It's roasted chilly chicken and Hawain Salad

Rocky and Mayur have ventured out to explore food from all parts of India and curate videos on Askme.com. I’m contributing my part by relishing my favorite dishes at Kiva Ivy Askme.com’s listing of that restaurant and sharing my views with you all!

You are in Pune and may be bored of going to Koregaon Park because of it's huge crowd at eating joints and the neighbouring Kalyani Nagar.
You may want to drop in at this place Kiva Ivy, Baner; brew and pub.
The moment you enter in the evening dim-coloured lights meet you with furniture and wall hangings from films and art framed photos; it's such a welcome after a day of tired-work.
You settle down and there are many LCD TV's which generally have a football match or cricket or basketball playing. Recently I watched a bit of Pro-Kabbadi session.
They have a roasted chilly-chicken which has a delicious flavour not like Mainland China or popular Chinese joints. The roasted chilly chicken is roasted in red pepper and yellow asparagus and dipped in Oyster sauce with vegetables. It has something royal about it, probably the sauce or the utensil it is served in. There is also some veggies served with the roasted chilly -chicken and broccoli, ya it feels so good.
Another, dish you may want to try here is Hawaiian chicken salad. It's based on iceberg with added mayo sauce in it, fresh pineapple and garnished with garlic. It's something light , but you need to try it. The way the mayo is mixed with the cabbage is yummy. Go for it.
Some signature dishes of the brew and pub is Keema pav, Murg Dum Kabab, Chicken Handi-dum Biryani. Some other dishes offered are Buffaloo Chicken Wings, Galoti Kebab, Fish Chatpata, Jalapeno Poppies.
Some drinks you could go for are Long-Island Ice Tea and Fresh Fruit Margarita.
Songs like," Please forgive Me" and "We will rock you" may not be aired in the radio too often, but this pub still plays. Go there after 8:30 pm and experience the music take you away!

Aabhas, review, PIFF2015

Aabhas is such a powerful, excellent, dark work; it’s oozing and festering horror. It should have been played in the main theatre of PIFF, City Pride Kothrud for more audience to experience it. It’s the story of a writer’s encounter with the supernatural and tantric in a village close to his workplace. He is signing copies of his latest book, when an old man comes up to him, and asks for his help to save his daughter in a nearby village. The film opens up with mantras to invoke Goddess Kali, with the bellowing of drums. Three macabre incidents are shown in flashes; a lady running in front of a car, a man drowning, burning of bride and bride-groom together. This film is a quality horror film that I have seen in last couple of years. The technique employed by the camera man, reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Birds’. The pauses taken before the next scene is brilliant, without revealing the plot, you cannot predict the next scene. The script writer should also be applauded for creating lots of tension and choices in the story. The plot reminded me of the John McNaughton film “Wild Things”. As the writer is driving by, a girl comes running his way and the car hits a tree. While he is looking for help, a man carrying water suddenly appears, looking for his kid. The technique used to make the man appear is amazing. There is no drag or loss of suspense and thrill. As he is talking to the man, the man keeps asking how the accident happened, creating an environment of horror for the writer. Suddenly, the car horn blares, and both of them move to the car, only to find the kid giggling inside. The cameraman has not shown any kid trying to sneak in or any other technique to suggest it happening. But the kid suddenly appears, as if through thin air, and it’s so natural; amazing creation of horror. The man takes the writer to his family to get help to pull the car out. The family is preparing for the daughter’s wedding. The man who had met the writer at the book launch is possessed by an evil spirit. He does all to prevent the wedding: strangling the groom, pushing him in the well and dancing inside a circle of fire. The performance of every actor is outstanding: the head of the family, daughter, the helps. It was tuned to both horror and humorous roles. The location where the movie is shot is also one of the good points of the film. The location is apt and the camerawork gave a horror look without brimming towards humor. A scene where the lady is walking on the roof is so well shot!!! Also the use of near-inverted shots, partial shots is so well done. Do watch this film, directed-written by Gajanan Kulkarni, starring Ankush Choudhari.

