Ep8:Food In Our Lives & Mallika-e-Ghazal Begum Akhtar
Release Date: 09/17/2020
Ep 10: What India Gave To The World & The Incandescent Talent Of Renu Saluja
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
When we speak about India and its relationship with the world, we often focus on what we have received from the world. But what about what we have given to it? This doesn’t get covered as much. Even when it does, we go to the extremes. Either we were a vishwaguru or our only contribution is ‘zero’. Is there a more nuanced view? That’s what we explore in this episode. What have we given to the world? From the stories of our mythology that have parallels in Persian and Greek myths, the versions of Ramayana and Mahabharata in Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia, the spread of Buddhism from...
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Ep 9: Swanand Kirkire On Popular Culture & S.P. Balasubrahmanyam - A Voice For The Ages
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
Aimless conversation is therapy. It is good for the soul. We drifted a lot in this episode. Because we had Swanand Kirkire as our guest. With Swanand we wandered all over the cultural landscape of India – the bylanes of Indore and its usal-poha, the ragas of Kumar Gandharv, the social commentary of Dada Kondke films, the multi-faceted genius of B.V. Karanth or the forgotten lyricism of Kamlesh Pandey. Swanand’s genius stems from his deep immersion in our popular culture and it shone through in this 2-hour long conversation. What also came across was his honesty, his conscious engagement...
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Ep8:Food In Our Lives & Mallika-e-Ghazal Begum Akhtar
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives.” - Oscar Wilde Good food does that and more. We talk about food in this episode – its salience in our celebrations, its magic in evoking memories, being a marker of our identity, in experiencing the divine and as an expression of love. There’s no stopping our appetite to talk about food. From Gandhi’s letters and Vivekananda’s wanderings to Naipaul’s distaste and Rushdie’s memories, in the chaats of Assi Ghaat, the mahaprasad of Puri, in films like The Lunchbox and Maya Bazaar – food is everywhere in...
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Ep7 Finding Art In Bureaucracy & The Renaissance Man That Was Salil Chowdhury
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy. —Franz Kafka We don’t take such a dim view. There’s more to bureaucracy than the dreary reign of rules, files and approvals. We discuss the portrayal of bureaucracy in popular culture in this episode. We talk and talk – of the dry humour in Yes Minister, about Kafkaesque nightmares, on the satire in Krishan Chander’s Jamun Ka Ped, about Harishankar Parsai’s vyangya, of Madna in English August or Travancore of T.S. Pillai and the darkness in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. Bureaucracy didn’t bore us, for sure....
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Ep6 The Lifeline Of India And That Magical Sparsh Of Sai Paranjpye
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
Trains. Watching them, travelling in them or waiting for them. Trains offered us an escape. Watching the world pass by through its windows, the fleeting glimpses of incomplete lives outside or falling asleep to their rhythmic sways. We discuss trains and the long journeys we made in them.
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Ep5: The Voice From The Sky And The 'King of Forest' Among Composers - Vanraj Bhatia
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
“I'd sit alone and watch your light My only friend through teenage nights And everything I had to know I heard it on my radio” (Radio Ga Ga: Roger Taylor, Queen, 1984) We couldn’t agree more. Radio was our friend. It united us. It forged our national identity. And it brought the world to our homes. It is often said politics, films and cricket are what bind India. Radio made that cohesion possible. In today’s episode we talk about Radio and its profound impact on our society. The iconic mournful signature tune and its history; the sabha on the eve of our independence, the legends who...
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Ep 4: The Variegated Shades of Truth And V.K. Murtyh - Guru Dutt's 'Eyes'
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
Twain wrote: “The Lie, as a recreation, a solace, a refuge in time of need, the fourth Grace, the tenth Muse, man's best and surest friend, is immortal, and cannot perish from the earth.” We examine this immortality of the Lie and its bete noire, the Truth, in today’s episode. The legend of Ashwathama, the contribution of Dharmvir Bharti to our intellectual landscape, the unreliable narrator of Andhadhun, the straight-as-an-arrow Dharmendra in Satyakam and the lies in the fiction of Premchand and RK Narayan – we look for the role of deception and honesty in all of them. Is truth...
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Ep3: Rains In Our Culture And Mangesh Desai - A Forgotten Legend Of Indian Cinema
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
Rains! The smell of the wet earth. In today’s episode we discuss rains in our culture. From Kalidasa, Tagore, T.S. Pillai to Raj Kapoor, Ramsays and Mani Ratnam. We discuss the influence of rains in our books, films and songs. In spotlight, we turn our attention to an artist who Satyajit Ray called indispensable. We close with our usual recommendations on what we are reading, writing and listening to these days.
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Ep2: Migration In Our Popular Culture, Jaidev and A Surprise At The End
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
02 August, 2020
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China in Indian popular culture, Haqeeqat and Manohari Singh
Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai
In this first episode, Pavan and Subrat talk about their backgrounds, China’s presence (or absence) in our popular culture, the legendary instrumentalist of Hindi film music, Manohari Singh, and what they are reading, listening and watching. They talk about how China appears in films like Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani, Haqeeqat, Bhool Na Jaana and Neel Aaksher Neechey. They discuss trivia about the combination of Madan Mohan and Kaifi Azmi, the ensemble cast and the roles of Bhupinder, Balraj Sahni and Jayant in the making of the Haqeeqat. They consider the invasion of Chinese martial...
info_outline“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives.”
