The Indian Express -- Leisure

Wednesday, November 26 1997

TODAY'S CROSSWORD TODAY'S ZODIAC

Not quite picture perfect

It is said that the camera never lies. One click of the shutter and you get a snapshot of the past. A record of reality. But that is not always the case, as the grand old man of Indian theatre, Ebrahim Alkazi, proves with an exhibition curated by him. Titled "Power and Dominion", his photo album runs through the three imperial darbars held by the British between 1877 to 1911 and shows how the Empire manipulated the camera as an instrument of imperialist propaganda.

It all turns into black

Yusuf Arakkal grew up surrounded by colours so perfect that they would only look at home on a postcard. A native of a small town in Kerala, there is a dream palette in every sunrise and sunset, from dawn to dusk. So, you would think that his canvas too would look like the collected works of Matisse. However, when he starts working on a canvas, invariably, the tones that dominate are shades of black.

Coming together

If a cutcheri has a singer for the main artiste, it could also well be an instrumental solo. A violin cutcheri, a flute, a veena, a gottuvadyam, a nagaswaram, a mandolin, a saxophone or the almost vanishing jalatarangam. Why, Carnatic music has even inspired whistlers to perform a classical solo! Whether the performer is a vocalist or an instrumentalist, it goes without saying that a cutcheri needs accompanying artistes, collectively referred to as `pakkavadyam' to put the effort in place.

Pick week

Jaya

Not quite picture perfect

Event Index -- Theatre fete

Coming together

It all turns into black