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Shri Ashok Roy and his literary pursuits
A BES School
alumnus ( 1964 ), a J.J. art school graduate, and an advertising Creative
Director for over three decades, Ashok Roy has helped give the Indian communication industry
its courage of conviction with many path-breaking campaigns and over 100
awards for creative excellence…
Authored “Advertising
Avenues”, India ’s first book
of its kind, earning rave reviews and the sustained gratitude of advertising and marketing professionals and students alike…
Interviewed many
times on television channels, his work, life-sketch and working philosophy
have been showcased in Advertising & Marketing industry books: “Pegasus Profiles”
by the Reader’s Digest, and more recently,
“The Last Word” a book
featuring individual chapters on ‘16 of India
’s finest copywriters’ over the years…
Another important
work authored by Ashok Roy is the unanimously acclaimed ‘Historic Achievement’,
a landmark coffee-table book titled “MUSIC MAKERS: Living
Legends of Indian Classical Music”…
The Times of India has called it “Classic
stuff…Truly a collector’s treasure!” His more recent work is
India ’s very first book on the
subject of Fine Art Photography. “Fine Art through
the Lens”, a delightful coffee-table volume introduced
and orchestrated by Roy , where 32 leading photographers of India
have contributed their best work on the subject.
Currently working
on a few more books on his subjects of interest, including Dance, Fine Art, Photography
and Architecture…of which a maverick project “Art without the Artist”
has just been launched through a solo exhibition at a leading Mumbai Gallery.
Ashok Roy
lives in the heart of Bombay , with his wife Alaknanda, who runs Inner Voice, a young company earning respect for its creative
vision and commitment to promoting to the world the cultural, artistic, musical and spiritual
riches of India .
Shri Ashok Roy's recent books
“Fine Art through the Lens”
Ashok conceived and orchestrated India ’s first major book on the fast emerging subject
of Fine Art Photography. The book showcases fine art images of 32 Indian
photographers chosen by a nine-member jury comprising celebrated names from
the world of photography and fine art.
“Art without the Artist”
This book features fine art images from
the city of Mumbai , captured and commentated by Ashok. It is a unique contribution to the world of art whereby common folks can learn a great deal
about what to look for in seemingly inaccessible abstract art, while enjoying the
fascinating pictures showcased in the book.
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| Pt. Jasraj unveiling Ashok's book 'Fine Art through Lens' |
National Award Winner
Smt Shoma A Chatterjee Alumnus 1960, is a winner of National Award ( Swarna Kamal
) for best book on cinema in 2002. She has been writing on cinema, television and gender studies for the past two decades.
She won the best film critic award at the NationalFilm Awards in 1991. In 1998 the Michigan State University USA invited her
to present a paper on the 'bias against women in the Indian Government's family planning strategies' at an International conference
on women, Health and development. She served on the International jury at the Manheim-Heidelburg International Film Festival
in 1991 and at the St. Petersberg International Film Festival on short documentary and animation films in 1996. She won the
BFJA ( Bengal Film Journalists Association Award ) for best film critic in December 1998. Her first book on Cinema subject;
Cinema Object: Woman, A Study of The Portrayal of Woman in Indian Cinema; was published by Parumita Publications, Calcutta
in 1998. She has recently written two brief biographies of Suchitra Sen and Mrinal Sen respectively for Rupa & Co. as
a part of their charitable series of biographies of great Indian acievers.
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Chhaya Ganguli and the world of ghazals
Ms
Chhaya Ganguli occupies a unique position in the world of music in India. She is an excellent combination of a singer, producer
of programmes, organizer of music appreciation workshops and a professional. Born and brought up in Mumbai, she did her schooling
at the Bengali Education Society
High School, Mumbai followed by her graduation and post-graduation in science from
Bombay University. She joined All India
Radio in 1976 and has served in various capacities in AIR. Presently she is Assistant Station Director in Doordarshan Marketing
Division, Mumbai. A singer steeped in tradition, she has carved a very
special place in the domain of Ghazals. Her initial grooming in Thumri was under the tutelage of late Smt. Hira Devi Mishra
of Benares. Her unique style of Ghazal rendering continues to be under the training of Smt. Madhurani.
