Centre Stage - P.C. Ramakrishna

P.C. Ramakrishna, veteran theatre actor and director, recounts to Saritha Rao Rayachoti some of the high points of his 50-year association with English Theatre.

If performing Carnatic music professionally had been more remunerative, P.C. Ramakrishna would perhaps be better known today for his prowess on the Mridangam. In the 1960s, faced with the choice of continuing to play the instrument or taking the first steps towards a corporate career, Ramakrishna chose the latter. However, what has remained unchanged over the last 50 years is his commitment to his true calling - theatre.

Ramakrishna is part of The Madras Players, the oldest running English theatre group in India, that itself turns 60 in 2015. This span of time, we realise, parallels perhaps the very growth of English Theatre in the country.

“Initially, The Madras Players produced plays written by English, American, Russian and European writers.” recounts Ramakrishna, “But since the 1970s, four Indian playwrights emerged, who changed forever, the metier - Badal Sircar, Mohan Rakesh, Vijay Tendulkar and Girish Karnad. We enacted their plays translated to English back then, but today many of our plays are written in English, including from Chennai, writers like Sabita Radhakrishna, Chetan Shan, Timeri Murari and Shreekumar Varma.”  

Ramakrishna has been an integral part of productions such as Land of the Free, Silence! The Court is in Session, Rural Phantasy (based on Kalki’s Kanayazhiyin Kanavu), Meghadootam, Dance Like A Man, Mangalam and more recently, Honour, which he directed. He has played innumerable characters, from the titular role in his first play, The Amazing Mr. Scuttleboom to his most recent enactment of Mr. Whymper in the Peter Hall adaptation of Animal Farm.

“In 1960 we had 50 to 60 people in the audience for English plays with Indian themes. Today we have 3 shows running at full house. The audience’s expectations of a theatre experience have also grown. Take for instance, our production of Mike Cullen’s Anna Weiss in 2000.”

The play on the subject of False Memory Syndrome is about a therapist whose young patient, in the midst of therapy, remembers being sexually molested by her father.

Ramakrishna recalls, “The subject was very intense. We rehearsed on camera because the actors playing the two women were not comfortable with onlookers. I found it traumatic to work on this play and return home to two teenage daughters. At the end of the performance, the audience stayed in their seats for almost 20 minutes, reluctant to leave without an interaction on the subject. The therapist, Dr. Vijay Nagaswami, who was part of the audience, spent some time answering the audience’s questions.”

Sivasankari’s Karunai Kolai was conceived as an English play by Ramakrishna and rendered an ending different from the original with the author’s permission. “Mercy is a monologue I directed in 2005, about a couple who are very devoted to each other. The play features the predicament of the husband, as his wife shows no signs of recovering from coma following a mishap. I remember the audience opinion being clearly divided on the ending. The men predominantly agreed with the husband’s point of view, empathising with the guilt of the caregiver. But the women in the audience believed that the ending was not fair to the character of the wife.”

He holds up ‘Water’ as an example of the writer’s keen observation of a social situation. “Komal Swaminathan’s Tamil play, Thanneer Thanneer moved me immensely when I first saw it. In 2012, we approached his daughter about producing it in English at coincidentally the same time that the idea occurred to her. The brilliance of Water is that the social situation and corruption depicted in it are as true of today as they were when the play was first enacted in the Tamil original 32 years ago.”

Ramakrishna retired from a corporate career in 1993 in order to devote more time to theatre. That year, he also dabbled briefly in Tamil cinema, with roles in movies like May Maadham and Mani Rathnam's Thiruda Thiruda. With his accent-neutral diction and resonating voice, he is also a much sought after voice-over professional for corporate films and documentaries for clients such as BHEL and ISRO, with the latter's videos about their launch vehicles and satellites carrying his distinctive voice.   

Ramakrishna speaks of mike-friendliness, and the distinction between a singing voice and a speaking voice, which brings us to the care he takes to keep his vice sounding the way it does. “It works for me, but may not work for a singer. Speaking requires short breaths and singers take long breaths - the discipline is different. I am blessed with the DNA, but I do take care of my voice with some rudimentary breathing exercises. I drink liquids at room temperature and avoid spicy foods. I do not speak above the ambient noise level, at, say, a wedding. I also stay silent when I can.”

The last statement catches us unawares.

Ramakrishna elaborates, “Silence is an active state, and it is not at all about shutting off. An hour of silence a day leaves the voice refreshed and the mind, unclogged. This was, perhaps why the rishis of yore undertook mauna vratham. Silence is indeed the greatest rejuvenator.” 

(An edited version of this article was published in the January 2015 Issue of Harmony - Celebrate Age)

The Name of the Game

Early this year, when Sujatha Muthanna attended a social gathering in Mysore, little did she realise that she would be one among many who would go home that evening with an improved vocabulary and a finer understanding of Kodava Takk, the spoken language of the Kodava community.

Bestowed with the sobriquet, The Scotland of India, Kodagu or Coorg as it is commonly called, is a land blessed with lush forests, fertile soil, an abundant monsoon season and bountiful produce in the form of coffee, cardamom, pepper and many varieties of fruits. This is the land of clans and warriors with numerous Kodavas having served in the armed forces, including Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa and General K.S. Thimmayya. The Kodavas are renowned for their valour, respect for tradition and elders, a love for the outdoors and a deep emotional bond with their land.

