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The Hindu : DEEPA KURUP

Get ready for a theatre fest that will thrill you, whatever age group you may belong to.

IT’S PLAY TIME: For children, by children and of children.

Six children sat in a semi-circlearound the puppet show.A modern-day puppet show,which showed a boy playing a computergame — perhaps even beingconsumed by it entirely. This performanceis only a small preview ofwhat will be on offer for children atthe 10-day-long “Aha! InternationalTheatre Festival for Children.”Many groups

Aha! Yes, this title says it all, andprobably what you will say whenyou see the variety of theatre experiencesthat will unfurl at this festivalorganised by Ranga Shankarain Bangalore from August 26 toSeptember 6.

So, how would you enjoy thisseemingly serious experience? It isespecially designed for children asyoung as 20 months, to 14 years,and has theatre groups from Germany,Australia and Argentina,not to mention many others fromIndia, explains Arundhati Nag, orthe `ranga shankara’ aunty as childrenfondly call her.

“Aha!” an organisation promotingtheatre for children, by childrenand of children, has beenstaging plays in schools and forchildren for three years now. Thisis the first festival of its kind, andwhat’s more, this year the internationalgroups and a play from Rangashankaracalled Zapperdockeland the Wock will also be taken toChennai.

`Garbage Mouse’ staged by aGerman group, `The Stones’ fromAustralia and `Pirates Code’ fromArgentina, are a few plays that areon the cards. `The Great Lalula,’ acharming and well-researchedproduction for children aged 20months to three years promises tobe an interesting and novel experience.Welcome participation

Arundhati Nag, creative directorof Rangashankara, and the famousplaywright and the theatre’s chairpersonGirish Karnad welcomedparticipation, and also hoped thatschools would get in touch withthem, so they can take this theatreexperience to schools and reach alarger audience.

It’s very important that childrenwatch theatre and are exposed tothe magic of a live performance,Karnad said. The festival also includessymposia for theatregroups.

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The Hindu :

Bommi and Friends is all set to fill your child’s world with mirth

Frontier heroes The first Indian-made high-definition animation series aimed at a global audience

Libro, Bommi and Dazzleland might mean nothing to you right now. But, next year, they would have all become an intrinsic part of your child’s world, filling it with unadulterated joy and fun.

The characters? A magical book that goes by the name of Libro; a cute Indian girl called Bommi who lives in the real world; and her gang of friends in the book — Remba the giraffe, Yip the dog, Taco the monkey, Maya the crow and Boris the elephant.With adorable quirks

What makes the series look so good (we caught a sneak preview!) is that it is eminently believable; no character is all white or all black; they all come with their own set of adorable quirks. Remba is very fond of dressing up; Maya is an inventor; and Taco is timid and apprehensive, very unlike a monkey. Little wonder, considering ace storyteller Jeeva Raghunath is part of the creators, along with K. Chandramohan. “We did not want flawless, over-smart kids. But, Bommi is one up on the others, because she is human,” explains Jeeva.

So, why is Bommi special to Indian animation? Because, it is the first Indian-made high-definition animation series aimed at a global audience. So, while the characters and basic storyline were conceptualised here, it was co-developed and written abroad.

“When we visited international film festivals, we knew there was a market for a product such as this. We showed them the initial sketches, and they liked what they saw,” says Mathiseelan Ramachandran, managing director of Image Venture, which has produced the show.

To make the product more appealing to a global audience, the characters have various geographical histories. Bommi is Indian, but speaks in a U.S. accent; Remba is from Africa; Yip from…More

The Hindu :

Emraan Hashmi says his silence has been misread

The other day noted filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt said, “Silence has dangerous implications”. Little did he know his words will come back to haunt his nephew Emraan Hashmi, now in the middle of a controversy he probably never meant to stoke up.

Some journalists had asked Emraan at a press conference if he still stuck to his stand in the now famous Pali Hill controversy where he accused the Nibaana Housing Society of not letting him buy an apartment in the Society because he was a Muslim!

Emraan pondered a while, kept his counsel, stating he would wait for the judgement of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission.No backtracking

But the damage had been done as the word went out that Emraan was going back on his allegations of religious discrimination. Emraan though, is sticking to his stand. Reiterating his faith in the Commission’s judgement,

Emraan says, “It is absolutely baseless to say I have backtracked on my statement. Whatever I said to the media earlier I repeated to the Commission. I have reason to believe that discrimination has taken place. Unfortunately, at places the issues has been politicised. I am okay with the verdict as I am looking at a peaceful resolution of the whole problem. The news report that I have taken back my allegations was damaging. I want to set the record straight. People have misread meaning in my silence.”

