An intricate matrix of relationships As part of Nandikar’s ongoing 27th National Theatre Festival, Himachal Cultural Research Forum & Theatre Repertory (HCRFTR) will stage Vijay Tendulkar’s acclaimed play, Sakharam Binder this evening. This is perhaps Tendulkar’s most intensely naturalistic play. Its protagonist, Sakharam, is a book-binder by profession who scorns and abhors the institution of marriage. Instead, he indulges in contractual cohabitation, based on convenience, with destitute women who have either been abandoned by their husbands or have walked out on them. He turns religious and domesticated when he is with Lakshmi. Yet, in his association with Champa he transforms into a sensuous, lewd drunkard, who is totally obsessed with sexual enjoyment.Through the delineation of this character, Tendulkar explores the manifestation of physical lust and violence in a human being. He portrays the basic and essential complexity of human nature, which is neither black nor white, but varying shades of grey. The play weaves an intricate matrix of inter-relationships among its characters. When it was first performed in 1974, the play was banned by the Government of Maharashtra. The Bombay High Court, however, in a vindication of the right of free expression, struck down the ban. Since then, it has been translated from the original Marathi into several other Indian languages, as well as into English, and has been performed thousands of times by hundreds of theatre groups all over the world. Directed by Suresh Sharma. Event: Sakharam Binder — play in Hindi by HCRFTR When: Today at 6.30 pm Where: Academy of Fine Arts

ART

Till January 8 (except Sundays & public holidays) at CIMA Gallery, Sunny Towers (2nd floor), 43 Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue, 2485 8717/8509; 3 pm - 7 pm (Mondays) & 2 pm - 7 pm (Tuesdays - Saturdays): Ganesh Pyne: His Mahabharata. Till January 8 (except Sunday & public holidays) at Studio 21, 17L Dover Terrace, 2486 6735; Monday: 3 pm - 7 pm, Tuesday - Saturday: 11 am - 7 pm: Tarang: New Wave from Santiniketan. Exhibition of recent works by members of SPAN (Santiniketan Practicing Artists Network). Participating artists: Apu Dasgupta, Atanu Mukherjee, Bimalananda Roy, Deepak Rajbhar, Mahmud Hussain, Md. Sabir Ali, Mrinmoy Debbarma, Naba Kumar Maji, Pradip Kumar Patra, Pushpal Sarkar, Rajendra Kumar Pradhan, Rishav Gandhar Narzary, Sajad Hamdani, Sajal Kaity, Sanatan Saha and Shekhar Baran Karmakar. December 22 - 26 (except December 25) at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: Artery, a contemporary creative group, presents an exhibition of works by Alay K. Ghoshal, Avisankar Mitra, Chandrasekhar Das, Jayanta Chowdhury, Goutam Sarma, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Siddhartha Karmakar, Subrata Kar and Tapas Basu. December 22 at Rabindra Bharati University (E.B. campus), 56A B.T. Road: The annual art fair of the faculty of visual arts. Till December 23 at Chemould, 12F Park Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of paintings and sculptures by The Dream. Till December 26 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, 4th floor; 4 pm - 8 pm: Inspired Designs: Paintings to Textiles, an exhibition of textile designs from the adaptation of paintings of Abdus Shakur Shah, eminent painter of Bangladesh. Presented by Myth Shop, Dhaka in collaboration with Art Trust, Calcutta. Till December 31 at Oxford Bookstore, Park Street; 11 am - 9 pm: Colour, Life and Beyond, an exhibition of paintings by Rupa Mitra. Till December 31 (Sunday by appointment) at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road, 9831005003, 65508418; 10.30 am - 6.30 pm: Rhetorical Dreams — an exhibition of the works by Prokash Karmakar, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Suhas Roy, Bratin Khan, Sibsaday Chaudhuri, Gourango Beshai, Subrata Das, Shyamal Mukherjee, Sukanta Das, Samir Paul, Atin Basak. Till December 31 (except Sunday & December 25) at Emami Chisel Art Pvt. Ltd, Ground & First floor galleries; 11 am - 7 pm: Unravelling Sweden, an exhibition of artworks by artists from Sweden. Till December 31 (except Sunday) at Ganges Art Gallery, 33A Jatin Das Road, 24653212; 11 am - 7 pm: An exhibition of Iranian contemporary art. Till December 31 at ECA Art Walk, South City Mall; 12 noon - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Sadek Ali. Till January 5 (except Sundays) at Gallery Nakshatra, 2/1 Outram Street; 11.30 am - 7.30 pm: Inner Quest — a group show by eminent artists of Bengal. Till January 8 (except Sundays) at Experimenter, 2/1 Hindusthan Road, 4001 2289 / 2463 0465; 12 noon - 7 pm: Experimenter presents the first ever showing of 2010 Turner Prize nominee, The Otolith Group. Till January 11 (except Sundays) at Gallery Image Kraft, 56/E, Block D, New Alipore, 32567425; 11 am - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings by renowned contemporary Bengal painters.

