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DELHI
Film
Douches Froides (Cold Showers)
20 June
‘Cold Showers’, set in small-town France, is the story of three teenagers: a beautiful girl, Vanessa, and two boys, Mickael and Clément, one rich and the other poor. The film shows how Mickael, though he has everything he needs to make a go of his life, blows it. It is set against a backdrop of punishing physicality; a combat-fuelled world of obsessive training and dieting and intense, illicit sexual adventure. French, with subtitles, directed by Costa-Gavras. 2 hours 2 min. 5.30pm and 7.30pm. ML Bhartia auditorium, Alliance Française de Delhi, 72, Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate (43500200).
Music
Airborne + Fire Exit + Belief
Experiment
22 June
Super Sunday with three Delhi acts—alternative rock and funk influenced Airborne; Fire Exit and the trio Belief Experiment, comprising Arsh Sharma and Anshul Lall from the Circus and Bacchus Barua. The gig is part of Kingfisher Pubrockfest. 8pm. Staying Alive, 210, DT Mega Mall (second floor), Gurgaon (95124-4380353). Tickets, Rs150.
Farid Khan and Alim Khan
23 June
Farid Khan will sing ghazals and recite poetry by Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor, while his brother Alim will present a violin recital. The event, titled ‘Shaan-e-Urdu Adab Bahadur Shah Zafar’, is a tribute to the Mughal emperor. 7pm. Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road (24682222).
Orchestra di Padova
26 June
A rare Western classical concert organized by the embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Centre. Maffeo Scarpis will conduct the orchestra that will perform works by Mozart, Corelli and Chopin. 7pm. Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road (24682222).
Theatre
A Perfect Relationship
22 June
Two gay men, their gregarious landlady and her many boyfriends make ‘A Perfect Relationship’ a hilarious comedy with a queer twist. 7.30pm. Epicentre, Apparel House, sector 44, Gurgaon. (95124-2715000). Tickets, Rs200-500, available at the venue.
Art
Faces in the Ground Cloud
From 25 June
Curated by Manali Mitra, this exhibition features work by photographers Aniruddh Mukherjee and Tarun Das. Apparently, there is a “cloud" in each of the black-and-white photographs, which are mostly portraits, often of Tibetans. Mukherjee is also a painter. In 2000, he was involved with “the creation of India’s largest religio-cultural montage on camera". He is inspired by the Ganga. Das, who claims to be hypersensitive, used the camera to get over his shyness. The two have formed an organization, Photosinthesis, to promote a “picture revolution". 11am-8pm. Gallerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Française, 72 Lodhi Estate (43500200).
Dance
Snehasini + Richa Jain
25 June
An Odissi recital by Snehasini, a disciple of Madhavi Mudgal, and a Kathak recital by Richa Jain, a disciple of Ravi Jain and Nalini Malhotra Jain. 7pm. Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road (43663333).
MUMBAI
Film
In Bruges
From 20June
“Bruges is the best preserved medieval town in Belgium," reads Ken (Brendan Gleeson). “It’s a f%$#@ shithole!" fires back his younger room-mate and fellow hitman-on-the-run, Ray (Colin Farrell). Thus begins the running joke of Martin McDonagh’s clever, savvy and enjoyable revamp of the odd-couple/gangster caper. Its mock-artistic thriller trappings notwithstanding, ‘In Bruges’ is basically a funny, tragicomic two-hander, with the casting of Farrell alongside Gleeson enabling a pleasing Irish inflection. Culture-vulture old pro Ken, and philistine loose cannon Ray, are Dublin-accented, London-Irishmen with shared guilty pasts awaiting fate in the person of psychopathic boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes as an enjoyable, mumbling figure with a suicidal sense of honour). In cinemas.
Nightlife
Sanjay Dutta
21 June
One of Kolkata’s, and India’s, best-known DJs, Dutta, who has been performing since 1990, has spent a year and a half in Mumbai. In that time, he promoted electronic dance music, performed at Submerge (at the Electronic Dance Music nights run since 2003 by Nikhil Chinappa, DJ Pearl and Hermit Sethi), did one-off gigs at various Mumbai clubs, and even started his own club night, Evolve, at the Khar club H2O. But as the months went by, Dutta realized that the amount of money he was making from Evolve night could barely cover the cost of sending out SMSes informing people about the event. Evolve shut down when Dutta moved back to Kolkata early last year, to spend more time with his family.
