Saturday, April 18, 2015

Telangana Rangula Pallaki Art Expo from April 19 @ Jayanagar



Reves Art Gallery in association with Telangana Rangula Pallaki will host an Art Exhibition for 10 days beginning from April 19, 2015 to April 28, 2015 at the Reves Art Gallery located at Jayanagar VIII Block. The inauguration of the expo will take place on April 19 at 4 pm at the art gallery.

T Harish Rao, Minister of Major Irrigation, Mining, Geology, Marketing & Legistative Affairs, Government of Telangana will inaugurate the expo at 4 pm. The other guest at the inauguration include: B V Papa Rao, Advisor, Government of Telangana and Mamidi Harikrishna, Director, Department of Language & Culture, Government of Telangana will also preside.

About 16 artists from across Telangana will display their art works that include paintings and other works. These art works are also for sale and are priced from Rs 30,000 to couple of lakh of rupees.The organisers said 12% of the total sales will be used for charity. The charity will go to handicap artists from Mehaboob Nagar district.

Friday, January 2, 2015

Oxford University Press India MD Bags Diamond Award



Oxford University Press (OUP), the world's largest university press is delighted to announce that its India branch office, Oxford University Press India, has been given the ‘Diamond Award’ by the Federation of Publishers’ & Booksellers’ Associations in India (FPBA) at their 60th Annual General Meeting today. This award is recognition of OUP’s distinguished services to the Indian books industry.

The Diamond Award is the highest category of awards and is being given for the first time by FPBA to organizations in business for 75 years or more. Earlier, Golden Awards were given in the year 2010 to organizations that had been around for more than 50 years.

Speaking on the occasion S.C Sethi, President - Federation of Publishers & Booksellers Associations in India said, “The awards given by FPBA celebrate and reward excellence in publishing. We are delighted to present OUP with the ‘Diamond Award’ in recognition of the contribution made by them to the publishing industry in India.”

Ranjan Kaul, Managing Director - Oxford University Press India said “we would like to express our gratitude to the Federation of Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Association of India for this honour. OUP has a rich and long history of publishing in India, and this award is recognition of its valuable contribution to education and academic publishing in the country for the last 103 years.”

The FPBA conferred the Diamond awards during a ceremony at the Le Meridien in New Delhi during their 60th AGM. FPBA is the oldest and largest association of publishers’ and booksellers’ in the country, with membership of over 4000 organizations.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Unless we face China, we will only be left writing books: Says Shourie





An intellectual who carries off his fearless persona and animated repartee with effortless panache, Arun Shourie lived up to the billing perfectly at the Bangalore Literature Festival.

The former cabinet minister and veteran journalist's views on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fierce focus on China and simmering Indo-Sino border relations were received with a standing ovation by a packed audience on Sunday, the last day of the festival. Excerpts:

* How effective will Modi's Chinese gameplan be?

We have to prove that we're serious about our own development and security. I sincerely hope he (Modi) doesn't think that increasing trade with China is going to defang it. China has large trade ties with Japan and the United States, but it is also determined to overcome America in dominance and influence. Unless we prepare ourselves to face China, we will only be left writing books.

* Modi has been aggressive in his speeches about Pakistan and China, but why aren't we seeing any change?

Options depend on capacity, rather than the rhetoric of an individual. Over the years, we've always deluded ourselves that if we keep talking sweetly, the dragon will become vegetarian. After 1971, Pakistan realized they cannot take us on in a frontal war. So General Zia ul-Haq devised this strategy of a proxy war, built a capacity and have succeeded for 20 years. We didn't build a counter-capacity to do a Kashmir in Balochistan. Maybe Modi spoke firmly about the border, but talking is not as effective as building capacity.

* Ironical that during the Indo-Sino talks, tensions were building on the border?

