Madhabi & Mallika mesmerize audiences on day four of Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet

Kolkata, March 26 : The fourth day of the 10th edition of Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet or Kalam held at the iconic Victoria Memorial Hall has showcased different shades of legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee in theatre as well as in cinema. Madhabi Mukherjee, one of his most popular co-actors took the audience through their journey in conversation with Suman Mukhopadhyay and Poulami Chatterjee, daughter of late Soumitra Chatterjee. The session was followed by the journey of another legendary theatre personality – Girish Karnad. His son, Raghu Karnad, a journalist and writer by profession, shared with the audience about the life, works, and plays of his illustrious father. 2022 marks the centenary year of Victoria Memorial Hall and what can be a better platform than Kalam where the history, the love of the people for this iconic monument is cherished. Secretary and Curator, Victoria Memorial Hall – Dr. Jayanta Sengupta, Bachi Karkaria, Anindya Chattopadhyay along with Agnijit Sen took to stage to reminiscence about the romance of the city with the memorial across generations. Kolkata is considered the Mecca of Indian Football and discussions and debate remain incomplete without a session on football. Much admired by sports fans, Gautam Roy, noted football historian shared his thoughts on love of football and the history of East Bengal club which celebrates its centenary this year. In another session held at the Western Quadrangle, Nicholas Wild and Cheyenne Olivier took the audience through the cartoon culture of Paris. Veteran journalist, Ajay Bose then shed light on his documentary which explores connect that the Beatles had with India. The Friday evening concluded with a spellbinding solo Bharatnatyam performance by none other than celebrated classical dancer Mallika Sarabhai on the backdrop of magnificent Victoria Memorial Hall. Among various power packed programs, Day 5 (Saturday) will witness Dhritiman Chatterji, Barun Chandra and Pradeep Mukherjee discuss debuting as protagonists in Satyajit Ray’s city trilogy. This will be followed by a discussion on biographies of Uttam Kumar and Tapan Sinha by its authors Sayandeb Chowdhury and Amitava Nag respectively. Bikram Grewal, well known ornithologist, author, birdwatcher and conservationist will delve on whether the pandemic has changed the way Indians look at nature. Cricket writer and columnist Pradeep Magazine will discuss India’s fascination towards cricket and how the sport has changed over the decades. On the 5th day, screening of Ajoy Bose’s “The Beatles and India” and Goutam Ghosh’s short film on the pandemic titled Samayer Smritimala will be held at 8 pm at the Bengal Club. BM