Lamakaan completes 15 years of incredible ride; becomes an iconic public space

By Ashhar Farhan

Ashhar Farhan

We are turning fifteen this year. It has been an incredible ride so far and we thank you for your love, patronage, and attendance at our events, hanging out at the cafe, and keeping us going. Lamakaan has far exceeded our expectations. This is entirely due to you the audiences and you the event organizers. All the artists, writers, thinkers, and performers who stepped under the par cans of Lamakaan have owned, driven, and set the agenda for Lamakaan. As a part of the executive, we hope that we have lived up to your expectations of an open critical space of progressive and critical ideas and actions.

This year’s annual has been advanced from our usual second week of March dates to January, this week. The move was propelled by two reasons: First, we find that January is a better month for outdoor venues like ours. The second reason was that Ramzan has moved to March and many of us who work at Lamakaan and our patrons would have found it difficult to attend events in those days.

Hyderabad Institute of Excellence

All the events at Lamakaan are proposed and conducted by people outside of Lamakaan and curated by our body of independent curators. The only exception is that the events of the Annual are chosen and organized by Lamakaan’s curators and the executive. It is the only time of the year when we exercise our discretion.

This year, our idea was to look at alternatives to the usual. We would have hopefully, in this curation managed to bring unusual works and thinkers to you in a three-day mini-festival format. We hope to see you on all the three days, chai and samosa in hand.

Here is the schedule:

MS Creative School

Friday, 17th Jan

6:00 pm UNTAMED BAAATAAN: We open the Annual with Zaynab Ali, the funny, quirky, unstoppable Hyderabadi podcaster who has made us laugh and cry through her reels and podcasts. She will be in conversation with Anuj Gurwara, the National Award-winning singer, entertainer, and host.

8:00 pm KHUMAR BY ADNAN: Ustad Adnan Salem, Hyderabad’s classically trained Ustad ghazal singer will sing his compositions of the poems and ghazals of Khumar Barabankvi, the legendary poet who stole the shows at every mushaira with his poignant lines and memorable tarannum.

Saturday 18th Jan

11 am HASHIYE ZINDAGI KE: A morning performance of the play ‘Footnotes of Life is a play’ written by Nadira Babber on a crisp Saturday. Performed by Sifar, a group closely associated with us for over a decade.

6 pm KATHAK YATRA: Mangala Bhatt, the Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee’s group, will present traditional pieces of Kathak. A must-watch.

8 pm TALAT MAHMOOD @ 100: We celebrate 100 years of the velvet voice of Talat Mahmood with the author of his biography, the well-known journalist Sahar Zaman. Sing along; find out more about Talat Sahab, his journey, his music, and his films.

Sunday 19th Jan

11:00 am ARADHANA IN CONCERT: Aradhana Karhade is Hyderabad’s foremost Khayal gayak. As most concerts are in the evening, we seldom get to hear morning raags in concerts. In this intimate baithak, she explores a set of morning raags in bada khayal followed by a few short ones.

6:00 pm REMEMBERING, RECONCILING, and FORGIVING: Launch of book on the fall of Hyderabad edited by Gita Ramaswamy, Anant Maringanti, and Mohammed Ayub that brings different perspectives on the fall of the Nizam’s rule and integration of Hyderabad into India

8:00 pm REEL SE REAL TAK: Vijay Krishna Acharya “Victor”, the film director whose work spans from blockbusters like Dhoom to TV serials like Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin to comedies like The Great Indian Family in conversation with Amirullah Khan, the economist who has studied Indian cinema and its economic relationship with the Indian society.

Apart from the anniversary events, we will continue with the ongoing tribute to Shyam Benegal. On Wednesday the 15th Jan, his movie Manthan will be screened starting at 7-00 pm.

On Thursday, 16th January, at 6 pm a documentary film Unconditional on inspiring policy experiments with Universal Basic Income will be followed by an interaction with the documentary makers.

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