It's a crucial Chinese strategy — Claim, keep repeating the claim, grab, hold on and let time pass till the adversary gets used to it. China is India's long-term problem. Their determination to get Tawang is a powerful signal to Southeast Asia and the rest of the world that if India is not able to look after its own interests, what will it do to help you?

* Your thoughts on Jayalalithaa's conviction...

First, I want a safe passage to the airport (laughs). No case involving a public servant should take 18 years. This is a good move by Modi to dispose of such cases in a year. In cases involving public servants, there should be no adjournments. We must have confiscation of all assets, and not just those that are acquired through corruption. And we must involve physical incarceration and not just fines, with the person being barred from public life for ever.

Literature Fest Pays Tribute to Ananthamurthy




The Bangalore Literature Festival 2014, slated to be held between September 26 and 28, will be dedicated to litterateur UR Ananthamurthy, who passed away recently.

Organizers Vikram Sampath and Shinie Antony on Thursday said the three-day event will see around 150 authors from India and abroad taking part in discussions and debates that span the gamut of literature — from food to politics. It'll be held at Crowne Plaza, Velankani Tech Park, Electronics City.

The programme has been designed around the theme of literature from marginalized communities and individuals who are seldom given a platform in the mainstream. Several authors, including Mitra Phukan, Dhruba Hazarika and Temsula Ao from Assam, will be invited to talk at the event. The festival will also feature aboriginal writers from Australia who will be in conversation with dalit writers and poets of India discussing issues of marginalization.

The festival will see the participation of authors like Girish Karnad, Chandrashekhara Kambar, Arun Shourie, Leila Seth, Gulzar, Ramachandra Guha, Nayantara Sehgal, Jerry Pinto, Anjum Hasan and Palash Krishna Mehrotra. Author Chetan Bhagat will talk about his new book Half Girlfriend.

The organizers plan to create a Lit-Mart during the festival days — a platform for aspiring unpublished authors to make a crisp, three-minute pitch of their books and ideas to a panel consisting of authors, publishers and literary agents.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Review: Mind your language (TV comedy series)





Mind Your Language is a British comedy about Jeremy Brown, a language teacher given the task of teaching English to an eccentric bunch of foreign students. This article reviews the show that ran from 1977 to 1986 on ITV in the UK.Premièred in 1977 on ITV, Mind You Language focuses on the story of Jeremy Brown, the somewhat unfortunate teacher selected to teach English as a Foreign Language to a mishmash of foreign students living in London.

The show draws its humour from the student's comical misunderstandings of the English language, which refer in great part to the cultural stereotypes of each student's nation.

The show was directed by Stuart Allen and produced first by LWT (London Weekend Television) and later by Granada Television. With characters representing all corners of the globe, the show was able to touch on the lighter side of cultural differences.The characters appearing in the Mind Your Language episodes are made up of four staff members of the school plus a host of students, each originating from a different country.

The school's staff are the class teacher Jeremy Brown (Barry Evans), headmistress Ms Dolores Courtney (Zara Nutley), caretaker Sidney (Tommy Godfrey) and dinner lady Gladys (Iris Sadler).

Social backgrounds of students: Students from the school came from China, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Pakistan Spain and Sweden. They represented all walks of life and social backgrounds, from embassy employees to bartenders and au pairs.

Notable actors playing the roles of the students include Francoise Pascal who starred in There's A Girl In My Soup with Peter Sellers. In addition, Robert Lee, who played Japanese Taro Nagazumi, has since been a frequent figure in numerous British and American TV series.

Source: Overblog

Monday, May 20, 2013

THREE'S COMPANY



The real story behind the US sitcom about a young man sharing an apartment with two girls - based on the UK's 'Man About The House.' It was aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984. 
Television author Rick Metz wrote that in America, there are three schools of thought about Three's Company: "First, that it is, quite simply, the worst piece of sitcom trash that's ever been on television. Second, that it is, quite simply, the worst piece of trash that's ever been on television. Third, that it is, quite simply, the worst piece of trash that's ever been on the face of the earth".

That's rather harsh, in my opinion. Nearly 30 years after its debut, Three's Company still has a hold on many comedy fans. Sure, the show had its faults--obvious by-the-book plots and a heavy-handed approach (for its time) about sex. But those flaws were counterbalanced by a fine cast, lots of physical humor and a spirited feel that gave the show a contagious energy. That, despite some bad karma behind the scenes.
In the mid-1970's, producers Ted Bergman and Don Taffner bought the rights to the British comedy hit Man About The House--a farce about a man pretending to be gay so he could live with his two female roommates, under the watchful eye of his landlords. Writer Larry Gelbart wrote the initial pilot, (which featured John Ritter, the son of cowboy singing legend Tex Ritter, playing aspiring filmmaker Jack Tripper. He was probably best-known at this time for his role as the town minister on The Waltons.) Character actor Norman Fell was Stanley Roper, the sexually-challenged and prudish landlord; and Audra Lindley was his sexually frustrated wife Helen).
The pilot also had different actresses playing the roles of Jack's roommates, actresses Janet Wood and Chrissy Snow. It didn't sell to any of the three networks; executives thought it was too risqué for prime time. But Fred Silverman, then head of programming at ABC, asked for a second pilot. This time, Bergman and Taffner brought in producers Don Nicholl, Michael Ross and Bernie West (who had worked on such Norman Lear classics as All In The Family and The Jeffersons) to write a new script. The actresss playing Janet was replaced with little-known Joyce DeWitt. Silverman liked the show much better, but was unhappy with the actress playing the part of Chrissy. He suggested a woman who had recently played a prostitute on ABC's cop drama Starsky & Hutch--Suzanne Somers. Nicholl, Ross and West made the cast change, moved the setting to Santa Monica, California, made Jack an aspiring chef, Janet a florist and Chrissy a secretary. (As in Man About The House, the pilot has the girls finding Jack in their bathtub, sleeping off a going-away party the girls held for their old roommate the night before.) Silverman loved the new pilot. But the show--with the new title Three's Company--didn't go on the fall 1976 ABC schedule. Instead, it was launched as a mid-season replacement; the first of six episodes aired on March 15th, 1977. They did well with audiences; it ranked 11th for the season despite a short run. For the fall of 1977, ABC renewed Three's Company and slotted it on Tuesday nights at 9 PM (behind the two top-rated series on television at the time, Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley). The show shot up to third place in the ratings, and occasionally hit #1. But the show's success came at a price.
Critics tore into the thin plots and sexually charged dialogue. Today, the sexual references would be considered quite tame. But in 1977, Americans were just getting used to the idea that people of the opposite sex were living together before marriage. In addition, the term "gay rights" was becoming a major topic of discussion, thanks to efforts at the time by some American cities to grant equal rights to gay and lesbian people. (Conservatives were fighting those laws; the best-known effort came in Dade County, Florida, led by former Miss America and singer Anita Bryant.) So it was a bit controversial for Jack to don the swishy demeanor of a stereotypical gay man, to fool the clueless Mr. Roper into letting him stay in the girls' apartment.
There was no hanky-panky between Jack, Janet and Chrissy. And Jack was not gay--he was a typical heterosexual man of the late '70's who wanted to bed every female that crossed his path. Ditto his even more randy friend, car salesman Larry Dallas (Richard Kline). Things were far different in the Roper household, as poor Helen tried and tried to have sex with her impotent husband:
It was that dialogue, the endless double-entendres and misunderstandings, and the braless bouncing of Chrissy that brought in the audience. Not to mention controversy. Conservative groups blasted Three's Company for destroying young minds; a man known as the Reverend Donald Wildmon launched a group known as the "National Federation for Decency", and targeted the show's sponsors. It had little effect. What viewers did respond to was Suzanne Somers. As the sexy Chrissy, Somers became the latest "it girl", the media darling of the moment whose publicity began to eclipse that of her co-stars, complete with posters, T-shirts and movie offers--plus a cover story in "Newsweek". That sudden fame led to one of the most-celebrated departures of a series regular in American television history.
Flushed with her Three's Company success, Somers' fired her agent and had her actor-manager husband Alan Hamel represent her. Hamel demanded a new contract for Somers--with a raise from $30,000 an episode to $150-thousand per episode. That would have put Somers in the ranks of such well-paid actors of the period, including Carroll O'Connor (All In The Family) and Alan Alda (M*A*S*H). Plus, Hamel demanded 10% of the show's profits when it went into syndication. As negotiations continued between Hamel, the producers and ABC, pundits weighed in on whether Somers was worth so much money. And tensions rose behind the scenes. Somers, claiming a back injury, began missing work on the set. Ritter and DeWitt began snubbing Somers for her actions and refused to work with her. So for a time during the 1980-81 season, Somers' role was reduced; she was seen in the last few minutes of each episode. The storyline had Chrissy Snow going to Fresno, California to take care of her ill mother; she called the roommates from a separate soundstage. By this time, Somers was going on television talk shows, giving her side of the negotiations and putting down her producers and co-stars. Tired of it all, ABC and Three's Company's producers officially fired Somers in April 1981. For her replacement, actress Jenilee Harrison was brought in to play Chrissy's bumbling cousin, Cindy Snow, who came to stay with Jack and Janet while Chrissy was away. But viewers didn't think Harrison was as good as Somers (some speculated she was too young to do the sexual humor the show was famous for). In any case, the show's ratings began to fall.
By the fall of 1981, Priscilla Barnes was brought in as nurse Terri Alden, who replaced Cindy as the newest roommate. The change worked; ratings returned to near pre-Chrissy levels and Barnes became a permanent cast member. (Harrison was not so lucky; her Cindy character was seen occasionally during the 1981-82 season, then disappeared for good.) Another major cast change came in 1979 when Fell and Linley left Three's Company for their own spin-off show (more on that later). Veteran comic actor Don Knotts--best-known to TV viewers as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show--stepped in as self-proclaimed ladies man Ralph Furley, the new owner of the apartment complex. (Like he did with Stanley Roper, Jack pretended to be gay so he could stay with the girls; Furley kept trying to "convert" Jack, unaware that Jack was not a "gay" Tripper.) A less successful addition to the cast that season was Ann Wedgeworth as Lana Shields, an sexually-active older woman with the hots for Jack. But the character didn't seem to fit into the mix, and Lana/Wedgeworth was written out before the end of the season.
Despite the controversy, the cast changes and the new decade, Three's Company continued to be a top-ten comedy for ABC. By this time, some critics began having a change of heart about the show, noticing and praising Ritter's talent for physical comedy. (So did the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; Ritter won an Emmy in 1984 for best actor in a comedy series.) Even Lucille Ball--the Queen of Television Comedy--loved Three's Company so much, she gave the show her ringing endorsement by hosting a 1982 compilation special.
