Welcome to the 2nd edition.
Like the last week, I have handpicked movies, music, podcasts and articles for you. Lets get in.
WATCHING
This week I am breaking down the visual segment into two halves. Videos and Movies.
Videos
First up, I have couple of videos to share with you all.
Around the Block
Apart from some eye-popping visuals, this video speaks plenty about the 'artistic process'. Reminded me in a tangential way of Bukowski's 'Air and Light and Time and Space'.
Who are you?
How would you reply if someone asked ‘Who are you?’
Does our work define us? Or does luck/destiny define who we are? Check out this brilliant short.
Movies
Blow the trumpets, beat the drums, this week we are going deep into one artist’s work.
What is the first movie that comes to your mind when I say ‘Hindi science fiction’.
Mr. India perhaps.
Well today, we change that. Meet Arati Kadav and her films.
I just happened to be in a Clubhouse room where Arati was speaking about sci-fi and that led me to watching her maiden feature film. Cargo.
I heard about Cargo (It got into SXSW) but never got around to watching it, until this week. For now, I have attached the trailer below, but I would ask you to get into the film blindfolded and let the film guide you. The premise is rather simple and includes a chuckle inducing take on a facet of Hindu mythology. The film asks some loaded existential questions about life, our existence, and even about karma. Watch out for a brilliant montage(?) of unsuspecting earthlings heading towards a untimely demise.
Up next I found Time Machine. A short film about love, loss, and well of course, a time machine. Science fiction aside, this short is of the kind that makes one reflect on their life. Reflect on what went by and what lays ahead. It reminded me of something which seems like a quite distant age now. Oh! to be ‘that’ young again. To be that innocent again.
To complete this week’s movie section, we have another sci-fi short by Arati Kadav. This one is more contemporary in nature than the other two. An asteroid is hurtling down towards Earth at ‘55 km/s’ and we humans have only a few moments left. The last day on earth. What do you do? Get to a vantage point and watch it burn? Or go be with a loved one and assure them that you are there with them? Or does the fight mode kick in and you go against all odds hoping to survive. Interesting premise. Specially since what happened last year and how our lives have changed since.
PODCASTS
Electronic India
A Moog synthesiser , one of the earliest commercial devices to make electronic music somehow reaches Ahmedabad. This is the 1960s.
This story is of men and women going beyond their times and creating magic. Creating, as Geovanni Georgio put it in a Daft Punk track, the sound of the future. Nehru makes and appearance, as do the Sarabhais. This podcast follows London based artist and musician, Paul Pargas, as he searches for these pioneers of electronic music in India.
Listen to the podcast here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000j969
(Warning: The podcast will be available only till May 2021 because of BBC policies.)
Quiz Time India
This week on the podcast we had a Hindi Film Special. If Bollywood is what interests you then click ‘play’ and enjoy the episode while you devour your evening chai!
The features certified BollyGeek Diptakirti Chaudhari. This one came out rather well, if I may say so.
Design Pataki Podcast
Have you heard of Interior Design?
Well, it is a magazine based out of New York which is currently in its 90th year.
This week on the podcast I produced a conversation between the magazine’s editor Cindy Allen and Esha Gupta, the founder of Design Pataki. Gita Mirchandani brought her experience from the PR world and made it an interesting mix.
(Enjoying the newsletter so far, share it with a friend and make their week)
MUSIC
I don’ think there is a bigger music story this week than Enjoy Enjaami.
A lot of you would have probably heard it by now and like me, would have turned evangelists. The music is new. The video is striking. The lyrics are a outright protest.
Its unstoppable beat is a fusion of oppari — a type of folk song, part-eulogy, part-lament, traditionally performed at funerals in Tamil Nadu — and elements of Afro-Caribbean music and it’s sung in Tamil
Listen to the song first. Then listen to it with the subtitle/captions and then come back here to listen to Arivu describe the ideas behind the song.
Want to read more about the song? Check this detailed piece from Hindustan Times
Also, you may notice that the song has put out by a music label called Maajja. Who is behind this label? One and only, AR REHMAN! Read here
Peter Dexter Cello
This is a self explanatory Youtube channel.
Quite simple this one. Peter, his cello, Irish backdrop, and a dog for company.
Check out this cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. This one is for the ages.
Reading
BookTok
We just went from ‘Desi boys crying on Tiktok’ to ‘Global teens crying on Tiktok and seliing thousands of books’. This is as bizarre as this is beautiful.
Usual Suspects
In this weeks unusual jobs that you didn’t know existed, we have casting directors for police lineups. Read the story here.
Theatre of Mind
When working in audio, we use this phrase quite often - Theatre of mind.
What it means is we make a soundscape and the listener uses his or her memories to fill the space. Add visuals which never existed.
Want to know what I am talking about? Try this. This website called imissmybar.com
Lets you create the ambience of your favourite bar! Try it.
Housekeeping
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Also, help a lost soul and forward them this newsletter. We all know someone who keeps saying “I don’t know what to watch yaa…” :)
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We end this weeks newsletter with a tweet, which in a way summarises the point of this newsletter. We may be ‘users’ but we definitely are ‘people’, and when things go south, people need people, not algorithms.
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