Following the success of the 2015 festival, India by the Bay returns to Hong Kong for another week of events celebrating the best of Indian culture both classic and contemporary.Showcasing all of India’s various cultural practices in just seven days is a near-impossible task, but Teamwork Arts (the group behind India by the Bay) have been as comprehensive as possible, with a programme that encompasses culture from food to dance, music to literature, as well as film and theatre, with highlights including talks by famed actress Sharmila Tagore, as well as by best-selling author Shobhaa De.Tagore found fame as muse to director Satyajit Ray, appearing in three of his films (including a key role in his masterpiece of world cinema “Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)”,) and then going on to star in nearly fifty other Bengali and Hindi films in the next six decades.De, on the other hand is one of India’s greatest literary polymaths. Beginning as a model, she then ran three magazines before moving on to authoring 18 books. This is not to mention her role as a soap opera writer, columnist and shaper of national opinion from the 1970s right through to the social media age.Other scheduled events include a journey through the cuisine of India with international “Indian food guru” Karen Anand, as well as performance by Indian folk group Rajasthan Josh, The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble , as well as interactive meditation sessions with Buddhist teacher and guide Shantum Seth.Rounding off the programming is the award-winning theater production C Sharp C Blunt. After touring Asia and Europe, the play comes to Hong Kong to represent the cutting edge of Indian cultural practice. Featuring a live musician creating and layering loops of live performance, the piece questions and deconstructs traditional gender roles in the modern consumerist age.Teamwork’s Managing Director Sanjoy K Roy had this to say of the festival: “Festivals are a window into unique cultures, philosophies, traditions and way of life. India by the Bay showcases the diversity of work from across India, setting out to inspire and enthuse art lovers wishing to engage with a country that lives in many centuries at the same time.”India by the Bay runs from February 24 through March 1, 2016 at various venues in Hong Kong.
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