Arts & Culture News - Page 20

It wasn’t just high heels and high fashion! How Paris Fashion Week paid tribute to Ukraine

From fashion designers to models, everyone put the Ukrainian cause before business and extended their support through donations and symbolic gestures

Holi 2022: From phirni thandai to iced tea thandai, some coolers that can help you beat the heat

The rich, yummy taste of thandai makes it a favourite of anyone celebrating Holi.

Namita Gokhale on winning Sahitya Akademi Award for Things to Leave Behind: ‘I used to carry it everywhere like a piece of knitting’

"This festival has always had a mysterious life of its own, and it is literally taking me for a ride along with it. I follow where it goes," co-director Namita Gokhale says on the recently-concluded Jaipur Literature Festival.

Interview | In Heroes the Colour of Dust, Amit Majmudar weaves fictional plot around India's civil disobedience

Read his book to learn about a fictional group of fearless sparrows who are ready to sacrifice their own lives because they have made a resolution “to protect Gandhi from any foebird, mutt, or Britisher.”

Know Your Classical Dances: Manipuri Raas Leela, and its exploration of love — both romantic and spiritual

Not only does the dance form set out to showcase Krishna in his various colours, but also explores the anxieties and predicaments of the gopis through its study of the nayika, or the heroine and her quest to unite with her prana sakha [soulmate].

Minus the drama and the jamboree, the Jaipur Literature Festival this year is a quiet return to the core

The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have stripped the JLF of all its frills. After forced confinement of two years, it was a joy to see, hear, and meet so many other people. The festival may have changed in countless big and small ways, but it has retained its indomitable spirit.

Out of water, on the wall: Lodhi Colony’s latest mural breaks travel boundaries

The mural titled 'Fish Out of Water' is a collaboration between Aashti Miller, India-based architect and illustrator, and Germany's Greta von Richthofen, who works on documentary narratives and graphic novels.

The Play Truth: How narratives and portrayal of women are changing at theatres near you

Story tellers are now breaking taboos and digging deeper to have important conversations about gender and what being a woman is all about.

Book Review | In The Queen of Indian Pop, Vikas Kumar Jha channels his unabating awe of Usha Uthup

In presenting the life story of Usha Uthup in a book loosely translated as a "boat of joy," Vikas Kumar Jha pivots every struggle back to her infectious optimism.

Munmun Ganeriwal, nutritionist of celebrities like Taapsee Pannu, breaks down what composes a healthy diet

With each actor, the approach is different that largely depends on the actor’s personal preferences, shoot requirements etc. It is difficult to generalise," says celebrity nutritionist Munmun Ganeriwal.

Sushant Divgikar aka Rani Ko-He-Nur: People shouldn’t look at an artiste’s gender but their art

On Woman’s Day, Firstpost catches up with drag queen Sushant Divgikar aka Rani Ko-He-Nur, who is known for promoting inclusivity through art and slays it!

On Sahir Ludhianvi's 101st birth anniversary, reading his poetry on women and communal harmony in contemporary light

It is of course a coincidence that the poet’s birth anniversary falls on the same day as International Woman’s Day, but many would call it a fateful occurrence, given how Sahir Ludhianvi wrote about women.

Know Your Classical Dances: Locating Kuchipudi’s roots and transformations in traditions of dance-drama

In each recital, Kuchipudi has retained at its core the flavours of the sensual, romantic, and erotic shringara rasa that have shaped its oldest renditions.

Short and long of it: Packing a punch with a new book on stories from around the world

‘The idea was to feature best writings in the form of short fiction by writers irrespective of their identities or geographical locations,’ says editor Shireen Quadri

Expert Avantika Goswami dissects IPCC's latest report: 'Every new piece of hard science about climate change is crucial'

"The mention of mental health being affected by climate change, and the confirmation that the poor are hurt the most, are very positive developments in this report," says Avantika Goswami.

India sets up Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics task force: What this means for future of metaverse in country

Experts claim "there is no reason why India cannot be a world contender in building the metaverse" if the announcement of the AVGC task force in Budget 2022 is followed by robust execution.

