ARTS TRIBUNE Friday, May 5, 2000, Chandigarh, India
 

Greatness and parenthood
A STANDING ovation is what Feroz Khan’s “Mahatma vs Gandhi” rightly deserved and that is what it received. The much-hyped play was a fund-raising event organised by the People for Animals, Chandigarh.

Taking singers under her wing
By Ramesh Kapila
IN what appears to be yet another acknowledgement of her high academic and musical talent at the international level, vocalist Sulochana Brahspati (nee Yajurvedi) has been assigned the task of training budding classical singers of Bangladesh.

SIGHT & SOUND
by Amita Malik
A ‘Tara’ rises in Bengal skies
ALL the TV cameras were focused on Calcutta last week. It was for the twinkling birth of a very big and bright star in the Bengali skies: Tara, the brainchild of the Murdoch-Basu combine of Broadcast Worldwide. Every Bengali noticed the charming pun on the name, because ‘Tara’ means ‘star’ as well as ‘them’.


 
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Greatness and parenthood

A STANDING ovation is what Feroz Khan’s “Mahatma vs Gandhi” rightly deserved and that is what it received. The much-hyped play was a fund-raising event organised by the People for Animals, Chandigarh.

“I don’t believe in intellectual terrorism. Theatre should be stimulating”, is Feroz Khan’s conviction regarding his work. Who knew that this Gujju graduate with a commerce and accounting background would one day establish himself as a dynamic and committed theatre artiste? Feroz is indeed “driven, smitten and raring” when it comes to the passion for his profession. It was his maiden performance in 1978 that bagged him the Best Actor Award in an All-India International Collegiate Meet. An appropriate launch for a natural theatrewallah, wouldn’t you say? His directorial stint has an impressive folio of six full-length productions and 12-one-act plays, including the more popular ones like “Tumahri Amrita”, “Saalgirha”, Mahatma vs Gandhi” and his latest “Salesman Ramlal”.

To subject an absolute play such as “Mahatma vs Gandhi” for a microscopic dissection is an uncomplimentary effort on the part of any reviewer. However, since it is a highly interpretative theatre adaptation of Dinkar Joshi’s Gujarati novel, an aerial view might prove to be a harmless venture.

Seeing it from an unbiased perspective, the play communicates the traumas of human bonding between a man and his protege. Its remarkable feature lies in the complete absence of any sort of eulogisation of ‘Bapu’ as the Mahatma on the one hand, and projection of his son Harilal as a villain who deserved what he got. It is not about a name that created history for India, instead it revolves around the life graphs of two pollarly divergent individuals brought together through biological factors.

It would be grossly improper to sit over judgement as to how good a father M.K. Gandhi proved to be or how insensitively he treated his own flesh and blood. That certainly is not the play’s contention. As its director, Feroz merely attempts to provoke the very basic and human aspect, inherent to any kind of relationship. He offers no simple answers to the complicated queries raised within this turbulently historic situation.

The play’s merit rests confidently on the brilliantly well-defined characterisation. Amongst the three protagonists i.e. Mahatma, Ba and Harilal, no one seems to have been overshadowed by another as regards their role and Performance. Each of the three managed doing full justice to their respective kirdars.

Boman Irani as ‘Bapu’, surpassed himself as a performer by comprehending and respecting the individuality of the Mahatma, both, as the father of a son and the father of the nation. The genuineness and sincerity of Ba as the faithful wife and a compassionate mother was beautifully emoted by Jayati Bhatia. And our “bechara” Harilal played by Feroz himself, stole the show by the going far beyond the expressions of any befitting norms of appreciation. It was his powerful portrayal of a pitifully weak and potentially incompetent Harilal that resulted in the constant sniffing and sighing from an audience that was mesmerised till the last moment.

From the apt costume designing to its mind-blowing special audio-visual effects, “Mahatma vs Gandhi” stands as a landmark production in the field of theatre. And here, the laurels of a perfect 10 scorer have to be shared collectively by the entire Platform Theatre Company of Feroz Khan. Each and every technician and artiste involved with this production fulfilled his/her commitment to the maximum. Only then could such a wonder have been possible!

