Pallavi MD
Album
SONGS FOR BROKEN SHIPS
Vinyl/LP by MD Pallavi and Andi Otto
MD Pallavi & Andi Otto first crossed paths on a theatre stage in India ten years ago. They started collaborating instantly and in 2016 MD Pallavi's mesmerizing vocals for the downtempo raga Bangalore Whispers warmed hearts and ears. Their musical relationship flourished with artistic residencies in Bangalore and Hamburg, their respective hometowns, and a concert tour in Japan.
The album presents an interwoven pop-aesthetic vision of the two artists with their contrasting musical backgrounds. It ranges from organically woven folktronica to cut-up disco tracks and acoustic ballads.
MD Pallavi is a singer, actress, filmmaker and performer from Bangalore, South-India, where she trained in Hindustani music and poetry since childhood. On Songs for Broken Ships, poems in her native tongue Kannada*, one of India's many languages, are performed over Andi’s alluring production, translating the stories into musical narratives. The poems address topics that are as timeless as the music itself. Social equality is touched upon in Bayalu (written by Bontadevi in the 12th century). Artistic struggles - communicated on An Unwritten Word (Gangadhar Chittala, 1865) - are almost prophetic and the surreal, dreamlike scenario of Clockshop (KS Narasimhaswamy,1958) brings you further inside the sonic journey.
Andi Otto is a composer, cellist and DJ based in Hamburg, Germany, He is known for his idiosyncratic and unconventional dance music productions on labels such as Multi Culti, Shika Shika and Pingipung (which he co-runs and curates). For this collaborative experience his dubbed out basslines gently interlock with the 7/4 and 5/4 beats to create a backbone for the instrumentation and expressive vocal timbres of MD Pallavi. His sound design combines graceful acoustic recordings, juxtaposed against modern drum machines, computer generated noise and vintage synthesizers.
credits
released May 12, 2023
All songs written and composed by MD Pallavi and Andi Otto in Bangalore and Hamburg, 2018-2023
MD Pallavi: Vocals, percussion
Andi Otto: Electronics, cello, table harp, pipe organ, percussion, steeldrum, PPG 1020
Additional percussion on “An Unwritten Word”, “Prayer to the Cloud” and “Look Again” (digital bonus) by Manuel Chittka
Ambient sound design on “An Unwritten Word” by Leo Hofmann
Recorded and mixed by Andi Otto
Mastered by Jonas Romann at Chaos Compressor Club
Vinyl cut by Ruy Mariné at Dubplates & Mastering
Cover photo: Port of Nouadhibou, Mauritania by Kevin McElvaney
Cover Design: TEOTH
c&p 2023 Pingipung
Pingipung 079
Concert Series
Collaboration
WEAVING VOICES
An immersive aural and visual treat that seamlessly blends music, theatre and design.
The production features some of the biggest names on the music and allied arts scenes, such as Bombay Jayashri, Uday Bhawalkar, MD Pallavi, Deu Khan Manganiyar, Rasika Shekar, Apoorva Krishna, Sumesh Narayanan, and MT Aditya Srinivasan.
The sound design is by Academy Award winner Resul Pookutty.
The design is by Amardeep Behl and the costumes are by Sarah Eapen.
Film
19.20.21 is a Kannada feature film directed by Manso Re
The phase between the age of 20 to 30 is an important phase in everyone`s life. A phase which defines a person`s entire life. What if a person becomes a traitor in that phase? What if he/she gets arrested under stringent laws without a chance to get released? A story inspired by the true events of a student`s life.
Film : 19.20.21
Production House : D Creations
Cast : Shrunga BV, Balaji Manohar, MD Pallavi, Rajesh Nataranga, Avinash, Krishna Hebbale, Vishwa Karna and others.
Producer : Devaraj R
Story & Direction : Mansore
Screenplay : Veerendra Mallanna, Mansore.
Dialogues : Veerendra Mallanna, Avinash G.
Lyrics : Kiran Kaverappa
Cinematographer : Shiva BK Kumar
Music : Bindhumalini
Background Score : Ronada Bakkesh.
Editor : Suresh Arumugam
Art Director : Santhosh Panchal
VFX : Srinivas Kalal
Sound Design : Mahavir Sabannavar
Collaboration
Single
Yaarigu Helonu Byaada, a poem by one of Kannada’s foremost modern lyric poets Da.Ra.Bendre has been composed by Bhavageethe exponent M.D. Pallavi and arranged by Susmit Sen, composer, guitarist and founder of India’s premier fusion rock band, Indian Ocean.
This is the first in a series of bhavageethes that Pallavi will compose for and collaborate with India’s renowned musicians and artists.
The series will be presented by 2X Grammy Awardee Ricky Kej.
The song is a secret whispered into the ears of the listener. It is an invitation to travel to a faraway magical world where both can sway, feast, dance and sing untiringly. It is an invitation to be able to imagine an enchanted world of happiness in the lightness of a moment.
