The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Satej Shinde
Did they find nemo?
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A boy and his companion try their hand at catching fish during the high tide at Warin Pada, Khar Danda, on Tuesday.
Honour for Patwardhan
Documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan will be awarded the 2022 Outstanding Achievement Award at Hot Docs Festival for his work spanning five decades. Four of Patwardhan’s films will be showcased at the festival in Toronto, Canada, at the largest documentary festival in North America. Patwardhan’s films aim at building unity, yet his screenings are often disrupted. The filmmaker told us, “Inside India, at present, secular content is treated as high treason.” The award-winning director has a word of advice for the next generation of young documentary filmmakers: “I’ll repeat what I’ve said before. Make a film only if not making that particular film burns you, that is, you must be passionate; otherwise, choose another career option.”
Win for indie music
Mumbai-based hip-hop artiste Akshay Poojary aka Gravity, co-founder of the Bombay Lokal collective, made the city proud at the TIMD Awards 2022 recently, when he was adjudged the Best Emerging Hip-Hop Artist Of The Year (Jury’s Choice). The awards are the initiative of The Indian Music Diaries, an online platform that shines a light on indie musicians. Other winners include Indian rock act Antariksh, Srinagar-based hip-hop artiste Ahmer, singer-songwriter Dhruv Visvanath, and Dhee and Arivu for their viral hit Enjoy enjaami. TIMD editor Akshay Kapoor shared that they shortlisted the winners out of 700 entries. While we noticed the lack of female acts among the winners, Kapoor told us the number of entries by women musicians has actually been increasing. “Whoever wins, wins objectively. But it’s amazing to see women representation in the music scene increasing every year,” he noted.
Sand stories
When artist Subodh Kerkar walks the beaches in his home state Goa, he does not take a break from work. He works. The artist is on a mission to create a series of artworks along India’s many coasts for his Flags of the Ocean project. “The ocean has played a huge role in my art practice. I consider myself an ocean artist. My karmabhoomi, the studio, is often the seashore,” he told us. This inspiration has led to his yearning to create flags for each coast, inspired by shapes connected to its culture, and designed with elements from the ocean. Kerkar suggested that it’s just the beginning of his adventures. “This is an extension of The Indian Ocean project that I had created to explore the histories and mythologies of these various coasts. The oceans separate the continents, but they also connect us,” he shared.
Cruise down the Blue Nile
Two years ago, filmmaker Sapna Bhavnani received a sepia-toned paper clipping of “The Sophisticated Restaurant of the East” — Blue Nile, courtesy journalist and city chronicler Naresh Fernandes and documentary programmer Thom Powers. Nestled in Marine Lines, Blue Nile was Mumbai’s first cabaret bar that was founded by her grandfather LC Bhavnani, along with RC Bhavnani, Jamatmal and Topandas in the 1960s, Bhavnani shared with this diarist, adding that her father, Moti Lilaram Bhavnani, ran the hip hangout which was frequented by the likes of Rekha, Mala Sinha, Navin Nischol and Usha Uthup. The filmmaker has now embarked on a documentary project, titled Finding Tamiko The Tomato, to capture the history of Blue Nile. We couldn’t help noticing the quirky names of performers — Sherry-eyed Sharon, Tamiko The Tomato, and Saby Dias and His Swingsters. “Tamiko was one of the dancers who made it really popular. All of this was happening during Prohibition, so there was no alcohol. Families would throng the place to watch cabaret. For the late ’60s, this was quite forward,” shared Bhavnani who’s been taking cabaret classes, too. Note the ‘parking no problem’ mentioned at the end of the clipping; other than cabaret, that
luxury too is now a thing of the past, we think.
Break a leg
Wildchild performs at the 2021 edition
Here’s some good news for the city’s breakdancers. Red Bull BC One, a prestigious one-on-one breaking competition, is back with its seventh edition, with city cyphers being held on ground in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Mumbai after nearly two years of the pandemic. Every city will also witness workshops by the judges — b-boy Menno from The Netherlands and popular South Korean b-boys Differ and Skim. B-boys and b-girls not only stand a chance to win on a national-level, but also travel to New York for the world finale. Last year’s winner, b-boy Wildchild from Mumbai, who is set to perform this time, too, told us he would be defending his title. “I’m training like never before; rest, I cross my fingers and hope for the best,” he said. To show off your moves, register redbull.in/bcone.
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