For the creation of a theatrical production that explores the position of women, roles of women characters and streevesha (female impersonation) within the male-dominated practice of Yakshagana. Drawing from research and personal experience, the performance imagines a reversal of roles in the popular Yakshagana plot of Draupadi Vastrapaharana, thereby exploring the conflicts around tradition, gender, power and morality inherent in the form. The performance is scheduled to premiere in Udupi in November 2015.
For a series of workshop processes conducted by a theatre group to explore and create a methodology of physical alphabets for theatre. The workshops will experiment with nonverbal explorations of textual themes and integrate them in the process of theatre-making. The outcome will be a detailed documentation of the processes that includes everyday rehearsal notes, photographs and audio-visual material.
For a series of workshops with the multiethnic communities of the eastern Himalayan regions of Sikkim and northern parts of West Bengal. It is a collaborative and multidisciplinary project that involves local music, myths and traditions dealt with in a manner that pushes the artistic boundaries of cinema. Described as an ‘interdependent cinema project’, the workshops will lead to a film, a graphic novel, a music album and finally a documentary installation exhibition.
For a series of workshops culminating in a two-day public art festival in the Chitpur locality of old Kolkata. These workshops are designed to re-energise and activate this locality which has a rich history and heritage, through various cultural activities, innovative audience engagement and archiving with the help of local residents, businessmen, artists, craftsmen, teachers and students. Outcomes of the project will include a website, an exhibition and a DVD documenting the process.
For a graphic novel, an exhibition and an animation film, each conceived from a different perspective, developed on the concept of a futuristic city that embodies a perfect marriage between religion, politics and big business serving the consumerist dream. Instead of panels, the graphic novel will have single-page illustrations with no text.
For an inter-disciplinary collaborative work towards creating a musical cartography of Mumbai. Tracing the emergence of a distinct pedagogy and public engagement with music, the project seeks to understand the trajectory of Hindustani music in Mumbai through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially through a study of the city’s built spaces and neighbourhoods. The outcome will include a workshop, an exhibition and a few performances.
For the creation of a production based on a Marathi script titled ‘Flat Number F-1/105’. Through active collaborations among the director, actors and the playwright, the performance seeks to address issues around identity through a reflection on the aesthetic and political perceptions of ‘colour’.
For a performance piece based on research into the life of the Malayalam poet Kadamanitta Ramakrishnan Nair, and into the ritual performance form of Kerala called Padayani. Essentially a musical, the performance will also combine elements of theatre and visual arts in creating a multidimensional artistic experience.
For a series of short animation films based on the life and music of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. The project explores early sound recording technology and the artist's life within that techno-social moment in history. The project will result in animation works and installations that combine archival material with pieces of obsolete technology such as old cameras and gramophone players.
For collaborative exploration between a Kathak dancer and a contemporary dancer, that poses questions for both these artists, pushing the classical dancer to open himself up to contemporary approaches of performance making; and the contemporary choreographer to work with and from the sensibilities of a classical idiom. The outcome will be a performance scheduled to premiere in December 2014.