As for our eminent historians and noteworthy Gandhian scholars, “Mahatma vs Gandhi” has provided sufficient ammunition for ample intellectual bombardment as and when it has been performed in and out of the country. The play in itself is devoid of any controversial content. However, the effervescent Indian hypocrisy instinctively blankets its creative value by adopting irrelevant stances either under the garb of religion or misappropriation of facts. The limitation lies within us for not having conditioned ourselves towards a balanced and humane approach regarding this infamous father-son issue. The subtlety of its theatre nuances makes “Mahatma vs Gandhi”, a compelling depiction of human inadequacies and strife as also the tremendous strength of character and conviction that it entails.

Life is full of choices and none is binding. The commendable aspect of it being, opting for one and living by it in an honest manner. Bapu’s greatness lies in his diehard determination of the path he eventually chose. But personally, it cost him a great deal of disappointment with himself. To illustrate this fact here is a pivotal dialogue from the play delivered by Boman Irani, “There have been two important individuals in my life with whom I failed in my conviction. One was my friend from Gujarat, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and the other my own son, Harilal Gandhi”. No wonder, the Man of the Millennium went away an unhappy and broken individual. Wasn’t that a stroke of immense misfortune for Bapu, the father of Harilal and the icon of India’s Freedom Struggle movement?

No greater a tribute could have been made to this saint of India than such a modest and aesthetic offering from a gifted and sensitive artiste as Feroz Khan himself.
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Taking singers under her wing
By Ramesh Kapila

IN what appears to be yet another acknowledgement of her high academic and musical talent at the international level, vocalist Sulochana Brahspati (nee Yajurvedi) has been assigned the task of training budding classical singers of Bangladesh.

Sulochana, who has left for Dhaka to take up the assignment of the joint Indo-Bangladesh project, will be involved in teaching and training a batch of some 20 young girls and boys who could possibly represent their country in the field of classical music in the years to come.

Bangladesh by far has been associated with the lilting Runa Laila by the outside world, but for sometime now a serious effort is being made by the authorities there to provide training in classical music and other performing arts, and India is providing the necessary input.

Sulochana’s thorough knowledge of the theoretical and practical aspects of classical music like raga, swara and tala clearly played a key role in securing her the latest assignment which will be spread over a period of three years, but she will be going to Dhaka at regular intervals.

When I was contacted by the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh for this prestigious project, I naturally felt honoured”, observed Sulochana, who is completely at ease in rendering of khayal, dhrupad, dadra, thumri and tappa.

Sulochana holds a master’s degree in English literature from Allahabad University, but opted for a career in the field of music. Though she was initially imparted training in music by Pt Bhola Nath Bhatt of Allahabad and Ustad Mushtaq Hussein Khan of Rampur, however, it was her husband late Acharya K.C.D. Brahspati (who died at Kurukshetra University in 1979) who groomed her into what she is today.

Sulochana, who has the distinction of having worked with some foreign music groups, including the French group Ensemble Gradiva some years ago when she toured extensively some of the European countries harmonising the music of the East and the West, has a rich repertoire of compositions which will be handy for her Dhaka assignment.

Referring to the project, she remarked that the students who were keen to pursue classical music as a preferred discipline on a long-term basis, were to be part of it, and the Bangladesh authorities had picked up the first batch on this basis alone.

After imparting an initial 45-day intensive training, Sulochana would be back in India only to return to Dhaka after a gap of a few months and this process would continue, in the first instance for a period of three years.
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Sight and Sound Amita Malik
A ‘Tara’ rises in Bengal skies

ALL the TV cameras were focused on Calcutta last week. It was for the twinkling birth of a very big and bright star in the Bengali skies: Tara, the brainchild of the Murdoch-Basu combine of Broadcast Worldwide. Every Bengali noticed the charming pun on the name, because ‘Tara’ means ‘star’ as well as ‘them’. And the channel has made a solemn promise to interact with viewers. Not to tell them that ‘Mother Knows Best’ but to offer intelligent viewers the kind of programme they have longed for down the years. It is the first major Bengali channel after Doordarshan to be based in Calcutta (contrast Hyderabad-based Eenadu and Zee’s largely dubbed Alpha Bangla). It is the first Bengali channel to do a tie-up with TV in Bangladesh. It already has a Bangladeshi newscaster, two Bangladeshi rock bands, Miles and Renaissance (to be shot in Calcutta) and later some Bangladeshi serials. The launch of Tara saw the spectacular Indian debut of internationally-acclaimed Bangladeshi fashion designer Bibi Russell, currently UNESCO’s Ambassador of the Year for Traditional Textiles and equally awarded in London. The jazzed-up rural Bengali music for Bombay’s top models, her hand-sewn, hand-woven fabrics fashioned up to Parisian heights but still wearable, showed up most Indian designers for the derivative, unwearable phonies that they are.

