Laughter riot Indians are the second largest population in the world, but we’re invisible on TV — everything is either black or white — Russell Peters (Western Gazette; November 24, 2000). Russell Peters decided to change all that in his inimitable way and the rest, as they say, is history. This comedy superstar has been doing stand up for 20 years and has an impressive resume. Peters is as much a humorist as a comedian. He doesn’t really tell jokes. Rather, he uses his wry observations on the subjects of race, class and culture to illuminate our human shortcomings with the sizzling accuracy of a well-aimed laser. His quick wit and ability to mimic language and accents allow Peters to create characters of all races and cultures and forge an immediate bond with his audiences, regardless of their racial and cultural background. Russell Peters: Outsourced is Peters’ first DVD release. It is a stage act dedicated to the memory of his father. Its topics range from different types of Asians, the English accent, terrorists, racists, Pho Phuc Lai Vietnamese restaurant, Africans, and his own adventures with the Chinese in KFC, Beijing. Peters’ new DVD/CD combo, Russell Peters: Red, White and Brown, was recorded on February 2, 2008 at the WAMU Theatre at Madison Square Garden and has been selling like hot cakes worldwide. Peters is all set to activate the Calcuttans’ funny bones in this much-anticipated home-coming tour this evening. Event: Russell Peters’ 20th Anniversary Comedy Tour When: Today at 8 pm Where: Science City Auditorium

art

Till October 23 at Akar Prakar, P 238 Hindustan Park, #2464 2617; 2 pm - 7 pm: 3 Masters Briefly — an exhibition of the works by Francis Newton Souza, Jagdish Swaminathan and Meera Mukherjee. Till October 24 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Vibes presents an exhibition of paintings by Subhabrata Nandi, Sudip Rakshit, Partha Biswas, Partha Pratim Mondal and Koushik Kr. Mondal. Till October 25 at Chemould Art Gallery, 12F Park Street, #2229 8641; 2 pm - 7 pm: A group show of the works by Arya Chandra Chowdhury, Mehtab Molla, Rajib Deyashi, Rumka Jana and Durbananda Jana. Till October 26 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: Autumn Mystique, featuring works by Amlan Dutta, Anita Gurbaxani, Dilip Maity, Montasir Ahamed Mullick, N. Roy, Ramratan Das, Sudipta Karmakar, Taraknath Mukherjee and Vani Chawla. Till October 30 (except Sunday) at Aakriti Art Gallery, 1st floor, Orbit Enclave, 12/3A Hungerford Street, #2289 3027; 12 noon - 7 pm: GenNext III, the annual show of Aakriti Art Gallery featuring an exhibition of paintings, sculptures, prints, textiles, video and photographs by contemporary artists below 40 years of age, including foreign participants from different continents. Till October 31 at Gallery K2, Supra Court, 35 Lansdowne Terrace, #2465 1444; 11 am - 7 pm: Contemporary Art on Display — works by Partho Pratim Deb, Paresh Maity, S. Pranam Singh, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Shilajit Ghosh, Nabendu Roy, Sudipto Karmakar, Saumya Kanti Mukhopadhyay and others. Till October 31 (except Sunday) at Ganges Art Gallery, 33A Jatin Das Road, #2465 3212; 11 am - 7 pm: Art Fair 2008 — a collection of affordable art. Featuring works by Manoj Dutta, Munindra Rajbongshi, Chandana Hore, Parag Adhikari, Anup Giri and Madhuri Jalan. Till November 1 (except Monday) at Bose Pacia, Stephens Court, 18 Park Street, #4001 0148; 11 am - 7 pm: Bose Pacia, Calcutta presents latest works of Rao Kodanda (Baroda) and Basist Kumar (Santiniketan). Till November 10 (except Tuesday) at The Halo Heritage Art Gallery, 26 Ritchie Road, #2419 0133; 2 pm - 8 pm: Durga, the Icon — an exhibition of paintings and sculptures. Painters: Atin Basak, Atanu Bhattacharya, Abeshbivore Mitra, Diptish Ghosh Dastidar, Debnath Biswas, Debasis Barui, Eleena Banik, Gargi Das, Jonaki Pal, Manoj Sen, Manash Saha, Parag Roy, Partha Das Gupta, Prabal Roy, Rajesh Deb, Suhas Roy, Sunil Das, Samir Aich, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Soumitra Kar, Shekherbaran Karmakar, Subrata Sen and Srikanta Paul. Sculptors: Akhil Chandra Das, Bipin Goswami, Bimal Kundu, Gopinath Roy, Nantu Behari Das, Ranajit Kumar Raut, Shyamal Roy, Sandip Chakraborty, Swapan Bala and Uma Siddhanta. Show curated by Debasish Chanda. Till November 10 (except Sunday) at Tejas Gallery, 11 Mayfair Road, #4007 6042; 1 pm - 7.30 pm: Devi-II — Twenty-five artists’ impressions of Goddess Durga. Till November 15 at Masters Collection Art Gallery, G7 Malayalay Apts, 3 Woodburn Park Road, #3058 4060/62; 11 am - 7 pm (weekdays): Larger Perspective, a show of large format contemporary artworks by Aloke Paul, Anup Giri, Avijit Dutta, Dewashish Das, Dhananjoy Ghosh, Dipak Kundu, Durbanand Jana, Jagannath Paul, Kanchanmala Ghosh, Milendu Mondal, Mithun Dutta, Parag Adhikary, Rnadip Das, Sachin Jaltare, Samir Paul, Samir Sarkar, Shubendu Porel, Subrata Das, Sukanta Das and Swapan Palley. Till November 16 (except Monday) at Spectrum Art Gallery, 4 Lake West Road, Santoshpur; 2 pm - 8 pm: Rainbow — an exhibition of paintings and sculptures by eminent masters and contemporary artists. Till November 23 at Gallery Kolkata, 41 Shakespeare Sarani, Duckback House, 2nd floor, #2287 3377; 11 am - 7 pm: An exhibition of creative art furniture, installation and sculptures. Till November 28 at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road, #6550 8418; 10.30 am - 6.30 pm: The Voices of the Canvas — an exhibition of the works of 20 well-known artists.

