09 October,2026 08:06 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Ashish Raje
Ahead of Navratri, an artist adds final touches to an idol of Goddess Durga at a workshop in Chinchpokli.
Leonardo Da Vinci once said, "A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not," and calligraphy artist Achyut Palav agrees to the statement when it comes to legendary actor Nana Patekar. "Apart from Nana being a celebrated actor, our relationship bloomed over the love of art. As we attended the same college (Sir JJ School of Art), to me he was a calligrapher, artist, and a true supporter of my work. The signature was my way to honour his legacy the way he would like it, through art." said Palav reminiscing the actor on his day of passing.
Food journalist and author Kunal Vijayakar was among those shocked by the news of Nana Patekar's passing. Recalling their friendship, he told this diarist, "We bonded over three things: food, especially while working on, the movie, Ab Tak Chhappan (2004), our love for Marathi theatre, and being alumni of the same college (Sir JJ School of Art)."
Despite Patekar's stoic demeanour, Vijayakar remembers him as "unbelievably funny and extremely warm." He adds, "He would cook excellent Mutton and Rushichi Bhaji, usually prepared on Rishi Panchami, which falls on the second day of Ganesh Chaturthi."
With November less than a month away, theatre-goers, fanatics and artistes in the city know what time it is. The Prithvi Festival returns from November 1 to 16, marking its fifth decade, with a line-up that includes 27 Seconds by Motley, Swanand Kirkire's musical Yo Brother, This is 95, Everything We Forgot To Say with Lillete Dubey, and the Tibetan production Phayul, written by Abhishek Majumdar and Tibetan playwright Tashi Wangchuk, among others.
Kunal Kapoor, trustee of Prithvi Theatre, reflected on the festival, "Since the first festival in 1983, the team has worked hard to keep this tradition alive. With the support of the theatre fraternity and audience, the festival carries on into its fifth decade."
Kiran Rao and Sarnath Banerjee opened up proceedings nicely. Both admitted that the session felt like being at a picnic, an on-stage adda, reminding us of their common Kolkata roots. By then, Imaad Shah's first set had already wowed the audience. A sensitive, humour-tinted narrative, aided by Banerjee's panels in Absolute Jafar (HarperCollins) was splashed on screen to an evocative background score (complete with live actors on stage for added effect). We were in for an immersive storytelling experience for the graphic novel's launch at the historic Royal Opera House.
The evening adda organically moved from discussing its plot, to Rao and Banerjee, sharing lessons from raising opinionated, bright children, to a tongue-in-cheek look at societal woes, and the importance of recording emotional history. In between guffaws and applause from an attentive audience, he patiently took questions about his craft and the status of the graphic novel in India (not without taking pot-shots at a few mainstream authors!) in his no-fuss approach, his dry humour, intact. Rao played incisive moderator throughout, juggling between a timely subject and a gifted author. In the audience were Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak-Shah, who would've smiled at their son's brilliant stage work, lending voice and tonality to bring the book to life. Jafar would have been thrilled about being in the limelight, we think.