Today, a major cause for concern within the community is the population figures of Kodavas both resident in Kodagu and outside. The number varies depending on the source and year of survey, but hovers at approximately one hundred thousand. There is also a marked departure from agriculture as a main occupation and migration from Kodagu to other cities and countries in search of better infrastructure and opportunities.

Kodava Takk, the language spoken by the community does not have a script, and many of the stories and songs in the language have been passed down orally. The Kannada language is used as a script even though this poses a challenge in conveying some sounds and expressions that are unique to Kodava Takk. Also, English words have crept into everyday  vocabulary and the usage of the mother-tongue is gradually diminishing.

Many attempts have been made at an individual level by members of the Kodava community to help preserve the culture of their forefathers. One such member is seventy year old Achandira Chondamma Uthappa, based in Bangalore. Chondamma creates the crossword puzzle that appears in the community’s weekly newspaper, Brahmagiri, but a more interesting fact is that she has created an ingenious way to kindle interest in Kodava Takk.

“While those who live in Kodagu use Kodava Takk extensively, the city-dwellers from the community have forgotten many of these words that are unique to our language and tradition.” says Chondamma. “Those who have settled in the cities mainly speak English and the local language of that region. They visit Kodagu occasionally, and except in social gatherings, they do not get the opportunity to speak our language. Moreover, their children grow up not knowing the mother-tongue. This is when I realised that we can promote the language through simple games and Tambola.”

In 2012, Chondamma set about creating the Kodava Takk Tambola as a variation of the popular party game, Tambola or Housie-Housie. She hoped that even as people enjoyed playing a familiar party game, Kodava Takk words would get introduced into their everyday vocabulary.

The conventional game of Tambola or Housie-Housie is extremely popular in gatherings at clubs and social associations in India including the Kodava Sangha that Chondamma is a member of. It is similar to the American game of Bingo, itself derived from the Italian lottery Lo Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia.

The rules of Tambola are simple. This is a game of chance, and the only skill required is that of ticking off numbers on a ticket as they are being called out by the game host. Each ticket has fifteen unique numbers ranging anywhere from one to ninety. There is usually no cap on the number of tickets a person can play and no limit to the number of people who can play the game.

From a bag of numbered coins, the game host pulls out a random number and announces it, placing the coin on the corresponding place on a Tambola board. Those with tickets that have the number strike it off and the objective is to strike out as many called numbers as possible. There are prizes for completing specific sections, for instance, Jaldi Five is the first ticket that strikes out any five called numbers on a single ticket and there are prizes for the first ticket/s to complete each row. The grand prize goes to the first ticket to strike out all fifteen digits.

The Kodava Takk Tambola is only a minor variation on the conventional Tambola - the numbered board and coins remain the same, but the tickets are different. On the ticket, there are fifteen cells with unique numbers printed on them. The variation is that each numbered cell also contains a word from the Kodava language. So, each ticket essentially has fifteen kodava words on it.

For each session, the host can decided whether to call out the number as in the conventional game or choose to call out the Kodava word. For instance, the word corresponding to the number 2 is ‘ibbiny’ which is the word for ‘manji’ or ‘mist’. Those who are unfamiliar with the language, can still play the game based on the numbers being called out, thereby making the vocabulary an interesting byproduct of playing the game.

In the first section of her published book of tickets, along with instructions to play, Chondamma provides the list of numbers with the corresponding Kodava word, usually three- or four-lettered, that are not in regular use. She also provides useful cues about some words and the host can use these or create new points of discussion for each word or concept. For instance, the word corresponding to 38 is ‘kalakupya’ which is the name for a traditional jacket or blouse. The game host, in this case, could go into details of the traditional attire of the community.

Initially, Chondamma prepared a handwritten set of fifty tickets which were introduced at a social gathering within the Kodava community. Based on its success, the feedback and the appreciation she received, she published ticket books with one hundred tickets each. She has since distributed ticket books across associations in the city of Bangalore as well as in Mysore, where Sujatha Muthanna came across the game.

“The most striking aspect about Kodava Takk Tambola is that it is a form of experiential learning.” says Sujatha, “When a number or word is called out by the host, there is a brief conversation about the word and the concept it may represent. The host is, in this case, not merely an organiser of the game who reads out the word, but is also a sort of facilitator for learning the vocabulary. At the session I attended, the conversations that this game sparked off were so rich with detail and filled with anecdotes narrated by the elders and the host, that we were all clamouring for more rounds of the game.”

The possibility of using the Kodava Takk Tambola for language-learning is immense since a large group of people with one ticket each can effectively add a minimum of fifteen words to their vocabulary in the duration of one game session.

Chondamma hopes that the community will play Kodava Takk Tambola in many of its social gatherings and provide her feedback. She also believes that this game will benefit families, where under the pretext of playing a game, children can very quickly be taught words and traditional concepts that they may not be familiar with but which link them to the land, language and the cultural identity of their forefathers.

An edited version of this article appeared in the September 2014 issue of Harmony India's online edition. Pic courtesy Harmony India (Prasad Durga).

Made In Chennai - Rehane Yavar Dhala

One of the first and most dynamic fashion designers to catapult the name of Chennai into the world fashion horizon.

Professionally, you could be based anywhere in the world. Why Chennai? 
This is where my husband is, my family is. And I want it all – a career and a family. It doesn't matter where you are based - if you do your job well, the whole world will know how good you are.

