Prime South : Tidings From The Southern States

What made the fund-raiser possible was the coming together of over 20 top models,including Zulfie Syed, Acquin Paes and Tarun Arora, to feature the products of companieslike Madura Garments, Deepam Silks, The Wearhouse, Kingfisher Line and Tanishq at The ParkHotel. The models waived their fees, the companies contributed to the medical fund and thehotel sponsored the hour-long event. "Very honestly, we did not expect much but wewere able to raise the amount that would meet a fraction of Niharika’s medical bills.It is just a gesture to create a spirit of togetherness," said Prasad Bidapa, whoseidea the show was. He felt that Bangalore was an appropriate venue for the show, for morethan 30 of the 75 top "working" Indian models are from this city.

The human mind clashing with itself, it’s been a favourite subject of AdoorGopalakrishnan’s films. Since his first film Swayamvaram (1972), he’sdrawn sketches of individuals in direct confrontation with poverty; trapped in thequagmire of social norms; rising from feudal ruins, coming to terms with the hazy world ofmemories; caught in the trappings of love and yearning to break free; coping with themoral demands of servility and licking the wounds of a tragic and unfair history.

After a sabbatical during which he made two documentaries, one on Kathakali artisteKalamandalam Gopi and the other on the dance form Koodiyattam, Adoor is back to analysingthe emotional turmoils of the human mind. This time he has gone back to the ’40s forthe story of a family of executioners. The shooting for the film, Nizhalkuthu(which translates as Shadow Play), his ninth feature, is in the process of being wrappedup at Pottakulam village in Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari district.

The film goes back to the days when Travancore was still a princely state. The Maharajaof the time used to employ the skills of a family of executioners from Nagercoil. Being aspecialised job, these executioners received high salaries besides ‘tax-free’land. The family became more and more wealthy with each execution. Till the dayrealisation dawns that their prosperity came with murder stains on it. They decide to giveup the hangman’s job. But this spells only trouble because the family knew no otherprofession. Now, they were not only burdened with guilt for having put so many people todeath but also faced joblessness and the penury that came with it.

Adoor focuses on the last descendant of this family, Kalliappan, who died a decade ago.Though he has decapitated about a dozen men, he is now incapable of killing even a hen. Itis the mental anguish of the retired hangman, played by Malayalam actor OduvilUnnikrishnan, that does shadowplays in Adoor’s new film.

The old executioner, witness to the death of four of his 10 children, is called backinto service by the Maharaja who orders him to handle a fresh execution. Kalliappan iscaught in a cleft, between the call of duty and the pangs of his dark past.

The film is being produced by Adoor’s friend, French filmmaker Joel Farges.Besides Oduvil, Nizhalkuthu’s cast includes Nedumudi Venu, Sukumari, Murali,Jagathi Sreekumar and newcomers Rajiv Menon and Reeja Venugopal.   

For the people, the subtext of the latest Malayalam blockbuster Praja starringMohanlal, is not something people who flock to all Mohanlal releases will agree with. Eventhe screenplay of Ranji Pannikar, one of the two scriptwriters in Kerala who enjoy starstatus, cannot make them change their opinion.

Zakir Hussain (Mohanlal) is out to avenge the death of his underworld guru Mustafa Haji(Anupam Kher) by killing Raman Bhai (Mahesh Anand).He does that in the first few minutesof the film. Having had enough, a tired Hussain quits the mafia and moves to Delhi. Buthis enemies follow him and so does the ips officer Mary Kurien who had Zakir on her mostwanted list. He is still on her most wanted list. But now she wants to live with him.Thundering dialogues and an obscenely fat Mohanlal executing impossible (for him) fightscenes. The film pretends to roar on. Praja is certainly not for the people.

Undoubtedly, the best-kept secret of chief minister S.M. Krishna is that he is aconnoisseur of music. And it came as a pleasant surprise to guests at a dinner hosted byhim and wife Prema Krishna. The dinner featured a performance by renowned Hindustanivocalist of the Gwalior gharana, Veena Sahasrabuddhe. The guest list included governorRama Devi, Dr U.R. Ananthamurthy, Arundati Nag, Vani Ganapathy, Dr Radhakrishnan (son ofNobel laureate Sir C.V. Raman), actor Ramesh Arvind and a few of his cabinet colleagues.In short, the who’s who of Bangalore. As the evening rolled on, Raag Hansdhwanifollowed Raag Nand (three compositions) along with Kabir Doha and closed with VandeMataram. "It was divine music," was how CM Krishna summed up the show.

Shankar Khandadi’s Creations, the five-day exhibition cum sale of homefurniture, drew Chennai’s elite to dbs Galleria. Conspicuous by his presence was T.N.Seshan, former election commissioner, among other corporate bigwigs and industry doyens. From shoe-racks and side stools to drawing room furniture, wardrobes and kitchenettes, theexhibits were sleek and space-saving.

The customised furniture includes imported leather and fabric-covered recliners,futons, incliners, love seats and couch combinations. "We import the best material,be it leather or beech wood and then put the item together at our unit near Chennai,"says Khandadi. While drawing room units range from Rs 35,000 upwards, a complete custommade kitchen with wood panels, counter tops, chimneys and other accessories can costaround a lakh rupees. Of course, comforts come at a price; recliners specially importedfrom Malaysia, costing Rs 17,000 to Rs 29,000, were the main attraction at the sale."We carefully select and customise our furniture to fit into the smaller Indian homeand yet retain the comfort and elegance that comes with exclusively finished units,"says Khandadi.

Winter is undoubtedly the season for the arts, when mellow weather allows for open airdance festivals and opulent music concerts. But this was one festival with adifference—it was a feast of words. ‘Writers Block—a celebration of SouthIndian Writing’, held recently in Bangalore, spanned a week of lectures andinteractive dialogues. Speakers ranged from eminent writers like Shashi Deshpande, ShashiWarrier, and Ramachandra Guha to poet Vijay Nambisan, and dance critic Ashish Khokaramongst others. All of whom contribute to genres ranging from translation, poetry,fiction, film, drama, and non-fiction like sports journalism, biography and travelwriting.

Says the event’s convenor Jayapriya Vasudevan of Jacaranda Press, "the ideawas to engage writers who are primarily based in south India and therefore impact the cultural fabric of this region". Yet the concerns of writers clearly heed no geographical boundaries. At the drama readingsession, playwright Mahesh Dattani’s newest play, Clearing the Rubble, toldthe story of Muslim families in Gujarat not getting their due in quake relief. Why is thecraft of biography absent in India, was a question for participants in the non-fictionwriting forum. Academic Ramachandra Guha had a pertinent observation, that this lacunaowes much to the lack of a culture of remembering the past dispassionately as alsocelebrating the contribution of individuals. In all, this was one brainstorming sessionthat left audience and panelists with more questions than answers. All the better for thenext festival.    

She is, arguably, among the tallest women in the ips. Tejdeep Kaur Menon, DIG of Police(Home Guards), Andhra Pradesh, hides extraordinary concern and sensitivity behind herovert charm. She has overcome many a hurdle since her early days as SP in thefaction-ridden Cuddapah district and has lately distinguished herself in tackling cases ofgender inequity and domestic violence. She is the first woman officer in the state tobecome dig of a range and has also raised two battalions of the Andhra Pradesh specialpolice. But hang on. Tejdeep is also a poet. Her poems, out in three collections, reflectsher joys and sorrows as a woman, wife, mother and of course as a cop. A particularlypoignant poem is about the death of a school-going daughter to brain cancer. Her latestcollection, Minnaminni (firefly in Malayalam), is being brought out by Sterling.