Rang Rasiya, review, PIFF2015

Rang Rasiya or Colours of passion revolves around the life of the painter, Raja Ravi Verma of Travancore. The painter is married to a queen who does not have high regard for his work. But in places where art stinks is also the same where it finds inspiration. He finds his muse in Sugandha, Nandana Sen. While she’s dressing up one morning, he asks her to stay and paints her. A new subject rekindles his interest and he begins to paint. But there are also protests from a section of society, which the film tries to depict. The accusations are mostly on grounds of ‘immorality’ and ‘vilification of Indian Gods’. The painter is frequently pulled into courts, where questions “Do you live at your wife’s house and do you squander your time at the palace ” are put to him. Nandana Sen has carved a role for herself in the film and Randeep Hooda has played an artist-who-is-not-dazed role to an applaud. Tom Alter, as an English judge, appeared as an understanding-British-judge. The film imbues the pre-independence setting at a local level pretty well on the screen. The moments where the painter and the muse make love, is so beautifully painted, is like aesthetic health to the audience. Rang Rasiya is an unorthodox treatment of an artist-fighting-society-and-back-theme in the celluloid world. And to treat it with the maturity of an Indian audience is quite a feat. The music grows well into the film. The film reminded me of “Frida” by the American Broadway and film director, Julie Taymor. A question arises, is it unfair to a woman, who’s a subject to a painter, to feel neglected on account of the painter’s interest in many subjects during his development process . Do go and experience colours of passion!

The Lesson, Review, PIFF2015

An honest teacher loses money after a bank goes kaput. This puts her in a bad way, as her husband who’s a drunkard, squanders all the money. One day she’s travelling in a bus and finds that her money is gone. The bus driver being a gentleman lets her ride and even lends her money, after quizzing her on a Greek god’s name. But, the bank won’t allow her to send the funds until she pays the exact amount. There’s a pond close by, and it has coins in them, thrown in by tourists who make a wish. She helps herself. On going to school, she finds her stolen money, at the canteen with the cashier. Her immediate guess is a kid from the class has done it. She scolds the class but is unable to recover the money or the culprit. She goes to her dad, who’s married to another woman, but her step-mom pisses her so much that she decides not to take his help. She borrows money from the money-lender but is unable to pay him back. He asks her to give his nephew good grades in class, which she does. It does not help. The money-lender asks her to come dressed in a thong and do oral sex. She comes but gives up and ends up robbing a bank to pay the debt. The script was good, pleasing cinematography, but the execution could have been better. The story had lots of in decisions and choices, which makes the script a strong point of the film. But it was slow and could have been made more interesting. The Lesson was a part of Global Cinema at PIFF 2015.

International Student Competition-live action,review, PIFF2015

I made three new friends at the festival today. One was from Chennai who had come just to attend the Pune International Film Festival. He made Pune Railway station home for his stay. The other two mentioned a poem of W. H Auden with words like, ‘dream within a dream.’ Let’s talk stories now! Sunny, Germany The film opens up with two people fighting, a guy is sneaking out. A baldie guy. Hajo plays the drums and also takes care of his son. I could not pick up much of the storyline. The cinematography was good. Color Water, China-Beijing One of the funniest part of the story is when he gets a blowjob and plays the clarinet at the same time. “I will blow for you and then you blow for me.” The film had good cinematography for live action. The Kid in the Closet, Australia A family raises a kid, by keeping him with his grandparents as the family needs to stick to the ‘’One Child Policy” of the state. The kid witnesses a different environment when he comes out of the closet as he is looked upon as the other. But slowly his sibling comes to accept him. A pretty lively watch! Manorath, India The story is inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s, “The Postman” . A photographer talks to people from a village and makes new friends. He befriends a girl. The story looked good for live action films. Song we wrote, India This was such a lively story; it imbued romance when I saw it. A girl is dancing in a party and Jeetu, the musician-protagonist goes and introduces himself. The girl does not have the gift of hearing and speaking. Jeetu goes around capturing sound, near the beach on the roads. I loved the story! “I was a musician, travelling with a girl, who couldn’t hear.”.

