Director Atul Sabharwal, whose documentary about the shoe trade in Agra is set for a release, talks about what prompted him to explore the subject.

The phrase ‘revisiting your roots’ means different things to different people. But for Atul Sabharwal, who marked his Bollywood directorial debut with Aurangzeb (2013), going home meant looking at Agra, his hometown’s indigenous shoe industry through a different lens — for his upcoming documentary, In Their Shoes. Here, the director talks about his new work and how it altered his view about film-making.

How did the idea of the documentary strike you?
It is a documentary that I wanted to make since 2010, but it was only in 2013 that I started work on it. It is about people who are involved in the shoe trade in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. It’s relevant because of the government policies that we are facing today, especially with the ‘Make in India’ programme as a context. I am involved in it as a producer, director and a son. Primarily, it started with me wanting to ask my father why he pushed me out of the family business, which was shoe-making.

Most directors first try making a short film or documentary before working on a feature film. It was different in your case.
I did a short film first called Midnight Lost And Found (2008). Then, of course, I didn’t plan that my first directorial project on a commercial scale would be a television show (Powder), although my focus was to make a feature film. Similarly, I didn’t plan this documentary; there was an urge to do this to figure out how an industry, which I’ve seen while growing up, has changed.

Why did you not choose to go into the shoe trade?
My first love has always been movies. The most comfortable thing would have been to join the shoe trade, but I was pushed away from the easy path by my father. After I finished my schooling, I told him that I was keen on joining the business. Instead of that, he encouraged me to join his CA’s firm as I was pursuing commerce. Six months down the line, they asked me to appear for the CA foundation exam. Soon, I moved to Delhi, but eventually realised my passion for film-making.

What were the challenges of making the documentary?
They were personal in nature. Asking my father about his trade was challenging.

What are the troubles that the industry is currently facing?
The best of the leather is exported. Also, being an old industry, it is not organised well monetarily. People who are working on a small scale want to keep it that way as they don’t want to get into trouble with the excise department, plus, the corruption doesn’t help. Post liberalisation, Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) was introduced to dissuade corruption. But that just got worse as now, a larger sum is involved than before. Also, competition is harder as foreign players had entered the market.

How did people who have seen you since childhood react to you following them with a camera?
The familiarity helped them to adapt being in front of the camera. Also, through electronic news, people are now used to the idea of a camera tracking them.

How did the film enrich your style of film-making?
The film has matured me as a film-maker. I have gone and fetched the smallest of things, hunted for a poster designer, and even bargained fees as we just had a five-member crew.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Entertainment / by Kanishka Sharma, Hindustan Times / April 02nd, 2015

Bengaluru’s designer Ajay Kumar marks his fashion week debut with his quirky menswear collection

At first look, Ajay Kumar’s clothes scream “look at me”. Face to face with the quirkily-dressed man, and you know his collection is all him. He’s wearing floral-printed cream pants, a white sharply cut bib shirt, sports a very Italian brown-brogues-without-socks look, a waxed twirly moustache, and a Mohawk hairdo to boot. He shows me a flaming red jacket he usually wears.

“I like flamboyant,” he declares with a hearty laugh and a twinkle in his eyes. A NIFT graduate who’s worked with Blackberry’s, Indigo Nation, Reid & Taylor, and Peter England, Ajay has embarked on his own creative journey now — he will be launching his eponymous menswear label “Mr. Ajay Kumar” at the Gen Next designer platform of Lakmé Fashion Week in its Winter/Festive 2015 edition in August. “If someone has achieved something they should show it. I was inspired by the movies, by the corporate life and look…you should not hide behind anything. I like to dress up, look bold. You should be someone to look up to,” he says with finality.

