Category: Uncategorized

Screening of Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho

An old couple, Mohan Joshi and his wife decides to sue their landlord, Kundan Kapadia for not maintaining their ‘collapsing’ chawl. For this, they hire two lawyers. The landlord is least bothered as he wants to drive the tenants out and tear down the chawl. The court case drags on for years and the lawyers in cahoots with the opposition lawyer milk the old couple dry, while they become rich. In the end when the judge comes to check the condition of the chawl, Kapadia’s men prop up the place thus convincing the judge that all is well with the chawl. Finally, Joshi gathers all his strength and pulls down the temporary supports put up by the men causing the building to collapse on himself…

Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! is one of the best satires ever made on the Indian screen and one of Saeed Akhtar Mirza’s best work. The film is a brilliant take off on the housing problems faced by lower middle-class chawl living tenants in Bombay, while at the same time making a dig at the archaic Indian judicial system where cases drag on and on and on and on…

The film beautifully highlights the ineffectuality of the ordinary man faced with an abuse of his very basic rights

All are invited for the screening of the movie “Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho”

Entry Free !!

Screening will be followed by a discussion on the movie

Santhal family to mill re-call A film by RV Ramani 112 Minutes, 2017, English Subtitles

Synopsis: Ramkinkar Baij (1904-84) experimented with a wide range of formal approaches to evolve his practice in sculpture and painting. He was a teacher in Santiniketan. He was also a theatre practitioner who directed plays and created sets. Among his many great works, Santhal Family; and Mill Call;, sculptures using concrete as material, are considered landmarks of modern Indian art. Vivan Sundaram a contemporary artist, in collaboration with theater practitioners, writers and artists, conceives the project 409 RAMKINKARS, a re-take on the life and works of Ramkinkar Baij. Many of the sculptures and paintings made by Ramkinkar Baij are re-created in diverse materials by Vivan Sundaram with a team of artists and students. Theatre directors Anuradha Kapur, Santanu Bose, Aditee Biswas and Deepan Sivaraman, with 30 professional actors, associates and technicians, conceptualize a promenade theatre. The script is by Belinder Dhanoa.

Awards: Best Long Documentary at Mumbai International Documentary Film festival (MIFF 2018)

About the filmmaker: R.V. Ramani, is a Cinematographer and Documentary Filmmaker, based in Chennai and in Delhi. With more than 25 Independent films to his credit, he has established a unique style of his own, making impressionistic personal documentaries. He is an alumnus from FTII, Pune and a teacher, conducting regular workshops at many Institutions. His films and Retrospectives have been screened in many International Film Festivals and in other platforms. Oh that’s Bhanu is his recent film.

For more details checkout www.ramanifilms.com

बिन सावल्यांच्या गावात (In a shadowless Town) Documentary Film Screening followed by a Discussion

Runtime: 63 min. Dir.: Gouri Patwardhan

Synopsis How is the city made? What is remembered when it is being made… and what is forgotten? Raising these crucial questions the film looks at how heritage walks in Pune city seek to define the history of the city in a narrow mold, exclusive to upper castes while claiming to represent the city. What has the erasure of historic figures and buildings meant for the Dalit Bahujan community in the city and their struggle to reclaim some of them? Walking backwards in time the film tries to trace the imprint of caste on history and geography in Pune.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER Gouri Patwardhan is an artist and filmmaker based in Bangalore. Gouri’s experience as a filmmaker and editor began with making educational films for children and young adults for NCERT and UGC on themes of art, environment and inventive teaching methods. She is an alumnus of Goa College of Art and Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and currently teaches at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology. She won a national award for her documentary, Modikhanyachya Don goshti in 2013

The Film Director shall be available for a post-screening discussion.

ALL ARE WELCOME!!!

बिन सावल्यांच्या गावात (In a shadowless Town) Documentary Film Screening followed by a Discussion

Runtime: 63 min. Dir.: Gouri Patwardhan

Synopsis How is the city made? What is remembered when it is being made… and what is forgotten? Raising these crucial questions the film looks at how heritage walks in Pune city seek to define the history of the city in a narrow mold, exclusive to upper castes while claiming to represent the city. What has the erasure of historic figures and buildings meant for the Dalit Bahujan community in the city and their struggle to reclaim some of them? Walking backwards in time the film tries to trace the imprint of caste on history and geography in Pune.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER Gouri Patwardhan is an artist and filmmaker based in Bangalore. Gouri’s experience as a filmmaker and editor began with making educational films for children and young adults for NCERT and UGC on themes of art, environment and inventive teaching methods. She is an alumnus of Goa College of Art and Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and currently teaches at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology. She won a national award for her documentary, Modikhanyachya Don goshti in 2013

The Film Director shall be available for a post-screening discussion.

ALL ARE WELCOME!!!

Samahaara Workshop Productions presents

Gollapudi Maruti Rao’s “KALLU” A Play in Telugu

Produced by Rathna Shekar Directed by Rajashekar Kavali

Date – 14th & 15th Nov 2019 Time – 08.00PM Venue – Lamakaan, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.

Five people decide to put all their hard earned fortune in the hands of the most deserving person among themselves for the benefit of all and ask him to lead them with responsibility, that man takes advantage of their weakness and he not only exploits them but also degrades them with utter contempt ripping off their self-respect.

When the destiny of the blind is placed in the hands of a trusted confidant who offers them a ray of hope, those very hands, clouded by self-centered desires, push their lives into a state of despair. This play depicts a stark contrast between the lives of sighted people who are ‘Blinded’ by conceit and the visually impaired who ‘See’ this world with their hearts.

The story is a gentle fable about the limitations of life and its acceptance. A girl learns the painful lesson of letting go of want and desire when her father insists on leaving her newfound stray dog. However, the ending of the film offers hope—another lesson of life being full of changes and the consequences of change may bring unexpected rewards.

Art has always has been and still continues to be an integral part of people’s struggles around the world. Any form of art can convey the artist’s feelings to the audience with ease. Art can also be a form of Dissent to respond to social issues and voice out to the struggles we face in our society.

Poetry is one of the most significant form of art. Also it is most significant form of dissent. Like Faiz said ” a society without meaningful poetry is a society in the last legs of its wretched existence, a society bereft of dreams and thus a society bereft of hope.”

In a time of political and economic uncertainty, the role of art and expression has never been more important. India is going through this phase now. The space for dissent is shrinking. Cultural leaders – from filmmakers to cartoonists around the world are under threat, with many arrested or even killed for expressing their ideas and showing any signs of dissent.

At this difficult times , it is important that our dissent in any form is expressed. To send a strong message to our rulers in authority that we have right To defy To disagree To debate To dissent

To Express To enquire And To Exist As dialogue towards an alternative has crossed one year, come let’s be a part of this journey and sing songs of dissent. On 12. 11.2019, 7pm at lamakaan

Emotions are an intrinsic part of human nature and play a pivotal role in shaping our personality and behaviour. Art has played an integral role in helping humans get a deeper insight into their emotional self.

With episodes from the Ramayana and Mahabaratha and compositions of great poets, this lec-dem aims to explore the “Navarasas” or the 9 basic human emotions through Bharathanatyam.

KINAARA- A Student Film Festival (DAY 1) : Stories from the Fringe

A word that means ‘corner’ or ‘bank’, KINAARA is a space occupied by people forgotten by society’s grander narratives, existing on the margins of the dominant discourses. It is their stories we would like to showcase at this film festival, with the two main areas being gender and sexual identity, and territorial identity.