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Formulating new cultural policy to transform societal mindset by fighting hatred and violence

New cultural Policy to bring a social change


Art is powerful: it can reassure, soothe, inspire and educate us- just for starters. Traditional and cultural art forms, passed down through generations, have always held a mirror to the world, reflecting the life around us, arguably questioning the various reforms and mindsets of the society in general and eventually healing the cracks and wounds.


The first virtual meeting of the Delhi Cultural Policy Advisory Committee was held on Monday, November 16, 2020 chaired by the deputy chief minister Manish Sisodiya. Also attended by several reputed dignitaries, including actor Manoj Bajpayee and Javed Jaffrey,  Art and Policy expert Pooja Sood, JNU's School of Arts and Aesthetics Professor, Ira Bhaskar, Principal of Delhi College of Art, Ashwini Kumar, social activist Vineet Nagar, folk dancer Bina Vyas, music producer Breen Desai among the others, separate subcommittees were formed to draft policy on various specific issues formulating a comprehensive cultural policy to ensure a meaningful contribution of arts, culture, media and entertainment to bring a transformation in the social mindset.


This meeting is a welcome change and a development that was prayed for several years but was landing into deaf ears. The pleasant surprise is also the context with which the meet has been organized, as noted in a comment from Mr. Sisodia, where he was found saying that


Delhi belongs to everyone and it should reflect the diverse culture and tradition of the country as a whole through its art and culture. Looking at the recent events involving hatred and violence, he feels that a developed state of art and culture can improve the overall well being of the citizens and hence eventually reduce the violence. A very daring, intellectual and practical perspective for Delhi to witness from a political group.


A 15 member advisory committee will be presenting its report within the next two months in response to an order passed in September with a holistic cultural policy giving plethora of options to the regional people when it comes to the cultural events.


Manoj Bajpayee put forward his opinion of implementing theatre education to the children of the slums and offers to help them dream and join the mainstream.


Artists have brought about major changes in the past and today we expect a greater role from the people who represent this field”, Sisodia added. The new policies will help bring a change to people’s thinking and in turn create a better cultural environment.


The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has also played an instrumental role in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes pertaining to India’s external cultural relations over the recent past. In the current pandemic times also, ICCR has shown very active interest in pivoting from its age-old formats and indulging into modern approaches that can further help in strengthening cultural relations between India and other countries through India’s art and culture. The Ministry of culture, along with other affiliated cultural bodies would both benefit from Sisodia’s initiative for art and culture and also be able to do more impactful work with their expertise into the subject.  


Performing artists and organizations working towards strengthening art and culture should keep a watch for the new cultural policy coming from Mr. Sisodia’s office in the capital city, Delhi.

Other posts from Anish Parmarthi

Celebrity Artists in India too are Earning Triple through Blockchain powered NFTs
Anish Parmarthi Added 2 years ago

- Written by Aparajita Dey


It is evident that Blockchain technology has a disruptive presence in global technology. The fact that the system of Blockchain, which was primarily used to enable Bitcoin transactions, is now being implemented in other domains of the digital ecosystem, is a testimony to the fact that Blockchain is going to be a force to reckon with.


In India alone, 56% of Indian businesses are moving towards blockchain technology, weaving it deep into the fabric of their transactions. Most of the adoption seems to be coming from the banking and financial sector, but the fact that the Indian Government itself is making use of this technology for land title registry, vehicle lifecycle management, farm insurance, and electronic health record management, spells out a golden future of blockchain technology, especially in the industry that needs it the most…. The Indian creative industry.  


Yes! Blockchain technology is applicable even in the creative industry. With its cryptographic hashing and use of NFTs, blockchain can be used by creators to leverage their creations to their full monetary value. In other words, with this technology, creators can get paid every time their content is used by some other creator, without worrying about platforms eating up part of the earnings.


What are NFTs?


In simplest terms, an NFT is a digital art that holds a certain amount of value, and can be owned and collected by a person. Think of a digital drawing, or a GIF perhaps, that is one of a kind, and only you own it. You may not be able to hang it on a wall, but only you will have the original piece on your hard drive.



The picture above is also an NFT, a one-of-a-kind digital art piece. In due time, it will become a valuable piece of art. When it increases in value, you shall be able to sell it for its price in value, just like any other sale and purchase of historic artwork.


How big is the NFT market going?


Answering this question is like answering the Bigfoot question- is it or is it not really there? No one can say.


Some people think that NFT is the future of art collection, and it is going to get bigger. While others say that NFT has had its big boom already and is now over. It depends on which expert you ask.


What we can say for sure, is that NFT sale and collection is completely legitimate and people are actually buying and selling, for sure, including famous people.


In 2021, Musician Grimes sold around $6 million worth of digital artworks in an auction on Nifty Gateway. One of the main pieces of her collection (out of ten), fetched around $389,000 alone.


In another instance, the Founder of Twitter, Jack dorsey, sold one of his tweets for just under 3 million.


William Shatner has sold Shatner-themed trading cards (one of it is an X-ray of his teeth).


Someone bought the digital artwork of a cat named Dragon, with chestnut coloured eyes, and body of the color of cottoncandy, for $172,000.


