InDepth

Some years of experience in the field of leadership often give me a push to share some thoughts around it. My early struggles, my problems, my views and my solutions - however perfect or imperfect those may be, have clung on to me like a benign outgrowth on the surface of my body. 'Outgrowth' I say because firstly, it cannot be removed, until operated! Secondly, it shows up in a form that cannot be hidden, and hence, even the tiniest bit within it gets revealed easily. One of the most challenging tests that comes my way, almost every day, and I have to clear it, is handling meetings. These meetings come and go periodically in my profession. These come at different times of the day and often carry great importance. One thing I try hard to pursue - I like to see these as successful and effective. And, I approach these with simple means and try to do the simple things right. So, let us start from there. My value system compels me to believe that each meeting that I chair or i...

Voice is an integral part of an actor. The famous Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah once said that one of the major areas that an actor can continue to improve on is his or her voice. To the ordinary viewers, voice is 'the tool' that brings a character closer to them. It is 'the obvious tool' that story writers, script writers, dialogue writers and directors need in order to convey their message. For the viewers, it should never be the case - "What did he mean? I could not get it, he was too fast with a very low...." Theater acting is very much dependent on voice. In movies, voice is usually part of the actor's mannerism; therefore, an actor carries his voice - perhaps, it is not the other way around. An exception to this arises when a narrator is needed in a movie. Beyond an iota of doubt, a narrator must have a gifted voice. In this edition of InDepth, we try to focus on this act of narration. Particularly, we journey through some of the works of Amitab...

Young Rabi was full of ideas. He was travelling and visiting places. He was learning new things, developing his sensibilities. It was round about this time and he was still very young when he came in contact with Vaishnavism. It was through songs. In his memoir, "JeevanSmriti" or "Reminisces of Life", he mentions about a collection by the name "Prachin KavyaSangraha" authored by AkshayChandra Sarkar and Saradacharan Mitra. This collection contained poems written in a dialect called Maithili. The language was extremely hard for the young boy to understand. However, he continued. He persisted to make something out of these verses. At this point in time, he came to know about Thomas Chatterton, a young poet, who used to imitate older poets with such precision that readers could not make out any difference. So, Shree Sarkar, Shree Mitra and then Mr Chatterton - these were the singular sources of inspiration for Tagore to venture into an hitherto unknown ter...

Life is a journey. We keep repeating this “old cliché” day after day. We answer our friends, well-wishers, relatives with a short "Yeah, it's going on, nothing special..." to a question "How is life?" When we refer to “journey”, we mean a normal flow of life or rather, a passing phase which makes one older and older. What happens towards the end of this journey is that a young individual turn into a matured one and then eventually, into a senior person. When that old age finally arrives, one starts to feel a sense of deep loss. A big part of one’s life has already got completed, parenthood has passed away and a major part of life has already been spent taking care of bills, payments, investments and returns. There has been practically no time to take care of the kids. By the time age hits the higher numbers the children are all grown up and taking care of their own lives. However, life is a mixed bag. It offers profit after loss. There are the grandchildr...

By the turn of the eighties, Satyajit Ray was approached by a French public television channel, France 3 (was probably called something else at that time), to make a short film. For Ray, who had started his professional life in the ad-world, this was a revisit to his old strict vocation. This I say because, short films, unlike documentaries or feature films, have several ruthless constraints. To cite a few, these are - few characters, thin story-line, lesser dialogues, minuscule sets, a few twists and turns and finally, and most essentially, a short time period. This was the year 1980 and Ray's first short film for television "Pikoo" was shown to the world. Before Pikoo happened, Ray had made "Two" - a rare and unique masterpiece, but it was a silent film by the way. For Pikoo, Ray chose one of his own short stories, by the name "Pikoor Diary". Throughout today's article, we shall make an attempt to deep dive into the world of Pikoo and there...

We have heard of "Love At First Sight", we have heard of "Lifelong Love", we have even heard of "Journey of Love". In fact, love has been lovingly articulated over the years - through various idioms, expressions and likewise. In today's edition, we peep into the love-life of a Bengali and a certain "Punjabi". No, it is not a story, or an anecdote; it is not a novel, or a screenplay - it is history. To raise the curtains, we have to start with the Persian word "Kurta". Since the word is of Persian origin, no prizes for guessing that the classical dress Kurta had its roots in Persia and the neighboring places. The influence has been so overwhelming that till today, Kurta is an inseparable entity in countries like Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India. Talking about India, the journey can be traced, quite naturally, from Northern States to the Western States and finally over to the Southern and Eastern States. A Kurta has remained ...