Society

Bangalore Book festival, in its eighth edition, the second largest in the country, after Kolkata, kicked off last weekend at Palace Grounds. The festival is on till November 21st. As usual there are stalls of major book stores and publishers like Sapna, Navneet, and Higginbothams.  British library, Britannica encyclopedia, and Times Group too have their stalls. Engineering, medical, photography, architecture or interior designing, there is something for everyone. Bangalore Book Fair 2010. Pic: Usha Hariprasad. There are a few unusual stalls - take a look at some of these offbeat attractions. For lovers of history and philosophy The Center for…

It's been a busy week at the movies in Bangalore. Even as the much awaited The Social Network opened in theatres, the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy's International film festival opened at three different venues in the city, screening 85 films between November 8 and14, 2010. Besides its presence in the city, the festival also expected to move to Bidar, Dharwad, Mangalore and Shimoga.  Citizen Matters caught up with some of the festival's weekend fare. The Social Network (USA) This film on the making of Facebook runs with the tagline "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies".…

Old-timers of Malleshwaram area cannot ‘not know' this simple library, on Sampige Road, Malleshwaram (between 2nd and 3rd Cross). It has been there since 1951.  69-year-old G R J Gupta, has part of this library since he was nine-years-old. Though it started as a small store selling grocery, vegetables, fruits, milk, badam milk and condiments, newspapers, magazines and books, it was later converted into a full fledged library. "My father, who was a very well-known goldsmith and called the Gold King of Chennai, suddenly relocated to Bangalore in 1951.  I was just 9 years old then.  I do not know…

A good script is a rarity in Hindi cinema, and director Vipul Shah's Action Replayy - even when it hearkens back to Hollywood super hits like Back to the Future - is all of that and more. The film tells the story of a young boy (Aditya Roy Kapoor) who travels back in time to make his parents (Akshay Kumar & Aishwariya Rai) fall in love. The film will especially appeal to those who have an appetite for seventies nostalgia. The ‘retro' touch that permeates the film is well done, and one smiles as one re-lives a touch of the…

Having attended most of the performances of the Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival 2010, it's worth introspecting on the effort this festival has made to introduce different forms of folk theatre to the Bangalore audience. This year's theme was different from the normal staging of plays, and probably unique as a theatre festival presentation. The most impressive aspect of this was the huge effort that has been made to get folk theatre artists from not just our own State, but from as far afield as Assam and Manipur. Also, various forms...the singing or the "recital" forms such as the Pandavani from…

Abhivyakti! (An expression!) - an exhibition of photographs taken by amateur photographer Ashwinikumar Maslekar, a resident of Brigade Millennium, was held on October 23rd, at Mayflower Block. Ashwinikumar with his pictures. Pic: Arathi Manay Yajaman. Maslekar, 40, is a self-taught photographer, whose travelling assignments with Wipro have given him the opportunity to pursue his passion. The exhibition was held by Ashwini family as a small effort to encourage his passion. It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words and it is probably the only way to capture and freeze a moment in time with just a click! Maslekar…

Dance in Indian cinema is unfortunately been labelled Bollywood dance. Films in the early nineties evolved with performances from artistes from indigenous art forms. Many actors, dancers and musicians who were bred in regional theatre moved their performances from stage to screen to find a larger audience and explore a new media of expression.  On the sets of Pancharangi. Pic: Nritarutya. In recent times  senseless ‘item' numbers rule the big screen where it is all about the jhatkas , matkas and the jing chak music that sell the film as a commodity. Seldom does one come across meaningful choreography where intelligent conceptualisation, beautiful…

Jackie (Kannada) Jackie has been amongst Kannada cinema's eagerly awaited films of October, if for no other reason than the coming together of director Suri (Duniya fame) and Puneet Rajkumar. Yet before the film is half complete it quickly becomes clear that if all the problems of the Indian film-making could be highlighted in one film, it would be Jackie. The film that is reminiscent of an 80s Hindi cinema potboiler seems confused on whether its intention is to be an entertainer or a film with a socially relevant message. In the end it winds up between the devil and…

Many in India watched with curiosity as Julia Roberts filmed for Eat, Pray, Love in India. Now, many months later, the film directed by Ryan Murphy and filmed by Brad Pitt is finally here. Eat, Pray, Love, based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Elizabeth Gilbert, tells the story of Elizabeth's (Julia Roberts) journey around the world to find herself after a painful divorce. As the story unfolds on celluloid, the traveler in you can't help responding to moments in the film with a sense of deja vu. For her part, Julia Roberts brings alive the role…

If you've traversed 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar, as you get close to the flyover, you've probably seen a signboard saying the ants cafe. Perhaps you've breezed by with a smile, quirkily imagining a column of ants industriously marching about. If so, you wouldn't be far off the mark. There is a small army of human ants in there, working diligently. Their aim: to bring out positive stories from the Northeast. Kelhe. This Naga pork is cooked with dried bamboo shoots and king chillies. Pic: The ants cafe. Ah the Northeast...isn't that where they eat a lot of pork? Where…