Lyrics by: Da Ra Bendre
Composition and Vocals by: MD Pallavi
Arrangment and guitars played by: Susmit Sen
Produced by: Pallavi MD
Presented by: Ricky Kej
Vocals: MD Pallavi | Guitar: Susmit Sen | Sequencing: Sudheer Rikhari | Rhythm programming and Kanjeera: Arun Kumar | Guitars recorded by: Sachin Bhagat | Mixed and Mastered by: Nikhil Nagaraj | Susmit Sen Videography by: Nandit Desai | Location: The Trialogue Company | MD Pallavi Videography by: Vikas Badiger, Sharn GC, FOB Films | Location: Boomerang Studios | Artwork and Editing by: Shashank Akella
Yaarigu Youtube Link
Concert Theatre
Performance
DESDEMONA ROOPAKAM
Presented by Nalanda Arts Studio
Supported by Ranga Shankara's 'Play the Play' programme
Direction and Scenography : Abhishek Majumdar
Performed by: Bindhumalini and Pallavi MD
Devised and Written by: Irawati Karnik, Abhishek Majumdar, Pallavi MD, Veena Appiah, Bindhumalini and Nikhil Nagaraj
Original Texts: William Shakespeare’s Othello and Tishani Doshi’s ‘Girls Are Coming Out Of The Woods’
Translations by: Pallavi MD, Bindhumalini and Aparna Chandar
Dramaturgy: Irawati Karnik
Sound Design: Nikhil Nagaraj
Light Design: Niranjan Gokhale
Make up: Ramakrishna
Producer: Veena Appiah
Production Assistant: Sanjay Bharadwaj and Prajwal S
Set Execution: Sridhar Murthy
Assistant Scenography: Surabhi Vasisht
Costume Execution: Vidya Masand
Costume Design: Arundhati Nag, Abhishek Majumdar
Additional Music: Praveen Rao
Special thanks to Sharanya Ramprasad
Nalanda Arts Studio is a Bangalore based arts organization focussed on research, scholarship, training and practice of performing and Fine Arts with a focus on collaborations between Asian, African and Middle Eastern artists and communities.
Film
MADI (film)
Story, Screenplay and Direction by : Sudheer Attavar
Produced by : Vidhyadhar and Suraj Charles
Cast: Ramdas Devadiga, MD Pallavi, Master Santosh, Venkat Rao, Srivatsa, Ravindra Shetty
Aati Kalenja is an ancient traditional folk art form practiced by Tulu people from the region of Tulu Nadu, India ( Southern part of West coast of Karnataka state) which is believed to bring prosperity during “Aati “which is one of the months in Tulu calendar. It normally comes in the months of July and August. Tulu Nadu is known for its rich traditions. Especially in villages of Tulu Nadu where agriculture has a significant role in the life of Tuluvas socio-economic fabric are the people belonging to “Nalike” community visit houses of people in colourful attire masquerading as “Kalinja”. In return, people would offer rice, grains, vegetables, money etc to artistes. It is believed that during the month of ”Aati”, nature’s spirit “Kalenja” descends on Earth to bless the land and its people. It is also believed that Aati Kalenja brings the positive energy which would ward off evil spirits and diseases. “Aati” is when there is a heavy rain fall which would destroy the crops. During this season heavy rain causes not only disasters but also diseases as the season is conducive to the insects and pests to breed. So man is more prone to sickness in this season and poverty due to lack of work for the people who are solely depending on the agriculture. This is the reason for “Aati” being considered as month of disasters and the man starts pleading and pleasing the nature to be merciful towards him. This could well be called the origin of the “Aati Kalenja” cult in Tulu Nadu. He dances to the beats of the drum called “ tembare” which is of very significance in culture of Tulu Nadu. Accompanist beats the drum and recites the song, "Aateeg Baththe Aati Kalenja"; narrating the story of the spirit. As a reward for expunging the evil that surrounds. Aati Kalenja is also considered as a traditional healer who at times dispenses medicinal herbs to overcome illness. People believe that AatiKalenja brings the positive energy which protects from evil spirits and diseases; but the community which performs this ritual are kept as untouchables till today; The boy questions this discrimination in the film.
Rehearsed
Reading/Play
A Toto Funds The Arts presentation
A rehearsed reading of Swati Simha’s play 'The Echoing Chamber' (Winner of the Toto Award for Creative Writing 2019).
Directed by Pallavi M D
Performed by Shilpa Mudbi Kothakota and Pallavi MD
In October 1948, a year after the partition of India and Pakistan, another massacre occurred in central India. Tens and thousands were brutally slaughtered in the princely state of Hyderabad. Aurangabad, Bir, Nalagunda, Medak, Gulburga, Bidar, Nader, Osmanabad were the areas that experienced extreme bloodshed, rape and torture by the armed forces of the newly formed Indian state. The Sunderlal Committee report compiled after the massacre estimated the death toll to be anywhere between 27 and 40 thousand. This important incident has been absent in the collective memory of the nation – absent in our history books, absent in the stories we share, absent in our imagination of independence and democracy. The play is a dedication to our forgetfulness.