What was your first big break? 
After being part of the vibrant fashion scene in Rome, I moved to Chennai, married with a baby. I wanted to express myself through my art, but frustratingly, there were no takers for western wear. I didn't have a label back then, but I got the opportunity to design for Jacqueline Verghese who contested in Femina Miss India (I think in 1996). When I won the Best Designer of the Year award at the pageant, it was a validation of my work.

What was the turning point for you as a designer? 
Lakme Fashion Week Mumbai 2002. It was not just about me - it was about being pitched against so much design talent, so many designers with their own thumb prints from across India, all under one roof. The experience reaffirmed that my designs were unique and distinct.

What are some of the challenges you've faced on the way to establishing yourself? 
When I first began in Chennai, I did simple silhouettes with excellent cuts and no embellishments. There were no takers. Sadly, even today, there are no takers for a simple well-cut trouser. It's almost always unsold in my boutique. Nobody even tries it on. But when I wear it, people want to know where I bought it!

How do you define a Rehane creation? 
More is less. I decided to change my design definition and go the opposite direction - from simple, unembellished to flamboyant, over-embellished design. I have now toned it down a little to strike a balance.

Any interesting anecdotes? 
When one of my tailors got married, in his wedding card, under his name, it read, 'Head Tailor for Rehane'. I thought that was very cute!

In 2000, I had just launched my Roses Collection that did brilliantly well. A few ladies walked in to my boutique on Khader Nawaz Khan Road and sprayed yellow paint on my collection! We tried dry-cleaning, but that didn't work. We then replaced parts of the garments and had to throw away the stained sections. Why would anybody simply walk in to a boutique and do that?

There was also the time someone forged my signature on a cheque and tried to encash it!

What makes you tick? 
Belief in myself and dogged determination. Nothing on earth can stop me! I believe everything starts in the mind. So, when someone gave me a copy of Rhonda Byrne's The Secret, none of it was new to me - I already knew and practised what was in the book.

How's 2011 looking for you? 
Busy. In April, there's Fashion Week Delhi. In May, I'm working on a collection in tandem with the Handloom Council. In July, I'm launching my range of spiritual wear in fabrics like organic cotton, ahimsa silk etc. It's very simple, new-age lounge wear that is comfortable and pleasing to the eye. In August, I'm preparing for Pret A Porter Paris. I'll be taking the same Paris collection to Fashion Week Delhi in end-September / October.

Any words of advice to someone just starting out in fashion design? 
If you think it's easy, think again. If you think just because you're from Chennai, your collection will be accepted here, forget it. If you think making a style statement will work, you will hardly get any response beyond media labelling it as off-beat. If you're in it for the money, you will never succeed. Few people have the gift of making money and they make the best finance professionals, not designers. And finally, you will have to twist and bend yourself - be willing to make ghaghras for brides. It can also be very interesting.

An edited version appeared in Taxi Magazine's March 2011 Issue.

Made in Chennai - G.V. Prakash

Undoubtedly the most hip and happening music director in Tamizh cinema who has composed for movies like Veyil, Aayirathil Oruvan, Madrasapattinam,Va Quarter Cutting and most recently, Aadukalam.

When did you begin to seriously consider music as a career?

In high school (+1). I was the Cultural Secretary and used to also play the keyboard at culturals. That was when I realised that I must explore music as a career. Incidentally, I now work with the same people I played music with back then – my sound engineer Sri Hari, flautist Navin Iyer and singer Saindhavi.

How did your first break come about?

My first break in cinema came through a jingle I had created for Radio Mirchi's first anniversary. They asked for my showreel and when Vasanthabalan heard it, he liked it. He recommended me to Shankar Sir and that's how I ended up creating the music of Veyil.

Has it been smooth sailing?

There are always challenges. People had doubts about my capabilities, probably because I was so new and so young. I listen to people when they express themselves, but I stick to what I believe is right.

Tell us about your fans.

I have fan clubs that people start out of interest in my work. In fact, Jagadish, who manages my Facebook and Twitter accounts is doing it just because he wants to!

Another fan, Nadia from Coimbatore has so many of my pictures. She keeps sending me collages and mugs with my pictures. When the Madrasapattinam team travelled there to promote the film, she was interested in meeting only me, not the rest of the crew.

One fan came all the way from Delhi to meet me because he loved the song, 'Veyilodu vilayadi...' from 'Veyil'. He doesn't understand the language, but hears the song a hundred times a day because it makes him happy!

Why did you choose Chennai as base?

I am very attached to Chennai. It is home. I keep moving depending on where my work takes me, but if I'm away for too long, I miss the city and my grandmother's cooking. Moreover, this is where my friends are.

What's a typical work day like?

This is a creative field, so the timings of a corporate professional don't apply. I'm almost always at the studio and my friends drop in there to visit me. In the mornings, I hit the gym, then meet my clients and once work begins, I go on till midnight. At times, I have gone for an entire week at work without sleep!

We hear you're composing music for a Bollywood movie. Tell us more.

I've just completed three songs for the 3D movie, Joker, starring Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha, directed by Shirish Kunder and produced by Farah Khan. The audio release will be around September this year.

Any advice for those looking to make a career in music?

Be confident. But look at yourself from the outside, like a mirror is being held up to you. And be truthful.

What is the secret of your success as a music director?

Focus. And the fact that I know the pulse of the audience. I have a clear judgement that if I enjoy hearing something, then others will love it too.

An edited version of this interview was published in Taxi Magazine in 2011.

