Move Over IPL, PPL Is Here! Pro-Panja League India’s Only Arm-Wrestling League, at Radio Club Mumbai on Feb 14

One of the most iconic sports of all times, Arm Wrestling is often referred to as India’s favourite pastime! The sport now has a competitive avatar that has successfully drawn people across all ages and the followers including genders, thanks to this competition. In a unique bid in athletics to let your forearms do the talking, Pro-Panja is emulating the league format for arm-wrestling!

“Panja is an internationally acclaimed sport seeped in Indianness! That’s what the Pro-Panja League stands for,” expresses actors Parvin Dabas and Preeti Jhangiani, the brains behind Pro-Panja League, set to take arm wrestling to the next level in India!

The maiden venture, with ardent followers including 5,000 male and 2,000 female arm wrestlers in the amateur levels saw 400 athletes from 18 states, with Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and Padma Shri Olympic Boxer Vijender Singh with an undefeated streak, not just making their presence felt at the maiden Pro-Panja League, but also participating in an exhibition match where, instead of shaking hands, they wrestled arms. This was seen to be motivating for the youth, who then flocked in numbers towards the amateur arm wrestling tables set up for the youth to try their hands!

Talking about the origins of the sport in India, Parvin Dabas avers, “Eugene Sandow, the father of bodybuilding visited Mumbai in 1904. This was at the invitation of Sir Dhunjibhoy Bomanji, a shipping magnate and a popular socialite! Sandow’s visit created a great impact and before we knew it, the homegrown Panja became a household thing!”

“The league has spawned an emerging hub of contenders from Punjab, MP, Haryana, Mizoram, Manipur and Kerala! Some of these states also boast gyms in which women often sculpt their ‘dominant hands’ by arm-wrestling!,” reveals Parvin, an avid MMA fan who is also the man behind MMA India Show, Sports India Show among portals.

Preeti Jhangiani believes that these numbers are all set to grow. “India’s most promising athletes are from the North, Kerala ans Assam and the North East states especially Manipur and Mizoram! We are exploring more and more states with the hope to motivate more people to take up this sport professionally!

“Anyone can play arm wrestling. But it takes hours at the gym perfecting arm wrestling techniques, physical strength, skill, endurance and talent to compete professionally at a higher level. “We are glad we are pioneering a sport in India where arm wrestling has moved from amateur to professional!” elaborates Parvin Dabas who is excited that this year witnessed a record number of entries despite the pandemic. This year will also see the best compete for the title of No. 1 Arm Wrestler in the country. Interestingly, the technique, the angle of the tug, the timing of a surge and the precise position of each finger decides the winner in Pro-Panja League that proves that the brain is more powerful than brawn!

Surely an entertaining event to watch out for!

Dia Mirza’s Kanjoos Confession at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival!

Dia Mirza would like love for her detractors to go green with envy. Literally, when it comes to upping her love for greens. For, this actress does not give people birthday gifts, not even to those closest to her, the actor confessed at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival talk today! Instead, Dia actually plants a tree in their name! “There was a year I remember planting 1800 trees!

It has actually simplified my life,” smiles Dia. “If anybody’s birthday or anniversary comes along, I don't have to rack my head about what gift to get them. I will simply grow a grove of 11 trees in your name and send you a certificate to commemorate the special occasion. The best thing is that you can go and visit the site. You can see it see images of who planted your trees and watch them grow, and maybe someday even go sit in the shade of those trees.”

In fact, Dia has seen people who receive the certificate cry as they are so touched that life forms have been introduced in their name, and will obviously be taken care of. “There must also be people who look at the certificates and say Oh, God! She's so un-innovative! She sends me the same gift every year,” grins Dia whose bank of gift trees has grown exponentially over the years. Kudos to this amazing woman!

Leslee Lewis Teams up with The ATG - Omar Gooding, Heads For Hollywood!

Leslee Lewis joins hands with The ATG and Omar Gooding to make melody for Hollywood number Entourage. The film, titled Trap City, features this number and, recently, the original soundtrack for Trap City, was partly filmed at one of the best and the most happening night clubs of Mumbai!