The Echoing Chamber brings together subaltern voices and allows the audience to engage in an anachronistic reflection on the consequences of failing to recollect the making of the ‘nation’ and ‘national identity’.
Play
DHARE HATTI URIDODHEY
Adaptation of Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’
Story devised by MD Pallavi and Rangayana repertory actors
Directed by MD Pallavi
Stage adaptation by Raghavendra Patil
Performed by the Rangayana Repertory
Sound design : Nikhil Nagaraj
The play is set in a fictional village of Sankapura. Shivan Gowda and Savitri’s love affair is brought to a violent end by Shivan Gowda’s father Paramesh Gowda. He uses his position of caste and along with the pujari of the main temple of the village, manipulates and manoeuvres events in a way that pushes Savantri away from his son. What follows is an unprecedented set of events that shake up the foundations of the whole village.
The play places itself at the centre of the feudal and patriarchal system and tries to engage with questions about belief systems that hold up these power structures.
Music Video
"Dharti Ma - A Tribute to Earth" is in collaboration with Earth Day Network to commemorate the 50th year of Earth Day.
In an amalgamation of styles, the song has been rendered in eight languages by some of the finest musicians of India -
Bombay Jayashri Ramnath, Kaushiki Chakrabortyy (Earth Day Network Ambassadors), Hans Raj Hans, Shankar Mahadevan, Mahesh Kale, Abhishek Raghuram, Shweta Mohan, Abhay Jodhpurkar and M D Pallavi .
The song is composed by Amrit Ramnath.
The song features Sayee Rakshith on the Violin, Abinandan David on the Guitar, Sumesh Narayanan on the Mridangam and Percussions, MT Aditya on the Tabla, singer Karthik, Amrit and Sreenidhi Venkat as chorus vocalists.
Play
The story of a young boy who is trafficked from eastern Uttar Pradesh in North India, and sold in Dubai. His online profile '#supernova', suggests to his clientele that he is a good performer in the sex trade. As his online profile and persona become significant to buyers and sellers, thereby reducing any chances of his return, his father gives up looking for him and a new client falls in love with him.
Based around the ethical and moral questions that trafficking and technology pose today, #supernova is a play in Bhojpuri and Hindi that examines how we live in a world where everything is available at one's fingertips. Literally everything.
The Human Trade Network commissioned four plays from theatre companies in Burkina Faso, Germany, Romania and India, to revolve around the theme of Human Trafficking. As the Indian theatre company chosen to create this work, Indian Ensemble settled on the topic of child trafficking in India, an issue that is not talked about enough, here or abroad. The play centres around two men - the boy’s father and the man who ultimately buys the boy’s services - but also involves the audience through technology. Audience members will be equipped with a mobile phone or a device that enables them to interact with the characters in the play. This aims to show that while being ‘connected’ and ‘present’ all the time and everywhere, we are also silent, absent and therefore complicit in activities that we would not overtly support or condone.
After the world premiere in Bangalore, the performance will traveled and performed at Theatre Freiburg, Germany.
Written by Rahul Rai
Designed and directed by Abhishek Majumdar
Performed by Avneesh Mishra and Sandeep Shikhar
Dramaturgy: Irawati Karnik
Research and Projection Design: Vandana Menon
Assistant Directors: Karen D’Mello and Venkatesh Prasad
Sound Designer: Nikhil Nagaraj
Music: M.D. Pallavi
Movement Director: Priyabrat Panigrahi
Production Manager: Saatvika Kantamneni
Direction Intern: Tanvi Shah
Producer: Vivek Madan
Play
TATHAGAT
Street play
Written and Directed by Abhishek Majumdar
Music composed by Pallavi MD
Properties: Rajesh Singh
Costumes: Shivani Chander
Performed by Jana Natya Manch
Premiered on August 1st 2018, Dehli
Set in an imaginary Buddhist kingdom in ancient India, Tathagat explores the ideas of caste and gender, rebellion and nationalism, freedom and courage. Haridas, a shudra sculptor, has carved a statue of Buddha out of black stone with three missing fingers. He is sentenced to death as a traitor. On the insistence of the queen, the king agrees to listen to Haridas’s plea in the court. Expanding on the idea of tark (reason) in Buddhist philosophy, this play through the story of a vain king, a defiant queen, the rebellious sculptor, a courageous daasi, and a conniving courtier, examines the difference between a ‘traitorous’ and a ‘rebellious’ act.
