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Samahaara Workshop Productions presents

PISINARI (An adaptation of Moliere’s “Miser” in Telugu) & Appalachari’s “Mancham Meeda Manishi” (A satire in Telugu)

Date: 4th Oct 2019 Time : 8.00pm Venue: Lamakaan, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.

PISINARI Written by Moliere and translated into Telugu by Vinayamani PISINARI is about a miser whose only concern in life is his cash. He’s so obsessed with money, in fact, that he nearly tries to strip search everyone who goes in and out of his house. We also find out that the miser has buried a small box filled with a lot of money in his backyard that he’s paranoid about someone stealing.

Meanwhile, his son and daughter have both fallen in love with their respective partners. But the miser wants his son’s lover for himself and wants his daughter to marry a rich old man. The son and daughter hatch a plot to make the miser give up his designs so they can finally be happy. Will they succeed in their plan?

MANCHAM MEEDA MANISHI Written by Appalachari this satire is about an old man Govindam. One day Govindam falls sick and this news reached his sons and daughters. They arrive at his home and start squabbling about who will get Govindam’s property and wealth. While this is on, the doctor arrives and gives them an interesting update on their fathers health. What happens to Govindam? Who gets the property? Lets find out by watching this hilarious satire.

Lamakaan invites one and all to the book launch of ‘Viriah’ authored by Krishna Gubili

About the book: VIRIAH is about the lifelong search for his ancestor, indian indenture and the related aspects of colonial India and sugar slavery.

The book was ranked # 1 on Amazon and got great reviews from Gandhiji’s great granddaughter Uma, actors like Nasser, Tanikella Bharani and scores of readers globally.

One can get a copy of the book at: https://www.amazon.com/Viriah-Indentured-Sugarcane-Plantations-Great-Grandfather/dp/1684663245

About the author and conceptualization of this book: Krishna Gubili, as a youngster, Krishna discovered that his ancestor, Viriah was one of the 1.3 million Indians who were shipped off as Indenture labor to replace slaves on sugarcane plantations in South Africa, Caribbean, Mauritius and Fiji.

Yes. 1.3 Million Indians.

The SEARCH for his ROOTS lasted a Lifetime.

It took him to countless researchers, embassies, websites & ship lists. At last, In 2014, on a miracle trip to South Africa, he found the original ship record of his ancestor!

ALL ARE INVITED. ENTRY IS FREE & OPEN TO ALL!!!

“Indirabayi” was the first social novel in Kannada, published towards the end of the 19th century. Recently it has been translated into English by Prof. Vanamala Viswanatha, Visiting Professor at Azim Premji University, and Prof. Shivarama Padikkal,Professor at University of Hyderabad, and published by Oxford University Press. The present program involves Reading and Discussion with the translators. Dr. Tharakeshwar V.B. of The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad will moderate the discussion.

Darpan Theatre is back with their next play Pakitmaar Rangmandal. The play potrays how one can do anything when they’re passionate about it. Come to witness the practical problems usually faced by theatre groups, how they cope with it, and in the end how they somehow achieve what they aimed for, because the show must go on!

Written by: Asgar Wajahat Directed by: Ali Ahmed

28th Sep 2019, Sat 7:30 p.m. onwards At Lamakaan

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) in collaboration with Lamakaan presents the premiere screening of

Songs of Our Soil by Aditi Maddali Duration: 52 mins | Language: Telugu with English subtitles

Friday, September 27, 2019 | 07:00 PM | Lamakaan, Hyderabad Off Road 1, Near GVK Mall, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad – 500 034

Join us for the premiere screening of Songs of Our Soil followed by a discussion with the filmmaker Aditi Maddali and writer – scholar Dr Gogu Shyamala.

Through Uyyala songs, an agricultural tradition rooted in the political expression of women in Telangana, Songs of Our Soil traces the histories of their resistance and memories of disillusionment. By looking at women’s participation in major political movements, from the Telangana People’s Movement to the demands of justice from the contemporary Mallana Sagar Irrigation project, this film attempts to complicate the relationship between memory, history and cultural production.