- Oscar Wilde
Good food does that and more. We talk about food in this episode – its salience in our celebrations, its magic in evoking memories, being a marker of our identity, in experiencing the divine and as an expression of love. There’s no stopping our appetite to talk about food. From Gandhi’s letters and Vivekananda’s wanderings to Naipaul’s distaste and Rushdie’s memories, in the chaats of Assi Ghaat, the mahaprasad of Puri, in films like The Lunchbox and Maya Bazaar – food is everywhere in our culture.
We serve up a platter that should sate you.
In Spotlight, we talk about life and times of Begum Akhtar. From the penury of a childhood spent in Faizabad to being the toast of musical soirées across India, Begum’s trailblazing career gave dignity and respect to light classical singing forms like dadra, thumri and ghazal. The strong classical roots of her gayaki combined with an easy, assured style and an arresting stage presence made Begum a cultural phenomenon of post-independent India. A Begum Akhtar disc playing in the living room reflected a refined taste. We pay our tribute to the tour de force that was Begum Akhtar.
Plus, our usual discussion on what we are reading, listening and watching.
Episode Highlights:
- 00:00 to 25:00 – Introduction, Food in Culture, Celebration of Food, Onam Sadhya, Bhojohari Manna
- 25:00 to 45:00 – Food as Memory, Midnight’s Children, Guide, Bawarchi, Maacher Jhol and Caribbean Chutney Song
- 45:00 to 65:00 – Divinity of Food, Food in Puri, Udupi, Kashi, Chaat, Malaiyo, Karejwa,
- 65:00 to 100:00 – Food as Identity, Gandhi and Garlic, Veg/Non-Veg divide, Premchand’s Pandit Moteram Ki Diary, the great Rosogolla debate, The Mistress of Spices, Golmaal, Mithun’s Rice Plate and Halwa-waala
- 100:00 to 120:00 – Food as an Expression Love, A Love Supreme, The Abundance, The Lunchbox, Aamish, Ganashatru, Neeraj Ghaywan’s Juice, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
- 120:00 to 145:00 – Introduction to Begum Akhtar, What Makes Her Unique, Early Life, Ghazals
- 145:00 to 174:00 – Post independence Fame, Singing the Great Poets (Ghalib, Momin, Faiz, Kaifi, Shakeel), Thumris and Folk Songs, Disciples and Legacy
- 174:00 to 180:00 – Recommendations
*अन्न ही जीवन है और जीने का मुख्य आधार है*
हजारों साल पहले लिखे गए उपनिषदों में वर्णित यह ब्रह्म वाक्य, अनेक युगों का साक्षी होते हुए, आज भी एक शाश्वत सत्य की तरह हमारे साथ हैं। सदियां बीत गईं, पीढ़ियां आई-गईं, दौर बदलते गए लेकिन हमारा आहार हमारी जिंदगी का मुख्य आधार बना रहा।
इस बार के एपिसोड में बात हमारे आहार पर, कि कैसे हमारे पॉपुलर कल्चर ने अन्न और आहार की महत्ता को दर्ज किया है। रामायण और महाभारत के काल से होते हुए आज के दौर तक हमारे साहित्य सिनेमा और संगीत के जरिए खाने खिलाने की बातें
हमारे उत्सव-त्योहारों में, त्रासदियों में, समाज को जोड़ने और तोड़ने में और हम सबकी रोजमर्रा की जिंदगी में, पॉपुलर कल्चर के संदर्भो के बहाने आहार पर एक नजर
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स्पॉटलाइट में इस बार बात, बीसवीं सदी की सबसे यादगार आवाजों में से एक, बेगम अख्तर की, जिन्होंने अपनी कला, प्रतिभा और मेहनत के बल पर हिंदुस्तानी संगीत में ना सिर्फ अपनी एक विशिष्ट जगह बनाई वरन उपशास्त्रीय और लोक संगीत की कई धाराओं जैसे गजल, ठुमरी, दादरा, कजरी को मुख्यधारा में सम्मान दिलाने का एक बेहद महत्वपूर्ण काम किया। बात बेगम अख्तर की संगीत यात्रा की और उनकी यादगार रचनाओं की
और अंत में इस हफ्ते सिनेमा, संगीत और साहित्य मैं जो नया देखा सुना और पढ़ा है, उस की अनुशंसा आप सबके लिए
LinkOuts:
Books
- Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
- An Area of Darkness by V.S. Naipaul
- The Abundance by Amit Majmudar
- The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Achena Ajana Vivekananda (The Monk as Man) by Shankar
- Karejwa by Ankit Kapoor, Sumit Kumar and Varun Grover
- Pandit Moteram Ki Diary by Premchand
- The Story of Our Food by K.T. Acharya
- Ae Mohabbat… Reminiscing Begum Akhtar by Rita Ganguly & Jyoti Sabharwal
- Begum Akhtar: The Story Of My Ammi by Shanti Hiranand
Films
- Bawarchi by Hrishikesh Mukherjee
- A Love Supreme by Nilesh Patel
- The Lunchbox by Ritesh Batra
- Maacher Jhol by Pratim D. Gupta
- Cheeni Kum by R. Balki
Music