Jana Natya Manch (JANAM), established in 1973 by a group of Delhi’s young theatre radicals including Safdar Hashmi, is India’s best-known political street theatre group. The group has to its credit over 100 street, proscenium, and other performances, totalling over 8,000 performances. Its productions have been written and/or directed by a number of leading theatre artists, including Habib Tanvir, Safdar Hashmi, Govind Deshpande, Anuradha Kapur, M.K. Raina, Kavita Nagpal, Abhishek Majumdar, Sudhanva Deshpande and Brijesh. Janam has performed in over 250 villages, towns and cities all over India, as well as performed, lectured and offered workshops in Palestine, South Africa, the UK and USA. Janam has neither sought nor accepted funding from the governments, corporates, NGOs or political parties. It is funded by its audiences, and Janam members volunteer their time.
Play
TAYAVVA
Maxim Gorky's 'Mother' adapted to the stage by Brecht adapted to the Indian context and presented as a musical by Prasanna.
Script and Direction: Prasanna
Music: Pallavi MD
Set Design: Shashidhar Adapa
Lighting: Ravi
Produced by Gram Seva Sangh
Cast:
MD Pallavi
Chintan Vikas
MC Anand
Sithara Thara
Shashi V Gowda
Shiva
Live percussion by Agni Art for All
Director's note:
The context, in which this production of the play Taayavva is placed, is civilizational. People need a historical course correction, of the civilization itself to survive. People have become completely civilized, completely soft, and completely of the mind. We have rejected, nature, hard labour and the experiential, almost completely. This has caused immense pain to the hard labouring people, the natural people, to the animal life, and to nature itself.
But it is not only they who are suffering because of us; we are also suffering because of us. We, the rich, the powerful, and the intelligent are suffering as much deprivation as poor and marginalized. Our cities, our life and the future of our children, are getting wasted. This waste is not just a pollutant. It is a civilizational waste. And it has accumulated all around us. Yet! We fool ourselves that technology can save us, God can save us. We have wasted technology, we have wasted god.
This is the context in which we are producing the play Taayavva. Taayavva tries to deconstruct the modern system in her own way. It is a system that divides everything. Taayavva tries to reconcile the opposites and thus deconstruct. She tells the haves to deconstruct themselves, while constructing a better life for the have nots. The haves needs to adopt a harder life she tells, a simpler life. While Gram Seva Sangh was struggling to construct these ideas, a new form of sales tax called GST was imposed on handmade products in India. Indian economy, that had already been beaten up took a further beating. Gram Seva Sangh moved in and raised its voice. Taayavva is an offshoot of that struggle.
So it is natural that Taayavva creates a consensus among the contending forces. Taayavva means the mother. We all know, its the mother in any family who sustains consensus. This play is inspired by Maxim Gorkys famous novel Mother. It is also inspired by Bertolt Brechts famous play of the same name. But, Taayavva had to be a new play. For it was written for a new context.
To begin with, Taayavva is a widow and is selfish. She is not selfish in a personal sense; she is selfish in a sense. It is a sense of protecting a progeny. Her son becomes an activist, in the cause of the handmade. She tries to protect him. He dies. The police kill him. The mother becomes an activist. In this sense, she is doing exactly what the Mother Nature is doing these days. Taayavva is both, a metaphor and a meaning.
The play is a musical, and a celebration. You may ask, what is there to celebrate in such dark times?, Bertolt Brecht the famous German playwright had asked this question in one of his poems. Taayavva celebrates the joy of deconstruction, deconstruction as opposed to destruction. She deconstructs even God. God, for her, is a labouring and hard working metaphor. The play is in a language that is difficult to translate. It is in Kannada, a language that is emotional and experiential. It is their mother tongue. A tongue that is being silenced. They are sure you will be able to understand and enjoy, the sound of the dying music, even if you do not understand the meaning of it's moaning.
Concert Series
THRESHOLD
A musical conversation between MD Pallavi and Bindhumalini Narayanswamy
Pallavi and Bindhumalini explore the theme of gender as they make a journey from birth to liberation; from form to the formless with through the words and the eyes of women across the world.
The Threshold is a musical conversation between Pallavi and Bindhumalini where they look at gender by celebrating the stories of women across continents and generations.
Through the stories of Hypatia, Agnodice, Kharbaoucha, Fanny Mendelson and the songs of Lalla,Lingamma, Neelamma, Goggavva, Sule Sunkkavva, Nina Simon and Meera, Pallavi and Bindhu weave a journey of the woman accentuating their voices with the sounds of the harmonium, flute, kazoo, swarmandal, udukkai, bells,ghungroo, shakers, kartal, melodica, rainmaker and the Banjo.
Premiered at Under the Raintree festival, Bangalore.