The Bear, Anton Chekhov, a review

When it’s a Chekhovian play, you naturally mix up titles and plots; genius that he was in dealing with relationships. The drama lovers in Pune got another chance to enjoy the Russian playwright’s work. This was my second watching of the play in Pune. I mixed up the stories of the two plays, ” The Bear” and ” The Proposal”. When the play started today, a few seconds told me that it was ” The Bear” being performed. The artists at Orange Reason are doing something splendiferously right, because I experience the same fluidity in their skills as performers since the last time. I really liked the costumes of the artists. It’s like the blend of a Russian setting and an Indian milieu. Professionals slip into their skin at every moment on stage and create anew. Technology which seeks to aid the dramatic performance, like times fails but the artists did a good job today, to harmonise the blaring speaker and the weird mics.Finesse of the trio is surely visible. Also the right amount of balance. It’s sheer joy to watch something you have read in your school textbooks live. Thanks to Orange Reason to bring up such a work!

Sure Thing, David Ives, a review

“Sure Thing” is side-splitting humor. It’s about two characters sitting at a table in a cafe and their attempts at striking a conversation. The attempt is reset by a bell placed on the table. The artists from Orange Reason mades sure the characters come alive and the chemistry was visible. On Youtube there is a performance of the play by Williamburg Theatre Company in Brooklyn. Orange Reason is at par. It’s difficult to do such a wonderful script badly. There is a scene in the play where Bill tries to poke his head forward to Betty , while talking, it looks he’s trying to smell her ; could be different. Williamburg Theatre Company’s too uses the same movement. New expressions keep the script growing. The mention of Modi and Kejriwal was nice. In the opening attempts Betty is sitting on the chair but later when she gets up and walks to the other side, it’s a lovely use of space on stage. ” Sure Thing” is a must match!!!

Avayava , 2015, Contemporary Dance workshops, Day1

Avayava Dance workshop (Day1) Richard Causer (10 am to 12 noon) Day one at Kalmadi Shamrao Junior College opens to a warm up routine by Richard Causer from Australia. The class was nothing like you have experienced; you get a slice of how you could do so much in a room. The opening routine was slow to heat up the body. The pace skyrocketed when he wants you to roll on the ground keeping your elbows close to your chest and legs straight from one end of the room to another. The moment you reach the other end of the room your head’s like spinning a-really-fast-merry-go-around-experience. He takes to crawling next, a stretch of legs in the air and then on your hands and repeat. It looked like a near-spider-man-movement. And Richard with his swift movement was one minus the web. The third routine was much simpler but all his routines had an element of speed to them which keeps you wondering,” am I really moving so fast?” It’s such a brilliant start to Avayaya a contemporary dance festival in Pune and a learning experience on Floorwork and Release Techniques. Noam Eidelman (12:30 pm to 2:00 pm) How do you make your body a processor of new information to awaken numb areas and increase flexibility, stamina, and agility? Gaga Technique from Israel is the answer. Noam slid the class into layers of conscious and subconscious movements; feeling the body, feeling the space encircling your limbs on the floor. Becoming aware of the information across your neck, hands, back, arms and legs. Letting them come up to surface, float and take form as movements on your body. Feeling you are in a bath tub of water; sinking your body lower to the ground; loosening up, letting go. Such instructions put you in phases of sleep, meditation, sublimity and dance. It reminded me of Osho’s Kundalini meditation where you are told to imagine yourself a tree and shake yourself off. It was such a different technique unlike the first session ; pure contradiction in terms but so apt for the body. You really need to go Gaga! You could read more here on the technique: http://www.swapnildagliya.com/avayavablog/2015/4/13/going-gaga Noam Eidelman (3:30 pm to 5 pm) The routine that Noam taught from the Basheva Repertory was like a gentle blowing of the wind. You are in a square in a floor and you explore forms there in your zone. The routine made you stand with elbow stretched out together, swaying to the back with arms stretched out, movement to the left-right, a neck cut pose with the hands, right-left, sinking your weight of the body. It was more important to feel the movement than actually trying to go right, or wrong or give personal accents to the choreography. The instructor made the class do the routine so many time that it had to look aesthetic; it was such a harmonic experience of delight; like the flocking of a group of seagulls together. Gear on for the day two of the workshops!

