Hello Readers!

We hope you have had a fabulous start to 2019!

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) is happy to be back in the New Year with news on our work between October 2018 and January 2019. Scroll for exciting updates across our five programmes Project 560, Arts Research, Arts Practice, Arts Education and the Archival and Museum Fellowships and events, including The Launch of The IFA Archive, film festivals, panel discussions, workshops, performances and an interview with an Arts Research grantee!

This New Year, we are delighted to present our unique 14-month Limited Edition Calendar for 2019-2020 and A Set of Six Coasters, featuring a select range of exciting IFA projects! Gift yourself or a loved one and share your support for the arts. Order your copy of the calendar for Rs 450/- (inclusive of domestic courier charges) online now or write to us at contactus@indiaifa.org before February 15, 2019 and spend the year learning a little more about the diverse work that we support across multiple Indian languages, as you go through the year. From a graphic novel that explores the history of the Left Front in West Bengal, a project where school children make familiar the local public library in Mysore, a critical study of modern Tamil theatre to a performance-work that explores queer identities. Our calendar will also see you through early 2020 and allow you to choose the image and project that captures your interest with most months of the year.

We are delighted to present the IFA Limited Edition 2019-2020 desk calendar. Pick up a copy soon!

The set of coasters allows you to glimpse at the work that we support during a brief respite as you enjoy your cuppa and look back at 2018, and welcome the New Year! From a multimedia artwork tracing the introduction of books to women in India, a graphic narrative documenting the stories of migrant labourers in New Delhi, a film essaying the life and works of artist K Ramanujam, an installation of ceramics exploring aesthetics, a dry plate collodion photography project capturing changes in two villages, to an installation in a historic building in Bangalore. Get your set soon for Rs 550/- (inclusive of domestic courier charges) online or write to us at contactus@indiaifa.org and support our work.

Your purchase will go back towards grant-making.

This set of six coasters allows you to glimpse at the work that we support, as you welcome the New Year!

We deeply mourn the passing away of noted filmmaker Mrinal Sen on December 30, 2018. Sen's contribution to cinema and passion for the medium has inspired generations. As an organisation, IFA is deeply indebted to Sen. He served as the Settlor of the Trust and played a critical role in registering IFA as a non-profit organisation in 1993 in Kolkata. We remember him and pay tribute to his work which continues to question and raise debates about our lives and living.

Please visit our website or follow us on Twitter, facebook, and YouTube for regular updates!

We would love to hear from you write to us at contactus@indiaifa.org with any feedback or query.

Warmly,
The IFA Team

In July 2018, a note announcing Project 560, 2018 was shared along with a preview video capturing the various support possibilities in the newly articulated programme. In addition, the video was circulated as part of the announcement as well as independently, and was publicised widely on online and social media channels.

We received 32 proposals and conducted interviews with the shortlisted applicants under the two categories - Arts Projects (Research and Practice) and Year-long Series of Curated Artistic and Cultural Engagements, at the IFA Office on November 12, 2018. We had Deepa Ganesh, writer and journalist; Amandeep Sandhu, writer; and Dr SK Aruni, historian and scholar, as part of the evaluation panel. The interviews were conducted by the panel along with the IFA team.

(L to R) Evaluation panellists writer Amandeep Sandhu, journalist Deepa Ganesh, and historian Dr SK Aruni convened with the IFA team to select final Project 560 proposals

Five grants were made in all - two under Arts Projects (Research and Practice) and three under Year-long Series of Curated Artistic and Cultural Engagements. The two Arts projects grants have been made to Gayathri Iyer and Lekshmi Mohan R (also known as Sunil Mohan). The three grants under Year-long Series of Curated Artistic and Cultural Engagements have been made to Fields of View, Ekta Mittal, and Poornima Sukumar.

Researcher Gayathri Iyer received a grant to conduct research on the life and times of devadasi Venkata Sundara Sani associated with the Halasuru Someshwara temple, who lived in the early 20th century in Bangalore. Through an in-depth study into her life and work, this project seeks to acknowledge and engage with the largely ignored temple and devadasi traditions of Bangalore and their rich contributions to the field of music, dance and other arts.

Artist Poornima Sukumar received a grant for a series of curated artistic and cultural engagements in Bangalore which explore the city through the lives and perspectives of the transgender community who have come together under the collective the Aravani Arts Project. The grant enables the community to delve into the history of trans-culture in the city and represent their relationships with their neighbours and neighbourhood spaces to trace their journeys through acceptance, understanding, building families and finding love.

Activist and researcher Lekshmi Mohan R (aka Sunil Mohan) received a grant for the creation of a performance based on the life and times of ‘Begum’ who lived in a prime locality in Bangalore during the 1980s. Drawing on a collection of oral narratives and through a series of workshops, the play will theatrically imagine and reconstruct the character of Begum and her space which nurtured various working class communities. In the larger context, the play seeks to explore the hitherto undocumented and neglected history of transgender people in Bangalore.

Researcher and filmmaker Ekta Mittal received a grant for a series of curated artistic and cultural engagements in Bangalore to make subterranean and invisible labour visible again in the discourse of the city. Through Maraa, a media and arts collective, the projects aims to facilitate opportunities for the labourers to engage with the arts and culture in the city.

Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Fields of View received a grant to build a game that will engage diverse sets of Bangaloreans to explore multiple narratives of the city. Through engaging people in game-sessions, the project aims to question 'standard' narratives and understand how people’s personal stories shape larger tales of the city.

We circulated the Call for Neighbourhood Engagements again the previous quarter and the deadline was on December 14, 2018. We look forward to introducing you to the recipients soon!

Project 560 is partnered by Citi India.

The Arts Research programme at IFA supports research into the histories and expressions of artistic practices in India. Under this programme, scholars, researchers and practitioners receive support for projects that investigate marginalised or relatively unexplored areas; create spaces for dialogue between theory and practice; offer new readings and frameworks for artistic practices; and use interdisciplinary approaches to break new conceptual ground. At IFA we encourage projects in Indian languages other than English, in order to contribute towards discourse-building in multiple language contexts.

We invited Request for Proposals for this year in April 2018, for which we received 163 final proposals in multiple languagues, of which 20 were shortlisted. An evaluation panel of experts comprising theatre scholar Samik Bandyopadhyay, artist Ravikumar Kashi, academics Lakshmi Subramanian and AR Venkatachalapathy convened to select the grants on November 14, 2018. India Foundation for the Arts made nine grants across diverse areas, covering photography, music, theatre, film and marginalised histories and cultures, to researchers:

(Clockwise) Evaluation panellists theatre expert Samik Bandyopadhyay, artist Ravikumar Kashi, academics AR Venkatachalapathy and Lakshmi Subramanian (via Skype) convened with the IFA team to select final Arts Research proposals in November 2018

Journalist and writer Manish Gaekwad received a grant to research into the lives of Indian courtesans and their families, tracing their roots in history to the current times. He will draw on his personal experiences as well as the stories of women and children who were raised in Kothas. With a focus on their music, performance culture, patronage and the circumstances that eventually led to the transformation of a traditional cultural practice into sex work, the project will record accounts of people from various communities, highlighting their struggles, aspirations, survival and the erosion of the Kotha culture over time. The outcome of this project will be the manuscript for a book.

