Ace Director Raman Kumar brings together Sudha Chandran-Riddhima Rakesh Bedi with veterans and youngsters in DS Pahwa's play 'Kucch Meetha Ho Jaye'

DS Pahwa, Harshita Shukla, Poojaa Raajput, Avtar Gill,
Paintal, Sudha Chandran, Ridhima Bedi, Ravi Gossain & Raman Kumar
at the rehearsals of play Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye to be staged on 31st March

Producer DS Pahwa, known for his classy yet contagious plays, is back with his next mega-production, Kuchh Meetha Ho Jaye, an emotional rollercoaster, directed by Raman Kumar. Starring Sudha Chandran and Riddhima Rakesh Bedi as the mother and daughter duo with Paintal, Avtar Gill, Ravi Gossain, Poojaa Raajput and Harshita Shukla among others, Kuchh Meetha Ho Jaye is a play about relationships and memories. “A play dealing with a sweet relationship gone sour,” divulged Producer DS Pahwa.

Ace director Raman Kumar averred, “It is a play about the emotional turmoil between a mother and a daughter. What can happen if a daughter hates her mother, or worse if, she believes that her mother is the reason for her father’s death.”

The cast and crew of the play Kuchh Meetha Ho Jaye were spotted rehearsing at Kent Star Rehearsal Hall, Veera Desai Road. The play is scheduled to embark on a tour on March 31st, 8pm at Rang Sharda, Bandra, followed by April 12 at Royal Opera House, 6.30 pm among other cities.

Avtar Gill plays Dinesh Kumar alias DK, who is a friend to Sudha Chandran’s on-screen character, Sagarika. Paintal plays the role of a loyalist who accompanies Sudha’s Sagarika as a Tabla player whereas Ravi Gossain plays Reema’s (Ridhima Bedi) husband. Ridhima portrays Sagarika’s daughter who blames her mother on her father’s alcoholism, eventually dying an untimely and unnatural death.

DS Pahwa’s association with the Indian entertainment industry goes back to the 70s, where from running a cinema hall in Delhi, he has distributed over 40 Hindi films. Beside film distribution, DS Pahwa has produced several critically acclaimed plays with numerous Bollywood personalities. “It's a play on relationships by master director Raman Kumar. The cast is simply perfect. And the rehearsals are shaping up very well,” concluded DS Pahwa.

Education, Empowerment and Environment mark Smita Thackeray’s Women’s Day Pledge

Dr.Vishwanath Prabhu and Smita Thackeray
 at Mukkti Foundation & Personify's #PledgeToRise event

Power Woman and Social Activist Smita Thackeray was the Chief Guest at a women’s day soiree, aptly titled #PlegdeToRise, organized at the Mercedes Benz showroom in Andheri West, by Personify, in association with Mukkti Foundation, of which Smita is the Founder. It was a simple yet powerful event that saw participation by women of all classes and age groups. Highlighting the three facets: Empowerment, Education and the Environment, Smita Thackeray motivated the women to take a pledge to rise in a category of their choice whilst Dr. Vishwanath Prabhu patiently took to answering all their health-related queries.

Not just this Women’s Day but Smita Thackeray and her non-profit organization Mukkti have always been in the forefront when it comes to issues relating to women safety and empowerment. The path-breaking initiatives previously undertaken by them in the sphere include, a Yoga workshop for women at the Thane prison; the deployment of Me Mukkti Marshals. Not just this, post the plastic ban by the Indian Government, Mukkti Foundation set up workshops where impoverished women used sewing machines to make cloth bags, cushion covers, sling bags, coasters et al among many other things, thus seeking them employment. The organization has also, relentlessly worked, over the last two decades, achieving global recognition by the World Health Organization (WHO), for their work in the field of HIV-AIDS among other spheres like Healthcare, Education, Women Empowerment et al, thus bringing about positive a change in society. Mukkti Foundation’s battle against HIV/AIDS is known to all - a recent LGBTQ+ freedom parade for HIV awareness, supported by Sunny Leone, the I-Pledge campaign with John Abraham as brand ambassador, road shows, celeb driven fundraising concerts are some of the efforts taken in this space. Having provided financial assistance & donated automation products to Helen Keller’s Institute, Mukkti Foundation has also lent support to the activities of the spastic society. The foundation has also worked towards environment protection and welfare among other things.