This fortnight, Dutta returns to Mumbai for his first gig at Blue Frog, where he hopes the crowd might be more receptive to his sound than it is at the city’s biggest clubs. 10.30pm. Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel. Tickets, Rs300 (40332300).
Music
John McLaughlin
23 June
Even though he doesn’t have the title “ustad" or “pandit" before his name, he still commands enormous respect in the world of Indian classical music. After all, British guitarist John McLaughlin has been a serious student of Indian music since the 1970s, when his spiritual guide, Sri Chinmoy, gave him the name Mahavishnu. His latest project, Floating Point, collaborates with nine musicians, who he thinks are lions of India. The album is another milestone on a three-decade-long exploration of Indian music for McLaughlin, who in 1975 formed the now-legendary quartet Shakti, with Zakir Hussain, violinist L. Shankar and ghatam player T.H. “Vikku" Vinayakram. 9pm. Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel. Tickets, Rs300 (40332300).
Art
Drift
25 June
Prajjwal Choudhury shows paintings and installations. 11am-6.30pm. Project 88, BMP Building, NA Sawant Marg, near Colaba Fire Station, Colaba (22810066).
Theatre
Stars on Earth
26 June
For outsiders, the hardest part of living in Mumbai is coming to terms with the city’s paradoxes. While the chasm between the rich and poor is something that most visitors are prepared to witness, it’s often harder to come to understand how ostensible communal camaraderie can erupt into violent animosity overnight, which is what happened during the religious riots of 1992-93. French theatre person Julien Mulot has spent three years in Mumbai trying to understand the contradictions that confront him daily. Mulot’s turbulent relationship with the city has led to the cathartic ‘Stars on Earth’, a monologue about his “feelings as a foreigner about Bombay". Directed by fellow French expat Fanny Gloux, ‘Stars on Earth’, which is in French (with English subtitles), has Mulot describing his thoughts on Mumbai in the tone of a fairy tale. 7.30pm. Alliance Française auditorium, Theosophy Hall, 40, New Marine Lines (22035993).
BANGALORE
Art
Banga Bharati
Till 4 July
Right Lines Art Gallery presents the works of Ashis Kumar Das and Shyamal Roy Choudhury, two feted students from the Rabindra Bharathi University. Das won the university’s annual exhibition award in 1998, while Choudhury took the award for best painting at Rabindra Bharati in 2007. Before moving to Mumbai, Das, who was born in Barasat, West Bengal, worked at the university’s Pata workshop in 1997, and participated in the Nandan Mela art fair in Santiniketan over the next two years. He now flits between the Rai University, Hyderabad, and the Edit Institute, Mumbai, as a lecturer in fine art, and animation. For two years, between 2001 and 2003, Das even clocked hours as an animator in 2D cell animation, in Hyderabad, working on a handful of international television projects. Choudhury, born in Bangladesh and now based out of Kolkata, is a fixture at studios in Dhaka, and in Kolkata. 11am-7pm. Right Lines Art Gallery, 270, 1st floor, 1st Main, Defence Colony (25272827).
Multiplicity
Till 21 June
Gallery Sumukha presents a performance marathon by Smitha Cariappa, in a series of five shows spread over five days. In her work, Cariappa uses her body as “a sculptural mode of communication, to evoke direct reactions from the audience." The aim of her performance is “to take the body on a test of endurance, a test in the level of concentration generally, a physical and psychological test. The very nature of performance art is ephemeral. Documentation helps to keep a record of the event," said the artist about her marathon. “With the use of projection of the live performance, emotions are magnified, intense, and energetic. The video also helps as a tool of abstraction and expanded awareness. In the process, the performer is unfolded in multiplicity," she said. Cariappa, who lives and works in Bangalore, received the Karnataka Lalit Kala Akademi award in 1992, and is a regular participant with the Khoj workshops. Friday, 11am-6.30pm, Saturday, 6am-7pm. Gallery Sumukha, 24/10, BTS Depot Road, Wilson Garden (22292230).
Music
World Music Day Extravaganza
20-22 June
The Alliance Francaise de Bangalore’s annual music festival celebrating World Music Day is back. The musical bonanza will span four days, and features an interesting cross section of Bangalore’s musical landscape. Highlights in the festival include Gopal Navale, Esperanto, the Galeej Gurus, Sacha Otten and Vinapra. 6pm. Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, No. 108, Thimmaiah Road, Vasant Nagar (41231344).