Scholar Gowhar Yaqoob received a grant to study the ways in which poets and rebels contemplate the question of the self through idioms of 'love', in the current sociocultural and political context in Kashmir. By exploring the plurality of love depicted in a diverse repertoire of images, and poetic and literary expressions, the project will focus on the works of two poets - Agha Shahid Ali and Rahman Rahi, and the videos and images of the rebel Burhan Wani. It will attempt to delve into the ways in which the discourse on love in literary sources and political practices could be employed in writing the cultural history of contemporary Kashmir.

Researcher Parshati Dutta received a grant to study the significance and interrelationship of cultural heritage and conflict in Kashmir. The project aims to understand how heritage impacts the identities and values of communities in times of conflict.

Researcher S Bharat received a grant to research the soundscapes of the annual pilgrimage - Kanwar Yatra - where predominantly male devotees of Shiva undertake an arduous journey on foot to ceremonially transport water from the Ganga at Haridwar to various Shiva shrines across North India. Through an ethnographic engagement with the Yatra, this project will focus on its auditory dimensions to explore the ecology of religiosity and popular culture. It is an attempt to understand religious practices and formation of identities in current times.

Documentary filmmaker Tushar Madhav received a grant to conduct research towards a documentary film on the artistic legacy of the famous Gond Pradhan artist Jangarh Singh Shyam. The project will critically examine the artistic evolution that was spurred by Jangarh's inventive artistic style, leaving behind the traditional musical practices of the Gond Pradhan community, and moving towards building a modern, urban tradition of visual arts practice in Bhopal. Through an art-historical inquiry into the genesis and propagation of this shift that occurred for the community as well as the city of Bhopal, the project aims to explore the 'urban' fetish for 'tribal' as the city continues to subsume a subaltern tribal identity into its cultural landscape.

Visual artist and researcher Goutam Ghosh received a grant to study the interlinked imaginaries of time - geological, mythological, and science fictional - as they are expressed in the desert landscape of the Rann of the Kutch. The project will investigate how the geological and the mythological narratives shape and alter the cultural geographies of the imagined science fictional future.

Theatre director, actor and researcher S Sugumar received a grant for practice-based research on the historical, theatrical and psychological aspects of characterisation in the performance of Therukoothu towards making a play in the form of documentary theatre. Through extensive interviews with the Therukoothu artists and studying the process of preparing actors for various characters, the project aims to explore pedagogy, performativity and the contemporary trends that have influenced the form in various ways.

Researcher Nirmala received a grant for research to study folk songs in Haryana that have kept alive the memories of the Partition of India. Looking beyond the conventional modes of writing history, and focusing on women, this projects attempts to explore the sociocultural sphere to investigate the lasting effects of the divide on the lives of survivors.

The next call for applications for the Arts Research programme will open in April 2019—stay tuned!

The Arts Research programme for the years 2017 to 2019 is supported by Titan Company Limited.

The Arts Practice programme supports critical practice in the arts. It encourages practitioners working across artistic disciplines to question existing notions through their practice. We are delighted to introduce you to the recipients of five new grants below - a puppeteer, filmmaker, writer and visual artist, theatre actor and a sound artist:

Puppeteer Ranjana Pandey received a grant for a foundation course in puppetry that seeks to train professional puppeteers in India. The course comes as the culmination of a series of workshops held with traditional and contemporary puppet masters over the past five years. Drawing upon and building on existing discourse around puppetry, this first-of-its-kind course seeks to create a pedagogic model that contextualises Indian puppetry traditions while offering an overview of puppetry from other parts of the world.

Filmmaker Prantik Basu received a grant for the creation of an experimental film that explores the lives of a group of performers of the Chhau form from Purulia, West Bengal, going beyond their much studied practice of using elaborate masks in their performances. The project attempts to study their transformation into mythical characters for the performance as well as trace the shifts and changes in the dance form in recent times. Evocative and slow in nature, the film is an experiment in cinematic storytelling through folk narratives.

Writer and visual artist Himali Singh Soin received a grant for the creation of a book on a series of fictional mythologies based in the Polar Regions with Ice as its protagonist. Addressing the politics of ecology, language, and perspectives from the global south, the project will present ice as an agent of resistance against European colonialism and techno-capitalist greed for natural resources from the poles.

Theatre actor Jyoti Dogra received a grant for the creation of a performance piece that explores the idea of the 'black hole' in the realms of science, philosophy and the personal. Exploring connections between consciousness and astrophysics, and the objective nature of science and the subjective nature of the being - this work seeks to blur the boundaries and link the outer and the inner cosmos, by interweaving personal narratives and scientific theories.

Sound artist Umashankar Mantravadi received a grant for workshop expeditions with students to three archaeological sites. These workshops attempt to disseminate the knowledge of archaeoacoustics, carried out successfully in an earlier project supported by IFA.

Programme Officers Sumana Chandrashekar and Shubham Roy Choudhury
talk about the Arts Practice programme and how you can apply in the video above

The Arts Practice programme welcomes queries and applications through the year! We look forward to receiving your proposal in any Indian language, including English, soon! Visit our website for more information or write to shubham@indiaifa.org or sumana@indiaifa.org

The Arts Education programme titled Kali Kalisu, ('Learn and Teach' in Kannada), focusses on integrating arts with the curriculum in government schools in Karnataka. It attempts to achieve this objective through grants made to artists and teachers; and facilitating training workshops for teachers and administrators.

Teachers' Training Programme in Kolar district

As part of our effort to engage teachers and artists in the educationally under-represented district of Kolar, we facilitated a three-day capacity building training programme from November 13 to 15, 2018 for principals, administrators and 31 teachers. Workshops were held to integrate theatre, literary and visual arts, and local cultural forms with the school curriculum. This session was held at Sunanda Sagara NGO in T Gollahalli village at KGF (Kolar Gold Fields) taluk. Through this training, we were able to reach 140 peer teachers, 97 villages, 2,842 students and 5,408 families. Sessions included integrating mathematics with language and storytelling by Rajeev Gowda, knitting numbers and weaving stories by Aparna Deshpande and the possibilities of puppetry by Aruna BT, theatre in education by Praveen and a blend of local narratives and songs - Desheya Drushtikona (Native Perspectives) by Chandrappa Sobati and Mohan Kumar N.

Arts Education Assistant Programme Officer Radhika Bharadwaj (left) with participants at a puppetry training session conducted by Aruna BT as part of the Teachers' training programme in Kolar District in November 2018

The Arts Education programme is supported by Citi India.