Made in Chennai - Mahadevan M.

Passionate food entrepreneur and Chairman of Oriental Cuisines Pvt Ltd owning some of Chennai's best loved food service brands like Cascade, Hot Breads, Zara, The French Loaf, Ente Keralam and Benjarong.

How do you relate to the city?

I'm a Chennai boy! I came to this city with nothing, but the people adopted me here. The city and I have grown together and complemented each other.

What was the turning point of your career as a restaurateur? 
The launch of Cascade. We created a sophisticated Pan-Asian restaurant with interiors designed by Parmeshwar Godrej that was different from the Chinese restaurants in the city. We discovered that the city was willing to pay more, provided there was good value. After the success of Cascade, my investors had the confidence that I could deliver.

What were some of the glitches along the way? 
When we eventually launched in Delhi, people couldn't believe that someone from an 'idli-dosa-sambar' culture could create croissants! But we chose to launch first in Chennai and the South before launching in Delhi. If we had first launched Hot Breads in Delhi, our exposure would have been bigger and our growth, quicker.

What's your typical schedule like?

That depends on which city I am in! A typical day begins at 9.30 a.m. As an NRI, I spend 6 months of the year in India and the rest, abroad. When I am abroad, I know Chennai is in good hands. When I am here, I have to talk to my people in the US, so a working day could end well after 2 a.m.

To what/whom do you owe the success of your company?

The team. While the location and the food are important, our biggest investment is in people. They have a sense of belonging with us. Our US chef went on to open 6-7 units himself!

What are your plans for expansion in the coming year?

In Chennai, we will have two brand new theme restaurants this year. We hope to increase the number of outlets of The French Loaf to 100. Internationally. we're swimming cross-current in Dubai - the focus is on survival rather than growth. Our boys were recently refused Canadian visas for our Toronto operations, so by March I hope to take a decision on what to do about it. We now have 20 people in the US and that market looks very promising. We're also taking our operations to Zambia and Tanzania.

What should wannabe restaurateurs bear in mind?

There is money to be made in this field provided you have the commitment and self-belief. Know what you do and do what you know. And you have to be willing to put in those long hours.

An edited version of this interview was published in Taxi Magazine in 2011.

Made in Chennai - Tishani Doshi

Poet, Dancer, Writer, Wanderer...

What's the best writing-related advice you got?

The best advice anyone ever gave me was from the American poet CK Williams. He told me to treat writing as a job. That means, don’t do anything else when you’re supposed to be at work. That means have working hours, don’t answer calls while you’re working, don’t go shopping while you’re supposed to be working, and don’t switch jobs without due consideration. Of course, I often break the rules, but it’s good to have them.

What were some turning points you've had along the way?

The first turning point would be discovering a book called Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. The second turning point would be Rilke. The third would be a woman called Cathy Smith Bowers from North Carolina who encouraged and nurtured my poetic ambitions. Everything else was luck, timing and the rest of it.

What are some of the challenges you've had to brave?

Oh you know, the usual. Doubt, rage, bitterness, envy, adoration, betrayal. Humdrum stuff.

Why did you choose Chennai as base? You could have chosen to be based anywhere.

Well, actually, no I couldn’t have chosen to be anywhere. Madras is the city I was born in and where my parents still live. When I decided to become a full-time writer the first thing I did was to quit my job, which meant that I quit my steady source of income, which meant that either I lived in poverty or moved back to the family house. After 8 years of student-like poverty I decided to move back home. That was a decade ago, and I’m still here.

What's your typical day like?

It’s highly typical actually. I like rituals and routines, so I basically have a pattern that I follow regardless of where I am. This involves Yoga, breakfast, writing, lunch, reading, nap, tea, walking, more writing, reading. Food is important, fresh air is important and of course, friends.

What would you consider your secret to success?

Success isn’t actually a word I associate with my life. It reeks of corporate smugness (to me). But, I suppose I’ve been successful in engineering the kind of life I want to live and this has happened mainly because of what I think is my greatest talent: stubbornness (read, perseverance). It really does go a long way. As does a strong support system.

What lies ahead?

I have no idea what lies ahead but I hope more books and other projects. I’m working on a collection of poems right now, so that’s what I have on my table for the moment.

Any words of advice for someone who'd like to be a writer?

Read, read, read. And write, write, write. That’s about it. 

An edited version of this interview was published in Taxi Magazine in 2011.

 

Made in Chennai - Suchitra Krishna Kumar

Playback Singer, RJ, Television Host

What was your first song as a playback singer?

The first song I ever sang as a playback singer was for Yuvan Shankar Raja. It was called 'Pelican Paravaigal' and was for a movie called 'Lovers'. Neither the album nor the film have released till date!

What were the turning points in your career?

There has never been one single break or turning point, because my career changed every 5 years! For my current career as a singer, the work I have done with Harris Jeyaraj, Bharadwaj, Mani Sharma and Yuvan were definite turning points. Recently, Devisri Prasad and Thaman have given an additional dimension to my singing - so they have become turning points too!

Have there been any unique challenges that you've faced?

Indian singing definitely requires some amount of classical training and the playback singing industry generally prefers sweet, feminine voices for women. Being an untrained singer with a slightly unconventional voice was the biggest challenge. But somehow, the kind of songs I got to sing were stronger on tone, expression and power, which did come easily to me.

What are some of the poignant moments you've had as a singer?

