How Priyanka and Paro revived Indian art

Plus 4 more must-catch events

Plus 4 more must-catch events

On: Saturday and Sunday, 10 am to 8 pm
Where: Ashirwad Art Gallery, 4, Nanik Niwas, Warden Road, Mahalaxmi.
call: 9920523460 / 9920587809

Priyanka Chakraborty ensured that everything on sale at this exhibition was handpicked by her.

She travelled to remote villages in Gujarat, West Bengal, Tripura and Nagaland to interact with artisans adept in age-old handicrafts.

She selected artifacts to put them on sale, this weekend, and will make sure that the profits reach the artisans.
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A recruitment professional, Priyanka decided to convert her eye for the ethnic into a win-win venture. She started Craft Vogue, an online portal that sells Indian eco-friendly artistry, last November.
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"It's an initiative to revive dying Indian handicrafts and art forms, and also a way to mitigate the large-scale migration of these skilled labourers to the city.
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They don't see this as a profit-making venture, and thus, valuable art forms fade away," she adds. She collaborated with Chirpy Paro (the blog ID of her friend who shares her name) who sources ethnic Rajasthani jewellery.
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Check out Madhubani art works and Pinguli paintings (Rs 1,500 onwards), a Maharashtrian art form that Priyanka believes requires extra boost due to its obscurity.
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Pick up funky bamboo jewellery from Priyanka's home state, Assam and bamboo handbags from Tripura (Rs 400 onwards).
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We also liked hand-embroidered cotton belts (Rs 200) and silk and cotton scarves (Rs 500 onwards) Men can find limited edition range of embroidered and hand-woven silk and cotton ties (Rs 500 onwards).

Get an outsider's perspective on Indian Cinema

On: Saturday, 12 noon to 7 pm
At: Bungalow 8, 17th Arthur Bunder Road, 7 Grants Building, opposite Basilico, Colaba.
Call: 22819880

Here's an easy-to-navigate book that doesn't pretend to throw open an encyclopedia on Indian films, but is one that allows an "outsider's" perspective on a country, post-imperialism.

Edited by Shanay Jhaveri, Outsider Films on India: 1950-1990 focuses on the varying approaches adopted by foreign filmmakers while documenting India.
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Roberto Rossellini's statement: "I have no intention of paying tribute to India but coming to know it and making it known", perhaps encapsulates the relationship shared by the Italian filmmaker with India.

His 1959 film, India Matri Bhumi, features alongside stalwarts Ismail Merchant and James Ivory's Shakespeare Wallah, Alain Tanner's Une Ville a Chandigarh and Louis Malle's Phantom India.

Interspersed with vibrant photographs from films including Renoir's The River and Pasolini's Notes for a film on India, the book refreshingly veers clear from highlighting Richard Attenborough's Gandhi and Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire.
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Film students and enthusiasts should grab this chance to chat with the 25 year-old author at an open house.
PS: If you're wondering who is peering through the inverted triangle on the cover it's actress/cookbook writer Madhur Jaffrey in a still from Shakespeare Wallah.

Outsider Films on India: 1950-1990, The Shoestring, Rs 1,000.



Bond with Buddies over Beach Games

On: Sunday, 7 am to 11 pm
Where: Juhu Beach (the spot near Palmgrove).
Call: 9821081566 / 9820834622
Cost: Rs 200 (including breakfast)

Spending quality time on Juhu beach's sands might sound like a no-no these days but Nature Knights believes it can remain a fun affair, with a twist and some ball play.
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Get into those beach shorts, slap on sunscreen and gang up with your pals, for high-action beach bumming and sport.

This adventure group plans to introduce you to bizarre sports and games you may have never heard of. Become a shepherd and lead your blindfolded team (the sheep) into a fence, without using conventional vocabulary.
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Or engage in a round of non-contact rugby, which is similar to rugby but with a few eccentric rules thrown in. Pig out on a yum breakfast by the sea, after this sunny adventure.

Watch Kids Rock, from rags to raga

On: Sunday, 11 am to 6 pm
Where: Maharashtra Nature Park, Dharavi.
Call: 26428618

If your kids know about Dharavi and ragpickers thanks only to Slumdog Millionaire, here's your chance to put things in the right perspective.
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To celebrate International Earth Day, Acorn India is organising an Eco Fair where 500 kids from Dharavi's schools, as well as from other parts, will interact with ragpickers, to learn about segregation of waste.
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"We take up these issues at the school level because it's the next generation we want to invest in," says Vinod Shetty, director of Acorn India.

Apart from discussing recycling, taking a nature walk and participating in waste management workshops, kids can look forward to some "dhamaal" too, as Vinod puts it.
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Rags to Raga, a music gig, will feature Ankur Tiwari and Jarrid Wood, along with Mumbai band Something Relevant.
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This is one of the Dharavi Project events, an Acorn initiative that engages artists, filmmakers and musicians to change living conditions of ragpickers, or green collar workers. Now's the chance to take the green channel.

Would You Like to Groove to their tunes?

On: Today, 9.30 pm
Where: Hard Rock Caf , Bombay Dyeing Mills Compound, Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Worli.
Call: 66511209
ENTRY: Rs 500 per person (of which Rs 250 is cover charge)

Come Friday and three Indian bands will perform live, each with a unique raison d' tre and sound.

Listen to Pentagram, who've been around for more than a decade-and-a-half and two other bands, Swarathma and Touch on Tobacco (TOT).

Bangalore-based Swarathma plays contemporary Indian Folk Rock, in English and Kannada, while Sidd Coutto's band TOT plays a m lange of Pop, Rock and Reggae.