The Archival and Museum Fellowships initiative seeks to provide practitioners and researchers with the opportunity to generate new, critical and creative approaches to reading, seeing, and interacting with materials in archives and museums. It is also invested in energising these spaces as platforms for dialogue and discourse, to create awareness and increase public engagement.

New Museum and Archival Fellowships announced

In August 2018, we invited applications for two diverse Museum Fellowships - in collaboration with Goa Chitra - a cluster of three museums comprising Goa Chitra, Goa Chakra and Goa Cruti, and, with Barpeta District Museum in Barpeta, Assam. The fellowship with Goa Chitra is designed to engage with local communities and the history of Goa through objects, texts, and oral histories that have been collected from the older members of the community. We received 17 proposals for fellowship with Goa Chitra, and seven for the fellowship with Barpeta Museum in Assam. We received eight applications for an Archival Fellowship in collaboration with the Raman Research Institute (RRI) in Bangalore in October 2018. This Fellowship is designed to offer creative practitioners to work with a range of materials from the archive of Sir CV Raman, and curate a permanent display. We are delighted to announce fellowships for the Goa Chitra Museum; Barpeta District Museum in Assam, and the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore:

Researcher Aparajita Bhasin received a fellowship for working with the cluster of three museums - Goa Chitra, Goa Chakra and Goa Cruti - which narrates the history of Goa through objects, texts and oral histories. This fellowship supports research that will document, disseminate and make accessible, knowledge about objects in the collections through digital and immersive media. Mobile applications created around the collection attempt to not only extend the reach of the museum, but also help engage and educate a younger generation steeped in technology and social media.

Art historian and curator Lina Vincent Sunish received a fellowship that supports research that will unravel stories about 15 iconic objects from the Goa Chitra museum's collections. Using objects as the point of departure, the project attempts to make visible the many layers of narratives around them through engagements with a diverse range of people including experts in the field, artists, anthropologists, children and others. These stories hope to reveal not only the historic and contemporary significance of the objects but also the material, aesthetic and human histories around them.

Anthropologist Dhiraj Neog received a fellowship to conduct research towards a permanent exhibition at the Barpeta District Museum in Assam, which was established in 1987 and houses more than 450 artefacts including a number of objects from the satras - the neo-vaishnavite monasteries that also served as important sociocultural centres for the Assamese society.

Architect Ramya Ramesh received a fellowship to conduct research towards a permanent display of archival material at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore. The Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore, founded by Nobel Laureate Sir CV Raman, houses more than 5,000 historical photographs, handwritten letters, artefacts and instruments that Prof. Raman used in his lifetime.

Tata Trusts’ three-year commitment of supporting our Archival and Museum Fellowships initiative comes to a close this year. Over the past three years, we have made 25 fellowships across archives and museums in the country. We look forward to introducing you to a reimagined, freshly articulated programme for archives and museums in the coming months.

The Archival and Museum Fellowship initiative for the years 2015 to 2018 is supported by Tata Trusts.

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We organise grant showcases that take the form of presentations, performances, panel discussions, film screenings and more, for multiple audiences across the country. These grant showcases help create dialogue and in turn, become exciting spaces of discovery and discussion. Our staff also participated in various seminars to talk about our programmes, projects and the vision of grantmaking and arts philanthropy. Below is an account of these activities over the last few months:

The Launch of The IFA Archive in Bangalore

We celebrated The Launch of The IFA Archive with a Dastangoi performance by Kafeel Jafri and music by the Sarjapur Blues Band on October 25, 2018 at the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore! These performances explored the idea of the archive as a space for memory and history. Watch a video of the launch here

Read a report in Vogue

As part of the Hyderabad Literary Festival 2019, IFA also presented Afterlife of Memories: The IFA Archive on January 26, 2019 at The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet. The session opened with Dastan ek Talib ki (Story of a Seeker) a performance of Dastangoi by Kafeel Jafri, commissioned specially for the launch of The IFA Archive. Following which, Arundhati Ghosh, Executive Director, IFA and Spandana Bhowmik, Archivist presented the work of the Foundation and conception of The IFA Archive.

For a virtual walk-through of The IFA Archive, watch this video. The IFA Archive is open every Friday, between 02:30 and 05:30 PM (unless it's a Government holiday). For more information, write to spandana@indiaifa.org or bhargaviraju@indiaifa.org

The IFA Archive is built with support from the Lohia Foundation.

The IFA Archive Team with Donor Patron Aarti Lohia at The Launch of The IFA Archive at Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan in Bangalore in October 2018. (L to R): Bhargavi Raju, Archive Assistant; Aarti Lohia, Donor Patron; Arundhati Ghosh, Executive Director; Spandana Bhowmik, Archivist; Menaka Rodriguez, Head, Resource Mobilisation and Outreach; Shalaka Redkar, Project Assistant; and Shubham Roy Choudhury, Senior Programme Officer

Panel in Mumbai

As part of EARS (Europe-Asia Roundtable Sessions), we presented A Space for Unheard Voices, a panel on our support of multiple voices, featuring IFA grantees - singer Shruthi Vishwanath and filmmaker Samreen Farooqui with Shubham Roy Choudhury, Senior Programme Officer, IFA, on November 16, 2018 at The Mumbai Assembly.

Performance in Singapore

Akshayambara - A theatrical exploration of gender in Yakshagana featuring theatre practitioners Sharanya Ramprakash and Prasad Cherkady, accompanied by Rathnakara Shenoy on the maddale, Krishnamurthi Bhat on the chende and vocalist Subrahmanya Prasad took place as part of Kalaa Utsavam - Indian Festival of Arts at Esplanade Annexe Studio in Singapore on November 17 and 18, 2018. Drawing from research and personal experience, the performance imagines a reversal of roles in the popular 'Yakshagana' plot of 'Draupadi Vastrapaharana'. Read a report on the performance in The Straits Times!

Sharanya Ramprakash received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme, made possible with part support from Voltas Limited.

Menaka Rodriguez, Head, Resource Mobilisation and Outreach with the cast and crew of Akshayambara interacting with the audience at Esplanade Annexe Studio, Singapore in November 2018

Open House in Amritsar

We organised an Open House session in association with Majha House at the Indian Academy of Fine Arts in Amritsar on November 19, 2018. Sumana Chandrashekar, Senior Programme Officer, IFA, met a group of potential applicants. She also had focus group meetings with artists and scholars.

Talk and workshop on gadgets in Bangalore

A talk Journey of Talking Devices by Brijesh Chettejana Appachu, Co-Founder and CEO at Just Robotics, followed by a workshop What's in a Message by Nidhi Kulkarni, an industrial and product designer was organised on December 08, 2018 by art consultant Anupama Gowda and engineer Pavan Kumar. These events, which took place at Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM), Bangalore, are the third in a series which will lead up to the Talking Devices Exhibition Series which will open at VITM in February 2019, curated by Anupama and Pavan. In his talk, Brijesh presented the journey of communication devices with a focus on science, technology and the cultural influences that give current devices the fundamental building blocks for innovation in design. The workshop was led by Brijesh and Nidhi to facilitate participants to toy with sensors and micro-controllers and work towards contributing to a work-in-progress arts installation for the final exhibition in February 2019.