Poignant incidents happen all the time. Srikanth Deva actually stands up and claps if I ace a song, Mani Sharma treats me like a daughter, Devisri Prasad and I bond like long-lost twins, Thaman and Dharan are wonderfully caring brothers. When Rahman Sir looked me in the eye after he heard my takes for his Telugu film 'Komaram Puli' and said "Sounding good, man!”, I thought I was going to faint! My years as a playback singer so far are full of gooey-warm, happy incidents!

Why did you choose Chennai as base?

I didn't choose Chennai. Chennai chose me!

What's a typical work day like?

Walk the dog, feed her, feed self and husband (we have a power drink in the morning which our friend Andrea Jeremiah calls 'morning miracle'), yoga, lunch, work/learn at the bakery (I am an intern with 'Sandy's'), do my recordings, evening with friends/family/dog.

What would you consider your secret to success?

Is there one???

What's 2011 looking like for you?

2011 is a year of learning and travel for me. Apart from what I learn at Sandy's, I go for music lessons and plan to do a teacher's training course in yoga too. Also, I'm focusing on taking my stage concerts to the next level of showmanship.

What would be your advice to aspiring playback singers?

Like Whoopi Goldberg says in Sister Act, if you wake up in the morning and can think of nothing but singing, want to do nothing but sing, then that's what you are meant to do and it would be a crime to not pursue it. Devisri Prasad says pretty much the same thing.

An edited version of this interview was published in Taxi Magazine in 2011.

Star Struck - Sachin Tendulkar

You would be excused for not knowing who Sachin Tendulkar is, if

• you've lived all your life in a non-cricket -playing country with little exposure to the game and are now faced with the daunting prospect of living in a country where cricket is religion.
• you've just been released after being held hostage with no contact with the outside world for the last two decades.
• you've arrived in the present on a time machine from a time when few Indians broke international cricketing records.

Arguably one of the most talented cricketers of all time, everybody it seems, knows about the legendary Mr. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Making his test debut in 1989, the Little Master as he is called, went on to break record after record with his batting prowess. To fathom why Tendulkar is considered the most-worshipped cricketer in India, one must simply look at the numbers - in his career, the man has notched up a whopping 14692 runs from 177 test matches with 51 centuries and 59 half-centuries! And in 448 One Day Internationals he has scored 17842 runs with 47 centuries and 93 half centuries.

Let's not forget that his first test hundred was made when he was a mere lad of 17 and by the time he was 25, he had 16 of them. And to think Tendulkar originally wanted to be a fast bowler, but Dennis Lillee at the MRF Pace Academy persuaded him to focus on batting instead!

There is a lot of trivia associated with Sachin Tendulkar's batting talent. Ramakant Achrekar, Tendulkar's coach, is said to have famously created a reward of a coin for any bowler who would get him out, failing which, Tendulkar could keep the coin. The champ apparentlywent on to collect 13 of them! Sir Donald Bradman is said to have compared Tendulkar's batting to his own and one of the highpoints of Tendulkar's life was meeting Sir Bradman.

Peter Roebuck, a former cricketer and now a newspaper columnist and commentator is presumed to have said, "On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. "

Ask Tendulkar fans why they worship him, and pat comes the reply, “His passion for the game and his hard work. He's been around for 20 years, long after others have made their money and left. He has taken a god-given talent and honed it with hard work. And of course, he has held himself with great poise while facing some of the fiercest bowlers of his time!”

Watch Sachin Tendulkar captain the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premiere League Season 4, beginning April 8, 2011.

For the latest statistics related to Sachin Tendulkar, visit http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/35320.html

An edited version appeared in Culturama's April 2011 Issue

Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik

“I have a fascination for liminal beings - creatures who stand on the threshold. Like Ganesha (half elephant - half human). Or Narasimha (the man-lion incarnation of Vishnu). Or Janus (two heads facing two directions). Or the shape-shifting Budh/Mercury. ” says Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik.

Dr. Pattanaik himself stands at the cusp of many simultaneous existences. He is a medical doctor by qualification, a mythologist by choice and Chief Belief Officer by designation, aligning beliefs within Future Group. That is, when he isn't writing one more book, speaking at one more convention or rendering one more illustration.

“I had a general understanding of mythology like anybody else but this emerged organically over time, post my medicine. I wasn't sure I wanted to practise medicine. I was getting into a day-job in the pharma industry that I didn't quite enjoy. Mythology became my comfort zone and it led to this wonderful world that I entered.”says Dr. Pattanaik.

Dr. Pattanaik is the author of over ten books on Hindu mythology with subjects ranging from Shiva to Hanuman to Vishnu to Devi. He has created a handbook of Hindu mythology called 'Myth=Mithya' and more recently, 'Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art' and 'The Book of Ram'. His book, 'The Pregnant King' is fiction written in the style of mythology. The books usually also contain his illustrations – graceful pen and ink renderings that capture the essence of accompanying myths.

Surprisingly there is no book as yet on Krishna, by far one of the most adored of Hindu gods. Dr. Pattanaik says, “Krishna is a major part of all my books, particularly on Vishnu. But a book purely on Krishna is one I want to write desperately. It was to be published but somehow did not happen. It has always run into trouble. I am very superstitious – maybe I have not understood it correctly. At the right time, it will happen.”

