Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Pic/Shadab Khan

Naach ado

A group of women perform dhunuchi naach, a traditional Bengali dance during Durga Puja, at a pandal in Santacruz West on Thursday.

Three cheers

(From left) Neha Shrestha, Kunal Khanna and Rudransh Mathur, the co-founders of ALT EEF

The All Environment Living Things Film Festival (ALT EFF) has announced the winners of this year's virtual edition of the event. The festival, now in its second year, announced winners across five categories - international shorts, international features, Indian shorts, Indian features and student films. One of the winners in the spotlight was Oscar-nominated Indian feature film Moti Bagh, directed by Nirmal Chander that showcased a tale about the ghost villages of Uttarakhand. "This year, we had 125 film submissions, which was a big jump from last year's edition of the festival. We had a six-member jury team that evaluated 44 films out of the submissions, judging the films on five aspects - originality, emotional impact, relevance to ALT EFF, narrative and direction, and production quality," ALT EFF festival director Kunal Khanna, told us.

Pedal power

Cycling picked up in Mumbai during the lockdowns in the pandemic

Cycling is an activity that really took off during the lockdowns in the pandemic, when roads were empty and cyclists could pedal away in peace. A group of avid cyclists will now display that today when they gather en masse at Marine Drive to mark the occasion of Dussehra. They in fact gather on most national holidays in order to highlight how cycling can lead to a greener Mumbai. "It's really picked up in the city, and we are expecting 50 to 70 cyclists of different ages. A large number of us are senior citizens, and cycling as a sport has picked up like crazy this June onwards," shared Sanjay Lokar, a 63-year-old retired engineer who will be in attendance.

A little fun with science

Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai (MMB) is endeavouring to make science fun for children. It has organised a science film festival for kids, where they will not only get to watch films that pique their interest in the subject but also take part in aligned activities that they can carry out at home. "It's aimed at children from the ages of three to 18, and we have 36 films across age groups. The two films we are screening this weekend are about germs, and they will be followed with live sessions that entail different activities," shared Amruta Nemivant, senior programme manager at MMB. Those who wish to watch films like House of Little Scientists - How Germs Spread (in pic) can head to goethe.de/Mumbai.

Click for a grant

Here's a chance for two photographers under the age of 35 to secure grants for a social documentary project, thanks to NGO MurthyNayak Foundation and Sri Aurobindo Centre for the Arts and Communication (SACAC). "We are looking for subjects that range from the environment, religion, gender and displacement to socio-economic disparity," SACAC director Daljeet Kaur Wadhwa shared. The deadline for submissions is October 30, and all other details are available on sac.ac.in.

Show wins for its Week script

Fifteen years is a long time for a TV show to run continuously, but that's what The Week That Wasn't has achieved. The satirical news programme that takes no prisoners was launched in 2006, and it has now been deemed as the National Winner for Best Comedy Show at the Asian Academy Creative Awards 2021, which adds to the long list of awards already in its kitty. The show features funnyman Cyrus Broacha (inset) playing the role of a sometimes clueless host. He is joined by Kunal Vijayakar (below) who often dons the mantle of female politicians Broacha is interviewing. Their no-holds-barred humour has sometimes landed them in hot water though, such as when the Tamil Nadu government filed a defamation case against the creators for an episode regarding Jayalalithaa. But that hasn't stopped them from continuing their irreverent jokes, and this award is validation of that spirit.