Theatre
Hair
20-22 June
Fairy tales invariably postulate situations of conflict and tension that eventually resolve to the protagonist’s benefit and unending happiness thereafter. But ‘Hair’, the latest play from 24-year old Bangalorean-turned-Mumbaikar Ajay Krishnan, attempts to revisit the Grimm brothers’ tale ‘Rapunzel’ with an eye for the story’s dark underbelly. Krishnan’s is a hypothetical exploration of the subterranean motives behind the actions of the witch, Rapunzel, and her handsome princely rescuer; wandering off the well trodden, lighted (and pleasant) path into the story’s dimly lit side-lanes where all is not as it seems. Friday and Saturday, 7.30pm, Sunday, 3.30pm and 7.30pm. Rangashankara, 36/2, 8th Cross, JP Nagar, 2nd Phase. Tickets, Rs100 (9886334291).
Dance
Contemporary Indian Dance
22 June
Ramya Nagaraj, Janardhan Raj Urs and Ponnamma A.D. come together to conceptualize five distinct pieces that are strongly influenced by Kathak and Bharatanatyam forms, but mediated through a contemporary understanding of theatrical space and performance. The first Kathak-based piece in the sequence is choreographed on the ‘thumri’, and tackles the theme of love. The second is rooted in Bharatanatyam, and pays obeisance to Ganesha. The third is a theatrical piece influenced by classical dance forms that relate the story of Shiva and Sati. The last two pieces employ a purely contemporary understanding of motion to explore themes of celebration and animal movements. 6.30pm. Seva Sadan, 14th Cross, West Park Road, Opp MLA College, Malleswaram (23347830).
RECOMMENDED
DELHI
Music
Fête de la Musique
21 June
The ‘Fête de la Musique’, initiated in France in 1982, is dedicated to musical practice and live music in general. Celebrated on 21 June every year worldwide, it is an opportunity for musicians and audiences to communicate with each other.
The Delhi event features two local bands and an act from France, and is being organized by Alliance Française de Delhi in association with the embassy of Belgium, the Belgian Business Association and the French embassy in India. Entry passes will be available at Alliance Française de Delhi from 12 June.
The Angry Mob Greenhorns Ritwik De (guitar, vocals), Tushar Yadav (guitar, vocals), Anand Somasundaram (bass) and Jayant Parashar (drums) formed the band in 2006. They play their own compositions and some classic rock covers. 8pm. The next band, Dablackdots, consists of Olivman, who is the lyricist and vocalist, and Vince, who plays the drums. They have countless gigs under their belt and this will be their first visit to India. 8.30pm.
Delhi-based Menwhopause will be the closing act for the evening. 9.30pm. Headquarters, Hotel Samrat, Kautilya Marg, Chanakyapuri (26110606).
MUMBAI
Film
Persepolis
24 June
The original French version of this adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s sensitive and sharp autobiographical graphic novel picked up the Prix du Jury at last year’s Cannes and was nominated for the animated feature Oscar earlier this year. Now there’s an English-language version, with Sean Penn voicing Marjane’s sensible, caring father, Chiara Mastroianni reprising her role as Marjane, and Gena Rowlands stepping in as Marjane’s worldly-wise grandmother with great bitchy, conspiratorial put-downs. Iggy Pop even features as the voice of Marjane’s impressive, radical uncle. It’s not the voices, though, that make Satrapi’s film so distinctive: That honour goes to her black-and-white drawings of characters and foregrounds and her charcoal backgrounds of Tehran, Vienna or Paris. Also distinctive is her precocious child-turned-reflective adult’s eye view of the people around her and the changing fortunes of Iran. In cinemas.
BANGALORE
Art
Axeman Cometh
Till 28 June
Ravi Shah’s nom de guerre, Axeman, has stuck with him from the time he decided to leave the country after studying fine art in Vadodara, and headed out to learn sculpture, at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. In Poland, Shah picked up an axe; “I didn’t manage to acquire one in Baroda," said the reclusive sculptor, adding, “Very simply, it is faster," when asked about his preferred instrument of art. In Shah’s hands, the axe transforms into an implement that allows him “to give new life to wood." In her review of Shah’s works, art critic Marta Jakimowicz said, “His at least life-size figures and large heads seem to be hacked almost coarse with forcefully-hit strokes of an axe, but calm down delicately here and there, in particular over the faces." Shah’s other pseudonym is Mad Ravi. He will head to Mumbai’s Sakshi Gallery after his show, titled ‘Stillness… Moves (Us)’ at Sumukha, which opens 25 June. 11am-7pm. Gallery Sumukha, 24/10 BTS Depot Road, Wilson Garden (22292230).
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