Dr. Pattanaik believes that Krishna Charitra (The Krishna Ethos) requires a certain level of maturity. “People like the little baby Krishna but Krishna Charitra is right from Krishna's birth to death. It is difficult also because there are different pockets of knowledge. For example, North India is not aware that in South India, Radha is not worshipped. Until you point it out, South Indian devotees actually don't realise that there's no sign of Radha in their temple.”

Speaking about mythology as the subjective truth of a people, Dr. Pattanaik says, “Mythology is what you think about yourself and your understanding of life. This subjective truth is communicated from generation to generation through stories, symbols and rituals. So when I read the Ramayan and Mahabharat, I get access to the soul of India, to the subjective truth of our ancestors. If I want to study American culture, I have to study the mythology of America - American stories, symbols and rituals - that contain the subjective truth of America. Like 'All humans are born equal', 'If you work hard, you will be successful', 'The American Dream' and the Statue of Liberty.”

As an example of ritual, Dr. Pattanaik talks about the worship of Ganesha. “Imagine every year you bring a clay idol to your house and worship it. After 10 days, you dissolve it in water. Imagine doing this every year, year after year, generation after generation. Why don't you buy a plastic idol or a permanent statue? Why the ritual involving 'avahan' (getting the idol home) and 'visarjan' (getting rid of it)?What are you telling the child? That nothing is permanent. But it is subliminally communicated from ancestors to the next generation. It seeps into your subconscious and you don't even realize it.”

Dr. Pattanaik laments that over time, people have given so much importance to stories that the thought behind the stories are forgotten. “We also get edited versions of stories and authors put in their own thoughts and feelings. So you don't realise the subjective truth that is being communicated.” he says.

On the subject of similarities and differences between mythologies, Dr. Pattanaik says that similarities reveal that we're human ultimately, but dissimilarities will show what is culturally different. “So, the commonalities try to explain life and make sense of life and the differences are about how they approach it. For example, Western stories are obsessed with the Hero Myth. Greek mythology has stories of people who do some extraordinary action even when opposed by the gods. Biblical mythology constantly shows stories of people who surrender to the will of God. Whereas the dominant theme in Indian mythology, particularly Hindu mythology is the futility of trying to control your life, to step back and reflect on it. Each mythology is trying to explain life.”

Dr. Pattanaik explains about the common themes that run across cultures. “There are stories of death and resurrection (resurrection as different from rebirth) that are a recurring phenomenon in most parts of the world, like the stories of Adonis, Kamadeva, Ishtar and Dumuzi. The story of a great apocalyptic climax is common. But in India, after the climax, life starts again, which is not there in the western traditions. The great saviour who will save you from problems is always there. There is the mother goddess - fertile, loving and charming - all over the world. Across the world, the feminine form is seen in a more emotional way while the masculine form is seen in a more aggressive way. Everybody has gods and demons, everybody has heroes and villains.”

Among the myths he has studied and written about, and the liminal beings he is fascinated by, Dr. Pattanaik is particularly drawn to the centaur. “I like the idea of the teacher who is alone, students come to him and he teaches them. Then they move on and discover themselves. But the centaur stands atop a hill, a threshold god. He is animal as well as human. He is wise as well as wild. He is a loner but at the same time, he teaches people to be developers of society.”

(An edited version appeared in Culturama's April 2010 Issue. Pic courtesy Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik)


Also read a review of Devdutt Pattanaik's Jaya - An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharat here.

Raghu Rai

It would be a cliché to say that Raghu Rai's photographs speak a thousand words. Words fall short. Case in point, the picture on the cover of this issue. How does one describe the unanimity of the two sets of hands despite the pronounced difference in textures, the disproportion of scale or for that matter, the unstated generational gap? The picture is called 'My Father and My Son'.

Raghu Rai is considered the foremost photographer in India excelling in social, political and cultural themes. Currently working on books on Delhi, Varanasi and legends of Indian music, Raghu Rai spoke to us from Kohima, Nagaland, where he is attending the annual SPIC MACAY Cultural Convention.

"My father once joked that he has four children - two of them had 'gone photography' – in essence, he was saying it was akin to 'gone crazy'. But mad people are mad people and we don't listen to anybody", he fondly remembers his parents' unhappiness when he followed in his brother's footsteps by becoming a photographer in 1965 despite being a qualified civil engineer.

Raghu Rai joined the newspaper, The Statesman as their Chief Photographer in 1966, then took on the mantle of Picture Editor with Sunday, a weekly news magazine in 1977. He joined India Today, now one of India's leading news magazines in 1982 until 1991. His photo features have appeared in the world's leading magazines and newspapers including Time, Life, GEO, The New York Times, Sunday Times, Newsweek, Vogue, GQ, D magazine, Marie Claire, The Independent and The New Yorker. He is revered as the man who brought aesthetics to photojournalism in India.

In 1984, Raghu Rai documented the plight of those affected by the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. He says, "There was a high possibility of journalists and photographers being physically affected by the chemical contamination. But then, there is always an element of risk in any assignment." In 2002, he returned to Bhopal to capture the continuing effects of a tragedy that occurred almost twenty years ago, thereby creating greater awareness about it.

Since 1991, Raghu Rai has traveled extensively, and produced over twenty books on his favourite subject, India. He has focused on communities like the Sikhs, places like Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar as well as chronicled the Tibetan people in exile. He is also renowned for his photo essays on Mother Theresa, former Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi and several classical music stalwarts such as Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, M.S. Subbulakshmi and Kishori Amonkar. Every portrait is as though a moment from the subject's life has been captured for posterity.