The 36-year-old Bengaluru-based designer is from Uttar Pradesh and makes no bones of his lower middle class upbringing. He grew up in Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand, where his father was Deputy Post Master; he credits his parents with being his biggest support, specially having come from a small town where a career in fashion is far removed from life. He talks of how he almost applied to be an aeronautical engineer, then got through a hotel management course, before he finally landed in National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi. He now lives in Bengaluru with wife Lavanya Venkatraman, co-founder at a fashion startup, and son Siddhanth. He wanted to be in Bengaluru, the corporate hub, and live the life with a beautiful house, car, and clothes. Ajay’s collection ‘Consonance & Dissonance’ is taking shape at his newly set-up studio in HSR Layout. On one side hang his sports collection and after-office wear, “bread-and-butter” shirts he designs with his partner Bhupesh. “Every designer uses market input to create something that sells. Then, there are the things he makes for his passion.” He says he styles for photo-shoots to sustain. “I like to style a whole look. I’ve always done that.”

On the opposite end of his studio, is his “passion” — the collection he’s taking to LFW. “Everything has importance in our lives. The problem is that we try to make everything perfect. But in every person there is something positive and negative. And if I don’t have the negativity, I don’t have personality. Even in a piano, the black and white keys are about consonance and dissonance…So my collection has lots of layering of patterns, colours; they are multitudinous. I’ve not tried to synchronise anything.” Earlier everyone looked toward the West but now there’s a turnaround and everyone looks towards India, even for silhouettes, he says.

Out of the eight ensembles he’s taking to the LFW 2015, six are ready. “The silhouettes are structured yet flowy, Indian yet contemporary. I’ve always created very constructed patterns. A guy should look sleek. You’ll find in this collection drop-crotch pants, cowl necked shirts, angrakha styled shirts, Rajasthani- style Bhagatri en’s kurtas fused with formal white collars, a tuxedo-inspired jacket, a kilt-inspired pant with an overskirt…” Black and white geometric patterns are interrupted with colourful flowers, elephants, birds, and motifs of men in pagdi, twirling their moustaches! “This elaborate surface work is hypnotic and like the kaleidoscope.” Bib shirts and layers, really, though, are his thing. “I can wear anything. I can look like what I want. We can experiment. We all have licence to do it.” That quite sums up the man, and his creations.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Bhumika .K / July 09th, 2015

Ceramic wonders

A 600-year-old pottery art, whose ceramics are alluring in their sheen, with multifarious shapes, beautiful colouring, varied sizes and usage, has drawn admiration from around the world. Khurja ceramics are made in a city by the same name in the district of Bulandshahr, in Uttar Pradesh, about 85-100 km from Delhi. The ceramic industry here is called the Khurja Whiteware Cluster. Due to the hundreds of factories here, Khurja is known as the ‘ceramic city’.

The ceramics are used for ornamentation, as utility items in the kitchen or as tableware. Vases, crockery (including beer mugs), pickle containers, pots, candle stands and jars come under the awning of Khurja-ware. Also included are artware, bone china crockery, stoneware, earthenware, toys and figurines, sanitary ware and other chemical porcelain items. Khurja ceramic gardening tokens in the form of flower pots and planters are produced.

The ancestry of Khurja pottery is attributed to the many potters who had migrated from Delhi to Khurja during the reign of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq. It is also possible that many potters had settled here from overseas. Khurja ceramics’s appeal is ascribed to their surface embellishment in the form of historical and contemporary designs. Tribal, floral, Mughal and raised motifs are many of the designs exhibited.

One can see many colours on the ceramics: startling shades of blue, sober or dark green, simple hues of white and off-white, glazed grey, sparkly yellow, deep chocolate, muddy brown, sleepy mustard and other earthy and vibrant shades. An old world charm and raw enchantment accompanies these ceramics.

Khurja and some places in Delhi that display these ceramics present a colourful ambience for tourists. Basic processes for Khurja ceramic and pottery creation are similar in most factories, but there are variations within a few units.