I think Tara is the first India-based channel aimed at select, culturally literate audiences and meticulously planned to avoid the mistakes of DD’s unfortunate DD3. So as not to lose more light-hearted audiences it will soon launch a ‘popular’ channel on the familiar kind and, more seriously, a 24-hour Bengali film channel which will utilise a line-up of 900 films including 300 classics. Which is the reason that Tara is avoiding a surplus of films. It will have one colour Bengali feature film on Sundays, including Ray, Tapan Sinha, Gautam Ghose, Shakti Samanta, Mrinal Sen, Apama Sen, Ritupama Ghosh and the rest. It will have a weekly programme, on the cinema, anchored by Gautam Ghose and a weekly serial by Sandip Ray. Children’s films have a weekly three-hour slot and started with Ray’s Hirak Rajar Deshey. There will also be story-telling for children. And a science programme from the BBC dubbed in Bengali. Nikhil and Niret Alva will provide a programme on environment (Ei Prithibi) and a travelogue amusingly named Payer Talai Shorshey (mustard seeds under the feet, which roughly translates as `rolling feet’).

I think it is also a stroke of genius to give the football-crazy Bengali viewer a weekly programme, football Feva, which will have dubbed commentaries, on international football. A winner from the start. Another focal point is youth. The Calcutta rock band Bhoomi figured in the launch with a session at incognito, the disco at the Taj Bengal. There will be Syllabuse Nei (Not in the Syllabus), a discussion programme to be shot on the campus with teachers and students. Ei Samay (Right Now), a chat show on everything under the sun, started with Samik Bandhopadhya talking to the female impersonator on stage Chapal Bhaduri. It included a very frank discussion on gays.

Politics also being a Bengali sport, there is Rajai Rajai, a Bengali version of the Big Fight. It started with an uncharacteristic, politically well-argued but smiling and affectionate interchange between Mamata Banerjee, Somnath Chatterjee and Pranab Mukherji. The anchor Amab Goswami was so fluent in Bengali that no one believed me when I said he was Assamese. The voter will have his say in vote Diyechhi Jaakey (For Whom I voted), which will take elected representatives to their constituencies to face their voters. Aaj, Kaal, Porshu, on a more popular plane, will discuss everything from fashion to computers. I find its anchors a little self-conscious, but it will pass. Chatti Hawa will have Rabindrasangeet, Adhunik and Do Re Mi will have music videos, to be balanced by Jalsaghar, a programme of classical music and another on classical dance. For book-lovers, a review of books and for gourmets a cookery programme in story form.

I have deliberately described the programmes in detail to prove that it can be done by other channels in other parts of India. In this area, Tara hopes for a large audience in Bangladesh.

After all that effort at perfection, Tara fell flat on its face with its bizarre list of front-row guests for the inauguration, flown down from Bombay, Ratikanta Basu’s familiar cronies the Bombay filmi and socialite duniya, his pet serials and some journalists unrecognisable outside Mumbai. The only Bengalis in the much-filmed front row were Apama Sen and Ajit Panja, presumably there is his capacity as theatre actor, but he was not mentioned once. I spotted with difficulty artist Partitosh Sen in an obscure distant row. Gautam Ghose and Ritupama Ghosh were always off camera. If people had to be flown down, the Mumbai Hindi film and TV glitterati could more relevently have been scrapped for Basu Chatterjee, Rakhee, Kajol, Rani Mukherji, Shakti Samanta, even Bappi Lahiri, certainly Sharmila Tagore. Conspicuous by their glaring absence were Calcuttans Soumitra Chatterjee, Basanta Chowdhury, Amala and Mamata Shankar, Bikash Bhattacharya, Victor Banerji, Ganesh Pyne, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Shankar, Mithun Chakrabarti, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Bijaya Ray and Sandip Ray. Mr Basu, this is Calcutta and not Mumbai. And frankly, no one gave a damn for Shobha De’s views on Bengali TV.

 
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