Book Review: Devapriya Sanyal's account of Salman Khan combines fawning adoration with scholarly interest

In Salman Khan: The Man, The Actor, The Legend, Devapriya Sanyal picks interesting examples to highlight the contrast between the kind of masculinity that the actor has portrayed on screen and the kind that he has been notorious for in real life.

Lubaina Bandukwala on The Chowpatty Cooking Club, and setting a children's book during Independence movement

"I just tried to capture an innocent desire to be larger than life, which eventually grows into a more evolved understanding of what freedom means, and the enormous cost that thousands were willing to pay for it," says Lubina Bandukwala.

Remembering Sarojini Naidu, the gentle poet and the fiery freedom fighter, on her 73rd death anniversary

Sarojini Naidu used the power of language not only to delight and entertain but also to invigorate and rouse people to action.

Book Review | Jayanta Ghoshal provides detailed coverage of West Bengal Assembly Election in Mamata Beyond 2021

Jayanta Ghosal’s vivid understanding of India, its cultural diversity, and the knowledge of the RSS ideology as a journalist are visible from the way he has differentiated between Bengal’s faith in Hindu religion and RSS' idea of Hindutva.

Book Review | In The Gutsy Girls of Science, Class 11 student Ilina Singh celebrates women scientists who paved the way

Ilina Singh adopts a friendly, conversational tone to ask her readers if they would like to consider a career in the fields that each of these women chose to work in. Her writing style is in in tune with what her peers would enjoy.

Know Your Classical Dances: Mohiniyattam, once thrust into obscurity during British rule, revived in early 20th century

From being categorised as a dance of the vaishya or the prostitute to receiving recognition as a prolific art form and a codification into the realm of the ‘classical,’ Mohiniyattam has perhaps been one of the few dance styles to have undergone such humongous shifts through history.

Samir Soni’s My Experiments with Silence is about placing faith in one’s capacity to introspect and heal oneself

My Experiments with Silence: The Diary of An Introvert is primarily a collection of diary entries, poems, and personal essays written by Samir Soni.

Inside the lesser known tradition of Punjab's classical music, from Harballabh music festival to the Patiala gharana

The widespread public misconception that Punjab has not much to offer in classical art traditions is so far from the truth. A robust and flourishing classical music scene is part of this state’s past and present.

With Love Longing Loss, Rekhta founder Sanjiv Saraf attempts to make Urdu couplets and ghazals accessible

Love Longing Loss aims to connect with young readers who may not fully understand Urdu but appreciate its beauty to touch those deep dark corners of the heart that are left bruised and tender by some or the other incident in life.

Tusshar Kapoor on turning author with Bachelor Dad: ‘Doing more challenging things after becoming a father’

In his debut book Bachelor Dad, Tusshar Kapoor writes about his journey to fatherhood, all that it takes to have a child outside of marriage via surrogacy in India, and more

Britney Spears inks deal with Simon & Schuster for tell-all memoir months after conservatorship ends

Simon & Schuster secured the deal for Britney Spears' memoir after a massive bidding war involving multiple publishers

Book Review | Administrator Ratnakar Shetty traces Indian cricket's highs and lows in On Board: My Years with the BCCI

Young Indian fans ready to deride the ‘bullying’ and financial clout of today’s BCCI would do well to read the account of where India has come from to emerge as a global cricketing financial powerhouse today.

Know Your Classical Dances: How Kathak has historically served as a medium of storytelling that cuts across classes

Throughout history, quite unlike most classical art forms, Kathak has seldom been performed as an offering to a deity, instead from its earliest stages, it has been a recital directed at an audience comprising its patrons as well as the common people.

It's a gentleman's world: A deep dive into why there are such few women umpires in cricket

While there is much needed social media outcry on the growth of women’s cricket worldwide, there is no focus on the need for more women in umpiring. As my conversations with umpires across the spectrum over the past weeks revealed, there should be.