Collaboration/
Album
MARATHALLI RANI - kannada pop album
The story of this album began in the 70’s when Eric Segal’s Love Story first came out. Konarak wrote a song called ‘What Can You Say’ inspired by the famous first line in Love Story “What can you say about a twenty five year old girl who died?” He wrote another one called ‘Colours’ (which is now transposed to Two Lovers) that the artist, Leila Powar, used to love. He would sing these and others that he composed in the parks in Bangalore - Cubbon Park, Richmond Town Park, Rest House Road Park - people loved them, there was no music industry in Bangalore, life went on...
Then about 7 years ago, Konarak, Pallavi, Shrunga and Kirtana - met each other while working on a play called ‘Boy With A Suitcase’. 7 years of travelling by train, plane, bus and boat, performing far and wide in places that were hot, cold, snowy, rainy. 7 years through laughter, tears and myriad conversations. 7 years to hatch various plots.
Konarak wanted to communicate in Kannada with young listeners in Karnataka. He found the perfect co-traveller on this journey in Pallavi. Why not not reprise those old songs, he thought, but in Kannada and with Pallavi? They jammed. Konarak composed some more songs. Shrunga cheered them on and remembered every tune. Kirtana cooked, made coffee and listened continuously.
In between each one’s other projects, schedules and well, life, they kept returning to this work that Konarak called Marathahalli Rani - a set of 8 songs with different characters and different voicing. Konarak would write and compose, Pallavi was the quickest translator, keeping close to the aesthetic and ethos Konarak wished for while adding her own intelligence and wit to it. Kirtana kept her ear to the ground, was dramaturg and Mama Bear to the songs and kept nagging people to finish already or soon it would be Christmas.
So, here we are...
Konarak Reddy has composed, arranged and recorded 8 Kannada pop songs as part of a concept album called MARATHAHALLI RANI, featuring well known singer, MD Pallavi. Using a language both raw and poetic, they deal with the stuff a woman faces in a city like Bangalore. They also subvert the voice of the woman. Tradition bangs heads with contemporaneity, love, longing, sexuality, humour, pathos. The songs arrangements range in style from a western palette of influences and references, to the deeply melodic and raga based.
The Songs
Marathahalli Rani – comic book, Frank Zappa-style aesthetic about a girl super hero who comes out of Venus Bar in Marathahalli and fights crime and patriarchy on the streets of Bangalore. Style: Comic-Rock
Su-Surya – Candy pop, Kan-glish song about a girl who actually loves Surya, her flamboyant “extra masala chaat chilli” boyfriend, but thanks to her practical parents, decides in favour of the richer, more “suitable” Devan without losing sleep over the hapless Surya. Style: Latin Pop
What can I say – Is a love song. But embedded in it is other stuff...caste, violence, patriarchy. The girl is under pressure to marry her maternal uncle. An arrangement to elope. The boy, caught in the crossfires of tradition, doesn’t show up. The girl gets on a late train alone. Style: Pop-Ballad
The Dogs Will Come – Riding a heavy bass groove, this is a song that addresses the daily reality of girls in a metropolis. “Go for a walk…a walk in the park…The Dogs Will Come/The Dogs Will Come…wear sexy clothes…stay out late… The Dogs Will Come/The Dogs Will Come”. Whatever you may do or not do…those dogs will come. Style: 70's anthem
Two Lovers – Ballad about a woman who loves two men and questions why society asks that she choose between them. “Making love to you, I am dreaming of the other…” Style: Ballad
Jump – Uses the trope of spoken word and a rural dialect. A girl from a small town comes to Bangalore, is seduced by a player who promptly tosses her aside. Rather than get on with it, she allows the many voices of society and tradition to push her to… Style: Spoken Word and Rap
Bossa Baba – Urban loneliness... The loss of a lover. Growing old alone in the city. “I did everything for you… my heart, my soul I gave for you…” Style: Bossa Nova
Baaro Venky – A sex-worker watches, adores and pines for an auto driver. She longs for him as one longs for Krishna. “I have oiled my body for you….I’ve cooked anna saaru…I’m waiting as the rain patters on the tin sheets of my roof…Come to me, Venky”. Style: Almost ghazal but with a reggae groove
Play
MUKTIDHAM
This play is set in the 8th century, in a Matha in a fictional town called Beerpur. It is the time when the Pala kings were ruling the east and large parts of northern India. These kings were Buddhist; Buddhism was at its peak and on the verge of declining. There had been mass conversions to Buddhism.The story revolves around this Hindu temple town which is surrounded by Buddhists. The protagonist is a man called ‘Agnivesh’, a scholar in the Matha.The head of the Matha, ‘Nath Nand’ is soon to retire to the Muktidham to die and achieve salvation. Nath Nand, who has always separated religion from politics, is faced with a choice. Which of his students shall be his successor?Will it be Yuyutsu, who believes in opening up the doors of the temple for the lower castes?Or Agnivesh, who believes in raising an armed resistance to Buddhism?
