Woes of womanhood Epics from all over the world abound in women who have been sinned against: Sita, Draupadi, Iphigenia, Antigone, and many more. Even in contemporary India, names like Roop Kanwar, Hamida Banu, Shah Bano and, more recently, Jessica Lal and Vaishnavi, only reaffirm the truth that men have always repressed, exploited and dominated over the lives of their womenfolk. Madhabi of The Mahabharata represents womanhood, perpetually demeaned, desecrated, debauched and deflowered to fulfil the desires and ambitions of men. Her story is a tempestuous journey of a woman confronting a hierarchy that is steeped in moral pretence and demonic in its desperation for status and power. Yet, this evening’s premiere of Nandikar’s Madhabi presents more than just a feminist manifesto. Expectant in love, acquiescent in duties, subservient to hierarchy, Madhabi has all but lost her own identity. The world without batters her, but her soul, triggered by shocking acts of inhumanity, transforms her from being agonistic and indifferent to triumphant. More importantly, the trials of her life and her responses to them give us a chance to discover the boundless goodness endowed in each of our hearts. Drama: Bhisham Sahni. Adaptation, music and direction: Swatilekha Sengupta. Event: Play in Bengali, Madhabi, produced by Nandikar When: Today at 6.30 pm Where: Academy of Fine Arts

ART

Till March 5 (except Sundays & public holidays) at Studio21, 17L Dover Terrace, #2486 6735; Monday: 3 pm - 7 pm; Tuesday - Saturday: 11 am - 7 pm: Pulsation — a solo exhibition of paintings and drawings by Sourav Chatterjee. February 25 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 5 pm: Inauguration of Archi, a group show presented by Calcutta Sculptors in memory of Archi Paul. The exhibition continues till March 3 between 3 pm and 8 pm. February 25 - March 3 at Academy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Beshya (The Prostitute) — the 11th solo exhibition of paintings and drawings by Pintu Paul. February 25 - March 3 at Academy of Fine Arts, Central Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: A group exhibition of paintings and sculptures presented by Indian Artisan Forum. Inauguration at 6 pm. February 25 - March 3 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South ‘A’ Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: A solo show of paintings by Nilkanta Mondal. Inauguration at 6 pm. February 25 - March 7 at Starmark, South City Mall; 11 am to 8 pm: Art on Easel, an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Anjan Modak, Satavisha Hazra, Soma Das and Sumana Biswas. Co-ordinated by artworkshop. Till February 25 at Chitrakoot Art Gallery, 55 Gariahat Road; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings by some underprivileged children of project Gold Underground. Presented by Kolkata Sukriti Foundation and Lions Club International District 322 B 1. Till February 27 at Experimenter, 2/1 Hindusthan Road, #4001 2289 / 2463 0465; 2 pm - 7 pm: Experimenter presents Sisyphus Effect featuring work by Sanchayan Ghosh. Till February 27 at Akar Prakar, P 238 Hindustan Park, #2464 2617; 2 pm - 7 pm: Works of Akhilesh. Till February 27 at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road, #65508418; 10.30 am - 6.30 pm: The Rapture of Form —paintings by Suhas Roy, Prakash Karmakar, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Aditya Basak, Bratin Khan, Gourango Beshai, Sibsaday Chaudhuri, Subrata Pal, Subrata Das, Samir Paul, Sukanta Das and others. Till February 28 (except Saturday) at Galerie La Mère, 3 Regent Park; 4 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings and drawings by lady artists. Till February 28 at Ahuja Museum for the Arts, 26 Lee Road; 12 noon - 7 pm: Young Indian Artists-I — an exhibition of paintings from the Museum’s collection. Till February 28 at The Promenade Lounge, Taj Bengal; 10 am - 11 pm: Recent works by Subhankar Halder. The artist will be painting live from 3 pm to 6 pm. Till February 28 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: Annual exhibition of Nijanta, a group of artists. Till February 28 at The Halo Heritage Art Gallery, 26 Ritchie Road; 1 pm - 8 pm: 90 Minutes in Heaven — an exhibition of contemporary paintings by Suman Sarkar. Till March 1 at Gallery 79, 79 Raja Basanta Roy Road ( Ist floor); 4 pm - 8 pm: Spring Fest — watercolours by Shyamal Sen. Till March 2 at Gallery Sanskriti, 5C Alipore Park Road, 2448 4925; 11 am - 8 pm: Mark of Masters-1 and Mark of Masters-2 — the etchings of masters of Indian art. Participating artists: Anupam Sud, Arpana Caur, Dipak Banerjee, Jatin Das, Jogen Chowdhury, K. Laxma Goud, Lalitha Lajmi, Lalu Prasad Shaw, Madhavi Parekh, Manu Parekh, Neeraj Goswami, Nirmalendu Das, Paresh Maity, Prafulla Dhanukar, Sanat Kar, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Sarbari Roy Chowdhury, Shuvaprasanna, Suhas Roy and Yashpal Chandrakar. Till March 6 (except Sundays) at Galerie 88, 28B Shakespeare Sarani, #2290 2274; 11 am - 7 pm, Monday (2 pm - 7 pm): Rhythmic Significance — work of Partha Shaw. Till March 13 (except Sundays) at Aakriti Art Gallery, 1st floor, Orbit Enclave, 12/3A Hungerford Street; #2289 3027/5041; 12 noon - 7 pm: Lightness of being Anxious, an exhibition of paintings by Ashoke Mullick. Till March 14 (except Mondays) at Bose Pacia, Stephens Court, 18 Park Street; 11 am - 7 pm: Kunwarji’s Ground — new works by Dileep Sharma. Till March 20 (except Sundays & national holidays) at The Harrington Street Art Centre, 8 Ho Chi Minh Sarani, #2282 9220; 12 noon - 8 pm: Stains on my Chintz — featuring works by Archana Hande, Lavanya Mani, Paula Sengupta, Joscelyn Gardner, Michele Elliot and Teresa Cole. Curated by Dr Paula Sengupta.