Anupama Gowda and Pavan Kumar received an Archival and Museum Fellowship from India Foundation for the Arts, in collaboration with Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangalore, made possible with support from Tata Trusts.

Participants at a workshop What's in a Message by industrial designer Nidhi Kulkarni, organised by Anupama Gowda and Pavan Kumar at Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangalore in December 2018

Performance in New Delhi

Black Hole, a devised piece by theatre actor Jyoti Dogra that explores the idea of the 'black hole' in the realms of science, philosophy and the personal took place on December 07 and 08, 2018 at OddBird Theatre, New Delhi. Read a report in Scroll.in

Jyoti Dogra received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Jyoti Dogra during a performance of Black Hole in New Delhi in December 2018

Showcases at Kochi-Muziris Biennale

Artist Afrah Shafiq's artwork Sultana's Reality has been on view at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018 from its opening on December 12, 2018 to March 29, 2019. The artwork is an immersive interactive installation when late one night someone sits by their window reading a short story called Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain's "Sultana's Dream" (1905) and notices a sky full of women outside. Leaning out to investigate she falls into a vortex where women's writing, archival images, history, memories and dreams come together through an interactive multimedia story book to reveal the relationship between women and books in India.

Afrah Shafiq’s artwork Sultana’s Reality at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018 is on view till March 29, 2019

A performance of Vithu Mazha—Songs of the Women Warikari Poets composed and sung by Shruthi Vishwanath, with Shruteendra Katagade on the tabla and Yuji Nakagawa on the sarangi also took place as part of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018 at the Biennale Pavilion in Fort Kochi on January 05, 2019. Shruthi musically interprets and brings into performance the abhangs of women warikari saints. Abhangs are spiritual poems usually dedicated to the deity Vithoba or Vittala of Pandharpur and sung in the regions of Maharashtra and north Karnataka.

A performance of Vithu Mazha—Songs of the Women Warikari Poets composed and sung by Shruthi Vishwanath, with Shruteendra Katagade on the tabla and Yuji Nakagawa on the sarangi took place as part of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018 in Fort Kochi in January 2019

Afrah Shafiq received an Archival Fellowship from India Foundation for the Arts, in collaboration with the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC), made possible with support by Voltas Limited.

Shruthi Vishwanath received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Film screenings, panel discussion and Masterclass in Kolkata

The 5th Little Cinema International Festival for Experimental Films and Media Art organised by Theatre for Experiments in New Technologies (TENT), Kolkata in collaboration with Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata saw a showcase of IFA projects at different sessions. A Masterclass on Animation designed by Avik Mukhopadhayay to provide hands-on demonstration of the making of his stop-motion animation Lubdhak was conducted on December 14, 2018. This was followed by Salute: Nabarun Bhattacharya, an evening of films inspired by the writer Nabarun Bhattacharya's life and work - with Nabarun by Q and Transformer Room by Avik Mukhopadhayay on the same day. On December 15, 2018, a panel discussion titled Conversation and Comics | White City / Black City on graphic novels and the city with three graphic novelists - George Mathen (aka Appupen), Madhuja Mukherjee and Sarbajit Sen along with Shubham Roy Choudhury, Senior Programme Officer, IFA, took place.

Q (aka Qaushiq Mukherjee) received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Avik Mukhopadhayay and Madhuja Mukherjee received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme, made possible with support from Technicolor India Private Limited.

Sarbajit Sen received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme, made possible with support from Technicolor India Private Limited.

George Mathen (aka Appupen) received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Sarbajit Sen at the panel discussion Conversation and Comics | White City / Black City at the 5th Little Cinema International Festival for Experimental Films and Media Art in Kolkata in December 2018

Photography exhibition in Kozhikode and Thrissur

Linking Lineages, a photography exhibition by Abul Kalam Azad was on view at The Crown Theatre, Calicut (Kozhikode) from December 14 to 16, 2018; at Nalukkettu, Perumpillissery, Thrissur from January 11 to 13, 2019 and at Draavidia Gallery, Fort Cochin from January 22 to 28, 2019. This project is an extension of an earlier IFA-supported grant titled Men of Pukar, portraying the people and landscape of Poompuhar. Extending beyond Poompuhar, this project constitutes photo exhibitions in and around the regions of three ancient port cities—Tondi (Tyndis), Muchiri (Muziris), and Korkai—located in present day Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Drawing on descriptions of the inhabitants and terrain of these cities in the ancient Tamil epic Silappadikaram, this work revisits these sites in an attempt to initiate conversations around identity and territory, and rekindle collective social memory.

Watch a documentary called An Excavator of Images on Abul's work made by Tulsi Swarna Lakshmi on YouTube!

Abul Kalam Azad received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Linking Lineages, a photography exhibition by Abul Kalam Azad at The Crown Theatre, Calicut (Kozhikode) in December 2018

Walks and exhibition in Hyderabad

As part of the Krishnakriti Festival 2019, organised by Krishnakriti Foundation and presented by Telengana Tourism, "Walking a Munn Map in Darushifa" and "Are you looking for Dewan Deodi", walks by Sirisha Indukuri was conducted at Purani Haveli on January 05, 06 and 13, 2019. In addition, two exhibitions - "Mapping Dewan Deodi" by Sirisha Indukuri and Kishor Krishnamoorthi and "Block by Block", an interactive puzzle by Shikha Pandey opened on January 05, 2019 at Purani Haveli ka Darwaza, Hyderabad and were on view till January 13, 2019. In the year 1912, the Seventh Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan commissioned the Hyderabad Municipal Survey Maps, popularly known as Munn Maps. These maps were created under the supervision of Leonard Munn, chief inspector of mines under the Nizam regime. Read a report in Deccan Chronicle!

Sirisha Indukuri and Shikha Pandey received Archival Fellowships from India Foundation for the Arts, in collaboration with the Kalakriti Archives, Hyderabad, made possible with support from Tata Trusts.

Panel on graphic art in Kolkata

As part of the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2019, IFA presented Drawing Local Histories: Three approaches in graphic novels, a panel with graphic artists Sarbajit Sen, Vidyun Sabhaney, and Bhagwati Prasad - moderated by Arundhati Ghosh, Executive Director, IFA on January 20, 2019 at Development House, Kolkata.

Sarbajit Sen received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme, made possible with support from Technicolor India Private Limited.

Vidyun Sabhaney received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Bhagwati Prasad received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Exhibition in Kolkata

Hold Nothing Dear, a book of photographs and text on the Armenians of Calcutta and the idea of attachment, detachment and time by Alakananda Nag, was on view, along with an installation and a video on January 26 and 27, 2019 at the Armenian Club, Kolkata.

