Prakruti Bhatt's Assignments

How is a writer or an artist recognized and understood by the society or nation? People critique a writer for the conflicting matters included in his/her work. Girish Karnad, a significant figure in Indian literary tradition, as well as in the nation's politics; passed away on 10th June 2019. And people's, especially media's reactions were varied. Some celebrated the death of an Urban Naxal while some mourned the death of a versatile artist, playwright, and actor. The reason why he faced criticism even at his death was because he raised his voice against religious fundamentalism and strongly advocated freedom of expression. This controversy clearly reflects how hypocritical society is even in today's time. It praises a writer if he/she stays obedient to its ideologies and never questions them; while it condemns the same person if that doesn't happen. Literature, we all know would always stand against the authoritative majority. There is no established truth in lite...

The Modern Times: Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford, Chester Conklin Director: Charlie Chaplin Review: Often considered a one of the many acclaimed works of Chaplin, the modern times captures the struggles of a tramp, in a modern industrialized world. Chaplin with his amazing sense of humour satirizes the inequalities and injustices prevailing in the modern institutions."The film is a comment on the desperate employment and financial conditions many people faced during the Great Depression, conditions created in Chaplin's view by the efficiencies of modern industrialization." To read the plot of the movie click here. The Great Dictator: Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Henry Daniell, Reginald Gardiner, Billy Gilbert, Maurice Moscovich Director: Charlie Chaplin Review: The film presents Chaplin as, as both a 'ruthless fascist dictator' as well as a 'persecuted Jewish barber'. As i...

Literature has always dealt with the present and past in its own unique way. It looks towards the pastness and often asks for its help for a present situation. Thus,  we are reminded of Eliot's historical sense i.e. pastness of the past and its present whenever a writer deals with the past. Vinod Joshi's Sairandhri is a reworking of the character from Mahabharata with a motive to give voice to this 'lost identity' as the poet himself stated in his interview with SBS Gujarati radio. Mahabharata's Draupadi is known to many, but Sairandhri still remains as a vague memory. Draupadi assumes the role of a maid (Sairandhri) for the queen Sudeshna during the Pandavas' year of disguised exile in the palace of the Matsya king, Virata. The poet states that his Sairandhri is different from Draupadi. She's someone who had to lose her identity of a queen and had to turn into a maid because of her fate. Everyday she compromises with her own identity, in order to hold on t...

Post colonialism looks into those unheard voices of colonial history that were curbed because of the biased historical sense. Films on colonialism either deal with the lost cultures of the colonized as well as how the changes in the imperial power in the political scenario. Shashi Tharoor in his An Era of Darkness, looks back at the colonial history of India and argues, to a great extent, that India could have been a better nation if it wouldn't have been colonized by the British. His way of arguing is what makes his arguments credible and notable to think about. He mentions the deteriorating economical effect the British imperialism had on the nation. He mentions such conflicts of colonial history out of which the nation hasn't been able to rise, even today.  Revisiting the colonial history, is also a common trend among the media and entertainment industry these days. Two glaring examples of this can be The Black Prince and Victoria and Abdul. Both the movies, released in 2...

The three day session with Professor Balaji sir, was an insightful experience. From the discussions on the curricular texts to one on the innovations in the field of literary research, his guidance helped the students to rethink and reconsider their ideas on these matters. His archivist mindset helped the students to connect the post colonial conflicts and arguments to various incidents in history as well as in contemporary times. His teaching method kept the class attentive and active throughout the session. Many misconceptions regarding postcolonial studies were clarified. The session began with an explanation and discussion on how colonialism and imperialism were distinct terms and how they function in the postcolonial discourse. This later moved on to the sequential discussion on the curricular texts which include: 1) Frantz Fanon's Black Skin White Masks 2) Edward Said's Orientalism 3) Aime Cesaire's A Tempest 4) Salman Rushdie's Imaginary Homelands

Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement during the 19th century. Its focus was on individuality; which was based on the belief that humans were essentially good and that anything natural was good. The movement developed as a part of the European Romanticism. How much did the ideas of transcendentalism affected Hawthorne?-------- is a question which has been already answered by history. However, how far is his Scarlet Letter transcendentalist in its form or aspect?-- is being debated even today. One observation can be that, considering the author's association with the movement in its early stages, the novel does reflect some elements of the philosophy. However, to call the novel completely a transcendentalist text would be a matter of question. Hawthorne portrays a sort of tension between the Puritan society and the transcendentalist views."Forest and rosebush represent the good and evil sides of nature. And Hawthorne thought that transcendentalism was too optimistic...

Youth festivals are mediums to celebrate the young talent and energy. This year's youth festival of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University was called Rangmohan; celebrating the two Mohans of Indian culture, i.e. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Lord Krishna. The festival was full of a varied range of events; ranging from literary events to cultural and fine art events. Being participant of this festival I learnt many things, apart from the obvious skill of dealing with people; which is by far has proved to be toughest job for me! Anyways, moving to the events, I wasn't able to witness as many performances as are required for writing this blog; for instance, unfortunately I wasn't able to attend any dramatic performances, However, that isn't going to be an excuse for not writing about the dramatic events; since I was there for the practice session of one of them😅 Considering the fact that Gandhi used to fight for the contemporary social issues of his time; the ...