The Open Cultural Center
January 03, 2020 6:30 pm Friday
Mushaira of Satire on NRC and CAA Time – 6:30 pm, 3rd January, Friday.
Hyderabadi Poets will recite Protest Poems written about the NRC and CAA. Witty, bittersweet and heartbreaking poetry in Hyderabadi language by the city’s most irreverent and fun poets. Come along for the solidarity and protest, like only the Hyderabadis know.
January 02, 2020 7:30 pm Thursday
Poetry reading & intimate dialogue based on the book: Trading Armour for a Flower: Rise of New Masculine. We will explore: What is the true purpose of masculine energy within men and women? How can we heal the the wounded masculine (manifested as gender violence) to new healed masculine (that honours each individuals sacredness)?
I recently published the book Trading Armour for the Flower. Its based on my personal reflections and experiences as a life-coach and international development sector facilitator. I integrate contemplative theatre & deep dialogues to facilitate collective action on socio-ecological divides. I am based out of Pune and work as co-director of Social Presencing Theatre at Presencing Institute in USA. I have facilitated similar dialogues in Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore in partnership with MAVA (Men Against Violence & Abuse), Agami (Law & Justice innovators network), Joyous Women Leadership Network, and local book cafe and theatre groups
December 31, 2019 7:00 pm Tuesday
‘Dhairye Sahase (2019)’ is the first Indian Thriller Fantasy short film in Telugu with advanced VFX. A first of its kind, it tells the story about a young man’s fight against dangerous force by believing in his own skills. It has an inspiring message that is relevant to the current circumstances in the society. English subtitles available.
I am an actor and filmmaker from Hyderabad. I am the Writer, Editor, Producer, Director and Lead Actor of the movie ‘Dhairye Sahase (2019)’ which I am submitting for Lamakaan screening. I also made a film called ‘Flying Colors’ in 2015 which talks about women freedom. It’s on YouTube. Currently, I am taking Acting course in Madhu Film Institute, Hyderabad, and focusing on writing and acting career in films.
December 29, 2019 7:30 pm Sunday
“MinMon” is the abbreviation for ‘Mini Monologues’. This weekend, we present the written verse in its spoken form with the flavour of theatric, in the form of short monologue performances. This is the third production of Unmasked Theatre Collective after ‘An Evening with Chekov’ and ‘Min Mon Session 1’. Come watch our actors dabble with their favourite writers and see them add a twist to the words, only at the theater!
Unmasked theatre collective is a budding theatre group rooted in Hyderabad. We are a group of 6 people who believe that theatre is a Powerful medium to bring about social and emotional change in human beings
December 28, 2019 3:00 pm Saturday
Please help schedule this for this Saturday: 28th December 2019. Write Club Hyderabad helps you pen your thoughts, spill your mind and finally make an appointment with the writer in your head. We conduct free, weekly events that foster writing. Our Meetups aim at helping writers reach their goals in a supportive, collaborative, social setting. Writing doesn’t have to be all by oneself. We welcome anyone who writes, regardless of genre, language or age. We have members writing novels, short stories, poetry, screenplays, essays, school reports and more. What we do, basically: One of the members of Write Club (anyone with a participation count over 2 consecutive meetups) hosts a session. They bring forth a theme and writing exercises. We all then write to the host’s prompts and guidelines for about an hour. Once we’re done writing, we read out our write-ups (optional). We also exchange feedback and constructively critique each other’s works. Entry is free, anyone with an interest in writing can walk in. Bring your writing devices and we’re all set! We promise to provide you with good coffee and a super-creative conversation. We have Write Club sessions every alternate Saturday afternoon – 3 to 6 PM
Write Club Hyderabad – The one-stop meetup group in the laid-back city of Hyderabad that will awaken your story from its slumber! “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” ― Anaïs Nin For more information, please visit our website: www.writeclubhyd.com. For any questions, please contact writeclubhyd@gmail.com
December 27, 2019 6:00 pm Friday
Celebrating Bazm e Sukhan’s first anniversary.
Aao ke koi khwaab bunen :- Mir Ali Husain duration 90 min Husain is a writer and is currently working on a theatrical project based on the life of Sahir Ludhianvi.
Sameena Begum would speak on Dholak ke Geet Sameena Begum is researcher and published author with focus on Hyderabadi culture and Urdu. Her latest work “Hyderabadi Dholak Ke Geet” is a rigorous study of about 10 years. She studied MA, M.Phil in MANUU, and currently pursuing PhD in Urdu from Osmania University.
Reading Jeelani Bano’s short stories By Elahe Hiptoola , Rajaa Farhan and Ramsha Farhan.
Elahé Hiptoola is a Film Producer with award winning films like Iqbal, Dor and Dhanak to her credit. She is also one of the founders of Lamakaan.
Rajaa is a young photographer and Assistant Manager at Lamakaan.