The play premiered on 27th January’2017 at Ranga Shankara , Bangalore, followed by performances in Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai, Vinod Doshi Theatre Festival, Pune, Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa, Safdar Studio, Dehli, Windermere Theatre Festival, Bareilly and a performance tour across Uttar Pradesh.
Cast and Credits:
Performed by:
Ajeet Singh Palawat Ashwini Kumar Chakre, Ipshita Palawat, Irawati Karnik, Kumud Mishra, M.D. Pallavi, Neel Sengupta, Pratyush Singh, Sandeep Shikhar and Shubhrajyoti Barat.
Written & Directed by: Abhishek Majumdar
Scenography: Mohit Takalkar
Research : Vandana Menon
Live Music and Sound Design: Abhijeet Tambe & Pallavi MD
Movement Director: Anannya Tripathyi
Asst. Directors: Karen D’mello & Chanakya Vyas
Associate Director: Neel Sengupta
Production Assistants: Shashank M.C & Anirudh
Project Manager: Vivek Madan
Stage Manager: Bharavi
Play
Play: SANTIAGO SAVINA SUTTA
A stage adaption of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
The novella teases us with its question as to why the townspeople, anticipating the twins' bloody intentions, are unable to prevent the murder of Nasar.
This play was devised with the students of Abhinaya Taranga
A mysterious incident provoked us to take up this work. The death of two stuntmen on a movie set. A spectacle that hundreds witnessed in real and on air. Not a single spectator tried to stop it. Marquez’s novella offered us a similar strange world.
Design and Direction : MD Pallavi
Lighting Design and Execution : Niranjan Gokhale
Set Design and Costumes : Swetha Shashank
Technical Advise : J Dinesh
Set Execution : Hemanth Kumar
Play
FREE OUTGOING
Synopsis:
In a gated community in Chennai, hard-working Malini has carefully charted her school-going children Sharan and Deepa’s academic futures. Fifteen-year-old Deepa, in particular, appears to be the child who would fulfill Malini’s ambitions.
But soon, Malini’s dreams and life as she knows it come crashing down. The family becomes the epicenter of a media siege and public outrage, disrupting the community’s middle-class aspirations and daily water supply. As a youthful act turns public fodder, friendships dissolve; family equations change; the line between morality and prurience blurs; and options run out.
Free Outgoing examines a society in transition. Why does a personal act of indiscretion bear such serious consequences? Why does a civilized society turn so savage in crisis? And why should morality be at odds with basic humanity? In asking these questions, Free Outgoing puts under the microscope the delicate ties that bind the personal to the public and the inherent conflict in our society between an archaic value system and the new world of glamour and hype.
Written by Anupama Chandrasekhar
Directed by Mahesh Dattani
Cast: , Pallavi Arun, Uchit Nair, T M Karthik , Isaikkavi Ramanan , Dharma Raman, Mahita Suresh & Pratyusha Govidnaraju
Art Director: Victor Paulraj
Music: Anil Srinivasan
Technical Support: Sathish Shanmugham
Assistant to Directors: Sandhya Raman, Prasanna Venkatesh
Marketing: Sandeep Shivaram
Film
PLAYGROUNDS - Short film/ Fiction
It's a game of survival, in a concrete arena. And the rules are not black or white - its grey, like cement. During a game of hide ‘n’ seek, 3-year-old Murli hides in an auto rickshaw and falls asleep. He wakes up in a different neighbourhood with an angry man shouting at him. But Murli can’t understand him and just wants his mother. The angry man grudgingly sets out to take him back home.
Written and Directed by Pallavi MD and Shamik Sen Gupta
Cinematography by Jigmet Wangchuk
Colour by Naveen Shetty
Cast:
Amjad Prawej
Charan CS
Sithara Tara
Master Likhit
Gowri Dattu
MD Pallavi
Rajshekhar Nilogallmatt
Awards:
Gold, IFVA Festival, Hong Kong
Gold, IFFLA, Los Angeles
Shown at
21st IFVA Awards, Hong Kong Arts Center, 2016
13th Asian 3rd Eye Film Festival, Mumbai, 2015
MIFF Prism, Mumbai International Film Festival, 2016
Kameleon International Film Festival, Pondicherry, 2016
Goldensun Short Film Festival, Malta, 2015
Bangalore International Short Film Festival, 2015
Pune International Short Film Festival, 2015
Play
C sharp C Blunt
Devised solo performance
Performer MD Pallavi
Director Sophia Stepf
Text collaborators Swar Thounaojam, Irawati Karnik
Assistant Director Rituparna Bhattacharya
Live Sound Nikhil Nagaraj
Light Design Muhammad Mustafa A & Niranjan Gokhale
Production Management: Veena Appiah
Photography and Design: Shamik Sen Gupta, Mike Wilfling, Amit Bansal, Arjun
Current production partners: Sandbox Entertainment
This Indo-German collaboration explores the realms of digital dramaturgy, repetition and user choices to create a new hybrid form of theatre-meets-performance art.