“I try my best to maintain a consistent and stubborn drive for helping other women with the hopes that it encourages everyone around me to work on ensuring the success in our efforts towards helping the society. This International Women’s Day, I take a pledge to help more women in their journey of empowerment because after fighting alone to stand my ground, I believe equality is the best answer our society has for the hope of progress.”, averred Smita Thackeray.

Interestingly, a young boy, Tanmay Kanthe, backed by Mukkti Foundation, whose mother suffered from arthritis, launched his product that he has conceptualized along with his friend, Shivam Trivedi. The product called HAPPEE is a female urination funnel that allows women, who suffer from acute medical conditions or women who are pregnant, to stand and urinate. Invariably, women can also use the product in stead of opting for dirty public toilets, thus helping them from contracting UTI and skin infections.

Why this event a day after the official International Women’s Day… Tarveen Kaur of Personify, sums up, “Isn’t it Women’s Day every day?”

Kudos to such initiatives! 

Lokatantra Heralds The Age Of Digital Democracy

Mohit Bharatiya, Jayantrao Patil, Tannisha Avarrsekar and Satyajeet Tambe Patil
at the launch of Lokatantra.in 

So you feel like it’s an arduous task to get yourself registered in the voter roll? To find out which constituency you belong to? Or which candidates you can and should vote for? Well, not anymore...

Welcome to Lokatantra, a digital platform available in the App Store and Play Store that connects leaders and citizens, and answers all your voting related how, when, where and who questions. With no affiliations to any party, person or ideology, Lokatantra brings you honest and unbiased information to help you make the most of your right to vote.

This one-stop solution to cater to every Mumbaikars' voting needs this election season, is the brainchild of Tannisha Avarrsekar, an elected Associate of King’s College London with a degree in English and Politics. The platform streamlines the communication process between the governed and their governors by creating an interactive platform where both can learn more about each other. Users can avail a range of services such as a factchecker, interviews and the ability to both rate and ask any candidate a question.

Lokatantra empowers the voters of India- the world’s largest democracy, with extensive and detailed information about their candidates and the voting process, verifies its authenticity and then organises it in a manner which makes it quick and easy to understand. On the flip side, it also collects data on citizens’ opinions on key issues through polls and surveys, and then analyses and publishes the results, to aid in the decision-making process of leaders.

The USP of the platform is a quiz that asks users 25-30 questions, regarding their opinions on political, social and economic topics that affect voting behaviour, and allows them to rate the importance of each issue to them. Based on their answers, an algorithm matches them to the candidates from their constituency whose opinions are most similar to theirs. The same questions are asked to announced candidates, and their answers captured in a video interview, to maintain the transparency and integrity of the process.

“I wanted to create a platform where voters could tell their leaders what they want accomplished, as well as one where the existing accomplishments of politicians, especially independents and young newcomers could be recognised.” says Tannisha Avarrsekar, CEO & Editor-in-Chief of Lokatantra.

Suryadeep Malhotra, Head of Marketing at Lokatantra adds “To begin with we will be launching Lokatantra only for Mumbai and its 6 constituencies – Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai North, Mumbai North East and Mumbai North West. But we are aiming to roll out our services for all of Maharashtra before the upcoming Vidhan Sabha election.”

Why the need for Lokatantra? “The number of registered voters in the age bracket of 18-25 years in Mumbai city is 5,93,105 only. That is a staggering low, considering the actual number of citizens in that age bracket. The only way we can hold our leaders accountable, is if we are accountable for our own votes. This is a youth initiative to make Mumbaikars more aware and engaged as citizens,” avers Avarrsekar.

Present were politicos and youth leaders of the likes of Jayantrao Patil, Prasad Lad, Satyajeet Tambe Patil, Mohit Bharatiya among others, who lauded Tannisha Avarrsekar and her team’s initiative.

More power to Lokatantra, that heralds the arrival of youth empowerment through digital democracy.

Website: www.lokatantra.in

Instagram: lokatantra.in

Facebook: Lokatantra

Twitter: digilokatantra

(Available on App Store and Play Store)