Turn off the Lights, Blue Frog, Review

Moonbeam Factory Theatre put up their play, “Turn off the Lights” on the World Earth Day at Blue Frog, Pune. An invisible computer puts questions to Rohan and Rianca who appear to be last survivors on the planet before the apocalypse. Their response is unsure and full of hypocrisy; representing the human race of the present. The play seemed scientific and apt for the theme of the venue. The voice of the computer created the setting for the whole play, which would have been tad difficult if there was more action. The voice in the play played a greater role than the gestures and it was a simple- cleanly- constructed story. The audience was interested in the performance and the dialogue and the delivery was funny like: “What do you do to save the world? Put polar bear videos on youtube”. “Switch off your mobile phone. State your name and purpose.” The play somehow reminded me of Werner Herzog’s voice in his documentary films. Do watch out for more by Moonbeam Factory Theatre! Cast:Srikanth Pingali, Vaishnavi Giri Ganesh, Divya Mangwani Script &Direction: Divya Mangwani

Avayava 2015, Contemporary Dance Workshop, Day3

Day 3: Let’s look at the workshop on day 3 before peeking into day 2, and hop the sequential order of days! Richard Causer: (10 am to 12 noon) Richard took his class to a more creative moment this morning. The routine for this morning pushed the students to use the letters in their names and create a routine or movement dance using a different body part for an alphabet. The class took some minutes to do so, some taking longer due to the length of the name. A practice, a couple of times and the class performed the routine in groups. Then Richard instructed the class to do it with a partner, where they were to synch their movement to one another. What came out was a harmonic, beautiful dance with lifts and cheers from the audience! Swapnil Dagliya: (12:30 pm to 2:00 pm) Swapnil’class warmed up the body of the dancers with their stretches and small movements.It included slow stretches, flat backs, releve` and plie`to the beats of a drumming music. The class gave out screams of laughter, excitement and disappointment when he made the class lay on the push up position just two inches from the ground. The routine he taught included reaching out your hands up in the air as if plucking something, turning around; the idea of a lyrical routine being to give more freedom to the dancers to improvise than strict-step following. The music is the key in such a routine. The class heartily enjoyed the session and it was a good mix of warm up, travelling across the floor and routines; the class was taken very attentively by the partcipants. Tomas Danielis (3:30 pm to 5:00 pm) Tomas on the third day took the class to new experience in contact improvisation. He showed how to roll the body on the floor without pushing yourself, let the flow move you gently; lying on the floor let your foot lead you body, your neck and then your arm. It was followed by a session on sliding to both your sides, sit up and then step out letting your foot give a swinging motion. Another routine he taught was walking in the natural posture of the human body but backwards and then alternating the steps twice backwards. It was such a hi-tech technique and surely not to be forgotten by the class soon! Hazel Angus (5:30 pm to 7:00 pm) Hazel made the class break into smiles with her introductory session of tap dancing. She introduced the class to the basics: heel, toe and ball. Then a combination of heel and toe to the right and then to the left. A whole tap dance song was played and the class was swaying to the pepped up beats. It so felt like a party class; and Hazel also asked the class to move thier hands with their feet which lifted the general mood of the class from esoteric workshops, hi-tech techniques to plain celebration. The third day of the workshops witneessed pure joy and celebration and brought loads of new techniques for the dancers to work and develop. Until next year, adios!

Avayava 2015, Contemporary Dance Workshop, Day 2

Richard Causer (11:30 am to 1 pm) Richard did the same sequence as in the first day of the workshop giving time to the class to absorb the information. He did the crawling sequence as part of the floorwork preparation. And also the running sequence which was a travelling sequence at high speed. You may not be surprised to see people runnig at high speed in the city or doing Spider-Man crawls inspired by the workshop. Tomas Danielis (11:30 am to 1 pm ) Tomas took the class to another level of sensitivity asking the class to touch just the joints of the body and let the partner respond. So the touch went to the neck, the shoulders, the elbow joint, wrist, finger, hip, knees and toes. He also cleared common misunderstandings about movement of the shoulders. After the movement was complete the partner just stood back and watched the partner move to the earlier stimuli in a dance.This is one of the best technique of Contact Improvisation I have witnessed so far. The technique could create microscopic movements of awareness; pure science. The contact improved among the student at the end of the class! Noam Eidelman (2pm to 3:30 pm ) Like yesterday, the Gaga technique took the class to slow movements to open up the pent up areas and bring a flow and a let go. Noam used the same symbolism as yesterday’s class and it was equally effective. Noam Eidelman (4pm to5:30pm) ‘Holding a camera position’ turning backwards, chopping your head with your hands, and facing the wall again. Then the power packed thrusts where you dance like shooting canon balls out of your pelvic ; and you close it by acting like closing the window and the banging of the head on the wall facing you; welcome to a full- fledged-batsheva-repertory . The routine had really simple and small movements which Noam asked the class to repeat again and again until the class burst into a tumult of energy, passion and a dancing-insanity. The routine felt like a creation of a dance company!

