‘Learning Urdu has opened up a whole new world for me’
Titas Chowdhury C
Awhile agoago, Amruta Subhash enrolled for a seven day online Urdu class to make productive use of the lockdown. Talking about it, she shares, “I came to know that Om Bhutkar, a Marathi actor and my friend, has started an online Urdu learning course. c He regularly holds Sukhan, a programme on Urdu shayaari. I enrolled myself for the course and got the opportunity o to read some beautiful shayaris. I’ve learnt so many new words in Urdu.”
She believes that the experience e is helping her appreciate art more than ever. “Earlier, when I used to listen to ghazals, I would concentrate only on the music but now I focus on the lyrics equally. The course has opened up a whole new world for me,” she says.
Subhash says that she attributes her love for the language to Gulzar who she worked with in the television show, Tehreer... Munshi
Premchand
Ki. She says, “He had adapted writer Premchand’s novel, Nirmala, for Doordarshan, and directed me in the show. He had told me back then that he wanted to translate one of Kusumagraj’s
(late poet) works from Marathi to Urdu. Together, we started working on it and those were really magical days of my life.”
She adds, “Gulzar saab, at that time, had told me to learn Urdu. I was too busy then and I never got the chance. He used to speak to me in Urdu sometimes and I would keep asking him the meaning of the words he used.”
The Gully Boy (2018) actor recently took to social media to read a chapter from her book
With social distancing being need of the hour, virtual concerts have become the latest trend. And singer Richa Sharma is all for it, but she says that such concerts should not be held for free. Right from the legendary Asha Bhosle to Grammy winner Ricky Kej and the prolific Shreya Ghoshal, every singer seems to be boarding the
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Ek Ulat Ek Sulat. She says that though she’s planning to translate it to English, she’s overwhelmed by an “atmosphere of worry and uncertainty”. She says, “When I read a chapter from my book, my non-Marathi audience requested me to translate the book. I’ve a lot of free time now and I want to write but I’m not being able to. One needs peace while writing. I end up writing more when I’m busy.” virtual concert bandwagon, but not all the artistes get paid for singing live from their homes. “If times like these go on for long, then there is no other option (but virtual concerts). We have to go with the flow. The only thing is that people need to understand is that artistes also have to pay their bills,” Richa says.
Melissa McBride: