From waste to wonder: Puducherry students make 'Avatar' figurines inspired from Hollywood flick

Puducherry [India], December 20: 'Avatar: The Way of Water' is not just successful at the box-office bus is also motivating children to get creative.

Swati Bhat

A group of students from puducherry's Seliamedu Government Higher Secondary School channelised their love for the James Cameron blockbuster by creating figurines of the lead characters Neytiri, Jake Sully and the Great Leonopteryx.

Santosh and Navaneethakrishnan, the two students, created the figurines as a way of welcoming the Zoe Saldana-starrer film in India. It took them a week to create the immaculate figures imitating the original characters of the sci-fi film. They were created entirely from natural waste material which is easily available in rural areas, like coconut shells, Mandara leaves and palm leaves.

Prior to this, the students had already made a sculpture of Tamilisai, which received great appreciation from the people around them.

'Avatar: The Way of Water' stars Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, and Kate Winslet.

As per Deadline, behind the scenes, reports have claimed that the production budget alone for the film has reached USD 250 million. The script for the sci-fi blockbuster has been penned by Cameron and Josh Friedman 20th Century Studios released the movie in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam on December 16, 2022.

Most theatres in Tamil Nadu are screening the film as early as 4 am. According to trade analyst Taran Adarsh, 'Avatar: The Way of Water' has opened to record numbers of over Rs 41 crore across India. These are the second-highest numbers among all Hollywood films released in India on their first day.

The film's Rs 41-crore opening puts it over films like 'Avengers: Infinity War', 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' and 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'. It only trails the 2019 blockbuster 'Avengers: Endgame'.

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National Festival of Mayurbhanj Chhau 'Naatki' concluded with spectacle of performances

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], December 18: After two days of breathtaking dance performances, the National Festival of Mayurbhanj Chhau 'Naatki' has concluded.

Swati Bhat

The festival included artists from Mayurbhanj Chhau performing unit of Project Chhauni who performed in various creative productions choreographed by Vidushi Sharma Bhate from Pune and Padmasree Dr Ileana Citarist from Bhubaneswar alongside Nichuapada Uttarsahi Chhau Nritya Pratisthan of Moroda Block. The choreography combined elements from contemporary and traditional aspects of the Mayurbhanj Chhau dance. On the festival's last day, three performances took place 'Panchabhoota', 'Yodhha', and 'The Mystical Forest'.

Talking to "TC" about the motivation behind 'The Mystical Forest', dancer Mahi Sharma from Delhi said, "Our choreography which was conducted by our guru Santosh Nair, was motivated by nature. Taking care of our environment is quintessential in keeping our livelihood safe. If we don't take care of our environment, gradually our forests would start depleting and the natural resources important for humans would become lost. Our dance aimed to spread the message of forest conservation among people". The festival was conducted by Chhauni as a means of helping the 'Chhau' dance of Odisha get some exposure and recognition among the masses. Chhauni was an initiative led by the Mayurbhanj District Administration. It began operations in 2016 "to preserve and promote the art form and provide a livelihood to the artistes." Chhauni had conducted a survey in Mayurbhanj which covered 202 social organisations and 11,738 people who were associated with the dance form. After auditioning more than 400 Artists the performing unit was created in 2017.

In a conversation with "TC" , Praveen Chandra Bhanjdeo, the Maharaja of Mayurbhanj threw some light about the origin of the initiative. "In 2016, Mayurbhanj's ex-collector Shri Rajesh Patil guided the project Chhauni after years of the dance form's old Gurus being neglected....he picked up all the young artists along with Shubhoshree Mukherjee who herself was a dancer and had done Chhau," he said. "'Naatki' is the first National event for the Chhau dance, which showcases the dance form in a modern way," he added.

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Traditional wear manifests in edible form with this Banarasi Saree-themed cake

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], December 15: This cake would make you forget all the other flavours you've had so far, that's how intricate and extraordinarily has it been baked.

Based on a Banarasi Saree and traditional Indian jewellery in terms of design, this 32-inch long cake is a blend of colours, motifs, floral embellishments and icing replications of zari work done on actual sarees.

It is also shaped like a 'kumkum dibbi' (vermillion box), a symbolic part of the traditional makeup of an Indian woman. This cake masterpiece is baked by Prachi Dhabal Deb, who fondly named it "Shringaar Cake". In a conversation with "TC" , the cake designer opened up about the motivation behind this unusually intricate design of the cake.

"This cake was for an international collaboration from Italy where we were asked to make something representing our cultural fashion. I took inspiration for the cake's design from my saree and jewellery, which are both rooted in Indian tradition. My saree was gifted to me by my mother at the time of my wedding and hence, it is close to my heart," Prachi said. Prachi then went on to explain the actual process behind the design of the picturesque cake. "The colour of my saree and the design on its border were inspirations for the look of the cake. I used vegan royal icing and hand-piped each of the designs on the cake's surface. Then I coloured them with edible dust and edible gel colours," she told "TC"

Noting the intricacies of the weaved designs on the saree, which took time to be replicated on the cake, Prachi said, "To get the same intricate look on the edible medium I piped thousands of individual dots through a piping bag and painted them with edible gold". At present, this enormous and minutely crafted cake is put up for display at Prachi's cake studio in Pune. Prior to this, Prachi had created a cake replica of Italy's Grand Milan Cathedral. She told "TC" about her motivation to make such artsy cakes, "I always believe that for an artist it is important that we keep on working. Since we are in the creative field, we get new ideas every day....my aim is to promote the art form as much as I can, and thankfully people all around have been very appreciative so it boosts our morale".

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