Press:
"Since the female body will continue to be saleable for as long as we live in a society governed by male heterosexual norms, a play such as C Sharp C Blunt can be assured of eternal relevance. (...) “Kudos” is what I would have told the director Sophia Stepf if it hadn’t been on my personal list of ugly-sounding words. She has extracted a sparkling performance from Pallavi: a sweeping range of modulation in voice, impeccable timing so crucial for humour, and finely calibrated movements and moods. Anger peaks but doesn’t get out of hand; seriousness momentarily tips over into lightness or sarcasm and returns."
(The Hindu)
„We are cyborgs of a sort: our perceptions and constructs are derived from a social reality. Is this some sort of hidden curriculum? Are we programmed to think and act the way we do towards women – an objectified entity that belongs in the kitchen, and is typically understood within the realms of the male gaze? Just as you begin to ponder the answers to these questions, questions that will inevitably play on loop as Pallavi effortlessly drags you further and further into her portrayals, you realize your only escape is a bloodcurdling scream. A scream that shatters, and changes the way you think.“
(Explocity, april 2013)
Sophia and the team that has developed with her the script have done more than just being unique with this devised and improvised production. The play is a complex of the question of female agency over body and artistic expression as also the context of patriarchy which, against the background of the public outrage over rape and molestation of women in the country, creates just the right tension for the performance. And Pallavi brings off a tour de force, using all her virtuosity in singing and acting, mixed with an alive and active conscience grappling with the gender question, the public space without and the private one within. She beckons with her microphone held out, inviting us to speak, encouraging us to spill out our prejudices (speaking, of course, for men) and daring us to stare.“
(Bangalore Mirror, 21.4.13)
Play
BOY WITH A SUITCASE
A joint production by Rangashankara, Bangalore and Schnawwl, Mannheim, Germany
Written by Mike Kenny
Directed by Andrea Gronemeyyer
Dramaturgy by Sophia Stepf and Kirtana Kumar
Music by Cordte Like, Konarak Reddy and Pallavi MD
Costumes by Eva Roos and Amba Sanyal
Set design by Christian Thurm
Set execution in India: Shridhar Murthy
Cast:
David Benito Garcia, B.V. Shrunga, Nikolai Jegorow, Coordt Linke, M.D. Pallavi, Simone Oswald, and Konarak Reddy
“Do I know U?” is an Indo-German theatre partnership between Ranga Shankara and Schnawwl-National Theater in Mannheim, Germany. In workshops, guest performances, exchange of artistic staff think-tanks and the co-production Boy with a Suitcase, the artistes of the two theatres met over a period of two years to enrich each otherʼs theatre practice with skills, to deepen dialogue on theatre for young audiences in a culturally diverse environment and to introduce new aesthetics to artistes and audiences alike.
As the final highlight of the partnership, Boy with a Suitcase was rehearsed in Bangalore and Mannheim, where it opened on 10 Apr 2011. The play has since seen more than 100 shows in India and Europe, having garnered critical and audience appreciation in all the festivals it has been invited to.
Collaboration
Concert series
Musical Collaboration with Andi Otto
Andi Otto is a composer and performer of electronic music from Hamburg. Pallavi and Andi have collaborated on musical albums (Bangalore Whispers, Via, Sowers and Reapers) and have performed in India, Germany and Japan with their duo presentation that is an audio visual performance of gesture music.
Film
Bookshelves at 17000 feet
A documentary film about Ladakh's remote village schools, the children studying there and an NGO, 17000 ftFoundation, that's building libraries in these schools.
Sweet Spot Media started collaborating with 17000 ft Foundation in November, 2012. We travelled with 17000 ft through five remote villages in Ladakh. In Tukla, Puga, Hanle, Mudh and Skidmang - all scattered over distant stretches of Nyoma block and documented the setting up of libraries for the season.
Produced by Sweet Spot Media in association with 17000 Ft Foundation
Cinematography, Script: Shamik Sen Gupta
Edit, Voice Over: Pallavi MD
Sound: Pramath Kiran
Colour: Avishek Ghosh
Concert Series
Collaboration
Performance Art+
Music+Video
A musical collaboration with Quartett Plus 1 on a tribute concert to Michael Jackson
This string quartet develops unprecedented perspectives, never seen before, on the music of one of the greatest pop stars of all time. Quartett PLUS 1 plays the expanded six movements of the "American Jesus Suite" (music score by Stefan Wurz) live, in the middle of an interactive installation consisting of video vocals. The staging creates a new form of pop-cultural chamber music full of hook lines and deceptions.