DRAMA

Till February 27 at Tapan Theatre: Arghya Natya Samaroh 2010, a festival of plays produced by Arghya. Today at 6.45 pm: Bharat Katha. Concept & direction: Manish Mitra. February 25 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: The premiere show of Nandikar’s Madhabi. Drama: Bhisham Sahni. Adaptation & direction: Swatilekha Sengupta. The cast includes Rudraprasad Sengupta, Debshankar Haldar, Partha Pratim Deb, Sumanta Ganguly and Sohini Sengupta. February 26 at Gyan Manch; 6.30 pm: Spandan will stage its new production, Ek Ruka Hua Faisla, a suspense legal drama in Hindi.

PERFORMING ARTS

February 25 at The Restaurant on the First Floor, 50/1B Purna Das Road, #24647644; 8 pm: The Jazz & Jeera Jive, an on-going platform for musicians and performers. Today’s artiste: Indranil Sen.

TALK

February 25 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6.15 pm: Swami Vishnudevananda will speak in Bengali on Sri Sri Ramakrishna-Punthi. February 25 at Vivekananda Hall, Ramakrishna Mission Swami Vivekananda’s Ancestral House and Cultural Centre, 3 Gour Mohan Mukherjee Street; 6.30 pm: Swami Atmapriyananda will speak on Kenopanishad. February 25 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math; 7 pm: Swami Samshuddhananda will speak in Bengali on Valmiki Ramayan. February 25 at Max Mueller Bhavan; 7 pm: Indo-German Association, Calcutta hosts a lecture on Enhancing Level of Literacy in Rural Area. Speaker: Prof. P.K. Bhattacharya, former director, National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Till March 1 at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, 36C S.P. Mukherjee Road; 2 pm - 8 pm: The Seagull Foundation for the Arts and Tasveer present The Virtual Immigrant (an exhibition of 3D Lenticular Prints) by photographer Annu Palakunatthu Matthew. Till March 5 (except Mondays & public holidays) at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 3 pm - 8 pm: East City — Kolkata Before the Campaign, photographs by Leena Kejriwal.

SCREENING

Till February 26 at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, 36C S.P. Mukherjee Road; 6.30 pm: The Seagull Foundation for the Arts presents Inspiration Films, a series of films that inspired other films around the world. Today: Blow Up (1966, English/111 minutes), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.

BOOK RELEASE

February 25 at Piccadilly Hall 11 & 12, Golden Park Hotel, 13 Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 4.30 pm: Oxford University Press and British Council host the release of the New 8th Edition of Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Special presentation by Alison Waters, publishing manager, ELT Dictionaries Department, Oxford University Press, UK.

POETRY

February 25 at Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi Sabhaghar; 6 pm: Souhardya 70 hosts a conversation between poet Alokranjan Dasgupta and Dipak Lahiri. The poet will also recite poems. Introduction by poet and novelist Sunil Gangopadhyay. Also, the screening of a documentary on Dasgupta by Sandip Ray.

EXHIBITION

February 25 at 218 AJC Bose Road; 11 am - 7 pm: Bombaim launches its spring summer collection, Rahul Misra’s ‘Threads of freedom’. Also, introducing designers Sonam Dubal - ‘Nostalgia of spring’ and Pashma - Pasma Sunrise 2010. February 25 at 22 Camac Street; 10.30 am - 6.30 pm: Amoda Spabar, in association with Kavita and Sweta, presents Destination 10 Spring Collection of clothes, jewellery, accessories and handicrafts. February 25 - 28 at Soumya’s Creation, 57/9 Ballygunge Circular Road; 11 am - 8.30 pm: An exhibition of colourful kurtas for Holi. Till February 27 at Nandalal Bose Gallery, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 11 am - 7 pm: Sutra, the NGO, presents Vastra, an exhibition of textiles from the 17th century onwards as part of its programme on textile traditions and consevation of textiles.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