. May 18 - 20 at 94 Ballygunge Place, 24613145, 24604245; 3 pm - 5 pm: Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts conducts a three-day workshop, Healing Touch through Music, by eminent sitarist Reena Shrivastava with the children of Hope Kolkata Foundation and Udayan Care, West Bengal.

QUIZ

May 24 at Jadavpur University, Engineering Science Building, 2nd floor, Physics room, Gate no. 3, behind Central Library; 9.30 am (reporting), 10 am - 11.30 am (quiz): The Karnataka Quiz Association (KQA) will hold Mahaquizzer, an all-India written quiz contest open to individual entrants. The quiz will be held simultaneously at 12 locations in India. Prizes will be awarded in each city to the best school entrant, the best college entrant, the best woman entrant and the person scoring the highest in that city. The title, Mahaquizzer, will go to the person scoring highest in the country. In this contest, participants are required to answer 150 questions in 90 minutes. Contact Rudradeep (9836344694) and mail Mahaquizzer@gmail.com to register.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

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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