Oka Boka Tiloka, a review

A sense of peace climbed to my senses when I reached Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Sanskrutik Bhavan in Wanowrie. The auditorium had warmth which put the setting in for the play, there were three sticks placed on stage standing on one another with decorations on them making them look like tribe-inspired. And there was tribe-inspired music playing which gave such a glow to the ‘to be’ dramatic experience. The lights looked lovely on stage and they were focussed on the sticks. The opening scene has three characters in loin cloths making animal or bird sounds: Tigura-dugara-dugar. The sync among the characters was well done and it felt so natural and just made me feel how drama is different and special from other forms of performance art. Three friends live peacefully in a village setting until their peace is disturbed. The story was a mellow-coated-slow-paced-one. One of the friends falls in love with a girl and she lures him to the forbidden fruit of development, modernization and governance. And he comes back trying to carry out the designs in practice which only leads to a farce. Oka Boka Tiloka talks about development using a self-introspective approach and the theatre group of Mumbai , Kathakar-Theatre, Stories & Life succeeds in doing just that! Do catch their next show!

Bombay Velvet, a review

The ruggedness of a trailer which has Ranbir Kapoor running across a shipyard has stayed with me for quite sometime and it got vent in ‘Bombay Velvet’.A technical brilliance is staring at you if you see any bit of the movie, a new found charm of bollywood , a culminating of experimental cinema. Johnny Balraj is an underdog who climbs his way up doing crimes and fighting in the boxing ring in Mumbai. I enjoyed the music of the film like a delicious dish and it was a charm -coated-film.I feel the expanse of one film was not enough for the director to speak his mind, that’s why the Rosie singing part is quite accentuated in the film.I am waiting for the director’s next film. But inveritably it’s a good make, and an ambitious work such as this is good for Indian cinema. It makes Indian cinema audacious in approaching topics and approaches to showing stories. A film like Bombay Velvet may take time to sink in.Also a film is sometimes a trigger to watching another set of films. The NewYork Times says, Bombay Velevt is an ‘ode to the American ganster’ but hasn’t the director paid an ode to the American gangsters already with his ‘Gangs of Wassepur’ film and has already left contemporary filmmakers of Bollywood behind. Bombay Velvet is an ode to the technical infrastructure of Bollywood to chisel out such a work of art! Go watch Bombay Velvet!

Gangs of Wassepur 1, a review

History and filmmaking will charm you when they come together and Gangs of Wassepur is one of those rare movies. Wassepur is a place close to Dhanwad district in Bihar now in Jharkhand. The rawest of human emotions come climbing onscreen in this interesting historical depiction. The music and script form the highpoint of the movie.’O Womaniya’ , ‘ O Womaniya’ , Sneha Khandewal’s music and Varun Grover’ s lyrics is such an achievement in the film. The wails of Nagma giving birth to a childish like the seen-felt-ignored-suffering of the state , it breathes emotional hurt of a city.The director, Mr Anurag Kashyap is such an audacious story-teller. The local-lingo of the city is captured well , like ‘ dal me tadka layette kya’. The dialogues are witty and are punch lines in Hindi cinema. It reminds me of an interview I read of Mr. Kashyap long back, where he says,he seems to have gobbled the hindi literature in its fullness, and his command is but visible.The killing scenes remind me of an Iranian film at PIFF this year. The actors in the film have delivered a solid punch line like Manoj Vajpayee , Pramod Pathak, Bhupesh Singh, Nazawaiduddin Siddqui. There a scene where perpendicular is shot and called to the bed, it’s very well done, the script and execution part. I really want to know under what conditions the movie was shot, a fast paced story.The local gestures picked up in the film is typical of Bihar. The film is a creation if a complex mind unfolding stories of an era; the director !The performances are memorable and they get into the skin if the Bihari culture.The clime of the space is captured well.The sweat, muck and stink will stay with you..promise..it will be back.