The reel hero who has been a regular in his uncles Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt’s films and carved his own niche as a romantic actor, is now all set to be a real-life hero.

By going public with his allegations of discrimination, he has expressed the anguish of people denied accommodation because of being Muslims, or even belonging to certain parts of the country or even nurturing certain food habits! Though Emraan has found a…More

The Hindu : y>

Inside story A new show on Animal Planet looks into the secret lives of jockeys

Animal Planet has launched a reality series on jockeys that will give viewers an insider look at the cut throat competition and private lives of professional jockeys and their magnificent horses.

The 12-part series is aired on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. and chronicles the lives and careers of seven jockeys and their horses. Check it out to find out who crosses the finish line first in the quest to win a share of more than 35 million dollars. Animal Planet cameras take viewers on and off the track — from their homes to the jockey’s room where they see how these athletes prepare for each race, physically and mentallyFor these jockeys, everything is riding as they participate at the Oak Tree Meet, which leads up to some of the most important races of the season.

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The Hindu :

After directing Aamir, Murugadoss is set to work with Akshay Kumar and Shahrukh Khan

Starry plans Murugadoss’s next films will feature Suriya, Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan

Producers love to sign Murugadoss because he is not a recalcitrant director. He is soft spoken, a great analyst, meticulous and methodical and above all is open to suggestions. No wonder, Aamir Khan had absolutely no qualms working with him. Murugadoss today is known for creating a record as “Ghajini” collected around Rs. 240 crore unheard in the Hindi film history. Was he under pressure when directing the Hindi version of “Ghajini”?

“Not really. I felt responsible and had worked on the weak points of the Tamil and Telugu versions. Aamir liked the love track and he didn’t want me to change it. It was on the back of my mind that if the film flopped, people would blame the director from the ‘South’ though I worked with an entirely new unit and technicians. I think I filled in all the gaps and came up with a satisfying film. I always feel there can’t be bigger heroes than NTR, MGR but sometimes even animation films become a super hit, so the bottom line is content is the king.”

How was it working with Aamir Khan? Murugadoss says the actor is very knowledgeable. “If you’d go to the terrace ask him to comment on the flying kite, he will tell you how that is made, what length the tail should be, the speed of the wind, how the thread is made etc. He is a master of all subjects. He even has a library in the bathroom. The best part about him is that he was aware that in a mainstream film, more than finding logic, creating interest in public is important.”

At the moment the director is busy working on a script for Suriya, which will be…More

The Hindu : y>M.S. Murali Krishna wonders why no one plays anymore

I have been thinking about how the times have changed from the time I was a middle school student in Mysore, nearly 35 years ago. Those were the times when life was calmer and sedate. Children liked playing games such as buguri, gilli danda, lagori etc. All these games were played outdoors and the children were constantly exposed to the vagaries of nature.

After finishing school, I would catch the first available bus to reach home as there were many friends waiting for me to join the games. Occasionally, we also got bruised and hurt, much to the chagrin of our parents. Such was the enticing power of those games that we played them in rain and shine. Many a time, quarrels erupted between children and they would stop talking to each other for weeks on end. However, a candy bar or lollypop was enough to establish friendly relations.

Most of these games involved getting dirty and muddy. Our clothes were perpetually mud-stained, forcing our mothers to deliver long-winded sermons about the time wasted in washing and rewashing these soiled clothes, especially since modern washing machines were yet to make an appearance.

Contrast this situation to the games played by children today. After returning from school, most of them turn to their TV sets to see programmes on Cartoon Network, Pogo etc. This is the case in most middle and upper middle class families in urban areas. Parents’ attitude has remained unchanged and they continue to dissuade children from playing.

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The Hindu : y>A film on Michael Jackson’s last days will be released

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment are going to release “This is It”, a film drawn from Michael Jackson’s last rehearsals and behind-the-scenes footage on October 30. The film is produced with the full supportof the estate of Michael Jackson and will be drawn from hundreds of hours of rehearsal as the late singer was preparing for his concert series in London.

The film, which will also offer select sequences in 3-D, will provide a unique career retrospective and feature interviews with some of Jackson’s closest friends and creative collaborators.

