This 26th January was the 75th anniversary of India’s Constitution. We decided to celebrate it and called it HOPE – Celebrating the 75th Year of India’s Constitution. Under this we conducted a series of Art Exhibitions, Film Shows, Music and Dance Performances, Talks and other events.
Art Exhibitions
We began with hosting the art exhibition Moments in Collapse organized by SAHMAT, curated by Gigi Skaria in collaboration from 14th April 24 and it went on till 14th Aug 24. A link to a video walkthrough of the exhibition is given below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHQccIGybKQ
We followed it up by an exhibition with SAHMAT – ‘Ishwar Allah Tero Naam’: in defense of our secular tradition; which started on the 2nd of October 2024.
“Art in the Indian Constitution”
A talk by Vinita Gursahani Singh was organized on 31st Jan on the book “Art in the Indian Constitution” brought out by We the People Abhiyaan.
For a full video exposition on the book please click on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u401150FL2k&t=632s
Film Shows – Flickers of HOPE
In the meantime, we launched the series “Flickers of HOPE” with the film by Yasmin Kidwai “F-i/misthaan” on 13th Aug 2024. This was a documentary on how Bollywood had made many films which were about India emerging as a newly independent nation.
This was followed by a two-day event on 23rd and 24th of August 2024, starting with a workshop for young film enthusiasts ‘Documentaries and Us’ and with the lecture and screenings by Meghnad Da and Tapan Bose da on the second day which included his experimental film ‘In Search of Ajantrik’.
We are screening the film Zabaan based on a story by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas titled ‘Darogha aur Ladki’ on the 9th of November and held a conversation with the team.
We are also screening the acclaimed filmmaker Anand Patwardhan’s ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ on the 26th November 2024.
Music, Dance, and other Performances
The theme of this series is an exploration of the classical musical forms of India with performing artists.
Watan Ki Raah Mein is a campaign to Safeguard the Constitution organised by various civil society organisations. They brought together an evening of musical performances on 19th May 2024.
On 27th September, the much-acclaimed performance of Gandhi Leela was organized at Jawahar Bhawan to a full house.
We hosted the famous comedian Anil Abraham for his hilarious show ‘Apna time Ayega’ on 16th November, 2024.
‘BuIbuI-e-Hind: The Poems of Sarojini Naidu’ – a presentation in recitation, song, dance and natya of a selection of poems by the iconic Freedom Fighter and poetess Sarojini Naidu is going to be performed on the 29th November 2024.
Workshops and other events related to the Constitution
Constitutional Values Training Program by Nagesh Jadhaw, Samvidhan Pracharak are being organized.
A workshop on Constitutionalism for Social Cohesion, is scheduled on Sunday, S Jan 2025 by Pratap Chandra Behra.
‘Hum Bharat Ke Log – 75 Years of Our Constitution: Theatre Empowering the Voices of the People!’ in Uttarakhand with Moazzam Ali, Rang Majma Cultural and Education Trust with the collaboration and support of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation successfully completed 40 shows of participatory theatre program.
Samvidhan Samvad: Celebrating 75 years of India’s Constitution
Taking this celebration further, we collaborate with We The People Abhiyan, who have previously worked with us on a few programs, most importantly, a video of the Preamble to the Constitution in Indian Sign Language.
We conducted a series of events promoting the participation of youth in dialogues around the constitution of India and bringing new interesting insights into it, we are calling this series Samvidhan Samvad.
Two events for the Youth – With Schools and Colleges, along with NGOs and AShA centres participating, were organised with We The People Abhiyan Team on the 30th and 31st of January, 2025.