Trap City, a Kyyba Film’s realistic musical, starring Brandon Jackson as a young rapper working for a drug kingpin in the face of fame as his song becomes viral! After an attempt on his life, he faces the choice of either going to prison and destroying his career, or testifying against a dangerous crime boss who might not fail the second time! What Brandon Jackson does, decides his future in Trap City! The film is expected to be a musical eye-opener on the abuse of power and how the common man is the real sufferer! 

The driving force behind Kyyba Films, and the producer of Christmas Coupon, Celebrity Crush, Devil’s Night: Dawn of The Nain Rouge and now Trap City, Tel Ganesan has brought together an eclectic blend of International Award-winning music personalities including the ATG, Leslee Lewis and rapper Omar Gooding for Entourage!  

Acclaimed Indian musician Leslee Lewis avers, “Collaborating with new age artists from Hollywood is another learning curve for me! Tel Ganesan is a creative producer in every sense! The ATG has got the groove just about right and the rap verses fill in perfectly! I am excited to be an integral part of Entourage!”

Hollywood based musical new age musical prodigy, The ATG, was seen reflecting on the mood of the track during the filming of the official music video! “Entourage is a contemporary hip-hop and pop fusion song! The song is quite an eclectic array of different musical influences across the globe, both vocally as well as production-wise. Despite the deceptive simplicity, the music production employs an array of interspersed track waves! While being a musically rich record, the music has been produced to be a club banger! Leslee, Omar and I wanted to ensure an unabashedly fun listening experience!

Tel Ganesan adds, “It is a wonderful blend of the Eastern and Western world of music. It is an amazing experience to be working with such talented artists! I remember flying to Mumbai, the heartland of Bollywood and signing Leslee on board for Entourage. It feels like yesterday, and now the song is in post-production! Kyyba Films is looking forward to dazzle you with the upcoming OST!”

Trap City, currently in post-production, is all set for an International release! Keep up with this space for more!

Can water kill Coronavirus?

It can de-grease a kitchen. It can clean windows. It kills athlete’s foot. And now, this elixir is brought to India to replace the toxic chemicals used to kill COVID. Electrolysed Oxidising Water, the patented technology brought to India by the country’s pioneering water technology platform, Amazing Ambrosia Pvt. Ltd. under the name Amazing Hygieia and HygieiaDent, is hailed as ‘El Liquido Milagroso,’ or the miraculous liquid, a substance that scientists aver is powerful enough to kill any lethal virus without harming people or the environment.

Used as a sanitizer for decades in Japan and Russia, Electrolysed Oxidising Water is safe, inexpensive, cuts costs and cuts employee injuries from chemicals. It is prepared by employees on-site and is ten times more effective at killing bacteria than bleach and is available in a convenient powder form in a 3.2 gram sachet that gives up to 10 litres of disinfectant.

Says veteran water technologist Dr. BK Sharma, “Amazing Hygieia is green, saves money and is the right thing to do. In Japan, people spray it on sushi to kill bacteria and replace chlorine with EO water in swimming pools. Doctors treat bedsores with EO water. In Russia, EO water is used to kill microbes in oil wells, while Europeans use it to treat burn victims and have developed treatments for chronic wounds with EO water. It is only a matter of time before our patented technology becomes mainstream in India.”

Entrepreneurs Sidharth Sharma and Rahul C. Mehta add: “When we founded Amazing Ambrosia guided by doyens Dr. BK Sharma and Mahendra N Patel, we wanted to identify India’s water and sanitation problems and solve them by adapting world-class technologies and innovating and manufacturing them locally. We brought in Amazing Hygieia and HygieiaDent for that purpose. The unforeseen pandemic struck then and the need for a new, innovative way to sanitize frequently touched surfaces and aerial disinfection of high footfall places with lowest toxicity and least bio burden became priority.”

Opines Mahendra N Patel: “The timing of the launch of our product was such that it was nothing short of miracle water. Globally, this technology has effectively demonstrated excellent cleaning ability in public places such as malls, metro stations, gyms, restaurants, movie theatres, airports and above that also in dairy, poultry and produce industries, making it ideal for general use in retail food establishments. Replacing conventional cleaners in mop buckets, sprayers, foggers and toxic cleaning chemicals with this electrolyzed oxidising water is a simple solution. In addition, Amazing Hygieia has no odour, nor does it produce foam, making it ideal for use in food production.”

Amazing Hygieia/ HygieiaDent is the only stable EO water available in pH of 5.5 to 6.5 with zero chlorine gasification. Electrolyzed oxidising water is approved and certified by the Ministry of Health, Japan as a food contact product as well as the only product safe for aerial disinfection permitted by INMAS DRDO, USA FDA, US CDC and US EPA. Both Amazing Hygieia and HygieiaDent are winners of the Economic Times Industry Leader Awards for Pathbreaking Technology resulting in Exemplary Contribution To Society.

SS Rajamouli, Karan Johar launch Santosh Sivan's Mumbaikar poster

New Year marks newer beginnings for our film industry with ace directors SS Rajamouli and Karan Johar releasing the poster of Mumbaikar, an action thriller with the heart and emotions of Mumbai. 

Said Karan Johar, “I am very very pleasured and honoured to share with you, two gentlemen whose work I have admired and applauded in cinema. One is Santosh Sivan, the  prolific cinematographer and director whose work is tremendous, and the world has acknowledged it and continues to.  The other is the brilliant artiste, the genius artiste Vijay Sethupathi Sir.  His work has been again world-acclaimed, applauded and for everyone to see how it has been. There two formidable gentleman are coming together to make a film, and I have the grand pleasure of actually sharing the first look. It has a formidable ensemble and I cannot wait for you to actually have a look. There is much more coming up…"

After Slumdog Millionaire and Gullyboy, Mumbaikar seeks to look at the metroscape of the Mumbai through the lives of interwoven characters who form its rich albeit at times bright and other times dark lifescape. This when explored through the directoral sensibilities of the lens of ace director cinematographer Santosh Sivan is sure to bring to light, myriad hues of Mumbai.

Says Santosh Sivan, "Every city has its own spirit and so does Mumbai that is synonymous with the spirit of resilience. Mumbai is a magnet. It draws aspirants from all over India, both in terms of region and religion. It is the city of dreams, the city of hope, the city of magic to many. A stranger can change your life here. And in the midst of the concrete jungle there is a heartbeat that heals! Mumbai may be a metrop, but Mumbaikar is an emotion! Hence the title. In terms of cast, we have an intriguing and interesting mix of national talents. And that adds to the magic."

Mumbaikar, directed by Santosh Sivan and presented by Riya Shibu, stars an eclectic blend of actors from across the country like Vikrant Massey, Vijay Sethupathi, Tanya Maniktala, Sanjay Mishra, Ranvir Shorey, Sachin Khedekar, Hridhu Haroon among others

Perfect Mrs India' 2020 Season 3 finale sees a bevy of intelligent women vie for the skies!

The simplicity, the social distancing and the small gathering could not hold back the glitz and glamour of 'Perfect Mrs India' 2020 Season 3 finale saw the chosen 12 Top finalists  from all over India prove their mettle to try and win the crown.

Dr Khooshi Gurubhai Thakkar and Gurubhai Thakkar, the driving forces behind the empowering women's pageant  along with Dr Geet Thakkar avered, "There are no barriers of Height, Weight or Age in this pageant.  Indian women give up their dreams and turn four walls into a home. This pageant looks beyond everything and aims to empower them, to help them grow wings!"

The contestants came from varied fields. From housewives to professionals to COVID warriors, the field was open.

Soumita Nandy won the awarded Perfect Woman Of The Show, while there was a tie between Pooja Nishar and Jayanti Gupta for the Second Runner Up, Reema Bahl was the First Runner Up and the coveted title was bagged by Saraswathy Iyer who was crowned 'Perfect Mrs India 2020’. The jury consisted among others,  Philanthropist Dr. Aneel Kashi Murarka, Writer-Director and Social Activist Anusha Srinivasan Iyer, Journalist Jyothi Venkatesh, Shruti Jain.

The event also saw the Perfect Achievers Awards where the winners chosen by audience choice  included Ranvir Shorey, Sharad Kelkar, Sahil Salathia, Deepshikha Deshmukh,  Sanjay Gangnani, Helly Shah, Madhurima Tuli, Chahatt Khanna, Amol Parashar, Child Artist Dishita Sehgal,  Sujoy Mukherjee, Ojas Rajani, Alankrita Sahai, Shivani Tomar, Kanika Mann, Charul Malik, Riya Deepsi, Donal Bisht, Kaveri Priyam, Ahsaas Channa, Jay Soni, Simran Ahuja and Krishna Bharadwaj among many others.

All in all a perfect evening twinkling with achievers indeed.

My Guru, My Father by Amjad Ali Khan

Ustad Haafiz  Ali Khan was born in a house responsible for giving the Sarod its present shape and structure.  The traditional style of music which today has become somewhat rare is called Dhrupad, where the use of embellishments does not exist. The usage was more of long glides both for vocalists and instrumentalists. He added to it the melodic possibilities of instrumental music in its complete dhrupad form. A rabab oriented Sarod style, more staccato,  more  right  hand  than  left,  more mechanical than melodic was converted  by  Ustad  Haafiz  Ali Khan to a brilliant amalgam of feeling and cleanliness,  heard only in the Rudra-Been and the Sursingaar of the descendants of Mian Tansen. Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan could make his sarod sing. This he did by a very advanced technique of the left hand fingernails and a thorough understanding of the Raga pattern filtered through feeling and Aesthetic   awareness.   He could flower with tonal accuracy even when the string pitch went down by a quarter note or more. He  was  himself  a  great  dhrupad  singer  and  discovered  a brilliantly coordinated  and  synchronized  stroke  sustainability in his sarod.   With this he could translate his vocal dhrupad lines in the otherwise metallic instrument of his ancestors, to a stream of aesthetic melody patterns.

Haafiz Ali Khan lived for Music. For my father, though, there was no question of a life outside music. Life itself was Music and Music was Life. And so I came to inherit from him the legacy of five generations of musicians as naturally as a bird taking to the air. His exquisite music was not just an artistic performance but a form of prayer. He was initiated in the tradition of the Senia Gharana by direct descendants of the line of Swami Haridas, Mian Tansen and leant at the feet of Ustad Wazir khan of Rampur. Ustad Wazir Khan broke the convention of teaching only family members and accepted him as his disciple.  Now a direct disciple of the Tansen School, Haafiz Ali Khan Saheb started flowering under the Ustad’s undiluted teaching.  More knowledge enriched the already exposed brilliance of Haafiz Ali Khan Saheb and his strict adherence to vocal dhrupads made the veterans of his time look at him with admiration.   His performance together with his tonal richness and accuracy from instrumental music a status equivalent to vocal music; The melody rich Sarod got an unthinkable status.

Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan was honoured with the title of Aftab-e-Sarod by the All Bengal Music Conference in Calcutta, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and also received a fellowship of the Akademi. The Universities of Vishva Bharti and Khairagharh conferred doctorates on him. The Government of India conferred the award of Padma Bhushan in 1960. The true Godfather of Instrumental music of his times!  Far ahead of his time, Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan realized the coming of the industrial age, its rapidity and its lack of leisure and want of time.   He believed that rag music in its purity, can only be preserved by precision. Stretching the raga too long will lead to irrelevant phrases, raga dilution and deviation.    Rabindra Nath Tagore also believed in this. Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan was the last musician who stuck to his dhrupad roots. He created the correct raga environment by playing dhrupad lines verbatim and then elaborated and expanded them.   He will also be remembered as the last of the Senia dhrupad greats. Apart from his formidable command over traditional sarod compositions, dhrupad and thumri, he was particularly appreciated in the Viceregal firmament of colonial India for his unique, stylized renditions of "God Save The King" on his sarod.