A significant bulk of Raghu Rai's photography is in the Black & White medium. This harkens back to the time when he began his career. "For one, the magazines and newspapers carried only black and white. Colour film was hard to come by and hence, expensive. Moreover, in order to process colour, one had to send the films to Paris or New York. Gradually around the late 1970s and early 1980s, colour films started being processed in Mumbai and newspapers and magazines began using some colour. " His finesse with colour is evident in the play of colour in his compositions, be it the Indian bride getting a prenuptial anointing of vibrant turmeric, the buoyant colour of balloon sellers' wares at dusk on Mumbai's Chowpatty Beach or the somber maroon-ochre of Buddhist Lamas' robes as they huddle against the rain during a prayer meeting in Ladakh.

In 1971, no less a legend than the photographer, Henri Cartier Bresson nominated Raghu Rai to the eminent photographers' cooperative, Magnum Photos. Raghu Rai was conferred the Padmashree, one of the highest civilian honours in India in 1972. There have been numerous prestigious awards since, both national and international.

Raghu Rai differentiates the Indian and international outlooks on photography, "Abroad, photography and photographers are respected a great deal. In India, few people actually read a photograph. Most people glance at a picture and think they know what is being conveyed. However, those who understand art are able to understand what goes into taking a photograph."

In Raghu Rai's photographs, there is reverence, irony and poignancy along with a great sense of intrigue on what happened after the picture was taken.

SOME OF HIS BOOKS:

• Bihar shows the way ( 1977)
• Raghu Rai's Delhi(1985, 1992),
• The Sikhs (1984, 2002),
• Calcutta (1989),
• Khajuraho (1991),
• Taj Mahal, (1986)
• Tibet in Exile (1991),
• India (1985)
• Madhya Pradesh (2000)
• Indira Gandhi (1971, 1985)
• Indira Gandhi – A living legacy (2004)
• Mother Teresa – Faith & Compassion (1971, 1996)
• Mother Teresa - A life of dedication (2004)
• Men Metal and Steel (1998)
• Lakshadweep (1996)
• My land and it's people (1995)
• India notes (2005) curated by Magnum Photos,
• Raghu Rai's India – Reflections in Black & White (2007)
• Raghu Rai's India – Reflections in Colour (2008)

Exhibitions
2005 India - Musei Capitolini Centrale Montemartini, Rome, Italy
2005 Bhopal 1984 – 2004 - Melkweg Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2004 Exposure - Drik Gallery, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Leica Gallery,
Prague, Czech Republic
2003 Exposure: Portrait of a Corporate Crime - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
2003 Bhopal - Sala Consiliare, Venice, Italy; Photographic Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
2002 Volkart Foundation, Winterthur, Switzerland
2002 Raghu Rai's India - A Retrospective – Photofusion, London, UK
1997 Retrospective - National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India
Collection
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France

(An edited version was published in the July 2008 issue of 'At A Glance'. Picture courtesy Raghu Rai)

Dev Anand

Matinee Idol. 'Evergreen Romantic Hero'. 'The 'Gregory Peck' of Indian cinema'.

These are tags attributed to the 85-year old actor-director who wears them all with aplomb - Dev Anand. With a film career spanning over five decades and a formidable 110 films in which he has acted, there are countless stories about his career - his initial days of struggle in Bombay (now Mumbai), his first movie Hum Ek Hain (1946) that didn't do well and how he finally got his big break in Ziddi (1948) at the behest of Ashok Kumar, the established star of that era. The actor-director Guru Dutt was Dev Anand's ally in those early days of struggle. Dutt also cast him in his directorial debut, Baazi (1951). Dev Anand's brothers, Chetan Anand and Vijay Anand have been directors in their own right, with the latter also directing Dev Anand in Guide (1965). Dev Anand began his own production house, Navketan Films in 1949, under whose banner, he has written, produced, directed and acted in over 17 of their films.

Dev Anand's early films like Baazi (1951), Jaal (1952), Taxi Driver (1954) and Kala Bazar (1960) depicted a new kind of hero, neither the Earnest Simpleton popularised by Raj Kapoor, nor the Brooding Sentimentalist essayed to perfection by Dilip Kumar. There is a charming lightness to Dev Anand's urban hero. Painted in shades of gray, he effortlessly combined do-gooder and trickster, with a taste for the pleasures of life. Dev Anand also created a signature style for his hero– dialogues uttered in crests and falls, the impish grin accompanied by a series of nods, the nonchalant swagger and some very unique gesticulations. Dev Anand's protagonist was almost always seen in designer threads – possibly a first in Indian cinema - and had a signature look comprising full-sleeved shirts with wide collars, scarves and hats aplenty.

Lilting music was an integral part of Dev Anand's films. Every Hindi film music buff has a favourite Dev Anand song almost always sung by Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar and mostly composed by the legendary S.D. Burman.

Some of his notable films of the 1960s were Hum Dono (1961) and Tere Ghar Ke Saamne (1963). Dev Anand's oeuvre is a complex mix of action, romance and social statement. Jewel Thief (1967) is considered the typical Dev Anand movie. The protagonist in this film, Vinay is often mistaken to be someone else, a legendary jewel thief called Prince Amar, and he begins to find the line between the truth and deceit blur as the plot gets murkier when a woman called Shalini, turns up, claiming to be his fiancé.

