About Hayao Miyazaki: Hayao Miyazaki, born January 5, 1941) is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films. He is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished filmmakers in animation history.
Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985. He directed numerous films with Ghibli, including Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), and Porco Rosso (1992). The films were met with critical and commercial success in Japan. Miyazaki's film Princess Mononoke was the first animated film ever to win the Japan Academy Prize for Picture of the Year. It briefly became the highest-grossing film in Japan following its release in 1997; its distribution to the Western world significantly increased Ghibli's popularity and influence outside Japan. His 2001 film Spirited Away became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history, winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards. He is frequently ranked among the greatest films of the 2000s. Miyazaki's later films—Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013)—also enjoyed critical and commercial success. Following the release of The Wind Rises, Miyazaki announced his retirement from feature films, though he returned in 2016 to work on the upcoming feature film How Do You Live? (2023).
Film Title: Spirited Away | 2001 | 125 minutes | Japanese language subtitled in English |
About the film: Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi and distributed by Toho. The film features the voices of Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takeshi Naito, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tsunehiko Kamijō, Takehiko Ono, and Bunta Sugawara. Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro Ogino (Hiiragi), a ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood, enters the world of Kami (spirits of Japanese Shinto folklore). After her parents are turned into pigs by the witch Yubaba (Natsuki), Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba's bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world.
Film Title: The Wind Rises | 2013 | 126 minutes | Japanese language subtitled in English |
About the film: The Wind Rises is a 2013 Japanese animated historical drama film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, Toho, and KDDI. It was released in Japan on 20 July 2013 by Toho, and in North America by Touchstone Pictures on 21 February 2014.
SCREENING FOLLOWED BY DISCUSSION! ALL ARE WELCOME!!! ENTRY IS FREE & OPEN TO ALL!!!
The experimental Mohiniyattam performance, Panchaali- simhika Samvaadam, is a situation taken from the Kathakali attakatha Keechakavadham. The artist, Mythili will present two characters, Panchaali and the Demoness, Simhika. The performance is inspired by the technique of Kathakali.
The First Play is an adaptation of Anton Chekov' 'The Surgery', Directed by kedar subedar which is of farce comedy in nature, the play is set up in a Dentist clinic between a fake dentist and a priest which leads to a roller coaster ride between the two.
The Second Play of the evening is titled 'Andhvishwas', written and directed by Thakur Honey Singh which is a mixture of Farce and situational Comedy that revolves around a family with strong beliefs in superstitions what follows is chaos in the household when things go haywire.
The Third Play of the evening is titled 'Bulaya kyu?', written and directed by Bob Christo which is a Dark humour involving two friends who find a deadbody by the roadside, as the mystery unfolds things get awkwardly funny and extremely illegal.
We find it difficult to describe Jerry or his work. Jerry is a visitor to the Hyderabad Litfest and we didn’t want him to leave before you had a moment with him. Jerry is a mentor of debut writers (mahimkajerry on Instagram has got valuable tips for young and old writers) and friend to all marginalised groups and communities. He brings with him the valuable, yet respectful insights of the cosmopolitan city of Mumbai which has been the nerve centre for many social reform movements in India. We will have a one+ hour session at 2 pm at Lamakaan where Jerry will speak for 10 minutes and then we open it to an interactive discussion. This is really not an open meeting but if you want to, you can bring an interested friend along
Jerry would like to describe himself as a poet, but he is a novelist, short fiction writer, children’s writer, translator as well as a showman. His Em and the Big Hoom was seminal to a public discussion on mental health in India, his translations from Marathi and Hindi have brought wonderful dalit fiction and non-fiction (including the issue of mental health) to the fore, his writings for children have brought a delightful twist to this literature, and his own novels and other writings mark him as a thinker and chronicler of our times.