Alakananda Nag received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme, made possible with support from Technicolor India Private Limited.

Members of our staff travelled far and wide to participate in discussions on arts and philanthropy.

In November 2018, Menaka Rodriguez, Head, Resource Mobilisation and Outreach, IFA participated in the concluding residential of The International Arts Leaders programme of the Australia Council for the Arts held in Bunker Bay, Western Australia. Speaking about her participation in the year-long programme Menaka noted it has been extremely enriching year, interacting with fellow participants and learning from the diversity and experience of the cohort. The programme offered her the opportunity to reflect, introspect and question ideas of leadership; and engage with issues and challenges that face the arts today. The International Arts Leaders programme, a joint initiative of the Australia Council for the Arts and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), is designed to empower leaders in the arts and cultural industries from countries across the Indo-Pacific region.

Menaka Rodriguez, Head, Resource Mobilisation and Outreach, IFA (top row, second from left) at The International Arts Leaders programme of the Australia Council for the Arts held in Bunker Bay, Western Australia in November 2018 | Image Credit: Australia Council for the Arts

Arundhati Ghosh, Executive Director, IFA was invited to the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators as a skill building facilitator for the third time. She conducted a series of sessions on "Why do we do what we do: Communicating the value of your work" from October 16 to 20, 2018 in Salzburg, Austria.

Arundhati Ghosh, Executive Director, IFA (front row) with other participants at the Fifth Program of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators in October 2018 | Image Credit: Salzburg Global Seminar/Herman Seidl

Arundhati Ghosh was also invited to Beirut under the aegis of the Arab Culture Fund for their pilot initiative in capacity building for arts and culture organisations. This initiative, across the 20+ Arab countries - ACE, Arts and Culture Entrepreneurship, ran from November 02 to 05, 2018. Arundhati presented "Revealing India: Not a Single Story" on arts and culture in India.

Arundhati Ghosh, Executive Director, IFA presented "Revealing India: Not a Single Story" on arts and culture in India, organised by Arab Culture Fund for their pilot initiative in capacity building for arts and culture, in Beirut in November 2018

Arundhati Ghosh participated in a panel titled Art and Education as part of the series Art Accessibility: Ideal or Reality? with Parmesh Shahani, Roobina Karode and moderator Rohit Goel on December 17, 2018. The series was curated by Amin Jaffer and Sonal Singh, organised by Christie's at the Serendipity Arts Festival at the Old Goa Institute of Management.

Group discussion in Bangalore on community projects

Over the years of grant-making, we have had the opportunity to understand various modalities of community engagements through the grants we have made and the proposals we have received and developed. Artistic and cultural practices of various communities, community knowledge systems, and traditional / contemporary political and social discourses embedded within specific communities have been at the centre of many projects that IFA has supported. These projects have posed questions, challenged us and have opened our grant processes in unprecedented ways across our research, practice and education programmes. In the light of this, IFA convened a group discussion with grantees who have worked with communities in various capacities in order to understand the different models in their own context, challenges and limitations, ethical and moral responsibilities and future possibilities.

The discussion was held offsite at the Fireflies Intercultural Centre, Bangalore on December 06 and 07, 2018. Grantees and the collaborators including Sumona Chakravarty and Sayanika De (collaborator), Nagaraj Hudeda and Javu Daklu Patkare (collaborator), Ronidkumar Chingangbam (Akhu), Channakeshava Koffee, Zubeni Lotha and Sumitra Ranganathan participated in the discussions. The two-day session was facilitated by academic Lakshmi Subramanian.

A two-day group discussion on community projects was held offsite in Bangalore in December 2018 with grantees and collaborators, facilitated by academic Lakshmi Subramanian

Arundhati Ghosh was invited to speak on the arts as part of Mumbai Local, organised by Junoon and curated by Sameera Iyengar, co-founder, Junoon on January 18, 2019 at Kitab Khana, Mumbai. Her talk Gaps, Silences and Erasures: How the Arts provoke History illustrated some of the ways in which the arts investigates, unearths, explores and reimagines stories that are marginalised, ignored, censored or expunged from history, but also how it contributes to the making of history in the here and now, with examples from various research and practice projects supported by India Foundation for the Arts.

ARTS SERVICES
The Arts Services initiative at India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) enables corporates and organisations to support specific arts projects and experiences that we see value in, and which are close to their hearts. This initiative is not part of our grant programmes, but arises out of our impulse to connect supporters with artists in collaborative projects. It also enables us to raise more resources for our grantmaking.

Training workshop with Caring with Colour

IFA conducted a three-day Arts Education workshop, from November 27 to 29, 2018, for Caring with Colour (CWC), a non-profit organisation in Bangalore which works to improve the process of classroom teaching and learning. The workshop addressed topics like arts education; methods and materials; as well as arts integration with other subjects, using theatre, visual, literary arts and music. The Mentors from CWC who participated in the workshop shared their ideas in the workshop.

We conducted a three-day Arts Education workshop for Caring with Colour (CWC), a non-profit organisation in Bangalore which works to improve the process of classroom teaching and learning, in November 2018

Teachers' training in Rajasthan

IFA is partnering with Plan India to take Teachers' Training Programme on Arts Integration in Schools in North Rajasthan, working with a local NGO Urmul Setu, in Lunkarnsar. This will be a three-phase engagement, over 18 months, for 50 school teachers of three clusters. IFA Staff has made two field visits to Rajasthan, meeting with local artists and resource persons, towards the pre-training assessment. The first phase which will be a five-day training session has been scheduled for January 2019.

CATALYST
Catalyst—Arts, An Inspiration for Excellence is an initiative that continues to bring to corporate houses, a wide range of accomplished artists from the worlds of theatre, literature, visual and performing arts, to share their creative journeys and pursuit of excellence. Catalyst also includes a version that can be customised to offer arts workshops along with talks.

Catalyst is a 12-month long engagement, with one session each by eight accomplished maestros including Raghu Rai, Malavika Sarukkai, Aditi Mangaldas, BN Goswamy, Ratna Pathak Shah, Sanjna Kapoor, Romi Khosla, Arundhati Nag, Jitish Kallat, Atul Dodiya, Rahul Ram, Varun Grover, Benjamin Gilani, Astad Deboo, Anju Dodiya, Reena Kallat and Lillete Dubey.

Last quarter we collaborated with a few partners in Bangalore to offer various arts engagements wherein diverse artists and scholars shared their creative journeys. We had organised a puppetry workshop by Dhaatu team at Sasken Technologies Limited in continuation of a talk by Prof BN Goswamy on November 28, 2018; dancer Astad Deboo at Sasken Technologies Limited on December 05, 2018; and dancer Malavika Sarukkai at 3M on December 10, 2018.