Video Shot and directed by Sophia Stepf and Konradin Kuntz
Film
GULABI TALKIES
Feature Film
Direction: Girish Kasaravalli
Based on a short story by Vaidehee
The film premiered at the Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema in New Delhi on 14 July 2008
The film is set in the late 1990s among the fishing communities around Kundapura, in the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka. The impulsive midwife Gulabi (Umashree) is the protagonist, whose one passion is the cinema. She leads a lonely life in an island inhabited by fisher folk. Her husband Musa (K.G. Krishna Murthy), a small-time fish-selling agent, has deserted her and is living happily with his second wife Kunjipathu and their child Adda.
A family gifts her a television with a satellite dish antenna in gratitude after she attends to a difficult delivery (for which they even had to bodily remove her from a movie theatre). The arrival of the first color TV in her small island village heralds great changes in the sleepy hamlet. The women in the village begin gathering at her house once the men leave for fishing. However, a few of them stay away, since Gulabi is one of the few Muslims in the village. Yet others prefer to watch from outside her shack, without entering it.
Among the regulars at her home is Netru (M.D. Pallavi), a girl with an absentee husband and a domineering mother-in-law, whom Gulabi befriends and becomes a confidante to. But Netru disappears and Gulabi is blamed, leaving her all alone in the village.
The Kargil war of 1999 and the rise of communalism in Karnataka provide the backdrop to the film. The communal stereotyping of Muslims following the Kargil War finds an echo in the village. The tension between the small fishermen of the village and a Muslim businessman (who is actually never shown throughout the film) with a growing fleet of commercial trawlers acquires a communal color.
The disappearance of Netru adds to the mounting tensions. The Muslims in the village flee and urge Gulabi to leave too, but she refuses and stays put in the village. Her house is vandalized and she is forcibly taken to a boat to leave the island. The young men from outside who spearhead the attack assure the villagers that Gulabi's television would remain in her house.
The film ends with a scene in which two illiterate elderly women, who had hitherto refused to enter Gulabi's house, going in there to watch TV (which they do not know how to switch on - they are probably unaware even that it has to be switched on)
Awards:
Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema, 2008 - Best Film and Best Actress (Umashree)
Karnataka State Film Awards, 2007-08 - Best Film, Best Screenplay (Girish Kasaravalli) and Best Actress (Umashree)
57th National Film Awards - Best Actress (Umashree) and Best Feature film in Kannada
Film
STUMBLE
Feature film
Directed by Prakash Belawadi
Stumble depicts the new economy, the dot-com bust, stock market scams, mutual funds, and voluntary retirement.
"Madhu, in Bangalore and her brother Uday, in America get laid off simultaneously and ponder their next career move. Their careers collide in a dizzying maelstrom of political corruption, business fraud and failed familial expectations. This film glimpses the complex ramifications of the rise and `stumble' of the IT industry in Bangalore. It reveals the insidious nexus of state politics with global capital and traces the seemingly disparate relationship that the software industry has upon mutual fund schemes. Stumble teases out the inter-dependence of the co-operative bank sector and the liberalized economy. Consequently, the film explores the clandestine ways in which the most vulnerable sections of society - in this case, rural farmers - nourish the richest and most powerful people in the world. A failing software concern reinvents itself as a call center - where again third world labor, in borrowed accents, services the first world consumer. Prakash Belawadi, the director, weaves these details into his narrative through an ironic critique. Belawadi clearly reveals the saturation of transnational capital, commodities, images, ideas, information and people in his (and my) beloved Bangalore. This unique moment in the city's life captures the exuberance of a newly emergent middle class. But while many things have changed, many others stay the same. Madhu does not travel to the U.S. with the same ease as her brother. The color of her skin darkens her marriage prospects. The mere presence of a white man bolsters the confidence and diminishing morale of local bank officials. Stumble finishes the story that Bugaboo (1999) started a few years ago. Set in Silicon Valley, Bugaboo chronicles the boom of the dotcom era, seen through the eyes of a skeptical Indian software engineer. What happens when that software engineer gets laid off and scrambles B2B (back to Bangalore) after his American dream failed to deliver? While Belawadi responds to that question, he also poses several others. The film is eminently watchable, especially for the performances of Ashok Mandanna, Anant Nag and Suhasini. While it falters in technique and script, the spirit of the film does not stumble."
Premiere at Mumbai International Film Festival
Award: Indian National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English in 2003
Play
MATINEE HORROR
A devised Kannada play
Directed by Pallavi MD
Performed by students of Abhinaya Taranga
Set and Properties by Swetha Shashank
Design: Arun Murthy
Execution: Rajnikanth
‘Mass films’ is a unique terminology that is used only in India. It suggests the opposite of
‘class films’ (another terminology that is used to describe films that require the audiences
to use their brains and think after having seen the film). Mass films are supposed to be
high on entertainment and low on intelligence.These films employ hyper sexual,
hyper violent and hyper-sentimental storylines and are the kind of films that have
been making money at the box office.
Matinee Horror is an inquiry into the aesthetics of ‘mass’ Kannada films.