The venue was special. In 1929, Persian businessman Mirza Mohammed Ali Namazie commissioned the construction of a state-of-the-art, 1,600-seater theatre in Singapore, which was to become the finest, most sought-after cinema hall this side of the Suez, a ‘thing of romance’ as a newspaper article dubbed it. The same Mr Namazie was Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s host during his visits to Singapore. So when the Capitol Theatre opened its doors again after a 17 year hiatus and a multi-million dollar refurbishment, it had to be the venue of choice for India Conversations. The talks and performances on diverse topics helped spur follow-up discussions on urbanism, restoration, heritage, Tagore and Kolkata.
India Conversations, organised by The CHA Project in association with Kolkata Literary Meet, was sponsored by Singapore’s DBS Bank, Kolkata’s Highland Group and Biswa Bangla, among others.
Here’s a report in Connected to India – Javed Akhtar, Sharmila Tagore enthrall audiences.