Choreographer Astad Deboo shares his experiences in the arts at Sasken Technologies Limited, Bangalore, as part of the IFA initiative Catalyst—Arts, An Inspiration for Excellence in December 2018

An audience member from Sasken Technologies Limited composed the following lines on Astad Deboo's session:

Mesmerised by the magic
I stood still
It wasn't the music that kept me upbeat
It was the moves, those graceful moves!

Swetha Srivarna, business analyst, Sasken Technologies Limited on Astad Deboo.

We will be happy to work with you on diverse Arts Services, which include the conceptualisation, design and management of arts courses, talks, and workshops and for different audiences. For more details on the Arts Services provided by IFA please write to menaka@indiaifa.org

For more details on Catalyst or if you would like to bring this programme to your company, please write to Joyce Gonsalves at joyce@indiaifa.org

SMART (Strategic Management in the Art of Theatre)
SMART has now been reimagined as a series of three-day workshop modules to be conducted across India. It seeks to sharpen the thinking and working processes of theatre groups. It poses questions and possibilities that will push groups to optimise their strengths, overcome constraints and make a significant and positive impact on the internal functioning of the group as well as impact the local theatre ecology. The first in the series of the SMART three-day workshops was conducted in Pune from November 21 to 23, 2018, facilitated by SMART Core team members - Arundhati Ghosh, Sameera Iyengar, Sanjna Kapoor, Sudhanva Deshpande and Sunil Shanbag. Sessions over three days addressed various relevant topics namely, "Core Values and Group Sustainability" on Day 1, "Audience Building and Communication" on Day 2 and "Resource Mobilisation/Money and Core Values" on Day 3. Twenty-seven theatre practitioners from 17 theatre groups from Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal participated in the workshop. Read a report in Pune Mirror!

The first in the series of the Strategic Management in the Art of Theatre (SMART) three-day workshops was conducted in Pune in November 2018, facilitated by SMART Core team members Arundhati Ghosh, Sameera Iyengar, Sanjna Kapoor, Sudhanva Deshpande and Sunil Shanbag

Over the next few months, SMART will find itself in several cities across India. Stay tuned!

For more details on these events, do sign up for our emails here, follow us on facebook or Twitter for regular updates, or simply tune into our website at www.indiaifa.org/events

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Arts Practice
Request for Proposals from practitioners
[Open All Year]
For more information, write to the Programme Officers Sumana Chandrashekar at sumana@indiaifa.org and Shubham Roy Choudhury at shubham@indiaifa.org

Experience the Joy of Exploration. Become a Friend of IFA with an Annual Donation of Rs 5,000/- upwards!

Become a Friend of IFA and set out on an exciting journey with IFA with an Annual Donation of Rs 5,000/- through the many worlds of the arts and culture! As a Friend of IFA, you along with 400+ Friends of IFA, will experience the arts and culture through specially- curated events, engage in discussions and debates, and enjoy exclusive sessions on the arts and culture! Connect with artists, musicians, dancers, actors, researchers, filmmakers, performers, educators, archivists and fellow art enthusiasts!

As a Friend of IFA, your passionate support will bring to life projects that examine our pasts, enable us to make collective sense of our present, and dream of shared and vibrant futures, together. Your contribution will help projects reach diverse publics—as books, films, performances, educational materials, exhibitions and more!

IFA has been able to facilitate more than 540 arts projects, disbursing Rs 24 crore over two decades across India—because of you. All these arts projects are made possible because of your support. Every donation you make helps us extend support to the field.

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Set of Six Coasters
Have you picked up your set of six coasters, featuring eye-catching details from select IFA projects over the years? Glimpse at the work that we support during a brief respite as you enjoy your cuppa and look back at 2018, and welcome the New Year! From a multimedia artwork tracing the introduction of books to women in India, a graphic narrative documenting the stories of migrant labourers in New Delhi, a film essaying the life and works of artist K Ramanujam, an installation of ceramics exploring aesthetics, a dry plate collodion photography project capturing changes in two villages, to an installation in a historic building in Bangalore.

Get your set soon for Rs 550/- (inclusive of domestic courier charges) online or write to us at contactus@indiaifa.org and support our work. Your purchase will go back towards grant-making.

Have you picked up your set of six coasters, featuring eye-catching details from select IFA projects?

Limited Edition Calendar 2019-2020
Start the New Year with the IFA Limited Edition Calendar and bring the arts to your everyday!

Explore a selection of diverse and captivating work supported by IFA across the programmes—Arts Research, Arts Practice, Arts Education and Archival and Museum Fellowships—in our unique 14-month desk calendar for 2019-2020. Get your copy for Rs 450/- (inclusive of domestic courier charges) online or write to us at contactus@indiaifa.org before February 15, 2018.

Spend the year flipping through IFA projects in our 14-month desk calendar for 2019-2020!

Painters, Poets, Performers: The Patuas of Bengal

Have you picked up your copy of Painters, Poets, Performers: The Patuas of Bengal by Ritu Sethi yet? A visually rich and informative book on the history and evolution of Patachitra—literally, 'painting on cloth'; it provides an outline of this narrative tradition of pictorial storytelling and its multi-talented, polymath makers in Bengal and Odisha.
Please click here to order your copy for Rs 500/- (exclusive of courier charges) now!

This book is supported by Infosys Foundation.

Other Publications

Embroidering Futures: Repurposing the Kantha
In 2012, we published Embroidering Futures: The Repurposing of Kantha, edited by Ritu Sethi. This book traces this journey of kantha from its origins to its current avatar, through the tales and recollections of collectors, inheritors, designers and producers of this unique piece of embroidered cloth. The publication is now available to read online. Click here to read the PDF for free!

ArtConnect
We also have other interesting publications to offer, including back issues of ArtConnect, a magazine on the arts and culture and postcards showcasing our grantees' work:

Between 2008 and 2013, IFA published 13 issues of ArtConnect featuring lively, compelling writing and artwork across a host of disciplines and genres, from female impersonators in Company Theatre in Kannada; Marathi Little Magazines; violence in Kannada cinema; gender and the Indian documentary; to the visual culture of early Urdu magazines! Please note that while each issue is priced at Rs 100/-, Volume 7 is Rs 150/- You can avail of special anniversary discounts on Limited Edition collections. All the proceeds from the sale of publications go back into grantmaking!

This book was supported by Infosys Foundation.

IFA Postcards
If you like the work we do, this set of ten IFA Postcards becomes a memento. Gift it to your friends and share and support the arts. These postcards, which feature a selection of exciting IFA projects, can be ordered at a nominal and suggested donation of Rs 200/- Your donation amount goes back into grantmaking. Order a set now!

To know more, write to contactus@indiaifa.org

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IFA: You've had a long journey in theatre and writing on cultural history. Could you tell us how you came across the work of Pammal Sambhandha Mudaliar and what drew you to it?

