Dhvani Solani scours through the expansive, multi-category schedule of the Kala Ghoda Art Festival to bring you five must-attend weekend events you just can't skip
Dhvani Solani scours through the expansive, multi-category schedule of the Kala Ghoda Art Festival to bring you five must-attend weekend events you just can't skip
FROM BOOKS TO B-BOYING
It's common knowledge that IIT-ians are whizzes who occasionally come out with really bad literature. But who knew that they could break into a supercool jig? In Sync, the dance club of IIT Bombay, is slowly becoming one of the nation's hottest dance troupes, after winning accolades and prizes at several college competitions and a major TV street dance show. Masters at locking and popping, hand tutting and krumping, as well as B-town jhatkas and matkas, the straight As ensemble flags off the Kala Ghoda fest today.
"We are going to put up a 30-minute dance routine, which will have a 12-minute Hip-Hop sequence followed by a semi-classical and contemporary dance on Shankar Mahadevan's Breathless," says Siddha Jain, the institute's dance secretary. "We will also have a Bhangra performance and dances to songs from Bollywood."
The club that started off as an extra-curricular activity five years back now sees as many as 100 to 150 students running off for a quick jam session after gruelling nine-hour classes daily. "Though our first priority remains academics, our teachers encourage us to go beyond. In fact, a couple of ex-students would even take up professional dancing if opportunities come their way," says Siddha. There, we just busted that myth about all IITians being geeky, bespectacled nerds. Watch them defy gravity today.
ON: Today, 6.30 pm to 7 pm
AT: Asiatic Steps, opposite Horniman Circle, Fort.
IN SEARCH OF THE TREASURE
Let your kid discover the city in a novel way, instead of staid storytelling methods. A conservation architect, a kid lover and an author have got together for a walk through historic Churchgate to have kids aged eight to thirteen understand the city's history, instead of learning it rote through their history books.
"The aim of this walk is to sensitise kids from an early age so that they may respect our culture and the tangible heritage related to it," says conservation architect Kruti Garg who will be joined by her sister Nikita Garg and author Deepak Dalal. The walk begins from the Flora Fountain intersection where the Church Gate once stood before it was demolished along with the Bombay Fort. The half hour walk will then go through the St Thomas Cathedral to the Horniman Circle where the ladies have arranged a treasure hunt for the kids.
"We will give the kids a series of clues with questions from the information we gave them during the walk, as well as images of old Bombay. We will lay these in parts so they have to pick them up and put them together to win," says Kruti. "This way, kids will see, learn, observe, play and have fun at the same time."
ON: Tomorrow, 10 am (meeting point: Flora Fountain intersection)
No prior registrations required
THE BEAUTIFUL THING
At the recently concluded Jaipur Literature Festival, we admired Sonia Faleiro, an award-winning reporter who has written a poignant book on the life of a bar dancer: Beautiful Thing. Sonia was witty, approachable and had amazing narrative skills. Converse with her as she reads from her book tomorrow.
ON: Tomorrow, 6 pm to 6.50 pm
AT: Museum Gardens, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (Prince of Wales Museum), MG Road, Fort.
FOR YOU AND YOUR DARRRLING
We are often humming Rekha Bhardwaj's songs without knowing who the woman with the superbly rustic voice really is. Even as the song Darling from 7 Khoon Maaf plays on loop in our heads, we are excited to see a live performance by Rekha, who also happens to be director-music composer Vishal Bhardwaj's wife. Rekha will start off her
performance with Sufi renditions and go on to her more popular B-town numbers. If you feel like breaking into a dance as she sings Namak Ishq Ka, we suggest you don't shy away.
ON: Today, 8.30 pm,
AT: Asiatic Steps, opposite Horniman Circle, Fort.
WATCH A FILM IN A FILM
When Harishchandrachi Factory burst on the scene in early 2010, everyone wondered one thing: what took so long to make a film on the father of Indian cinema? The cinematic wonder, also the directorial debut of Mumbai-based theatre actor-director Paresh Mokashi, was once slated to be an Oscar winner. If you failed to catch the Marathi movie made from a shoestring budget on the big screen, you can do so tomorrow.
The film chalks Phalke's journey from being a portrait photographer to his quitting the family printing business, stumbling upon a tent theatre where he watched a silent motion
picture, his trip to London to learn the art of filmmaking and the making of his first movie by casting a group of inexperienced actors.
ON: Tomorrow, 6 pm, Coomaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (Prince of Wales Museum), MG Road, Fort.
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