Delhi International Film Festival 2012

Sharmila Tagore at the Opening Ceremony of Delhi International Film Festival 2012

Delhi International Film Festival(DIFF) - 2012 is being held at the NDMC Convention Centre from 21 - 27 December, 2012. DIFF 2012 is a grand showcase of world cinema in Delhi. I am proud to be a witness to some of the very good films. A few will find mention in the columns of this blog in the coming days. Let's talk about 'Ziyarat' first of all. 

'Ziyarat' (the pilgrimage) is inspired by the internal displacement and mass migration of a complete community of Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus) from their mother land Kashmir, also known as the Paradise on Earth. These innocent people have been struggling for survival for the last 20 years in refugee camps in many locations across India. 'Ziyarat' is one such story of a young Muslim and his wife taking the responsibility of locating his lost friend his wife, who had fled Kashmir to save their lives after the terrorists killed his parents, and adopting their son left behind during the attack in confusion. While the wife, Mariyam assumes the responsibility of raising the young child Posh, the husband Abdul Kadir decides to cancel his trip to the Hajj and prefers to devote all his time in search of his friend Pandit Dina Nath and his wife Girija. His search is endless and he leaves no place in the valley where he doesn't look for his friend. He consistently searches for them for two long years. Pandit Dina Nath as the mouthpiece narrates the history of seven exodus that have taken place in the past 700 years. 

Suresh K. Goswami

The film is a nice amalgam of a nice story line and documentization of reality. It contains the views of real refugees from various camps. The winding up of the story leaves a nice after-taste of message of love for humanity, of being human, and also draws out the real essence of indulging in Hajj. The film also echoes the opinion that all religions teach peace. Overall, a worth-watching film definitely! The director Suresh K. Goswami, leading CEO/Managing Director of many hard core engineering multi-nationals across the globe during his career, quit his job in 2009 and took to creative writing as his only vocation. He is the screenplay and dialogue writer, producer, director, cinematographer and also the financier of the film.

The Delhi Ibsen Festival - DIF 2012

Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet, was the founder of Modernism in theatre. He is referred to as "the father of realism". Delhi celebrates Ibsen Festival from 1 December to 7 December, 2012 at Kamani Auditorium.

 The event will be hosted by The Dramatic Arts and Design Academy (DADA) under the auspices of the Royal Norwegian Embassy to present the richness and diversity of the work of Henrik Ibsen and the varied manifestations of his text performed by international theatre groups. The seven productions being featured at the Delhi Ibsen Festival are all experiments into new directions. Five productions are specially created for the festival. All the productions are extremely innovative.

 Young directors like Heisnam Tomba from Manipur and Sankar Venkateswaran from Trichur, Kerala and Ovlyakuli form Tashkent will unveil before us a revolutionary approach to Ibsen. The Delhi Ibsen Festival 2012 Seminar, projects an unusual theme...."Who is the Enemy?" The idea of 'enemy' is open to multiple levels of interpretation encompassing aesthetics, history, socio-political issues and economic scenarios of discourse. Many conventional and established ideologies are reviewed as open-ended questions.

 DEC 01 - The Master Builder
DEC 02 - When We Dead Awaken
DEC 03 - Ghosts
DEC 04 - Gurrya Ka Ghar
DEC 05 - The Lady from the Sea
DEC 06 - Jai Jawaan Party
DEC 07 - An Enemy of People

Parwaz - An Exhibition of Sculptures

'Parwaz' was an exhibition of Sculptures organized by Harminder Singh Boparai, a sculptor with a keen artistic sense, creativity and soaring imagination. His art pieces are his mouthpieces that speak volumes about his being an artist of high calibre. The following will highlight his achievements so far:

PARTICIPATION/EXHIBITION
# National Level Annual Exhibition by Indian Academy of Fine Arts (ASR), 2007, 2008, 2010
# Annual Exhibition by Lalit Kala Academy, Chandigarh 2008
# Annual Exhibition by Lalit Kala Academy, Punjab, 2010, 2011
# All India Exhibition Shimla 2011
# International Art Exhibition by SODEFA IN Chandigarh, 2012

GROUP SHOW
# Welcome Palace, Ludhiana, 2004
# Srijan, 2005 at Tac Art Gallery, Ludhiana
# Artist of Ludhiana, 2010
 # Kaleidoscope Group Show in Jalandhar, 2011
# Ireo Water Front, Ludhiana, 2012




AWARDS
# Gold Medal in Zonal Level Competition in 2001, 2002, 2003 by Punjabi University, Patiala
# Gold Medal in Inter-zonal competition 2002 held in Punjabi University, Patiala
# Awarded by Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Committee, 2006 Appreciation Award by Lalit Kala Academy, Chandigarh, 2011

Now let us have a look at the works at display in 'Parwaz' organised at Randhawa Art Gallery at P.A.U. campus in Ludhiana.