The Hindu Business Line : Burying differences

Critics may have savaged it, but Sooraj Barjatya's new film Vivah has turned out to be quite a hit in Mumbai and Delhi with a 78 per cent opening. The film underlines the importance of commitment in an arranged marriage (a time-tested Indian tradition). Naturally, the couple lives happily ever after.

This film comes from the Rajshri stable, which has been producing clean films with "family values" ever since the patriarch Tarachand Barjatya hit the jackpot with his first super hit, Dosti, about the friendship between two boys with disability. Sooraj kept the flag flying with the box-office hits Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and ho-hum films like Hum Saath Saath Hain and Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon.

Vivah, interestingly, was premiered on the Internet simultaneously with its worldwide release, thanks to Rajjat A. Barjatya, managing director of Rajshri Media (P) Ltd, the digital media and entertainment arm of the Rajshri group. Young Rajjat worked on the project for months with his best buddy Rajesh Jain of Netcore Technologies to launch rajshri.com, a broadband online entertainment destination for premium Indian video content.

Grave outlook

As different from Vivah as chalk from cheese is Chitra Palekar's impressive debut Maati May (A Grave-Keeper's Tale), based on a short story by the Jnanpith and Magsaysay award-winner Mahasweta Devi. A few years ago we travelled across parts of Maharashtra with the renowned writer-activist who was documenting human rights violations against the Pardhi and other denotified tribal communities for evidence in a PIL. It's obvious that real-life incidents have gone into her story Baayen, which follows on the heels of Hazaar Chaurasi ki Maa to make it to the big screen.

Palekar has produced, directed and written the film which features Nandita Das as Chandi, a Dalit gravedigger who is accused of being a witch and cast out from her northern Maharashtra village. Atul Kulkarni puts in a sterling performance as the hard-drinking husband Narsu, who betrays Chandi. Chandi, prior to her rebellion and expulsion, is stoic and accepting of her lot: "It is God's work". For Narsu, the epitome of success is a government job; he finds it hard to comprehend that equality among all Indians is guaranteed by the Constitution. Maati May is a tragic tale of the dispossessed eking out a miserable existence; mercifully, an educated younger generation exemplified by Chandi's son Bhagirath symbolises the light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

Maati May is currently being screened at IFFI Goa as part of the Indian Panorama section.

Poles apart

Europe is the flavour of the season in India, with folks in the major metros and Mumbaikars in particular being spoilt for choice. The purveyors of socio-cultural offerings this time are the Poles and the Italians who are presenting a richly packaged programme of events showcasing their countries. (Lest we forget, the subtext is `enhancing trade and business'.)

Dr Krysystof Majka and Antonio Armellini flagged off their respective festivals (Days of Poland in India and the Festa Italiana) with gala concerts; the Poles offered an eclectic, rollicking musicality while the Italians served up operatic and symphony fare from the Parma Royal Theatre Orchestra.

The legacy of Italian music is well known but feisty little Poland is no laggard in the cultural stakes either; it is, after all, the land of Chopin. Krzesimir Debski, famous violinist, leads a virtuoso group that traces Poland's unique musical landscape of jazz, folk, pop and rock firmly rooted in the classical. With music, singing and dancing, Debski's group, which included his wife Anna, an all-girl Strings quartet and a hillbilly rock group called Turnioki, gave Mumbaikars a heart-warming, showstopper of a concert.

Festa Italiana is a month-long event while the Polish fete extends over three months. In fact, this year's edition of Days of Poland features 27 productions and 51 events to be held in 10 Indian cities till March next year. Debski and Co will be performing in most of the metros; they really ought to have been participating in Capital Jazz's Jazz Utsav 2006, three days of great jazz at the Bandra Amphitheatre. Thanks to corporate sponsorship, jazz aficionados can obtain free passes from Prakash Thadani's Silkworks at 329/A Worli, which is currently exhibiting Mario Miranda's cartoons of Jazz Yatras.