02092024-LSTC-01.qxd 9/1/2024 11:48 PM Page 1 c m y b TUMBBAD BACK IN THEATRES Sohum Shah and Aanand L Rai’s Tumbbad is all set to be re-released in theatres. In a post on Instagram, the makers shared a new poster. The film, which was first released in 2018, will return to theatres on September 13. TRIBUNE Great act Life After almost two decades, Hollywood star Nicole Kidman returned to the Venice Film Festival. Her film Babygirl premiered at the festival, where it garnered a seven-minute standing ovation from the Sala Grande audience. CHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 2 SEPTEMBER 2024 PHOTO: RAVI KUMAR Classical connection Listen to ghazal, bhajan and filmy music but also to Dhrupad, urges Pt Umakant Gundecha, a leading exponent of the genre Mona “M USIC is my life, I live in it; it’s my companion in my wakefulness and even when I sleep. Not just learning it, but what can we give back to it is what our primary concern is,” opens up Pt Umakant Gundecha, who was in Chandigarh recently for a five-day National Theatre Festival held at the Tagore Theatre. “Dhrupad is the oldest mother music vidha. It originated from Samved. This music started and flourished in temples,” adds Padma Shri recipient Pt Umakant, about the style of music that was sung by Swami Haridas, Tansen and Baiju Bawra. Pt Umakant performed in the Pratigya episode of Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, which, along with Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi, organised the Festival. Gundecha family has been the leading exponent of Dhrupad in the country. Pt Umakant rests the credit of their success to his father, “My FITTING FINALE father was very inclined towards art. He gave us exposure to different forms of it. Seeing mine and my brother Ramakant’s interest in music, he ensured we got the training right.” The Gundecha brothers moved from their hometown Ujjain to Bhopal for training in Dhrupad music under Zia Fariduddin Dagar and his brother Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. One of the most active performers and teachers of Dhrupad, Gundecha brothers have toured more than 30 countries around the world and recorded as many as three dozen albums for various national and international music labels. In due course, they opened their own Dhrupad institute near Bhopal, where they teach students from all over the world. “When we studied under our Guru, we stayed with them. My brother and I cooked our meals as we trained. That was all right for those times. In our institute, we have tried to provide all the facilities we felt were necessary.” A sprawling place spread over 4.5 acre with nature as its mainstay, library with books on Dhrupad, an audio-visual library with rare pieces, rooms for the students and a mess comprise their place. “We have trained students from as many as 35 countries,” shares Pt Umakant, proudly. “The beauty of Dhrupad is that coming from temple origins, it helps the listener connect to one’s inner self,” explains Pt Umakant. He mesmerised the audience with his performance, even as the non-classical music-lovers were taken by surprise with the beauty of it. One could see the seat of Ramakant Gundecha being taken by his son Anant. Something that the audience is getting used to and he himself is. Having lost his brother in 2019 to a heart attack, the famous Gundecha Bandhu jodi has the new entrant in Anant, Ramakant’s son. “How Anant has picked up in this little time is praiseworthy. If you listen to him with eyes closed, it’s as if you are listening to his father. It’s the same sound quality,” he beams. They sang three short pieces — Tu Hi Surya, Tu Hi Chandra, Shankar Sut Ganesh and Shiv Stuti, which left the audience in awe. Gundecha brothers’ Dhrupad pieces have been in films, including the recent Mohalla Assi. Acknowledging that in our country film music is more popular among the masses, he explains. “We are open to doing film music. It’s my humble request to everyone to listen to ghazal, bhajan, filmy music and pop, but also Dhrupad.” While Dhrupad was most flourishing back in the 15th and 16th centuries, Pt Umakant believes that its practitioners, in a bid to keep the music within the family, dented its spread to some extent. “The responsibility to take this music further lies on the shoulders of its practitioners. While being proud of Anant, his nephew and Dhani, his daughter, for taking up Dhrupad, he shares, “About 15 of the disciples are A-grade artistes.” “In the digital world today, there is problem of plenty. But I urge the youngsters today to practice any form of art — music, dance or painting. It would add a different perspective to your personality,” he advices. Sohni Mahiwal A house full, followed by a standing ovation, the