Clearing the Rubble,a dramatic reading, Moonbeam Factory Theatre

The cast of the dramatic play welcomes you with their costume at the beloved Pagdandi Books Chai Cafe in Baner.Moonbeam Factory Theatre, a local theatre company, who celebrate their first anniversary this month; are doing a dramatic reading of a radio play,” Clearing the Rubble” by Mahesh Dattani. Even before the play started , I thought of ‘Final Solutions’ which I happened to watch a couple of years back by the playwright. What kept coming back to my mind is the “powerful” impact of the play which has a communal context and driving music. The reading of a radio play is a first in Pune and the execution of it by Moonbeam Factory Theatre explored the medium of voice in storytelling.Watching a play allows you to focus on the sight, sound and gesture of the body . In a radio play you focus mostly on the voice which is a new experience altogether. The cast used the voices in the reading very well, which comprised of Srijan Dubey as Salim, Angad Patwardhan as Jeffrey and Divya Mangwani as Fatima. Also to be in the costume and not make many gestures also adds to the dramatic element, as you expect action but what mostly comes out is the voice. ‘Clearing the Rubble’ is set in Gujarat 2001 when an English journalist is going to Bhuj after a massive earthquake to track a boy he met during the relief efforts. The story that the mother has to share is poignant, like her wails “Allah!Both my daughters are with you now. I am coming too.”Rubble, meagre shelters and food packets describe the landscape. Jeffrey approaches a crib rocked by a mother only to find there is no baby in it. He is confused if to help as a journalist or not, but he atleast wants to try, even trying will appear as help. Even through the turmoil Fatimah assures herself by saying,” The mosque is all right! Oh! We are fortunate! Everything will be fine soon. Everything will be like before.” Faith still gave hope in the land and it becomes even more sensitive in such an incident. The play and the dramatic reading by the cast was such a gem of an experience. Do look out for more by Moonbeam Factory Theatre and their upcoming one-minute play festival, Zoom! Cast: Srijan Dubey, Angad Patwardhan, Divya Mangwani Sound Effects: Saeesh Mangwani

Ek Akhari Baar, Anonymous Theatre Group, Bharat Natya Mandir

The quality and substance in the drama making process has quadrupled in the city; in terms of the story, sets and actors.Experimentation is the flavour of the season and the audience love it. Ek Akhari Baar, presented by Anonymous theatre group made wondeful use of music to create a dramatic element, it did feel like drama-come-alive.The props and the set looked ingenious with the use of a doll’s house, swords, the box and Greeco-looking-pillars. If you have seen the film, “The Illusionist” casting Edward Norton, yesterday’s play may leave the film behind. Tricks like, when a doll is put in a box and a girl appears in it after the snap of a finger. One of the actor pull’sup a volunteer, puts her in a box, uses swords through the box, and lo, the girl appears on the other end of the auditorium, standing at the gate is unbelievable! The play is a story about a magician who wants to become someone and is in search of true magic. The backdrop of the story is magic but asks you not to give up even if something goes wrong. The actor also made one of the cast sit in the audience and waved at him making full use of the dramatic space. Such techniques blur the lines between the artist and the audience. For example, one of the character comes strutting behind from the other end in a stick. The use of soundtrack is just awesome. The stunts when the character puts a sword in his throat is surreal but real, it gave me goosebump while watching it. The playmakers want to leave the audience guessing about ” how to transport a man”. The group used a unique drama making process, after writing the plays a year and half back, the directors did not hold any audition but handpicked the actors after watching most plays of Puruhsottam Karandak and Firodiya Karandak.ou do not want to miss more of the featival and theatre group! The directors and script writers: Shriniwas Patwardhan, Soumitra Thorat