Ramsha studies liberal arts at the Azim Premji University in Bangalore.
Ashhar Farhan will read from Anees Ayesha’s new book. “Main ne yeh jaana” – is an unprecedented transliterated introduction to Urdu poetry
The next edition of HLF is scheduled for 24-26th Jan 2020. Nearly 200 speakers, of whom 25-30% from outside India, are expected to participate in the Festival. HLF 2020 is the 10th Edition and is special. It is planned to further add to the scope and scale of the festival, increase in activities, and create interest across a wider target audiences.
To celebrate the 10th year, a new segment has been proposed to be introduced, starting ten weeks before. Every Friday the Festival itself – called Festival Fridays: Countdown to Ten Years of HLF
27th Dec 2019 is the 6th Festival Friday event in collaboration with Lamakaan.
December 26, 2019 8:00 pm Thursday
Badlav is an original Hindi play written and directed by Amaan Ahmad. Badlav revolves around Gayatri, Kalpana, Radha, and Bindya. Gayatri wants change but her hypocrisy surfaces all the time. Meanwhile, Kalpana, a carefree girl always brings nihilistic values of life. Radha is air-headed and her naivety mixes with intuition and she is lost in her absurd thoughts most of the time. The play takes various twists and turns and touches the element of the Theatre of Absurdity. This psychological and absurd play has multiple rises and falls.
The Unknown Pen is a theatre group based in Hyderabad. It was initially founded as a content writing platform and also a platform where the artists could showcase their original and unique work, by Amaan Ahmad in the year 2009. We are the first theatre group in the city that works majorly on Original plays that belong to the genre of ‘Theatre of the Absurd’. The first play produced by The Unknown Pen is called ‘Skepticism’, a dark psychological play that involves the elements of Surrealism, Existentialism, and Absurdism. Our vision is to revive the theatre culture across the country. Our plays are known for the depth of their content. We aim to stir the minds of the people in terms of philosophy and art.
December 25, 2019 7:30 pm Wednesday
The movie is about an economics graduate student studying for a year in Barcelona, Spain, as part of the Erasmus programme, where he learns from a group of students from all over Western Europe in a student share-house.
December 24, 2019 7:30 pm Tuesday
Cricket Country by Dr.Prashant Kidambi – Book Discussion.
Dr.Prashant Kidambi, the author of the book, will be discussing the book with Mr. Ram Manohar Reddy, Editor of “The India Forum”, a digital publication on contemporary issues. Tue Dec 24, 7:30 PM.
Lamakaan – An Open Cultural Space Cricket Country has won the Sportsbook of the year award at the Ekamra Sports Literature Festival and also been selected as one of FT’s best books of 2019. “On the morning of 6 May 1911, a large crowd gathered at Bombay’s Ballard Pier. They were there to bid farewell to a motley group of sixteen Indian men who were about to undertake a historic voyage to London. The persons whom the crowd cheered that sultry Saturday morning were members of the first All-India cricket team. Conceived by an unlikely coalition of imperial and Indian elites, it took twelve years and three failed attempts before an ‘Indian’ cricket team made its debut on the playing fields of imperial Britain in the blazing coronation summer of 1911. This is a capacious tale with an improbable cast of characters set against the backdrop of revolutionary protest and princely intrigue. The captain of the Indian team was nineteen-year old Bhupinder Singh, the embattled Maharaja of Patiala. The other cricketers were selected on the basis of their religious identity. Most remarkable, for the day, was the presence in the side of two Dalits: the Palwankar brothers, Baloo and Shivram. Drawing on an unparalleled range of original archival sources, Cricket Country is the untold story of how the idea of India was fashioned on the cricket pitch in the high noon of empire”.
December 27, 2019 6:00 pm Friday
Celebrating Bazm e Sukhan’s first anniversary.
Aao ke koi khwaab bunen :- Mir Ali Husain duration 90 min Husain is a writer and is currently working on a theatrical project based on the life of Sahir Ludhianvi.
Sameena Begum would speak on Dholak ke Geet Sameena Begum is researcher and published author with focus on Hyderabadi culture and Urdu. Her latest work “Hyderabadi Dholak Ke Geet” is a rigorous study of about 10 years. She studied MA, M.Phil in MANUU, and currently pursuing PhD in Urdu from Osmania University.
Reading Jeelani Bano’s short stories By Elahe Hiptoola , Rajaa Farhan and Ramsha Farhan.
Elahé Hiptoola is a Film Producer with award winning films like Iqbal, Dor and Dhanak to her credit. She is also one of the founders of Lamakaan.
Rajaa is a young photographer and Assistant Manager at Lamakaan.
Ramsha studies liberal arts at the Azim Premji University in Bangalore.
Ashhar Farhan will read from Anees Ayesha’s new book. “Main ne yeh jaana” – is an unprecedented transliterated introduction to Urdu poetry