But by the fall of 1983, ratings for the show began to drop; the writers were having trouble finding new situations for Jack, Janet, Terri and Mr. Furley. (Jack did finally graduate from cooking school and opened his own restaurant, "Jack's Bistro"). Facing increased competition from NBC's A-Team-powered lineup, the producers and ABC decided to change formats, much as the British Man About The House became Robin's Nest. In the final episodes of the 1983-84 season, Jack met and fell in love with airline flight attendant Vicky Bradford (Mary Cadorette); and Janet became engaged to Philip Dawson (David Ruprecht). Janet and Philip tied the knot in a final hour-long episode on September 18th, 1984. Also in that episode, Jack agreed he and Vicky would live together; her parents' bitter divorce left her afraid of marriage. Terry didn't find love, but she decided to move to Hawaii and continue her nursing career. In the show's final moments, the three roommates say their tearful good-byes and turned out the lights, ending a successful eight-year run.
One week later, a new series took the place of Three's Company. Now called Three's A Crowd (a US version of Robin's Nest), it focused on the lives of Jack and Vicky. The new show starred Ritter, Cadorette and Robert Mandan as Vicky's father James, who bought the building that housed "Jack's Bistro" and the couple's upstairs apartment, providing him with an opportunity to get involved in the couple's lives. (It was one of the first American series where an unmarried couple lived under the same roof without the benefit of wedding vows--a sign that things were changing on television.) Ritter was a good as ever, and Cadorette was a perfect match. But Three's A Crowd's ratings were marginal at best. ABC announced it would pick up the show for a second season, but later changed its mind when it decided to air the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes after NBC canceled it. As a result, Three's A Crowd ended its run after just one year and 22 episodes.
The other Three's Company spin-off was The Ropers (the American version of George and Mildred). An episode of Three's Company during the 1978-79 season set the stage for the new show. Stanley and Helen sold their Santa Monica apartment building and bought a condominium in an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood called Cheviot Hills, owned by the snobbish Jeffrey P. Brookes III (Jeffrey Tambor). Brookes hated the couple from the start because of their lower-class mannerisms (they pulled up to the high-class condos in a battered, smoking 1956 DeSoto sedan). Stanley wasn't thrilled with the condos either, but Helen loved it and ended up buying the unit. The show basically revolved with Brookes' attempt to get rid of the Ropers; while Stanley and Helen continued their usual bickering over money and bedroom matters (she wanted sex and he didn't). But the Ropers had friends in Brookes' wife Anne (Patrica McCormack) and their son David (Evan Brookes). A midseason replacement that premiered on March 13th, 1979, The Ropers immediately landed into the top ten and won renewal for a second season. But ABC moved the show to Saturday nights, and the ratings quickly fell against NBC's highway patrol drama CHiPS. The final episode aired on May 22nd, 1980. Norman Fell and Audra Lindley returned to Three's Company in a March 1981 guest appearance, but the Ropers were not seen again. Despite the talents of its two leads, The Ropers was a case of good secondary characters who should have been used sparingly, not spun off into their own series.
Three's Company's infectious theme song ("Come and knock on our door/We've been waiting for you/Where the kisses are hers and hers and his/Three's Company, too!") was written by Don Nicholl and Joe Raposo, and sung over the title credits by Ray Charles (not the legendary R&B singer) and Julia Rinker.
John Ritter had this to say about Three's Company: "A lot of people I respect thought it was stupid. I'm proud of it now. I'm proud to know I've ruined generation after generation with mindless drivel".
Maybe it was mindless. But more than 25 years after its debut, Three's Company continues to draw viewers in reruns all over the world. Lucille Ball may have said it best when she noted in the show's 1982 retrospective episode: "It didn't set out to change the world, it just made us laugh and that's why we love it".

