A New Forum Hopes To Promote Indie Culture

The idea that our city might have a counter culture might make more than a few laugh, particularly given the widely-leveled accusation that Mumbai does not have much of a mainstream cultural stream either. It was this realisation that led Pushpendra Misra to launch AntiMatter, a forum for “artistic conversations that are offbeat and inspired”, bringing together disparate speakers that rarely get a voice in public. Misra, who owns ad production company Flying Saucer, roped in Pakistani singing duo Zeb and Haniya (you might have seen them on The Dewarists) and indie filmmaker Navdeep Singh to discuss “creativity versus commerce” for their first talk in March at Bandra bar Bonobo. (You can see a clip of the trio talking about monetising talent without selling out on the website of Humped magazine, whom, incidentally, we thank for pointing us towards AntiMatter.)

For the second session this past Saturday—they’re held every two months always at Bonobo from 8pm to 9pm so as not to cut into people’s “drinking time”, says Misra—AntiMatter threw together Hindustani classical singer Nageen Tanveer and Moloyashree Hashmi (widow of activist playwright Safdar Hashmi, who was killed in 1989 while performing in the street in Delhi) to chat about “the stage versus the street”. Tanveer, who you may have heard on the soundtrack to Peepli [Live], ended the session with a few songs, including those based on the poetry of her father, acclaimed playwright Habib Tanveer as well as “Chola Maati Ke Ram” off the aforementioned soundtrack. “The idea is to start conversations that are not happening,” says Misra. “And if it gets people talking about stuff not being heard in Mumbai then our purpose is served.” The next AntiMatter talk, which like the others will be free and open to all, will be held in July.

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