New Delhi, Wednesday, February 12, 2014
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The Delhi International Arts Festival is here to flood you with a cultural potpourri of traditional and folk dances, drama, music and literature
IT’S RAINING CULTURE Subuhi Parvez n
subuhi.parvez@hindustantimes.com
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he 7th Delhi International Arts Festival (DIAF), in association with Hindustan Times, is back to enthrall the Capital. The grand opening, held at Purana Qila, was witness to performances by Manipuri dancers, Egyptian National Dance Troupe, Sri Lankan National Dance Troupe, Kashmiri folk dancers. There were also musical performances by the Langas and the Manganiars from Rajasthan, in fusion with the Kings of Creole — Hety and Zambo from Colombia. The two-week long event promises to give a peek into art forms from all over the world, be it music, dance, t heatre, visual arts or films. The festival, however, will not be held at one specific venue and is spread out at various locations. Pratibha Prahalad, festival director, believes that everything under one roof doesn’t really make a difference. “The idea of this festival is to be widespread, and not to have people come to one venue. It’s not fair to compare it to Jaipur
Literature Festival as it has a different kind of setting. It’s a public festival where entry is free. The idea is to make art accessible to everybody,” she clarifies. Benny B, producer of Colombian band Hety and Zambo, is more than happy with the response so far. He says, “It was their (Hety and Zambo) first presentation in India and they were happy to see the crowd dancing with them. It was a pleasure to do the fusion with the Rajasthani band.” The line-up of program at the festival, on till February 23, includes a melange of traditional music and dance performances from states like Kerala, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, martial art presentation from Kerala and Odisha, literary lectures at the Sahitya Akademi, demonstrations by Iranian illumination artists and craftsmen at the National Museum and the Crafts Museum. For the film screenings, the American Centre will showcase some of the most recent movies that have been nominated for the Oscars. A tribute to Pran and Farooque Shaikh is also in the offing — a must watch. Apart from that, presentation of endangered art forms such as Simhanandini and Mayura
Various artists perform at the opening night of the 7th Delhi International Arts Festival held at Purana Qila
Greater show at Greater Noida? People tell us what they thought of the auto show in its new location at Greater Noida Mahim Gupta PHOTOS: WASEEM GASHROO
n
mahim.gupta@hindustantimes.com
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he week-long Auto Expo concluded yesterday. As part of our coverage, we spoke to a cross section of people about what they thought of the show along with their opinion on the significant
change in the venue and the location. Switching from Pragati Maidan, the show was held at India Expo Mart at Greater Noida this time. Bigger space and better facilities were on view, but what about the travel inconvenience it caused? Here’s what the participants and the public had to say.
I am glad that the expo was shifted. The intersecting halls have been an amazing convenience
PARTICIPANTS SPEAK
The crowd has been fantastic here at the India Expo Mart. The security is also very well taken care of Julia Ovcharenko, 24, Ukrainian model
Looking at the tighter security arrangements, the crowd is well-behaved this time around Rahul Sen, 28, bouncer
Everything is bigger and better this time. It cuts the chaos we saw at Pragati Bhawan
With big halls, we had no problems in displaying as much as we could. That was not possible last time
The crowd in Greater Noida was refined. My experience of working here as a model has been fantastic
Mayank Batra, 23, promoter
Dickie Khambatta, 58, exhibitor
Kavita Rana, 22, model
THUMBS DOWN
Having the show at Pragati Maidan is a better option. Travelling to Noida was excruciating. Richa Prabhakar, 20, hostess at the expo
PUBLIC SAYS
I don’t see much of an improvement from Pragati Maidan. It took me three hours to reach from Vikaspuri Vikas Gandhi, 50, entrepreneur
I loved the expo this time. It is more spacious. Great food stalls and wonderful amenities
Pravin Malik, 38, entrepreneur
Deepinder Singh Jaiswal, 35, corporate
It is a huge place, and the ambience is great. This is my third consecutive day at the event
The show here is amazing. It has incorporated every aspect of a complete auto show
Preeti Singh, 23, student
Lick Menez, 50, French engineer
Kauthuvam will be put up at the Lalit Kala Akademi. The play, Abhignana Shakuntala, will be staged at the National School of Drama and a Spanish play, Holiday Out, will be held at the Instituto Cervantes. The fest will conclude with a gala finale featuring a Qawwali performance. CATCH IT LIVE What: Delhi International Arts Festival When: On till February 23 Where: Various venues Full schedule on: www.diaf.in