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Alvida Shaukat Aapa Part iv- Day 1702

By Event, Films

Shaukat Kaifi went to hospitals too, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a longer time and those were difficult times for the family and for all of us who loved her.

We treat parents of our friends as our parents and they love us like their children as well but this has a disadvantage too because when they go away, we become orphan another time!

I tell myself I will remember the happier times…The first time I observed roza in the month of Ramzaan it was Shaukat aapa who offered me a glass of water and said, ‘Chand Mubarak’…When I was in a crisis it was Shaukat aapa who tied me imam-e-zameen and said ‘All will be well’ and it was Shaukat aapa who presented me with my first Ganga Jamni sari.

I will think of her whenever I am in fresh air because she loved sunlight… she relished well brewed tea…her favorite ittar…handloom saris…cane furniture… paper lanters…mitti ka diya…madhubani paintings… And all this exist in Janki Kutir and as long as her son Baba preserves the cottage the way it is, Shaukat Kaifi will continue to breathe in our memories…

@bhawanasomaaya

5 December, 2019
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Alvida Shaukat Aapa Part iii- Day 1701

By Uncategorized

Her children Baba and Shabana joked that Mummy started instructing the staff from the gate of the cottage uncaring whether they heard or not and when they surfaced, she had usually forgotten what she wanted to say. The children complained that she was impatient and unable to focus which was partly true but seek her out in a crisis and she was all there for you.

 

It was Shaukat Kaifi who bailed out Shabana Azmi from the police station when arrested on her protest for slum demolition. She was performing Tumhari Amrita the same evening at NCPA and Shaukat Kaifi told the police officer he had to let her perform the show and she would personally bring her back to the police station. When Shabana was hesitant to leave her activist colleagues, she said irrespective of your ideologies the show has to go on…

All my memories of Shaukat Kaifi are divided into three compartments – Janki Kutir when she was robust, cheerful, enthusiastic, energetic, colorful and spunky. Then Mijwaan, when she migrated to Kaifi Azmi’s village and though out of place initially, connected with her beloved’s people and roots and finally, Sagar Samrat where she shifted post Kaifi Azmi’s demise and stayed till the end. She was frail now, a little broken too but her spirit was intact. She still changed three saris a day, had a 24×7 personal staff and went every evening to the garden.

To be continued

@bhawanasomaaya

4 December, 2019
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Alvida Shaukat Aapa Part ii- Day 1700

By Event

One day, while she was in the middle of her driver crisis when a passerby walked into the house and asked for charity. She was alarmed by his audacity and fired him. He was about to walk away when she stopped him and asked him if his wife was really ailing in the hospital and he was not fooling her. He nodded snd Shaukat Kaifi opened her purse and gave him some money.

There are some amazing incidents with both her children as well. In the late 80s Baba Azmi’s film Bezubaan was getting premiered in town and while driving to the venue Shabana warned her mother that she must not fall asleep during the film because that will upset Baba’s producer but on reaching the auditorium when Naseerudin Shah, hero of the film expressed delight to see her she said, ‘Meri himmat ki data deni chahiye ke main iss film ko dekhne aayi hoon’.

This was the time Shabana was shooting for Mahesh Bhatt’s Arth and woke up one morning with butterflies in her stomach because she had to shoot a very difficult scene she was not convinced about. She discussed the details with her parents over tea in the morning and while Kaifi Azmi was as usual quiet Shaukat Kaifi argued that her discomfort was not important because a woman on the verge of losing her husband has no dignity and will go to any extreme to save her marriage.

The message struck a chord and Shabana was able to let go off of her inhibitions for that dramatic scene which got her applause from the audience.

 

To be continued

@bhawanasomaaya

 

3 December, 2019
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Alvida Shaukat Aapa Part i- Day 1699

By Uncategorized

Shaukat Kaifi started her career with Prithvi Theatre and later got associated with IPTA for the longest time. Her film portrayals include Haqeeqat, Garam Hawa, Anjuman and Salaam Bombay. Wife of poet Kaifi Azmi and mother of cinematographer Baba and actor Shabana Azmi passed away last week. She was 91.

The first time I met Shaukat Kaifi in the 80s she was entertaining her nieces with an amusing story at her home and they were all rolling down with laughter. All of them were hysterical and talking loudly, I found the atmosphere a little loud and intimidating. But first impressions are often deceptive and I discovered over a period of time that Shaukat aapa has many hues and colors and she is more entertaining than intimidating.