His large oeuvre of work include
Poetry: Asylum, 2004. His poems are to be found in Fulcrum Number 4; An Annual of Poetry and Aesthetics, 2005) edited by Jeet Thayl; in Atlas; New Writing, 2006, edited by Sudeep Sen; and Ninety-nine Words (Panchabati Publications, 2006) edited by Manu Dash. I WANT A POEM AND OTHER POEMS, 2021
Prose: Surviving Women, 2000, Bombay meri jaan: Writings on Mumbai, with Naresh Fernandes. 2003, Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb. 2006, Reflected in Water: Writings on Goa. 2006.Bollywood Posters, with Sheena Sippy. 2008. Leela: A Patchwork Life with Leela Naidu. 2009, The Greatest Show on Earth, 2011, Em and the Big Hoom. 2012, Murder in Mahim, 2018, The Education of Yuri, 2022, Citizen Gallery : The Gandhys of Chemould and The Birth of Modern Art in Bombay, 2022
For Children : Talk of the Town with Rahul Srivastava, Puffin, Phiss Phuss Boom, with Anushka Ravishankar and Sayoni Basu. Duckbill, 2013. When Crows Are White, 2013, Monster Garden, 2016, My Daddy and the Well: It's not a book, it's a hook! (Hook Books), Postcards from Bombay, 2019, A bear for Felicia, 2008, Puffin Book of Spooky Ghost Stories
Edited A Book of Light: When a Loved one has a Different Mind 2019, A BOOK OF NEW BEGINNINGS, 2022, Indian Christmas : An Anthology with Madhulika Liddle
Translated BATTLEFIELD by Vishram Bedekar, 2021, I HAVE NOT SEEN MANDU : A FRACTURED SOUL-MEMOIR by Swaraj Deepak, 2021, When I Hid My Caste: Stories by Baburao Bagul, 2018, Strike a Blow to Change the World by Meghnath Awad, 2018, Baluta by Daya Pawar, 2015
The First Play is an adaptation of Anton Chekov' 'The Surgery', Directed by kedar subedar which is of farce comedy in nature, the play is set up in a Dentist clinic between a fake dentist and a priest which leads to a roller coaster ride between the two.
The Second Play of the evening is titled 'Andhvishwas', written and directed by Thakur Honey Singh which is a mixture of Farce and situational Comedy that revolves around a family with strong beliefs in superstitions what follows is chaos in the household when things go haywire.
The Third Play of the evening is titled 'Bulaya kyu?', written and directed by Bob Christo which is a Dark humour involving two friends who find a deadbody by the roadside, as the mystery unfolds things get awkwardly funny and extremely illegal.
Now if you are a zillennial or a Gen Z, don’t go asking who is Zeenie baby and what is Satyam Shivam Sundaram?
Do what you do best- Google, Insta and the rest! Or may be Chat GPT as well.
After all, that is how we arrive at truth these days, isn’t it?
Yes, Satya is shiv and shiv is sundar and Truth must be priceless wagera, wagera but when you need access to google and insta and twitter to learn what truth is, Is truth truly priceless? Or is it equal to the phone you have and the data plan you are working with. 1.5 gb lupt, maane batti gul! No data, maane bilkul andheraa! This is the whole truth bhaiyaa... didi ya hamare jaise saajan aur sakhi!
Avatari has stepped out in search of some hard truths which the nation may or may not need to know. Bhai sabki apni marzi hai? But what happens when you go looking for truth? Do you go to to newsrooms or mohallas or chaurasthas? Whose truth do you find? What gets read and aired and what gets archived even before it has gone online? What becomes a legend and what barely remains an illegible footnote?
Aaiyye chai pe, aur suniye, dekhiye, Avatari ke saath - Satyam, Shivam, Sundarm ( -minus Zeenat Aman)
by KAKI MADHAVA RAO (IAS Retd)
BOOK DISCUSSION
Speakers:
Sujatha Surepally
Professor & Head, Dept of Sociology, Satavahana University
Rammanohar Reddy, Editor, The India Forum
K.Y. Ratnam, Associate Professor, Dept of Political Science, University of Hyderabad
Moderated by:
Kalpana Kannabiran, Distinguished Professor, Council for Social Development, New Delhi