Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Pic/Atul Kamble

I've got your back

A man carries his tired son after his morning cricket practice in Naigaon, Dadar.

A happy filmy ending

A poster of the film. Pic Courtesy/IMDB.COM; (right) The reels after retrieval

The recent acquisition of Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman-starrer Baat Ek Raat Ki by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur's Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) is quite a filmy story itself. The archivist told this diarist that he received a call from a scrap dealer earlier this month about rare negatives of the film, which were going to be melted for silver nitrate. "I knew I had to save the film. Directed by Shankar Mukherjee, the thriller had music by SD Burman, with the popular song Na tum hamein jaano sung by Hemant Kumar," he shared. While filmmakers Atul Sabharwal and Vikramaditya Motwane, along with Rajeev Masand and producer Mayank Shroff helped with the funds, the restorers had another problem at hand. "The scavengers were not willing to meet us for the fear of being caught. What followed was straight out of a Dev Anand thriller," the filmmaker revealed. Dungarpur was asked to drop the money at a location, and tipped that the reels would be found in a taxi in Bandra. "In fact, the taxi driver told us that someone in Sion paid him to transport the reels here," he told us. Now, that's a script waiting to be written!

Bole toh, jhakaas!

Nearly 75 grassroots creators from 13 states will meet up in Mumbai for a three-day mela that will not only celebrate them and their craft, but also help them network, upskill and further their cause. An initiative by Point of View, the Jhakaas mela - from February 27 to March 1 - features women and trans people in the age group of 18 to 30, shared project lead, Sameera Iyengar (inset). "We want to celebrate and acknowledge them as media creators. We also want to enable peer-sharing. There will be an exhibition of their content at CSMVS," said Iyengar, who is helming the project along with project co-lead Swarali Marathe and project coordinator Shazia Qureshi. The creators will also engage in activities, workshops and panel discussions to hone their skill set. Qureshi added that it's enriching to note how grassroots creators highlight social issues. "Our aim is to inspire, learn and celebrate. I hope the mela gives the creators a sense of confidence in their work and they can use what they learn to create the impact that they want," she added.

A meme by Kavya Mukhija, disability rights advocate from Jaipur, Rajasthan

Follow your art

An activity session in Pune conducted as part of the Jijivisha Fellowship

A programme that empowers artists to help children from low-income groups pick up life skills through varied art forms is soon coming to the city. Slam Out Loud's flagship initiative - The Jijivisha Fellowship - places artists into classrooms to further the possibilities of arts-based learning. It spans five years, during which each artist works with 30 students for a year. To apply, log on to @slamoutloud.

Natural storyteller

Dr Shubhalaxmi receives the award

If you happen to chance upon a story by educator Dr V Shubhalaxmi, you're likely to hear about trees that choose their pollinators or insects with the gift of speech. The founder of Kharghar-based iNaturewatch Foundation recently bagged the 50 Most Innovative Storytellers Award by the World Storyteller Congress. The award came as a surprise to Shubhalaxmi. "I was overjoyed but more stunned to know that my work has been considered through the lens of storytelling. Most of the other winners introduce themselves as storytellers in their social media handles. I don't. My kind of storytelling is different as I weave on-the-spot tales during a nature trail or lecture to communicate scientific concepts simply," she explained. We hope that she keeps spinning such tales, naturally.

Aamchi canvas

Children add finishing touches to their artwork. Pic Courtesy/Instagram

The children from Govandi's The Next Page - a community centre working towards the development of leadership qualities among the youth of Shivaji Nagar - recently left their mark in Chembur. Led by founder Anoop Parik, the group participated in the ongoing Chembur Festival, where they painted a part of a wall. "With a dozen kids in tow, we made a part of the wall in Chembur our own," shared Ayesha Mehvish, a volunteer at the centre. A medley of yellow, green and blue, the artwork features fish, the city's quintessential local train station signboards, a library and a footballer alongside houses piled up on one another. About their experience, Mehvish told this diarist, "We had planned on creating something abstract but that didn't happen. It was quite enriching. Managing 12 children can get tiring but we had fun. The theme was Mumbai; which is why you see the fish and the rail line, but we incorporated the library to weave in the ethos of our centre, too."