She woke up very early every morning and was bathed and ready before the driver reported on duty. As soon as he arrived, she left for the market to shop for fresh flowers and fruits. All the fruit sellers in the Juhu market were her friends and familiar with her taste and temperament. Often she would forget important packet in the car and needed the driver to get them inside calling him was a challenge because she could never remember her driver’s name so she had written out in a diary and every time she needed to call out to him, she hunted first for her purse, then spectacles, then the diary and finally called for her driver Titus.

 

To be continued

@bhawanasomaaya

2 December, 2019
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Shivali Show- Day 1698

By Dance

Kumar and Nartrajan are anxious but there is no expression, both sit quietly in the green room wordless waiting for their turn. Always the pressure is to not let down your guru. The guru is more nervous than the students only not showing it and finally the performance is over. It is a big hit and the audience cannot stop clapping. The guru is happy and cnnot stop smiling. Kumar and Natrajan are  exhausted but more than that they are relieved, for some time they can rest and tonight they and eat a heavy mkeal an d get a good night’s rest finally.

 

@bhawanasomaaya

29 November, 2019
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Movie Review: Hotel Mumbai- Day 1697

By Films

Watch if you can relive the nightmare

 

Film: Hotel Mumbai

Date: 29.11.2019

Director: Anthony Maras

Writer: Maras, John Collee

Cast: Dev Patel, Anupam Kher, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadia

Hotel Mumbai is an Australian–American–Indian co-production inspired by the 2009 documentary Surviving Mumbai tracing the 2008 Mumbai attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India.

Shot in Australia and in India, the film has had its share of controversies. It was pulled from cinemas in New Zealand due to the Christchurch mosque shootings on 15 March 2019, later Netflix was set to distribute the film in India and other South and Southeast Asian territories but at the last minute Netflix opted out after a contractual dispute arose with Indian distributor Plus Holdings.

Almost a year after being premiered in Toronto, Australia and the United States, the film is set to release in India.

In broad daylight boat sails across the shores to Mumbai city and a group of youngsters hop out into the buzzing city, hail taxis and head for their mission to three different spots – Chatrapathi  Shivaji Terminus, Leopold Café and Taj Mahal Hotel.

The scenes revive memories of a tragedy we have all endured and tried to forget. When the city was under siege burned and Delhi delayed sending a special force to aid Mumbai police and in the bargain many lives were lost and many policemen turned patriots.

Today, 11 years post the nightmare Hotel Mumbai opens up old wounds that still fester, is it appropriate for a foreign crew to make a film on this subject? The answer is subjective. It is not the first time we are watching a film on horrific incidents and yet because it involves us a country, viewing Hotel Mumbai was not easy. I was uncomfortable sitting in the auditorium and sensed rage, pain, fear around me as the events unfolded on the big screen for 2 plus hours.

There are other reasons why I cringed in my seat. The film does not reveal the background of the terrorists until the end, why? It does not make any reference to Laskar-e-Taiba and does not point out to Pakistan till the concluding scene during the end credits.

Maybe it is all meant to be subtle and not screamed out, that is the problem when we combine fact with fiction, there are too many creative liberties to make the narrative palatable. On the plus, I will say the sound/ production design and the cinematography is outstanding. All the performances are convincing, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadia and more, your heart goes out to the hostages. Anupam Kher as Hemant Oberoi lends dignity to the character and Dev Patel as Arjun breaks your heart.

So must you watch Hotel Mumbai, only if you have the nerves to go through the nightmare again then book your tickets?

I rate Hotel Mumbai with 3 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya

 

28 November, 2019
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Another Announcement- Day 1696

By Dance

While most of the students go home and rest guru Madhuparna Kumar has no time to revel in the grand show completed because she has to prepare for nother show, a grander show at Shivali Festival and her guru Malti Agniswaran has been training her for it for more than three months.  Madhuparna Kumar and Ramya Natrajan, both students of Dr Malti Agniswaran are performing together and therefore rehearsing together for months now. There is a comfort level in their performance which is evident on stage. Tomrrow is Shivali Festival performance at Mysore Association Hall, Matunga.

 

28 November, 2019
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Green Room- Day 1695

By Uncategorized

If you are an artiste and in the green room you can feel the tension…The person about to go on stage has cold feet and his companion is unknowingly praying for her. All artistes feel they have blanked out just before stepping into spotlight, and then when the music starts the memory returns by a miracle. While the dancer is performing, another is fixing the last pin into the hair, all ready to take position behind the curtain and all of them do this dance a after dance, song after song….

 

From 7-9 pm students rush in and out happy to reunite as a family after the grand finale from the guru and her colleague.

27 November, 2019
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