Aditi Maddali is a Mumbai-based researcher and multimedia producer. She is currently pursuing an MPhil in Women’s Studies.

Aditi Maddali received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research programme made possible with support from Titan Company Limited.

ALL ARE WELCOME!!!

“Why I Resigned?” A talk by Kannan Gopinath, Former IAS Officer

Injustice and curbing of freedom of expression are worth sacrificing the biggest of power positions

Kannan Gopinath stands by democracy and free speech. He was an IAS officer who resigned in protest to the Centre’s clampdown in Kashmir abrogating Article 370 and 35A. He stated, “What triggered my decision is the attempt to mutilate fundamental rights, to silence people. And the situation is that nobody should protest, nobody should raise their voice, raising your voice is not acceptable. The amount of power to silence those who react is tremendous,” In this juncture of history of the country, where speaking truth to power is seen as an attack on the State and its machineries Gopinathan will talk about his experience in the service and his way forward. The shrinking democratic spaces within the administrative bureaucracy and the public sphere with the legitimisation of the rule of law is another aspect democratic aspirants had to deal in the current political scenario.

ALL ARE WELCOME!!!

Climate change is a global problem. It is a contemporary problem. It may seem counterintuitive, but the solution to this modern global problem is in local, indigenous knowledge based, community driven, de centralized water management.

Speaker Rajendra Singh is an Indian water conservationist and environmentalist from Alwar district, Rajasthan in India. Also known as “waterman of India”, he won the Magsaysay Award in 2001 and Stockholm Water Prize in 2015. He runs an NGO called ‘Tarun Bharat Sangh’, which was founded in 1975.

Entry Free All are welcome

The play, ‘Rajar’ has drawn from Camus’ “Caligula” the concept of deification of emperors which was common to the pagan world, the Greek and Macedonian kings. Raja (the king) discovers on the death of his sister and lover, Apurupa, that people die and they are not happy. From this point on, obsessed by his search for the absolute, poisoned with contempt and horror, he tries to exercise, through murders and systematic perversion of all values. He rejects friendship, love, simple human solidarity, and the concepts of good and evil. He takes literally all those around him like Taruni, his poet-friend, and forces them to see things logically, and levels everything around him through the force of his rejection. But if his truth involves revolting against destiny, his mistake is to deny humanity. One cannot destroy everything without destroying one’s self. This is why Raja depopulates the world around him and, faithful to his own logic, decides to strangle Kamini, his mistress, uttering his gospel of hate at everything around him. This play is the story of a superior suicide, as described by Camus. It is the most human of stories and the most tragic of errors. Faithless to humanity out of faith in himself, he accepts to die for having understood that no one can save himself by himself, and that one cannot be free while opposing humanity. The play remains universally relevant. It represents the face of contemporary despotism, not only in terms of the whimsical madness of rulers, but also in terms of how people react to such rule with a glimmer of hope for the future

On the occasion of Bhagat Singh’s Birth Anniversary, Lamakaan cordially invite one and all to an important discussion on the relevance of Bhagat Singh today. With the fascists forces in political power and spreading their reactionary politics like a virus in the country, it becomes all the more necessary to recollect the society that Bhagat Singh dreamt of.

Relevance of Periyar today : Contradictions of caste, language and religion

Thanthai Periyar lived in a time when the country was witnessing a turmoil in its social and political landscape. He stood against the current questioning the idea of nation, social constructs of caste, religion and the dominant culture. He was not an armchair revolutionary, nor a seasonal activist but a speaker who spoke his mind wherever he was. The talk will revolve around the contemporary relevance of Periyar at a time the nation is divided drastically on the lines of caste, religion and other identities and rise in inequality.

Thirumurugan Gandhi is an human rights activist and a geopolitical commentator. He spoke in the UN for the past three years advocating the rights of people facing war crimes against imperial regimes. He is also the founder of May 17 Movement and raised his voice against the Indian government’s atrocities against Tamils.