The majority of the film’s footage was shot in June 2009 at STAPLES Centre in Los Angeles, California, and The Forum in Inglewood, California, as Jackson prepared for “This Is It”, the series of 50 concerts he planned to present at the O2 Arena in London.

In the coming weeks, additional information about the film will be available atwww.michaeljackson.com.

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The Hindu : y>An exciting fortnight ahead on UTV World Movies

UTV World Movies celebrates the works of feted Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano in “In-focus” for the next two weeks.

It begins with “Takeshis” at 8.30 p.m. on August 19, which tells the story of Takeshi, who lives the harried life of a celebrity. One day he meets his blond look-alike Kitano, a convenience store cashier — what follows are a series of intriguing experiences as their paths cross.

Kitano directs and plays the lead role in “Sonatine”, which airs on August 26 at 8.30 p.m. It is his take on the last days of a Tokyo gangster. Murakawa and his gang retreat to a seaside hideaway hoping to survive, but their enemies start picking them off one by one. Murakawa decides to go on the offensive for a final showdown.

Also on the cards for this month are two films that made it into producer Roman Paul’s list of “50 Movies to see before you die”. The first is “Buenos Aires 1977”, based on a true story of a goalkeeper of a football team Claudio Tamburrini, who is kidnapped by government forces, and sent to a clandestine detention centre. Several months of torture and humiliation later, Claudio and his friends decide to escape. UTV screens this on August 20, at 8.30 p.m.

“Hana-Bi”, on August 27 at 8.30 p.m., is a tragic film about Nishi, a policeman whose wife is dying of leukaemia. Meanwhile, one of his partners gets shot, and is confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Though Nishi would like to stay and help, he is forced to quit, to spend time with his dying wife.

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The Hindu :

Mridula Koshy feels an author should hold a mirror to society

This collection of short stories talks about working class people in New Delhi. It is an insight into the lives ofprofessionals, who work and live in apartment complexes, and also those provide them with various services,” says Mridula Koshy, who has brought out a collection of short stories, “If It is Sweet”.

In Crossword Bookstore for the launch of her book by TFA, the pretty author who was born and bought up in Delhi, contends that the city provides a unique backdrop to all her stories. “The city is unique. It has immense wealth,gnawing poverty, hip flyovers, an efficient public transportation system like the metro and run down gullies and roads. It is a city of migrants from across the country; each having their own experiences and stories. It is a great place to pen stories.”

A trade unionist in the US, Mridula feels that her stories are edged with her political opinions: “My stories are influenced by my experiences as a trade unionist and deal with the issues of class and other social issues. I make an attempt to look at both sides of the class divide.”

She adds: “An author should play the role of holding up a mirror to society. I write about contemporary issues that occur in households across the country. Most of the stories deal with the class divide that exists in society and how it operates at various levels. I do not use literature to enhance any political cause.”

Mridula, who isinfluenced by Alice Munroe contends: “The book is a description of society as I see it. Various angles have been explored. My favourite story is “Jeans” which traces the journey of a pair of jeans across various strata of society. It is a humorous take as the jeans is passed and has different meanings for a diverse group…More

The Hindu :

Being a good patient means asking your doctor the right questions

Sanchala had been bleeding heavily for two weeks. When she consulted a gynaecologist, she was given an injection, which would apparently stop the bleeding.

It is three months now and Sanchala has not had a period since taking the injection. She feels bloated and has mood swings. She visited another gynaecologist who asked her what injection she had been given.

Sanchala had absolutely no idea. She pulled out her old prescription and found out, to her dismay, that she had been given a hormonal contraceptive injection, which can postpone periods by 3 months. And Sanchala is actually trying to conceive!

Saisha had a fever of 102 degrees. Her family physician gave her an antibiotic because he suspected typhoid. Two weeks later Saisha found out she was pregnant. She is now terrified that the medication may have had a deleterious effect on the developing fetus.

These two young women have made a cardinal mistake. They not only did not find out what medication they were being given, they also assumed that they had no right to ask.

Remember that being a good patient means asking the right questions. Very often, you might be under stress because of ill health and may want to leave the decisions to your doctor. Of course, it is all right to have faith in your doctor but your responsibility is primarily to yourself.

Let us take the case of Sanchala. When she was offered an injection to ‘stop the bleeding’, she should have asked what injection was being given and what its side effects were. The doctor could have informed her that she was giving her an injection that would stop periods for three months. Since she did not, if Sanchala had asked before taking the injection, she would have got the answer and been better prepared.

Saisha, on the other hand, was not…More