Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Reflections of a cityA group of commuters walk across the waterlogged grounds at Azad MaidanStraight from the heartlandMoments from performances by Chhau dancers in Purulia Pics CourtesyIndranil MukherjeeCome June and Navi Mumbaikars will be witness to a rare performance of Chhau a folk art from West Bengal ldquoChhau is a performance that can only be truly enjoyed live and in the presence of its traditional performersrdquo shared Indranil Mukherjee inset founder member VIBGYOR Collective As part of their ongoing project the collective has invited 10 traditional Chhau dancers to Mumbai ldquoWe have been documenting the villages of Purulia since 2020 During our last visit in 2025 we realised that the villagers are struggling for livelihood and the art form itself is at riskSo we designed and launched a photo documentary book Beats on the brink mdash The Rhythm of Puruliarsquo in March The show on June 21 is an attempt to raise funds for these artistesrdquo Mukherjee shared In its traditional form Chhau dancers often stage performances from traditional myths like the Mahabharata or Ramayana ldquoThe two performances or Palas are centred around the dramatic Mahishasurmardini story and Ravanavadhrdquo Mukherjee summarisedGetting cool with oldschoolA moment from a previous workshop right Disha ChandakWho said letter writing is dead Disha Chandak chief marketing officer at Snickerdoodle Coffeeworks is organising a letterwriting workshop to revive the dying art Chandak shared ldquoTo breathe new life into the dying art of letter writing we are collaborating with Drishti Daryanani a poet and communications expert to host this workshop In a world thatrsquos often loud and digital letter writing offers a moment of digital detox a chance to step away from screens and reconnect with your thoughts and othersrdquo She added ldquoThe workshop is open to everyone writers readers artists or anyone curious about selfexpression Participants will also receive beautifully designed postcards at the endrdquoTughlaqrsquos new comingA moment from a previous play by the group Pic CourtesyNeeraj SinghAn iconic play of Indiarsquos theatre history Tughlaq will make its way back to the Mumbai stage this June Written by the late actor author and playwright Girish Karnad below the drama is centred on the 14th Century ruler Muhammad bin Tughlaq Now a new generation of theatre artistes are picking up the batonGirish Karnad and Neeraj SinghDirector Neeraj Singh will helm Abhyas Natya Manchrsquos upcoming production of the play at the end of June Singh shared ldquoThe play is about the personality of the ruler Tughlaq and his complex decisions He was a great ruler but some of his enigmatic decisions add to the complexity of his characterrdquo The theatre troupe has already begun working on the play Singh added ldquoWersquove already begun our first readings of the play and after that we will set out to rehearse the portionsrdquoA gut feeling for metalheadsA moment from the bandrsquos previous performance in Mumbai Pic CourtesyGutslit on InstagramOur metal detectors have alerted us of an exciting development in Mumbairsquos metal music scene Gutslit the citybased band that has catered to headbangers since 2007 will fly out for a slew of international shows come August Aaron Pinto the bandrsquos drummer told us ldquoWersquore playing some top tier festivals like Brutal Assault where we debuted nearly 10 years ago The schedule for this year is packed with multiple shows in the Czech Republic and Germany Wersquoll have a dayrsquos rest after the Europe tour before we pack our bags again and fly to Australia for a sevencity tour to round it up withrdquo