Source: televisionheaven

THE WONDER YEARS



Sitcom about the pain and triumphs of adolescence in 115 episodes of 30 minute duration which was aired from 1988-1993.

Few series have been able to capture the pain and triumphs of adolescence as The Wonder Years. The fact that the show was set in the late 1960’s and early 70’s--a time of major social change in the US--helped give this comedy-drama a unique voice. So did the actors that made up the tight-knit cast.

The Wonder Years was the creation of husband-and-wife producers Neal Marlens and Carol Black, who had worked on ABC’s hit family comedy Growing Pains. They wanted to create a show that looked at life through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy who lived in the suburbs in an unnamed area of the country.

To play young Kevin Arnold, the producers picked Fred Savage--who had appeared in several movies. Virtual unknowns Josh Saviano and Danica McKellar were tapped as (respectively) Kevin’s best friend Paul Pfiffer and the love of Kevin’s young life, the angelic Winnie Cooper. Rounding out the cast was Kevin’s family; businessman and father Jack Arnold (Dan Lauria); homemaker mom Norma (Alley Mills); tormenting big brother Wayne (Jason Hervey) and hippie older sister Karen (Olivia d’Abo). To add some counterpoint to each episode, actor Daniel Stern was chosen to be the unseen narrator of the show, as the adult Kevin Arnold. Marlens and Black submitted the pilot script to all three major networks; ABC executives loved the concept and ordered six episodes as a mid-season replacement in early 1988.

The pilot aired on January 31st of that year, right after ABC’s coverage of the national football championship game (the “Super Bowl”). Not surprisingly, that episode was asmash hit, as millions of sports fans stayed to watch. ABC moved the show to Tuesday nights (after the hit sitcom Who’s The Boss); The Wonder Years immediately became a top-ten series.

Part of the show’s success is that it took normal slice-of-life incidents from real life and brought them to the small screen with a warmth and honesty seldom attempted in a family comedy. Everything from buying the family’s first color television, to the dreaded gym class at Kevin’s Robert Kennedy Junior High School, to the on-again, off-again attraction between Kevin and Winnie, was true to reality and never had to be exaggerated to get a quick, cheap laugh. Of course, the series wouldn’t have worked if the young actors hadn’t been good at what they did. But Savage, Saviano, McKellar and Hervey turned in honest performances, as did the adults in the cast. And Stern’s narration (complete with inflections) gave The Wonder Years a unique feel and rhythm. Not having a laugh track or a studio audience helped to bring an intimate feel to the show as well.

The television industry agreed with viewers. Despite having a short first half-season, The Wonder Years was named Best Comedy Series at the 1998 Emmy Awards. (The following year, it would also win an Emmy for directing; and by 1990, the show picked up two more major awards--another directing honor, and an Emmy for best writing in a comedy series.) But just before the second season began, Marlens and Black decided to leave The Wonder Years for unknown reasons. Bob Brush was picked as the show’s new executive producer; he put together a new writing and production team, and the show continued with no loss in quality from the Marlens-Black episodes.

The Wonder Years continued to focus on Kevin, his family and his friends with the same warmth and honesty that marked the show’s first six episodes. By the fifth season, however, there were visible changes. You can’t stop a child from growing up, and adolescence has a way of creeping up before you know it. That’s what happened with Josh Saviano; he shot up several inches in height and his voice became deeper. And he showed more interest in the opposite sex, all developments that were written into that season’s storylines as the fictional Paul went through a similar transformation. But as the writers came up with plots that reflected the aging of the young cast, The Wonder Years began losing its popularity with viewers. That downward trend continued as the show went into its sixth and final season; by this time, Fred Savage had also begun the hormonal changes that marked co-star Saviano the year before. (Danica McKellar blossomed in her adolescence; she had become a very beautiful young woman.) But with declining ratings and noises by ABC about canceling the series, the producers decided it was time to end The Wonder Years--on their own terms.

The final two-part episode (“Summer”/“Independence Day”) aired on May 12th, 1993. It involved Kevin and his father having a major falling out, while Kevin and Winnie began reassessing their relationship. The last few minutes of the episode wrapped up the futures of all the main characters through Stern’s narration: Kevin moved on with his life; Paul studied law at Harvard; Kevin’s mom became a businesswoman and “cooker of mashed potatoes”; Kevin’s dad died of a heart attack two years later and Wayne took over the family furniture business; Karen married and had a baby. As for Kevin and Winnie--well, Winnie went to France to study art history; she and Kevin kept in touch for the next eight years. When Winnie returned to the USA, she and Kevin reunited--with Kevin’s wife and eight-month-old son in tow.

The final narration by the adult Kevin beautifully summed up the experience that was The Wonder Years:

"Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you’re in diapers, the next day you’re gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place...a town...a house like a lot of houses...a yard like a lot of other yards...on a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is...after all these years...I still look back...with wonder."