DRAMA

Till December 25 at Academy of Fine Arts: Nandikar’s 27th National Theatre Festival. Today at 6.30 pm: Sakharam Binder (Hindi; dir: Suresh Sharma) by HCRFTR, Himachal Pradesh. December 22 at Minerva Theatre; 6 pm: Minerva Theatre Repertory presents Raja Lear, with Soumitra Chatterjee in the lead. Direction: Suman Mukhopadhyay. December 22 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Purba Paschim will stage Tagore’s Raktakarabi, directed by filmmaker Gautam Haldar. December 22 at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture, 3 Regent Park; 6.30 pm: Staging of drama Bisarjan (dir: Soumitra Basu) by the students of The Future Foundation School as part of Aspiration 2010. December 23 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Shohan presents its latest production, Manbhanjan. Direction: Anish Ghosh.

PERFORMING ARTS

December 22 at Max Mueller Bhavan; 6 pm: An evening of Christmas Carols, conceived and produced by Matthias Emmerling, music teacher from Germany, as part of the ongoing series celebrating German Festivals. To be presented by the German language students of of Max Mueller Bhavan and its partner schools. December 22 at Rabindra Sadan; 6.15 pm: Sruti Sarathi presents Agnibha Bandyopadhyay in an evening of Rabindrasangeet and other Bengali songs. December 22 at Gyan Manch; 6.30 pm: Rhythmosaic Dance Company presents Dipan Maitra, Raja Dutta and Samrat Dutta (Bharata Natyam), Deboshree Ojha (Kathak), and Dipam Chatterjee and Sucharita Sharma (choreography) December 22 at Satyajit Ray Auditorium, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 6.30 pm: Piano Rhapsodies: East meets West. A piano solo by Rajlakshmi Ghosh. Narration: Debashish Sarkar. December 23 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6.30 pm: Uma Memorial Kalalayam hosts the Bharata Natyam arangetram of Kumari Sangeetha Venkitt under the guidance of Natyakaladhara Guru Pasumarthi Ramalinga Sastry.

TALK / SEMINAR

December 22 at Oberoi Grand; 10 am: Indian Chamber of Commerce is organising a seminar on travel & tourism, Travel India, in presence of state governor M.K. Narayanan and Calcutta Port Trust chairman M.L. Meena. December 22 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 5.30 pm: Swami Divyananda will speak on Sri Ramakrishner Bhaktabrinda. December 22 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6.15 pm: Swami Sarvabhutananda will speak in Hindi on Manas Me Sri Rama ka Charitra. December 22 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake City; 6 pm: Arup Ranjan Pradhan will speak on Bhagavad. December 22 at Ramakrishna Mancha, Ramakrishna Mission Swami Vivekananda’s Ancestral House and Cultural Centre, 3 Gour Mohan Mukherjee Street; 6.30 pm: Swami Shivamayananda will speak on Sri Sri Ramakrishna Leelaprasanga. December 22 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math; 7 pm: Swami Buddhatmananda will speak on Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita.

SPORT

Till December 25 at Pat Williamson Polo grounds; 2 pm onwards: Fort William Riding & Polo Club hosts Calcutta Polo Season 2010, in association with The Telegraph.

SCREENING

Till December 24 at Jorasanko Thakurbari; 4.30 pm: Rabindra Chalachitra Utsav, organised by Rabindra Bharati Pradarshashala and Tapan Sinha Foundation. Today: Documentary Rabindranath, directed by Satyajit Ray. Till December 24 at Gorky Sadan; 6.30 pm: Eisenstein Cine Club and Russian Centre of Science & Culture in Calcutta present Golden Steps on Silver Screen, a film festival dedicated to Uday Shankar. Today: Swan Lake (presentation: Marinsky Ballet Theatre, St Petersburg; music: P. Chaikovsky).

EXHIBITION

Till December 22 at 16/2 Gariahat Road, 9831030737; 10.30 am - 8.30 pm: Jo’s exhibits kurtis, patialla, dupatta and blankets. Till December 23 at Asutosh Memorial Library: An exhibition of photographs on Uma Prasad Mookerjee’s Himalaya expedition. Till December 24 at ICCR; 11 am - 7 pm: Artisana (Crafts Council of West Bengal), in associtaion with the Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), and Ministry of Textiles, Govt of India, presents Burra Din. Till December 28 at 8/2 Loudon Street, #22811524; 11 am - 7.30 pm: Earthy Myths presents its Christmas collection of outfits and saris, Nomads, inspired by world cultures. Till December 31at all Starmark stores; 11 am - 9 pm: Children’s book exhibition with special offers and special promotion of Lonely Planet publications.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-700001; 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