five-day National Drama Festival concluded on a befitting note with an enthralling staging of the play Sohni Mahiwal. An impressive set, beautiful costumes, intense act and stupendous music, the play was a hit with the audience. "Chandigarh theatre scene is now comparable with the national level. Sohni Mahiwal was a beautiful production and that it was by students makes it even more significant. Complete on all four counts — angik (body movement, expression), vachika (dialogues, singing), aharya (costumes, make-up, set design) and satvik (feel) — it was exemplary," said Sudesh Sharma, chairperson, Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi (CSNA). A Department of Indian Theatre production, this play was written by Ekam Manuke. It was designed and directed by Navdeep Kaur. The music of the play was by Tejinder Singh. “Our National Theatre Festival is an honest attempt and experiment to not just bring theatre from the rest of the country to the city, but also have one of our own plays in it," says Sharma. Clear take I’m fighting the perception of what the audience thinks of me, says Ananya Panday Ananya Panday, set to make her web series debut with Call Me Bae, says she wants to break out of her perceived image in the audience and industry, and that will happen when she is in a position to say no to offers that feed into a certain stereotype. Call Me Bae, directed by Collin D’Cunha and created by Ishita Moitra, sees her character lead a privileged life in New Delhi, before she is disowned by her family. The eightepisode series will debut on Prime Video on September 6. The actress, who made her debut with 2019’s rom-com Student of the Year 2, said ‘fighting perception’ was a challenge that she continued to deal with as an individual. “When you start up with a certain kind of film, people put you in a box and they would expect the same thing from you. So, I’m fighting the perception of what the audience thinks of me and the kind of work you get within the industry. When something does well, you get the same offers, and it is up to us as actors if we have that position where we can say no,” Ananya told. “Call Me Bae” marks the web series debut for the 25-year-old. — IANS IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack gets into controversy over changing the religion of hijackers The recently released Netflix series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack has caused an uproar on the Internet. The series, directed by Anubhav Sinha, is based on the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814. Six terrorists — Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny, Ahmad Qazi, Zahoor Mistry and Shakir — of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorist outfit, hijacked the flight and demanded the release of Pakistani terrorists held in a prison in India, namely Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, Masood Azhar and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar. However, the streaming series is getting slammed on social media over the alleged whitewashing of the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI; for humanising the cruel terrorists and over its misleading content. Several users also alleged that the religion of the hijackers was deliberately changed by the makers. One Internet user wrote on X, “Kandahar c m y b BLAME GAME? flight hijackers’ original names: Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar, Sunny Ahmed, Zahoor Mistry and Shakir. In Anubhav Sinha’s web series IC 814 they were named as Bhola, Shankar and more. This is how whitewashing is done cinematically.” Another wrote, “The hijackers of IC814 were lethal, cruel — to even attempt to show some of them as human in the Netflix series is unfair.” A third wrote, “I noticed that too and was extremely surprised. Not a cool thing to do. I wonder how the @NetflixIndia team can be so reckless to let this happen.” However, according to the Ministry of External Affairs report dated January 2000, Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola and Shankar, were the names by which the hijackers invariably addressed one another. Journalist-writer-lyricist Neelesh Misra, who wrote the book 173 Hours in Captivity: The Hijacking of IC814, also took to X, and wrote, “Shankar, Bhola, Burger, Doctor and the Chief, the brother of then-jailed Masood Azhar himself. All the hijackers assumed false names. That is how they referred to each other and how the passengers referred to them throughout the hijacking. Regards, the author of the first book on the IC-814 hijacking.” The hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 and the subsequent hostage crisis lasted for seven days and ended after India agreed to release the three terrorists. — IANS