V Padma (A Mangai): All of us in the field of Tamil theatre are familiar with the Father of Tamil Theatre - Tamil Nataka Thanthai - Pammal Sambhandha Mudaliar (1873-1964). We also learnt of the pioneer of Tamil Theatre Sankaradas Swamigal (1867-1922). Between the two of them, they almost covered the whole of Tamil Nadu - North and South. Swamigal seems to have assimilated the folk idiom, music and proscenium stage in a seamless continuum of sorts. He focussed on mythologies and established Boys Companies, a unique aspect of Tamil theatre. Pammal on the other hand was an interventionist. He represented the urban elite, a product of colonial education with exposure to world drama through English education and also the growing developments in the techniques of theatre and performance in the country.

Apart from practising his art, Pammal also documented his works, thoughts and opinions. There is no other documentation of Tamil theatre so meticulously done. Even now, not all his Tamil works have been made available completely for today's readers. There has not been a conscientious effort to study his writings critically in order to trace the transactions that took place regionally and nationally. And his expertise does not stop with theatre alone. He worked with Talkies and has written about his experience of the same. I was drawn to him primarily because of that.

Opening pages of late theatre artist Pammal Sambhanda Mudaliar's play The Fair Ghost

IFA: Do tell us about what kind of literature you have discovered during your research, not previously known?

V Padma (A Mangai): The whole process began about 25 years ago, in 1992. Dr V Arasu, Professor and Head, Department of Tamil Literature, University of Madras, who is also my husband, visited No 13, Acharappan Street, Parry's Corner, the residence of Pammal until his death, to take a look at the stalwart's house, along with a few theatre lovers. They met Pammal's grandson Mr Murugesan, who was in his 70s then. While talking to Mr Murugesan, he mentioned how books by Pammal were lying in the attic. Arasu promised to sort them out and help distribute it. As promised the books were bundled as sets of plays and other works. About fifty such sets were made and distributed to libraries, theatre people and also sold at the book fair to raise funds for the family. The family was in an impoverished state at that time.

Before this, the State Eyal Isai Nataka Manram had published two of Pammal's unpublished manuscripts edited by TN Sivadhanu, a committed actor who was a member of TKS Brothers' group in 1989.

In 1998, the Director of International Institute of Tamil Studies (IITS) at that time, Prof Sa Su Ramar Ilango showed keen interest in reprinting Pammal's works. Arasu helped compile the six-part publication of Pammal's Over Forty Years Before the Footlights (English title Pammal's) that documents his experiences on Tamil Stage into one single volume of 730 pages. The same year, two other volumes of Pammal's prose was published in smaller volumes by IITS.

In 2012, Dr G Palani, Department of Tamil Literature, University of Madras brought out Pammal's plays classified into 5 Parts and in 7 Volumes. These were published by New Century Book House. Palani is continuing to reprint other works of Pammal as well. All these publications prove the amazing quantum of Pammal's work.

All of them also provide encomiums on his productive career. However, there is no critical study of these materials. In the light of the fact that no other theatre practitioner published as much as Pammal did, it becomes important to read these writings against the background of other practitioners who were his contemporaries.

A comparison of compiling Sankaradas Swamigal's plays will not be out of place here. Swamigal did not publish any of his plays during his lifetime. There were different stories about how many plays he had written. Finally, two people attempted to collect his plays, Arasu (2009) and Arimalam Pathamanathan (2008). Arasu has eighteen plays and the other collection has 16 plays. Arasu explains how the artists learnt their texts from a handwritten notebook each teacher possessed. The artists still perform those plays as overnight shows. There is no way we can make sure they perform the complete text. It is a tradition handed down by artists generation after generation with a great deal of interludes that are filmy There is also one text titled Sarangadara attributed to both Pammal and Swamigal. It is probably a popular tale prevalent among people dramatised by both of them.

I am hoping to read the two stalwarts' works as parallel texts, now that we have some form of compilation available for both of them. And also, except a brief note on them and translation of a few chapters of Pammal in the Sangeet Natak journal; these materials are not known to the theatre people in India. I feel it is important to make the connections within Tamil Nadu and also with the other regions in the country.

IFA: Please give us a detailed insight into Pammal Sambhandha Mudaliar's cultural universe - his influences and impact.

V Padma (A Mangai): The first major influence on Pammal was Bellary Sri Krishnamacharlu. His Sarasa Vinothini Sabha visited Chennai (then known as Madras) to perform in 1891. They performed at Victoria Public Hall. The show was in Telugu. It was a five-and-a-half-hour-long performance. It converted Pammal Sambhandha to become a lover of this form. He records how he was bewitched by their plays. All the characters had a good make up. The female parts looked almost as if they were actually women. Even though I was not proficient in music then, their singing was melodious to my ears. I was content with the acting of all characters. I did not wince during the whole play. (1998, 10) Also, this group consisted of educated lawyers and government officials. Therefore, the elite class in Chennai thronged to watch their shows. The professionalism and the urbanity of the group made Pammal form such a group in Chennai.

Before him Govindasami Rao of Manamohana Nataka Company, had given up his government job to run a professional theatre company. Pammal speaks highly of him as well. Pammal records how Govindasami Rao was influenced by Sangli Company from Pune that visited Thanjavur with their performance. Govindasami Rao was influenced by that group to form his own group. Govindasami Rao was a multilingual person well versed in Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Hindustani.

He mentions over and over how the touring Parsi companies used their drop curtain, suitable scenic back curtains, costumes and make-up. It is the Parsi Theatre Companies that visited Chennai, who taught the idea of using drop curtain twice or thrice to gain time for scene changes to Chennai-based groups. If the playwrights can write accordingly, it might help. If there were major shifts to be made on stage, small scenes that can be performed with just drop curtain can be introduced in the middle. That would reduce the time required for scene changes and the play will end sooner. (1998, 113)

Pammal was greatly influenced by Shakespeare. Even in his prose writings, one finds him quoting Shakespeare. He adapted Shakespeare for Tamil stage. As You Like It, Merchant of Venice and Hamlet are some of the popular adaptations of Shakespeare. His vast reading helped him come up with new scripts.

Pammal was ever willing and open to learn new techniques from people, big or small. He comments extensively on rehearsal procedures, discipline within the group, make-up and costumes. This is what inspired him to take up talkies, when this new media took over the cultural scene. He has written specifically on his film experiences.

In 1992, V Padma's husband, Dr V Arasu, Professor and Head, Department of Tamil Literature, University of Madras, bought Pammal Sambhanda Mudaliar's books from his grandson. The family was in an impoverished state at that time

IFA: Please elaborate on the basic premise of your criticism of Tamil theatre into rural and urban forms - and the struggles of lesser-known practitioners against the sociopolitical backdrop of that time.

