The Weekend Guide

FILM
‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’
“Seven Brits go to India” might sound like the beginning of a hackneyed plot, but consider which Brits these are: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy are among the stalwarts who star in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which has been called a “charming celebration of aging”. The seven retirees find their way to Jaipur, where they occupy a ramshackle hotel and grapple with the daunting realities of old age while adapting to life in India with varying degrees of cheeriness. Such is the acting prowess of the cast that despite the occasional fumble, they nail “every nuance in this comedy laced with genuine emotion”.
When: From Friday, May 18.
Where: At cinemas across the city.

ART, FILM
Project Cinema City
In Project Cinema City, an ambitious multi-disciplinary exhibition mounted at the National Gallery of Modern Art by cultural centre Majlis, it’s not just Bollywood but Indian cinema in all its glorious, kitschy entities that is addressed by a multitude of artists and art students. Atul Dodiya, Shilpa Gupta, Tushar Joag, Vivan Sundaram, Nalini Malani and Pushpamala N. are among those who have re-interpreted 100 years of Indian cinema (which incidentally we celebrate this year) via photos, installations, paintings and videos.
When: From Saturday, May 19 to Friday, June 29. Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 6pm; Monday, closed.
Where: National Gallery of Modern Art, Sir Cowasji Jehangir Public Hall, M.G. Road, Fort. Tel: 2288 1969.

THEATRE
‘The Comedy of Errors’ at Prithvi Theatre
With the setting changed from ancient Greece to contemporary Kabul, this Dari language adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays promises to show us a side of Afghanistan that seldom makes the headlines. The Antipholuses become Arsalans and the Dromios become Bostans in the classic farce of mistaken identity, adapted by Afghan theatre company Rah-e-Sabz and directed by French actress Corinne Jaber, who also helmed a production of Love’s Labour Lost in Kabul in 2005. The Comedy Of Errors, which will be staged, with English subtitles, at the Prithvi Theatre on Saturday, makes its way to Mumbai en route to the UK for a performance at London’s Globe Theatre where it’s part of a festival of Shakespeare’s plays in over 30 different languages.
When: Saturday, May 19, at 6pm and 9pm.
Where: Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, Juhu. Tel: 2614 9546. Tickets are priced at R300 per head.

ALSO AROUND TOWN
• Delhi-based artist Arun Kumar H. G. turns Mumbai Art Room into a forest of sorts, with an on-site installation of leaves and seeds that address the importance of conserving biodiversity. Until Friday, July 6. Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 7pm; Sunday, closed. Pipewala Building (entrance through the back gate), opposite the Navy Children School, Fourth Pasta Lane, Colaba. Tel: 97699 50136.

• Cash in on big savings at the Bungalow 8 sample sale, which will be held from this Friday, May 18 to Sunday, May 20, from 10.30am to 7.30pm, when men and womenswear, including dresses, tunics, shirts and trousers, will be up to 75 per cent off. Grants Building, First, Second, and Third Floor, 17 Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba. Tel: 2281 9880.

• Attend a concert by Indian jazz-fusion supergroup Silk, which features pianist Louiz Banks, singer Shankar Mahadevan, percussionist Sivamani, mridangam player Sridhar Parthasarathy and bassist Sheldon D’Silva, at the Shanmukhananda Auditorium this Friday, May 18, from 7pm. Tickets for the show, which will help raise funds for the Swayamsiddh Parental Organisation for Mentally Challenged Children, are priced at Rs250, Rs500, Rs750, Rs1,500 and Rs3,000. Shanmukhananda Auditorium, behind Gandhi Market, Sion (East). Tel: 2407 8888.

• Sightsavers, an organisation that works to raise awareness about blindness, hosts an exhibition of photographs by ten visually-impaired children, on Saturday, May 19 and Sunday, May 20, from noon to 6pm. St. Xavier’s College, 5 Mahapalika Marg.

• Sign up for Wandering in Worli, Beyond Bombay’s two-hour walking tour of the Worli fishing village that will be conducted this Saturday, May 19 and Sunday, May 20, at 7pm on both days. The registration fee is Rs700 per person for the walk, which will start from the parking lot near INS Trata at 4.45pm. Call Shriti Tyagi on 98677 64409 or email beyondbombay@gmail.com to register.

• Listen to fusion music group Rajeev Raja Combine and Hindi rock band Paradigm Shift at Dadar Chowpatty this Saturday, May 19, from 5.30pm in what is the penultimate concert in this year’s series of Bandstand Revival gigs. There is no entry fee. Dadar Chowpatty, behind the Mayor’s Bungalow, same lane as the HP Petrol Pump, near Shivaji Park, Dadar (West). Call 98196 89544 for further details.

• Hear author and journalist Jerry Pinto read from his new critically acclaimed novel Em and the Big Hoom at Kitab Khana on Saturday, May 19, from 6pm. Somaiya Bhavan, M. G. Road, near Flora Fountain, Fort. Tel: 2204 3247.

• Dance to the music of DJs Arnold from Mumbai (aka Arnold Misquitta), Ash Roy, and Anil Chawla and Dale Anderson at Blue Frog this Saturday, May 19, from 9pm, at Techno Takeover, a gig organised by the UnMute Agency, a Delhi-based electronica-centric artist management and booking agency. The entrance fee is Rs500. Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel. Tel: 6158 6158.

• Participate in the creation of the Tata Housing Development Company’s Mumbai Wall Book, where participants will get to paint and decorate the stretch of wall on Tulsi Pipe Road in Mahim on Sunday, May 20, from 7am. Call 086526 75485 or 086526 74816 to register.