{"id":22527,"date":"2011-02-12T11:52:03","date_gmt":"2011-02-12T11:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.tehelka.com\/?p=22527"},"modified":"2011-02-12T11:52:03","modified_gmt":"2011-02-12T11:52:03","slug":"retelling-the-retro-lies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/retelling-the-retro-lies\/","title":{"rendered":"Retelling the retro lies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graphic novelist<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Sarnath Banerjee<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>and musician<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Ashutosh Pathak<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>bring an unusual show to Mumbai\u2019s Blue Frog studios, says <\/em>Aastha Atray Banan<\/em><\/strong>
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Photo: MS Gopal<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nIF GRAPHIC ARTIST Sarnath Banerjee is to be believed, then his collaboration with musician Ashutosh Pathak will affect your mind in the same way pot does. \u201cIt should take you to places. It will open your mind, and you will see things so much more clearly,\u201d he says in all seriousness, and then laughs out, \u201cor it may just make you remember the year you flunked in mathematics.\u201d The Psychic Plumber and Other Lies<\/em>, which features graphic prints made by Banerjee and is set to music by Pathak, is a nostalgic one. Watch the tale of a sexually active girl and her panties culminate in a disappointing threesome or a bunch of elderly \u201cMadrasis\u201d headed for a vacation only to return with one of them dead. \u201cA Vicco advertisement can take you back in time. This exhibition will remind you of the 1970s through objects or memories that belong to that time,\u201d says Banerjee.
\nAs one walks around Mumbai\u2019s Blue Frog studios, where the exhibition is being held solely to leave the \u201cconventional art space\u201d, you may feel you\u2019re watching a Hrishikesh Mukherjee movie. The characters are middle-class Indians, and the situations commonplace. The music, which is a combination of world, Indian and retro grooves, gives a sense that the images are moving. \u201cMen usually discover women, Ashu discovered jingles,\u201d pokes Banerjee, as Pathak explains, \u201cThere\u2019s an image of the aam aadmi who goes to a government job and is asked to do random tasks by a boss who sits on two cushions to look big. So the music had the sounds of typewriters and computers interwoven, to explain his dilemma of being stuck between two worlds.\u201d
\nAlong with reminding us of the 1970s, the prints and the music are poignant, yet happy. \u201cThis has been a constant with my work \u2014 comedy and tragedy are closely linked. The series about the Madrasis who go on a trip when one of them has a heart attack is one of them. They buy identical golf hats, and the last print shows them carrying a lone cap along. These emotions are interconnected,\u201d says Banerjee, \u201cand the music will take you to Chennai right away.\u201d
\nCurator Srila Chatterjee points out, \u201cSuch collaboration is rare as most artists don\u2019t want to leave their comfort zones. But Sarnath is capable of doing anything, and Ashutosh doesn\u2019t even know what a box is.\u201d Filmmaker Sunhil Sippy offers his approval, saying, \u201cThe best thing about the show was its interactive nature. I mean you are in Blue Frog, which is a sound studio, watching a show and listening to music set to it. It\u2019s rare when an audience can get involved in art.\u201d
\nThe exhibition is on till 28 February. As one gazes at the print of a young man staring despondently at a pair of panties that belong to a girl and hear a 1960sinspired ditty, \u201cCome into my party, come and take a look inside, come and take what you like,\u201d you will be filled with the kind of desire you had when you were 19. Caution is advised.
\naastha@tehelka.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee and musician Ashutosh Pathak bring an unusual show to Mumbai\u2019s Blue Frog studios, says Aastha Atray Banan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":22532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[5725,5933,5934,5935,5936,5937,5775,5938,5939,5940,5941],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22527"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}