DRAMA

October 23 at Bharatiyam Cultural Multiplex, IB 201 Salt Lake; 6 pm: EZCC’s monthly theatre show features Krishna Ranga, an Ekushe Shatak production, directed by Loknath Bandyopadhyay. October 23 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Natya Ranga presents the comedy, Dadu Chaye Nati Chaye. Direction: Swapan Sengupta. October 23 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Rupdarshan presents Jal Jangaler Kabya, based on a novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay. Drama: Ujjwal Chattopadhyay. Direction: Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. October 24 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Nandikar presents its latest production, Ajnatobaas. Story: Sukanta Gangopadhyay. Music concept: Swatilekha Sengupta. Music composition: Mayukh-Mainak. Cast: Sohini Sengupta, Sumana Mukherjee, Swatilekha Sengupta, Sumanta Gangopadhyay, Swajan Srijan Mukherjee and Rudraprasad Sengupta. Directorial adviser: Rudraprasad Sengupta. Direction: Sumanta Gangopadhyay. October 25 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Sundaram will stage Alokanander Putra-kanya. Drama, direction & acting: Manoj Mitra. October 25 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Bohurupee presents Buddhadeva Bose’s Kaal Sandhya. Direction: Kumar Roy. October 25 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Aneek presents its latest production, Adventure Kaare Koy. Drama: Amalesh Chakraborty. Direction: Moloy Biswas. October 25 at Sisir Mancha; 6.30 pm: Kathakriti presents Shraman, a play by Nirup Mitra based on Dr Herman Hess’ novel, Siddhartha. Direction: Sanjib Ray.

PERFORMING ARTS

Till October 25; 6.30 pm & October 26; 9.30 am & 6.30 pm at Kala Mandir: Indo Occidental Symbiosis and Juhu Cultural Association (Mumbai) present Pujor Adhunik Gaaner Anurodher Asar. Participants (Oct. 23): Indrani Sen and Rupankar. Oct. 24: Anusua Chowdhury and Raghab Chatterjee. Oct. 25: Shubhamita and Srikanto Acharya. Oct. 26, 9.30 am: Haimanti Shukla; at 6.30 pm: Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty. October 24 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 7 pm: Sangeet Ashram presents a vocal recital by Pandit Kaivalya Kumar Gaurav, with Samar Saha (tabla) and Jyoti Goho (harmonium). October 26 at Rabindra Sadan; 6.30 pm: Shinjan Nrityalaya presents its annual programme, Nrityanjali, featuring traditional Odissi dance items as well as its latest production, Shakti - The Formidable Woman Power, inspired by two almost extinct forms, Sabda Nritya and Ravan Chhaya. Direction: Aloka Kanungo.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till October 29 at 46 Satish Mukherjee Road (near Rashbehari crossing); 2 pm - 8 pm: The Seagull Foundation for the Arts and Tasveer present Heresies: A Retrospective of Pedro Meyer, comprising five decades of photographic work of one of the most innovative artists of the world.

TALK

October 23 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Swami Vedaswarupananda will speak in Bengali on Gita. October 23 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Buddhatmananda will speak in Bengali on Vivek Churamani.

EXHIBITION

October 23 - 25 at P-249 Purna Das Road, #2464 4027 / 2465 8537; 11 am - 8 pm: Darbari hosts Diya Jale, a Diwali exhibition showcasing tussar handwoven and block-printed sarees from different states of India. Till October 23 at 85 Lansdowne, 85B sarat Bose Road, #2486 2136; 11 am - 7.30 pm: An exhibition of creative designs for the wardrobe and home. Till October 27 at Soumya’s Creation, 57/9 Ballygunge Circular Road; 10.30 am - 7 pm: An exhibition of unstitched salwar kurtas and durries. Till October 30 at Artisana, 13 Chowringhee Terrace; 11 am - 7.30 pm: An exhibition of terracotta lamps and planters, tassar collection (sarees, men’s kurtas, dupattas, and southern weaves) for men and women. Till October 30 at Starmark, Lord Sinha Road and South City Mall; 10.30 am - 8.30pm: Lights — an exhibition of diyas, candles, decorations and gifts for Diwali. Till October 31 (except Sunday & public holidays) at Studio 21, 17L Dover Terrace, #2486 6735; Monday: 3 pm - 7 pm; Tuesday - Saturday: 11am - 7 pm: The New Idyllic — Indigenous art from Madhya Pradesh.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