The old kilns (downdraft) and the new, more efficient shuttle and tunnel kilns, firing systems and improved methods for the processing of raw materials are used for the production of Khurja ceramics. Raw materials used are China clay, Bikaner clay, ball clay, kundan clay, feldspar, quartz… Generally for ceramics, first the chosen clay is prepared, and depending on the output, it is made to undergo a specific procedure — throwing, turning, casting, jiggering and jolleying — to form greenware (a stage of clay), which is later fed into a firing system. Some products are glazed first, then fired.

Brothers S P Dadoo and Hari Dadoo founded Dadoos Ceramics in Khurja, in 1975. Naman Dadoo, Hari Dadoo’s son, shares, “We are involved in the creation of tableware, like plates, bowls, coffee mugs — in fact, most crockery, and artware, like flower vases, home decor like oil burners and potpourri. The raw materials used are 50 per cent clay and 50 per cent quartz, and feldspar (this could be potash or soda.) We also add some chemicals. Clay options available are China clay, Than clay, Amrapali clay… We usually get our clay from Rajasthan and Gujarat. We follow the jigger-and-jolley process. Moreover, hand-painting is done prior to glazing and firing.”

About the colours on the ceramics, Naman Dadoo explains, “We use high-temperature ceramic colours and chemical oxides in powder form. Colours are blended to prepare new ones. All the designs are hand-painted. Some are called decal prints. We use food-grade paints. There is no lead in our products. They are high-fired wares, that is, fired at high temperatures and are safe for food storage. It’s all handwork. Colours are stronger in Khurja ceramics, unlike on Jaipur pottery, which is only for the purpose of decoration. They use low-fired products and limited colours like blue, yellow and green.”

The brothers inform that their products are exported to Europe, Australia and USA. And, in the domestic segment, they cater to retail and hotel industry.

Images of moulds of clay, machines and processes, a potter’s wheel, handiwork, skills and patience of those craftspeople corroborate the essence and long-standing tradition of Khurja pottery. Coloured motifs following part narratives are engaged permanently on surfaces. Even monochromatic ornamenting, perfected by painters and craftsmen, makes the final pieces exquisite. Of course, they catch everyone’s attention.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Sunday Herald – Arts & Culture / by Trisha Bhattacharya, DHNS / June 14th, 2015

Lucknow :

Black and red `ghunchi’ seeds can turn into exquisite necklaces and danglers when beaded with sandal and other seeds. Bamboo similarly can be made into an eco-friendly strap for a wrist watch or a piece of jewellery for neck, ears and fingers. Women who have for ages depended on forest for their livelihood are turning designers in converting forest produce into attractively done jewellery pieces and souvenirs for home decor.

Training of the women folk is a part of the community development programme taken up by state government in forest areas under its eco-tourism policy. The programme aims at making forest dwellers self-dependent. Training has been completed at Dudhwa and, at present, is being conducted at Rampurwa village in Katarniaghat.

“Most of these people cut trees for firewood. I am making them learn other uses of forest produce,” said trainer Neera Sarmah.

Once eco-tourism starts at all the locations identified for it in the state, tourists may get to buy the products directly from locals. But providing market linkages to local communities so that they can fetch fair price for their products is also being worked out.

“A traditional `dalia’ (basket made of twigs) is what many may like to buy but do not know where to get the ethnic one. These forest dwellers have been making it for ages,” said director, Dudhwa tiger reserve, Sanjay Singh.

Programme is being conducted along with the UP Forest Corporation (UPFC) which is a nodal agency for eco-tourism in the state.

Sites like Katarniaghat on Gerua river in Bahraich, Chuka ghat in Pilibhit on Sharda dam, Chambal ravines in Agra, Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary in Unnao, Chandraprabha Rajdari water falls and Deodari water falls in Varanasi, Sarsainawar Sarus Sanctuary in Etawah, Sandi Bird Sanctuary in Hardoi, Noida Bird Sanctuary and Kalpi river cruise in Yamuna in Jalaun have been identified as eco-tourism spots.

Despite being announced two years ago, eco-tourism policy of UP government is yet to catch pace.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Neha Shukla, TNN / April 06th, 2015