Chennai: It was an event to trace the five-decade-old journey of director K. Balachander, who turned 80 on Friday. The film fraternity hailed his contribution to Tamil cinema and theatre and his penchant for perfection.

Actor Sivakumar extolled the director’s eye for detail. He recalled the instance when he had to grapple with high tides when he sat on the rocks at the Visakhapatnam beach during the shoot for ‘Sindhu Bhairavi.’ “Nothing would deter KB [Balachander] from extracting the best out of the actors. He would ask us to get ready for a retake even if he finds a slightest slip in our performance.”

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Dr. S.A.K. Durga’s Sareera Sadhana, a DVD that presents a model workshop on voice training for Carnatic music was released this past Friday, at the Raga Sudha Hall, Mylapore. In her speech on the role of Sadhana, Dr. Durga emphasised the importance of voice training for musicians. “Voice training has become imperative in the current scenario where time is a key factor—it helps voice flexibility and ensures both sruti and swara suddham,” she asserted.

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“Pramanam” a unique audio-CD having 12 songs of the Trinity was brought out by R. Vedavalli. N. Murali, Senior Managing Director, Kasturi and Sons, and president, Music Academy, released the CD, the first copy of which was received by Umayalpuram Sivaraman. Vedavalli, T.M Krishna and D.R. Santhanam, Senior Member, the Music Academy, were also present on this occasion. K.S. Sudhakar of Swathi Soft Solutions welcomed the invitees and said that it was a great honour to be associated with a project that was invaluable to the community of musicians.

Calling Vedavalli a matchless vidushi, Mr. Murali said she was holding aloft a tradition of unwavering adherence to sampradaya. Umayalpuram Sivaraman mentioned that “Pramanam” meant taking an oath of allegiance and Vedavalli was an authority on many aspects of music. He also appreciated her boldness and was all praise for the way Vedavalli had prepared her disciples to make them render these kritis in its pristine form.

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Bharatham Mahabhaaratham: Amba Shikhandi – Priya Murle DVD
Swathi Soft Solution; Rs. 350

This DVD is a thematic presentation of the story of Amba Shikhandi as it unfolds in Vyasa's epic with references from Villi Bharatham, Sekhizhar's Periya Puranam, Bharatiar's works and Dr. Mangai's Tamil play ‘Pani Thee.'

The concept is by Natya Rangam, with Prema Nandakumar providing research. The music is by Nandini Anand.

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