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Time of India
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Nazrul's ‘Lakshan Geet' translations to be on display
Kolkata: Celebrating the completion of Kazi Nazrul Islam's 125th birth anniversary, Jibansmriti Archive will showcase two of his rare manuscripts that trace his foray into writing 'Lakshan Geet' in Bengali. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now This is the first time manuscripts of Nazrul's translation of 'Lakshan Geet', to be put up at an exhibition from June 1 to 4, will be displayed for free public viewing. Founder and curator of Jibansmriti Archive Arindam Saha Sardar told TOI Raja Nawab Ali's 'Marif-ul-Naghmat', written in Arabic-influenced Urdu, probably came into Nazrul's possession in the mid-1930s. "Nazrul deciphered the contents of this book despite the language barrier. It remains unknown whether he sought help from an Urdu speaker. In this book, the poet chanced upon invaluable classical music resources, including 'Lakshan Geet' for over 150 ragas. His 'Sur o Shruti' is a slightly condensed Bengali translation of some portions of the book, 'Swar o Shruti'. This section has his translation of 'Lakshan Geet' into Bengali," Sardar said. 'Lakshan Geet' in Hindi refers to a song, the lyrics of which describe the complete characteristics of a raga. In the fag end of his life, Nazrul took to writing 'Lakshan Geet' in Bengali. He wrote six songs, one on each of the six 'thaat' of Indian classical music. But he fell ill soon after. In 2023, author and Nazrul researcher Ziad Ali donated two pages of the manuscript of Nazrul's 'Sur o Shruti' to the archive's Nazrul-Bhandar section. "These pages of Nazrul's translation of 'Lakshan Geet' were donated for preservation and to promote the study of Nazrul. The pages testify to the depth of the poet's constant exploration and experimentation in classical music. We are yet to get Nazrul's 'Lakshan Geet' manuscripts though they are available in the printed format," he said.
Time of India
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Master film-maker Mrinal Sen's stills to make public debut, go in for archiving
1 2 3 4 Kolkata: Few are aware that master film-maker Mrinal Sen was a skilled photographer too. Ten still photographs that Sen had clicked during his travels in India and abroad will be on display at the Jibansmriti Archive on his birth anniversary on May 14. The photos, now restored, primarily feature Sen's wife, Gita Sen, and son, Kunal, as subjects. Most images shared are from 1962 to 1977, documenting the family's trips to various destinations. One portrait captures Gita and Kunal in Santiniketan, while others showcase the family's visits to Nyon in Switzerland and Heidelberg and Mannheim in Germany. Two landscape photographs present Sen going behind the lens in Paris in 1972 and Beijing in Saha Sardar, founder of Jibansmriti Archive, told TOI he learned about the photos from the director's Chicago-based son. "But the photos had scratches on them. The sharpness was missing, too. We painstakingly used digital technology to restore them. Subsequently, archival prints were taken for each of the photos," Sardar pointed out that an ordinary Canon fixed-lens camera was used by the legendary film-maker to take the photos. "We are incredibly grateful to Kunal-da for sharing the photos with us and giving us the opportunity to digitally correct them so that they can be displayed for those who never knew about this side of Mrinal Sen," he birth anniversary will also see the display of the poster and booklet of his 'Genesis' (1986) and 'Ekdin Achanak' (1989). Another interesting addition to the archive's digital collection is a short family video taken during a trip to Madhupur. In the '60s, Bengali middle-class families followed a trend of going on a 'change' in the winter to places in Bihar. Just before one such winter trip in 1966-67 with his wife, son, brothers and mother-in-law to a small town, called Madhupur, Sen had bought an 8mm movie camera from a foreign tourist in Chennai. Piku, Kunal's pet dog, also went on the trip. "Prior to this trip, Sen had only once used this camera for shooting. On returning, he processed the film at home. Unfortunately, no projector for screening the film in its original format had been available for long. In 2010, Kunal-da transferred the film to the digital format. The condition of this short film is still very bad, but its historical importance remains," Sardar added.