Are there examples of Indian celebrities who have dabbled in NFT?


Many Indian celebrities are buying and selling NFTs now, including Bollywood Actors. Here are some examples of Big-League Bollywood celebs who have traded in NFTs.



  •   1.  Amitabha Bachchan


Amitabha Bachchan sold his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s poem 'Madhushala' in his own recorded voice as NFT Collectibles in November 2021. Another part of that same collection was his signed poster of Sholay.


  •   2. Salman Khan

In October 2021, the Dabangg actor teamed up with Bollycoin, a Bollywood NFT marketplace, to launch his NFT collection.  Through Bollycoin, he launched 200 NFTs based on his hit film Dabangg, 42 out of which were scenes from the film.


  •  3. Rajnikanth


In July 2021, Rajinikanth launched NFTs based on his 2007 Tamil action blockbuster film ‘Shivaji The Boss’. For this he partnered with Singapore-based NFT Marketplace Diginoor.io

This NFT collection featured 17 NFTs, which were immediately sold out.


  •  4. Kamal Haasan


Influenced by Amitabha Bachchan, South superstar Kamal Haasan, too, launched his NFT collection.

Kamal Haasan launched his NFTs through celebrity NFT platform Fantico. His NFT collection features 100 to 1000 NFTs based on movie posters, souvenirs, avatars of his film and persona.


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A R Rahman is all set to join Team Le Musk on the Cannes Red Carpet as part of the Indian delegation.
Anish Parmarthi Added 2 years ago

23 May, 2022:


AR Rahman, the Indian Icon who has scored not only some 500-1000 movies like Slumdog Millionaire , 2.0, and Tamasha, but also captured the hearts of millions of people with his versatility in the regional musical traditions of India. 


The acclaimed music composer and recipient of several international awards is all set to walk the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival for his Directorial debut, Le Musk. Rahman joined the Indian delegation at Cannes alongside Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur.

 

The maestro’s directorial debut Le Musk, screened at Cannes XR, in convergence with Marché du Film, as part of the 75th Cannes Film Festival.

Rahman was accompanied by other cast and crew members, Guy Burnet, who plays a guitarist in Le Musk, and Ravindra Velhal, an executive producer and VR technology director for Le Musk.


Le Musk is all set to hit the screens soon. With cinematic surrealism, this film will be a showcase of the union of technology and cinema. Several other big artists like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Mame Khan and Ricky Kej also joined the delegation.


After a long and incredibly successful journey as a musical maestro, A. R. Rahman has ventured into direction with Le Musk, a film of an enchanting essence and fresh perspective to it. 


Rahman walked the red carpet with British actor Burnet, who has carved a niche market for himself, with films such as Mortdecai and Pitch Perfect 3 and television shows such as The Feed and Ray Donavan. Velhal, who also walked the red carpet alongside Rahman, has the expertise of two decades in technology due to his stint with Intel. He has also mastered cinematography in Hollywood with films like Spider-Man: Far From Home, Dunkirk, Save Every Breath and FirstMan.


Le Musk is a tribute to the musical genius of and footprints in cinema left by A. R. Rahman. 

Through the eyes of Le Musk, a completely new angle of cinematography is being explored with VR and realistic narration. The film was screened at Cannes XR on the 20th of May, 2022. 



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11 year old Nishaad Shah's debut album wins Grammy
Anish Parmarthi Added 2 years ago

Wednesday, May 25, 2022: 


New York-based Indian singer Falguni Shah, known by her stage name Falu, won a Grammy Award for her soulful album 'A Colorful World' in the best children's album category. Her own son, Nishaad Shah, was a part of this album and was also present at the event. The eleven year old was very proud of his mother and himself for winning this award but at the same time he was nervous as well. 


While this Grammy is special for many reasons to the Shah family, it marks a beautiful milestone for various cultures within the US. The album has found an audience in everyone from an immigrant Gujarati household in Jersey City to a mixed-race Puerto Rican home in Harlem. The album and the family have received a lot of love from everywhere around the world, especially from proud Indians. 


Nishaad reveals that he was extremely anxious to go on the stage, even worrying about accidentally dropping the trophy. However, he was also very excited to receive the honour. He aims to become an astronaut when he grows up, while pursuing music as a hobby as well, just like his dad. The 11 year old Beatles fan also derives inspiration from Lady Gaga and Olivia Rodrigo. He revealed he was looking forward to both his mother’s and Lady Gaga's performance at the Grammys. He considers Music the food of his soul and never wants to give up on it, even amidst his space aspirations. 


Having worked hard to juggle both studies and his passion for music, one advice that Nishaad shared with his fellow kids is "Try your best and never give up on your dreams''. He says the balance is mostly fine but sometimes it can get hard to practice during weekdays due to school work. However, he makes sure he practises his music on the weekends. 


Nishaad’s mother encouraged him to do a mini chilla where he sat in one place and sang one raga (yaman) for four hours continuously for forty days during the previous summer. It was a very different experience for him as he had to learn how to concentrate on one scale and improve on it for four continuous hours. After doing chilla he realised that he was able to apply that level of focus in school too, motivating him to work harder. 




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