Based on R.K. Narayan's book of the same name, Guide (1965) was directed by Vijay Anand, and starred Dev Anand as the opportunistic tourist guide, Raju Guide and Waheeda Rehman as the classical dancer in a bad marriage, Rosy. The English version was co-produced by author, Pearl S. Buck. Although critics take offence to the storyline being different from that of the book, Guide is touted as Dev Anand's best performance and his brother Vijay Anand's best film.

In the 1970s, Johnny Mera Naam (1970) and Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1972) are two films with dissimilar plots, but still connected in their 'Dev Anand'-ness. While the former is a cop-and-robber story with a dash of romance, the latter is an emotional drama about a man's search for his sister in the thick of the '70s hippy culture.

Although Dev Anand's subsequent ventures like Swami Dada (1982), Awwal Number (1990), Censor (2001) and Mr. Prime Minister (2005) have not done too well at the box office, he maintains an unflagging enthusiasm for film-making. He also launched his son, Suneil Anand in Anand Aur Anand (1984) who has gone on to helm Navketan Films along with him.

Dev Anand continues to be an integral part of the Hindi film industry (or Bollywood, as it is more popularly known these days). He has introduced many actors and technicians to the Hindi film industry and commands immense respect from the film fraternity.

He has been the recipient of numerous awards including a nomination for Guide (1967) at the Oscars for the Foreign Film category and the prestigious Padma Bhushan awarded by the President of India. Late last year, Dev Anand's autobiography, 'Romancing with life' was launched.

Dev Anand is, to say the least, one of the last living legends of Indian cinema.

(An edited version was published in the April 2008 issue of 'At A Glance')

Shekar Dattatri - All Things Wild and Wonderful

Sitting under the charcoal sketch of the awe-inspiring visage of an Indian Tiger, Chennai-based wildlife filmmaker, Shekar Dattatri, talks about why he continues to attribute the epithet, 'struggling filmmaker', to himself. "The primary income in wildlife filmmaking is job satisfaction. There is no control over the subject, there are no guarantees and trends change constantly. If there is money, it's a bonus." I note the 'if' in favour of the 'when' and wonder, how someone who has won numerous national and international awards for his films, and was more recently, the recipient of an Associate Laureate Award under the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, can call himself a 'struggling filmmaker'!

However, this much is evident - meeting Shekar is like being swept away in a deluge of anecdotes and sound-bytes. He speaks of his early introduction to the wild when his sister gifted him a book by Gerald Durrell and his discovery that one doesn't have to go into the jungles to watch animals, the ones in the backyard were just as interesting. At age 13, he remembers cockily asking Rom Whitaker if he could join the Madras Snake Park as a volunteer as he already knew how to handle snakes. Rom agreed with the usual word of caution, and Shekar began to spend his weekends there, gradually progressing to accompanying snake-catching Irula tribals on trips. When he attended school during the week, he sat in the last bench, immersed in books on wildlife.

Shekar then began going further afield on surveys that helped him get attuned to the jungle and, along with the knowledge gleaned from extensive reading, he began the long process that led to becoming a wildlife filmmaker. This quest for knowledge of the natural world is evident in every anecdote that Shekar narrates, be it about crabs grinding sand pellets on the beach at Point Calimere or a tiger trailing a mother rhino and her calf at Kaziranga.

Shekar reminisces about the time he was making a film for National Geographic Channel, on the Indian Cobra. Along with a couple of colleagues, he waited 30 whole days and nights with 6 pregnant cobras, to film them laying eggs. In his bedroom. He recounts the experience, "One night, at 2 a.m., I happened to wake up, and found one of the cobras (finally!) in the process of laying eggs. My colleague, who was supposed to keep watch, had succumbed to fatigue and fallen asleep. So, I gently transferred the cobra to the simulated rat-burrow set, and started filming. The eggs were translucent when laid, and the embryo and blood vessels were visible. But within a minute, blobs of a white substance appeared on the egg-shell as though shot from within, and made it totally opaque! That's the joy of wildlife filmmaking – you get to see things that a lot of other people miss!"

Shekar remembers one incident when he was filming on the banks of the Kabini River. "We had been observing a blind female elephant and her baby elephant who always stayed separate from the herd. One day, we noticed a very dark adult female elephant, standing with them. As the new elephant was unaccustomed to our presence, we didn't get closer. For some reason, possibly to adjust the lens, I moved slightly. This action caught the eye of the new elephant, and she charged at us without warning! There was no time to turn the vehicle around, so we reversed for almost 100 metres, before she finally gave up and retreated."

Shekar's commitment to conservation and environmental awareness, is evident from the gamut of subjects he has chosen to make films on - from snakes and rats to tigers and olive ridley turtles. He believes that films can go beyond the purpose of sensitising the audience to environmental issues. In the right circumstances, they can draw the attention of policy makers and help bring about solutions.

One audience that Shekar would like to focus on, is children - "Children are like sponges – they soak up so much information and are yet to become cynical. Given the right information, they'll grow up to be a generation that's much more proactive and conscious of these issues. As part of the Rolex Award, one of my objectives is to build a body of work with short films on different issues which could help equip school libraries, and be played during environmental science classes.", he says.

Which brings us to the general impression of wildlife filmmaking being a very macho vocation, with images of striking cobras and attacking leopards coming to mind. "Yes, there's adventure around every corner, but if you ask me, I feel much safer amidst wildlife in a jungle – it's cities and people that I'm wary of!" he says.