She continues to retain the fast disappearing authencity in rendering of Bhajan, Geet
and Ghazal. HMV has archived her songs in several cassettes and record albums. Her well-known HMV albums are “Bhakti
Sudha: A collection of Bhajans composed by Jaidev” and ghazal albums titled, “Iltija, Taskeen and Ishq”
composed by Madhurani, Bhupender Singh, K. Mahavir and others. She received the National
Award from the President of India as the “Best Female Playback Singer” of the year 1979 for her debut making song:
Aap Ki Yaad Aati Rahi Raat Bhar” in film Gaman directed by Muzaffar Ali and music composed by Jaidev. She also
sung for films as “Trikone ka Chautha Kone”, music direction by Jaidev and Amol Palekar’s film, “Thoda
sa Rumani Ho Jai”, music direction by Bhaskar Chandawarkar. She has sung in several tele-serials and has had the
unique distinction of singing in leading serials as “Bharat Ek Khoj” directed by Shyam Benegal and music
by Vanraj Bhatia, “ Jaane Alam” music by Ustad Faiyaz Ahmed Khan, “Itihas ka Guwha”
music direction by Pandit Raghunath Seth, “Bhai Hamne Suna” music by Bhupen Hazarika and “Kajari”
music by Tushar Bhatia. Music Today has brought out a cassette of her songs in the tele-serial “Husn-e- Jaana”
directed by Muzafaur Ali. Her productions in “Sangeet Sarita” for Vivdh
Bharati Services of All India Radio won her the media Award instituted by Music Forum in 1995. She was awarded the Senior
Fellowship from the Ministry of Human Resource Development to work on a research project on the Thumri and Dadra under the
guidance of eminent musicologist Dr. Ashok Ranade. A unique comprehensive music appreciation programme under the generic title
“Raag Roop aur Rang”, conceptualized and produced by Chhaya has been staged in various parts of the country has
brought her raving reviews from the listeners and professionals alike. Chhaya continues
in her quest for perfection in music with strict adherence to tradition, style, purity and form.
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Anjanabho Dutta joined our B.E.S.High
School in the Year 1957 in the Eighth Class and
immediately made his mark in drawing and painting apart from the witty usage of Bengali language. After finishing his B.Sc. from Wilson
College,Bombay, he
studied Sound Engineering and started his career in Films Division, Bombay, as
a sound recordist , enabling him to travel through the length and breadth of the country. During this period he also developed his appetite for Music Direction
and Bengali Literature. He spent most of his time, energy and resources in the field of music direction, and after years of hard work and sweat, he succeeded
in scoring the music of a Hindi Film which unfortunately never got released .He
also released a Music cassette with
voices rendered by Udit Narain and Kavita Krishnamurthy. Realising that this
field was too crowded and required different type of talent and skill, he started concentrating on the Bengali Literature
and met with success when two of his writings were published in the most widely circulated Bengali magazines “ DESH
“ and “AMRITA”. These
publications helped him in gaining recognition with in the Films Division
and he was promoted to the
Bengali Section as a script writer .Here he had the opportunity to interact with
the intellectuals and got introduced to literatures of other Indian languages. Soon Anjanabho left the Central Government
job and joined Bombay`s world of Advertisements as a Copy writer in Bengali Language.
It was here that he came in contact with intellectuals
drawn from various Indian Languages and pursued his interests in the Idioms used in colloquial of various Indian
Languages.
His First publication Bharat`er Naanaan Bhaashaa`r Probaad ----- Saat Paak`er Satero Fankra in April 2004 has received very good critical acclaims in “DESH” and is gaining popularity
in all literary circles. In this first book, he has collected
idioms from various Indian languages related to the enigmatic relation between man and woman thru the institution of marriage, and after translating them into Bengali,
presented them in the form of colloquial poetry ( chada ) to make the reading pleasurable and humorous.
There have been critical
reactions to this from a section of women readers , but in the end every one
concluded that only with such realistic presentations of the plight of women ; the evils of society
can be reformed. Encouraged by the enthusiastic response; Anjonabho has now brought out his second in this series
on the Idioms of Indian languages published in “Sahitya o Sanskriti “ Shaarad Sankhya 1412 on the subject titled
Kukur : Bharat`er
Probaad Jagat`e ( Dogs: in the world of
Idioms of India )
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