Art, culture, tradition, theatre, entertainment, spiritualism, environmentalism and more all merged in a perfect fusion across its multiple venues in Panaji on Day 5 of the ongoing interdisciplinary Serendipity Arts Festival (SAF) 2023.
Tuesday, a holiday due to Goa Liberation Day, offered more people a chance to mill around SAF 2023’s 12 venues in search of events or activities that piqued their interests.
Aditi Dandekar, general manager – marketing of Kokuyo Camlin Ltd, which is supporting SAF 2023’s children’s programmes with stationery, echoed this sentiment. “Serendipity Arts Festival does justice to all forms of Art. Every year, we see and learn something new. I am so happy that SAF is held annually and the team puts their hearts into making it successful year after year.”
At the Art Park, the theme of the project ‘Driving Climate Action Through Conscious Consumption’ was how to build an environmentally conscious consumer community in India. The session was anchored by Arundhati Kumar, creator of the plant-based accessories brand ‘Beej’ which champions climate action through the adoption of conscious fashion.
Kumar’s tone for her talk on sustainable lifestyle, as part of the Mercado (meaning ‘market’ in Portuguese), was light and engaging, an effective way to convey a message as serious as climate change.
The aromas of traditional Goan cooking wafted through the corridors of the Old GMC Complex, as visitors made their way to the ‘Goan Cooking Workshop’ at The Food Lab on Tuesday. The events related to Goan cuisine were curated by chef Thomas Zacharias and The Locavore Team. Crescy Baptista and Oliver Fernandes, co-founders of The Goan Kitchen and facilitators of the workshop, demystified the ingredients and techniques of local cuisine.
Spirits were high at the workshop on ‘Feni Deconstructed: A Sensory Experience’, also curated by chef Thomas and The Locavore Team. Hansel Vaz, founder of Cazulo Premium Feni, took his audience deeper into the world of feni (a local alcoholic beverage) as he exploded the myth that the cashew-based or coconut-based spirit has an unpleasant smell. He covered the liquor’s enchanting journey from the cashew apple orchards to a beautifully-evolved sprightly drink, imbued with flavours of spices, fruits and herbs, at the bhatti – a traditional Indian distillery.
A trip to SAF is never complete without a theatrical experience. The plays staged at the Festival are always meaningful and offer deep insights into the intrigues of life. On Tuesday, the thriller ‘07/07/07’, performed at The Theatre in the Old GMC Complex, narrated a chilling tale of a 19-year-old girl, Reyhaneh Jabbari, whose life goes destructively awry within two weeks of her joining work on July 7, 2007.
Directed by Faezeh Jalali, ‘07/07/07’ has won the Best Ensemble Award at the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards. It has been curated by Quasar Thakore Padamsee and brilliantly showcased through the performances of Lauren Robinson, Niharika Dutt, Nitya Mathur, Rohit Mehra, Ashiqa Salvan, Rytasha Rathore, Srishti Shrivastava, Suruchi Aulakh, Vvansh Sethi, Jeh Alexander and Akash Ghosalkar.
In the evening, The Arena at Nagalli Hills Ground was aflame with performances by South Indian artists, who paid a rich tribute to Mother Nature in all her forms or avatars. ‘Bards Of South’ was an amalgamation of traditional dance and musical arts from South India. It brought together the South Indian Art Forms of Yakshagana, Kathakali, Choliattam and Pandimelam to tell the riveting story of nature, in whose lap life begins and ends.
The dancers matched their steps to the beats of the musicians recreating the different moods of nature. By providing a platform to these performers, SAF 2023 has not only given them a chance to showcase their talent, but also attempted to breathe some life into these dying traditional art forms.
The ground throbbed with abundant energy as Kathakali artistes Adithyan ES, Vaisakh R, Mohandas V, Arunkumar VS, Praveen KP, Arun Raju and Midhun Murali took the stage. Yakshaganam artistes Shashikiran K and Sunil Bhaskara along with other talented performers also livened up the evening with their performances.
The evening climaxed with ‘A Score to Remember’, certainly memorable for its 15 to 20-strong orchestra performing a medley of iconic Hollywood and Bollywood scores from cult classics like ‘The Godfather’, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘Bombay’ and many more.
The 2023 edition of the Festival has several project and institutional partners, such as Institut Français (India), the British Council, Boxout, Japan Foundation, Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council, Sampad, Paper Boat Collective, Art South Asia Project, JCB Literature Foundation and more.