The Sarod Ghar-Museum of Musical Heritage in Gwalior, is a unique institution devoted to promoting Indian classical music, heritage and culture. Under the aegis of Haafiz Ali Khan Memorial Trust, through this 'window' to the past, music lovers can gain a better understanding of the evolution and history of Indian Classical Music and can get a deeper perspective and insight into the context of the art as it exists today. The aim of setting up this institution is to create awareness and respect for classical music, musicians and the variety of instruments of India. The road on which the museum stands has been named Haafiz Ali Khan Marg by the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh. The first instruments exhibited were the instruments belonging to his forefathers. Madhya Pradesh has had a whole history of great musical legends down memory lane . The great vocalist Ustad Amir Khan Saheb, Ustad Jahangir Khan Saheb, Ustad Abdul Haleem Jaffar Khan Saheb, Bharat Ratna  Lata Mageshkar-ji are among the prominent aristes who belonged to the city  of Indore. The city of Dewas gave birth to another two prominent personalities. Ustad Rajab Ali Khan and Pandit Kumar Gandharva. The legendary Hindi film playback Singer Kishore Kumar-ji and his brother the famous  Ashok Kumar-ji  also belonged to Khandawa .

A road in the name Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan Saheb was inaugurated by the Honourable Chief Minister, Smt. Sheila Dikshit few years ago at PWD Road. This is the 2nd entry road to Nizamuddin Railway Station. This is the only road named after an artist after Tansen and Thyagaraja in the capital city in 2011.  The Kolkata Municipal Corporation also renamed New Park Street as Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Sarani by chief minister Mamata Banerjee in 2013.

Having spanned over 90 years, my fathers was a life that connected the high points of the colonial era to the turbulence of our own times. Born sometimes in the 1880s at Gwalior where his father Nanneh Khan was court musician, Haafiz Ali Khan Saheb took great pride in the fact that it was his great grandfather, Ghulam Bandegi Khan Bangash, who turned his native Afghan rabab into what we know today as the sarod. Yet his thirst for knowledge took him to Pandits Chukha and Ganeshi Lai of Vrindaban, who were stern practitioners of the Dhrupad and then he went on to Rampur, where he became a disciple of the great Ustad Wazir Khan, the descendant of Tansen. My father left his impression not only in that provincial court but, more importantly, also in Calcutta, then the Imperial Capital. It was here that he received the love and adulation that was to endow him with the legendary status. Raichand Boral, who later rose to fame as the music Director of the New Theatres and the discoverer of K.L. Saigal, was more intimate and colorful in his reminiscences always told me that the first time my father came to his house in 1918, the Great war had just ended and a complacence was beginning to set in the music world of Bengal. ‘With his coming, we were suddenly confronted with a genius who almost rudely banished smugness, lethargy and tidy housekeeping.’ He discovered the link between dhrupad and thumri long before it was commented upon by others. To be able to see Haafiz Ali Khan in proper perspective in the words of Dr Narayana Menon was that Haafiz Ali Khan was the poet. Abba Saheb, as I called him, was a born extrovert, held his head high, brooked no nonsense from any quarter and walked the earth like a renaissance prince.

On the occasion of Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan Saheb's 48th death anniversary, I pray to my father and guru, like every day. May his soul rest in peace! As I have written in my memoir about Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan (1877- December 28, 1972) that for me, the seven notes of music were him. He was the epitome of music. He was my inspiration, my reason of perspiration and he was my idea of representation.

-Amjad Ali Khan

 

(Pictures: 1. The concert by Haafiz Ali khan and Amjad Ali Khan after Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan received a doctorate from Khairagarh Universityof music in the year 1964. The D Lit from the same university was conferred on Ustad Amjad Ali Khan on Dec 26, 2016,

2. Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan

3. Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan Saheb receiving the Sangeet Natak Academy Fellowship from Dr. Rajendra Prasad. Maulana Abdul Kalam looks on in 1952)