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Buddhist Monks Converge on Sarnath
SARNATH: Buddhist monks, religious scholars and officials from different countries gathered in Sarnath to attend the 71st annual festival in which a relic of Gautam Buddha is taken out. The function was also attended by Chief Minister of Uttar Prardesh Mayawati and many other members of her party. Several Buddhist monks from as many as 15 countries like Japan, Burma, Thailand, America and China thronged the town to offer prayers. "Next Lord Buddha, Maitri Buddha, will also be born here, at this place. He will also have his first preaching ceremony here," said Pearl Lienaga, a Sri Lankan Buddhist devotee. "I think Buddha is very important in India and I come from Thailand for a visit to India. This is the first time I am visiting India for Buddha," said Phao Wi Nee, visitor from Thailand. Lord Buddha preached his message of salvation in Sarnath after he achieved enlightenment. Sarnath has a number of stupas and monasteries. In the early days of Buddhism, stupas were constructed to honour important events, including Buddha's Enlightenment, his first Sermon, his Death and the four famous Buddhist councils. -ANI Dona Ganguly Opens Dance School (Go To Top) KOLKATA: While Sourav Ganguly is busy creating waves in the cricketing arena, wife Dona is creating waves of a different kind. Dona has opened a dance school for children in Kolkata. Named as 'Diksha Manjari', the school teaches classical dances to over a 100 students from all over the country. An acclaimed Odissi dancer herself, Dona has performed and won acclaim all over the world and it was her keen desire to continue the passion that led her to open the school. Dona says she was flooded with offers to teach students coming from all corners of the country so she finally decided to open a school. Dona claims that what makes her school unique is that contrary to popular trend it does not fuse different dances but teaches each classical dance in its purest form. -ANI Prithvi Theatre Festival Begins in Mumbai (Go To Top) MUMBAI: The Prithvi Theatre Festival 2002, 'Postcards from Prithvi', began on Sunday, November 10, in the entertainment capital of India, Mumbai. The festival would be held in three different venues - Prithvi Theatre, YB Chavan Centre and Horniman Circle Grounds, and will feature 21 plays premiering in four languages - Hindi, English, Urdu and Marathi. Motley Troupe's Urdu play, 'Safed Jhoot Kali Shalwar', would be the inaugural play which is co-directed by Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah. When asked about the entries and response, Ratna said that this year there is a lot of new talent and fresh enthusiasm with debutant directors like Ahlam Khan (Moddh) and Shibani Tibrewala (Whatever You Say). Ratna Pathak Shah, co-director, Safed Jhoot Kali Shalwar, said, "This is a fantastic situation this year. Because absolutely new people have written or directed the play for the first time and veterans have been here for long. This is a fantastic combination, because it shows that for the past 25 years theatre is active in Bombay." The Prithvi Theatre Festivals, the brainchild of the late Jennifer Kapoor, began in 1983, and has now been taken over by her daughter, Sanjana Kapoor. The festival brought to Mumbai the best Indian talent from across the country as well as International Theatre companies. Since 1983, the Prithvi Theatre has played host to 12 festivals, six of which have been international and two have been children's theatre festivals. While speaking to reporters, Shashi Kapoor said that the festival is in its 18th year and all credit goes to his daughter Sanjana, who now shoulders the responsibility of carrying forward the generation's old legacy set by her late grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor. Sanjana Kapoor, festival director, said, "This year's festival concentrates on celebrating the theatre of Mumbai. We have thrown a challenge to all the theatre groups in Mumbai, and said let's premire Indian productions. It was amazing to get a huge response, from that we had to select just 21 groups. The astounding thing is that out of the 21 entries more than three- fourths are new scripts." Theatre enthusiasts as well as theatre groups across the country await November - the month the annual theatre festival takes place for the great quality of plays showcased. Apart from regular shows, Prithvi regularly organises the annual Prithvi festival, India's most important theatre festival, a children's theatre forum, art exhibitions, and manages its production company too. -ANI Cartoon Serial on Tenalirama (Go To Top) HYDERABAD: For generations, stories of Tenalirama's wit have occupied the imagination of the people in India and now they would soon watch their favourite character in a 2-D animation cartoon serial, set to release in January next year.
Tenali Ramakrishna, better known as Tenalirama, was one of the eight wisest men of ancient India's Vijayanagar empire ruled by King Krishna Devaraya. The stories of Tenalirama revolve around his knack for quick intelligent decisions in matters where the king's trusted advisors failed. Officials of Toonz Animation India, which is producing the 26-episode series, said Tenalirama scored an overwhelming 95 per cent in a survey conducted among Indian children recently. "It all started with choosing Tenalirama because everybody knows Tenali in India, everybody likes him because he is so clever and so witty and so much fun and yet he is not a sacred character," said Bill Dennis, Chief Executive Officer of Toonz Animation India. Dennis said the series which is all set for an all-India release in January next year before a world-wide release in March, is targetting audience from age five onwards. He said the stories of Tenalirama would have an international appeal. "So our creative people could look at the stories and (say) well let's add this and let's do this to make it more appealing for international audience and the nice thing about using Tenali is that no one in India has been offended by him," Dennis added. The project is worth about 700,000 US dollars.The Indian animation industry is fast growing and producing cartoon films in India is cost effective, Dennis said, adding that his next project will be on Hindu monkey god Hanuman. Toonz Animation India is currently also working on another comic character Chacha Chodhary (Uncle Chowdhary) which will be marketed in December this year. -ANI Elton John Concert Thrills Bangaloreans (Go To Top) BANGALORE: Bangalore city witnessed the first-ever live concert by singer Sir Elton John late on Saturday night. About 25,000 people watched the legendary pop singer perform the most eagerly awaited concert in recent times.
John flew into Bangalore in his private jet. His grand piano and a 30-member crew with loads of hi-tech gear had already been flown in. The show was named 'Once in a Lifetime'. The singer in his nine-hour stay in the country performed some 28 songs recollecting the best moments of his life. Elton John, who has four luxury homes and a passion for vintage cars, jewellery and outrageous clothes, has sold more than 100 million albums during his career, achieving super-star status with smash-hits such as 'Candle in the Wind' and 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.' Tickets for the concert were selling for as high as 10,000 rupees and the sponsor, McDowell, India's liqour giant, expressed the hope the concert would raise more funds than expected. -ANI |
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