V Padma (A Mangai): Pammal's six volumes on his stage experiences give us ample examples of mutual exchanges between what he calls as professional drama companies and amateur groups. Right from Pammal's texts being performed by other groups, to lending his expertise by training the actors, sometimes even participating along with those artists in the professional companies, Pammal was very much a part of the overall theatre scene in the State. Pammal's Leelavathi Sulochana was performed by Sundara Rao's group. All his publications have an announcement that people should get his permission to perform his scripts. But he also refers to instances of the plays being performed without his permission. Velu Nair's group performed Kalvar Thalaivan many times. Velu Nair had also taken the role of Manoharan. He records that Manoharan has been performed by almost all companies in Tamil Nadu. He has kept count of 859 shows and says, there must have been another 859 shows done without his permission. The script of this play saw six editions even when he was alive. This play was later made into film twice. There are scholarly writings arguing that the play has close semblance to Hamlet. But he has denied any influence, even though the ghost scene was inspired by Hamlet and Julius Caesar.

Pammal did not act in any other company till 1929. After 38 years of acting only in Suguna Vilasa Sabha, he and his friend Nagarathinam took part in Madurai Dramatic Club's performance of Pammal's Irandu Nanbargal. (1998, 225)

We also learn that Pammal's prose text Brahmananum Suthiranum was made into a play by PV Ponnusami and performed by Pasumathur Dravida Sangam on March 11, 1938. A summary and review of the play have been published in Kudiyarasu, journal of Dravidar Kazhagam, edited by EV Ramasami Periyar on April 3, 1938. (Ramaswami, Mu, Dravida Iyakkamum Kalaithuraiyum, NCBH, 2014, 25) Therefore, I suppose that the groups did not remain exclusive of each other. They had ground level collaborations and probably in-fights too. The later groups like the TKS Brothers Shanmuganandha Sabha performed both Swamigal's and Pammal's scripts with élan.

Pammal wrote three volumes, one each about the writers, musicians and theatre artists he had great regard for. There are 54 theatre artists mentioned by him. Though some names are popularly known like Sankaradas Swamigal, TKS Brothers, MGR, and Shivaji Ganesan, there are many others who have not been explored enough. He also refers to Gubbi Veeranna.

Govinadasami Rao of Manamohana Nataka Sabha and some of the actors in his group like Panchanatha Rao, Sundara Rao, Kuppanna Rao are mentioned in his monograph. He refers to Subbaraya Achari who did only enacted the role of Harischandra even when was ripe in age. He was a disciple of Bengaluru Appavu Pillai. Kannaiah is praised for his sets, props and convincing costumes. Kittappa and Sundarambal later became a popular couple in early films. Sundarambal went on to join Gandhian politics. M Kandasami Mudaliar, who started his career with Suguna Vilasa Sabha moved onto becoming a teacher in many groups. Many Boys Companies recruited him to be a teacher. He also worked with Balambal and Balamani Ammal's companies that were almost all women groups. He includes Sankaradas Swamigal as one of the playwrights in the late 19th century. Surprisingly, the entry on Swamigal is just a page long. Krishnasami Pavalar, who began acting with Pammal formed his own Boys Company. He also wrote social dramas and had taken his group to perform in England during the Silver Jubilee celebrations of George V. One of his plays is called Kadhar Bhakti. Balambal had her own company. She had done the role of Manoharan. Balamani Ammal formed an all women group. Pammal does not however refer to Balamani Special trains that ran between Madurai to Kumbakonam by the then rulers. Perhaps he did not register it.

Some of these artists have either written their experiences or have been written about. But many like Govindasami Rao, Kannaiah and Kandasami Mudaliar have not been made part of Tamil history of theatre. More work needs to be done in order to establish their contribution to the Tamil stage.

V Padma received a grant to write a critical history of Tamil theatre during the 20th century, studying the writings of Pammal Sambhanda Mudaliar, who is considered the father of modern Tamil theatre

IFA: Is there any new area that has emerged as your major interest while reading Pammal's writings?

V Padma (A Mangai): I find his preoccupation with streepart very interesting. As we know, female impersonation is a convention that was widely prevalent in India in various art forms. Marathi and Gujarati theatre have explored this aspect in detail. We also have the autobiography of Jaishankar Sundari of Gujarati stage. Pammal's views on female impersonation are rampant in all his writings. He mentions C Rangavadivelu who remained the female partner of Pammal until his death. Pammal is struck by extreme grief when he passes away.

On the contrary, when his wife passed away, he went to work after the funeral. Even when friends had asked him to take time off he felt he needs to distract himself. On the other hand, in 1923 when he loses his friend he falls into depression. In order to avoid memories about my close friend, I tried reading non-stop. I also engaged myself in playing cards and billiards with my other friends. I went for walks on the beach. I tried all measures to get my mind to focus on reality, but in vain. A thorn in the body can be removed; but how does one remove the thorn in the heart? (1998, 609) He wrote a burlesque inverting the story of Harischandra and titled it Chandrahari. He claims that it is probably the first burlesque in India. He published the text in 1923. A few other companies tried to enact it once or twice. Their company never performed this play. Years later Koothu Pattarai, the only repertory company in Tamil Nadu performed this play as homage to Pammal.

It would be interesting to study Pammal's views on female parts in the turn of the century. He worked with women actors in talkies later.

IFA: Do tell us about your approach and methodologies you have used for your research. What are some of the challenges you have faced and how did you overcome them?

V Padma (A Mangai): Pammal's writings are essentially anecdotal in nature. Though he has followed a strict chronology, he also inserts incidents or advices to the artists in the middle. Finding the major thematic focus in his writings is proving to be a major challenge. I think I am still sorting it out.

On crosschecking his narratives about people, plays and historical events like government funds collected for flood or famine relief etc, I am keen on finding the corollary historical facts. I might have to use the archive for that purpose.

Pammal has referred to an English journal run by his company called Indian Stage. He quotes his friend VV Srinivasa Iyengar's review of plays written in that journal. He also edited it.

I am unable to trace that journal and am not able to decide how many issues must have been published. I am also looking for Pammal's relatives, artists who had met him, and also any other materials like photographs, drama notices, reviews etc.

I am also trying to trace any other plays by other playwrights published during this period. It is surprising that Pammal had been the only theatre person who had published his works meticulously year after year.

I am yet to overcome these challenges. But I am working on them, and I hope there will be an opening somewhere.

V Padma (A Mangai) received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research programme, made possible with support from Titan Company Limited.

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India Foundation for the Arts makes grants to artists, scholars, and institutions through the year. For these exciting projects to take shape, we have to continuously raise funds. We would like to thank our donors who have supported us and made many projects possible in the past few months.

We would especially like to acknowledge support from Tata Trusts for the Archival and Museum Fellowships initiative and Shekhar Bajaj Charitable Trust for donating to IFA, in this period. We would also like to thank Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi for their support of the Strategic Management in the Art of Theatre (SMART) programme this year.

You can support and engage with IFA in many ways by becoming a Friend of IFA or a Donor Patron or even by sponsoring our fundraising events and by spreading the word about IFA. Every contribution counts.

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