The Straits Times Blogs - Deepika Shetty

My brush with fame

2009-04-24T07:50:00Z

Deepika Shetty says she doesn't have the inside scoop on Kats and Akki, really.

I AM feeling a lot like director Priyadarshan's fictional character Billu Barber.

In the film, Billu, a village barber turns into an overnight celebrity when news of his childhood friendship with superstar Shah Rukh Khan starts doing the rounds of his village.

His status is elevated overnight and people who don't even know him show up at his door with offers of help.

I am glad not too many people know where my door is.

Since last week, my mail box has been filled with requests, my cell phone has buzzed so many times that I've been forced to switch it to a perpetually silent mode. Random folks call my office line pretending to pitch stories, when all they want is a brush with the stars.

Acquaintances have re-surfaced almost as dramatically as they had exited from my life. I have open-ended invites to lunches, to dinners, to drinks, even to salons to get my hair done.

"Please bring Katrina and Akshay along," the invitations breezily spell out.

Your wish, is as good as mine!

It all started when I wrote about Priyadarshan filming his action comedy De Dana Dan in Singapore with a who's who cast from Bollywood.

Let me share a little secret: They are not my best pals.

I only get to hang around with them because I have a job to do. And they only agreed to let me in, if I didn't go about disclosing locations or room numbers or the hotels they are staying at. Trust me, I've been as good as my word.

Even my best pal was a little taken aback, when I told her "I am not liberty to disclose that".

"Gosh, you sound rather officious. Trust me, I am not interested," she shot back.

Welcome to a journalist's life. You keep your word, you get more stories. Watch this space.

But it is fun to see how the facts in the stories one reports soon transform into fiction.

At a dinner last weekend, a lady told me she'd seen Akshay Kumar in Clarke Quay (for the record, he wasn't even in town). I listened, nodded my head and complimented her on her deep insider information.

I did my rounds, she did hers and when we bumped into each other again, I was introduced as 'the writer'.

"Can you introduce me to Akshay?" she sheepishly asked. "Actually I was about to ask you to do the same," I responded.

We left it at that.

These days, even my children update me about all the Bollywood spottings around town.

They were at Padang, at Clarke Quay, "at a local hotel". Now, that sounds awfully familiar.

"How did you know that?" I asked my six-year-old. "You know, my friend's mother read it in The Straits Times," he told me.

At the risk of sounding a tad self-promotional, keep reading the paper for more starry updates.

Until then, your news is just as good as mine.

Oh yes, you can still have me over for that dinner. If you don't mind, I'd like to leave Kats and Akki behind.

On Buddha's trail... in Singapore

2009-01-15T11:29:00Z

Deepika Shetty describes her experience at the Serenity in Stone exhibition.

THE last time I went on a Buddhist trail, it was an odyssey.

It started with a four hour flight to Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, then driving another five hours to get to Mihintale and climbing 1,840 steps of an ancient stairway barefoot in the sun to get to the top of a hill where Buddhism is said to have started in Sri Lanka. In 247 BC, King Devanampiyatissa was converted by Mahinda, the son of Emperor Ashoka, to Buddhism on this hill.

This week, however, I took just a short 20 minute drive from my home, I got to keep my shoes on and I stayed in the air-conditioned comfort of The Peranakan Museum. But the creature comforts didn't overshadow the impact of what I saw: Exquisite Buddhas, made over 1,400 years ago, lost for about 800 years and now on show in Singapore, the only South-east Asian stop for the exhibit, Serenity in Stone: The Qingzhou Discovery.

In 1996, Chinese construction workers hit upon a pit in Qingzhou, Shandong province. The pit contained 400 limestone sculptures, all 6th century Buddhist figures, the likes of which had never been seen before. All were damaged, some with missing torsos, others with missing hands or arms, still others with major cracks.

But none of these flaws could hide the gentle smiles, the bodies carved intricately with rich ornaments or the simple yet exquisite folds of the statues' robes. Some of them had traces of coloured pigments and gilding that continues to glow despite the long entombment.

Source: Shandong Provincial Museum

Coming face to face with 35 of the best preserved Qingzhou finds, it is hard to believe these were created centuries ago.

There is a certain timeless quality to these sculptures. This is enhanced by the enigmatic smiles hinting at the inner contentment of beings who have reached nirvana or spiritual enlightenment. They look unworldly, yet with the robes clinging to their perfectly chiselled bodies, they look almost human too.

Source: Shandong Provincial Museum

Created between about 500 and 577 AD, they transform Lord Buddha into a more human form. The Torso of the Standing Buddha, for instance, shows him with one leg slightly raised, giving the whole piece a sense of movement. Another standing figure of Buddha creates the same sense of movement through the fluid flow of the robe. What makes the effect even more dramatic is the fact that it is all carved out of local limestone.

It is "the real thing", says Tan Huism, the show's curator and deputy director, curation and collection at the Asian Civilisations Museum. She adds: "In this day and age when we are practically living in a virtual world, there is something to be said about the craftsmanship of the past. I don't think anyone has the patience to create something like this anymore."

Beyond the beauty of these sculptures, the bigger story is about the inter-connectedness of ancient Asian cultures.

Many of the sculptures on show are inspired by Indian art and sculptural forms of the Gupta period. But the Chinese artisans have added on their own elements to their creations. So you get to see dragons, Chinese inscriptions and less elaborate halos around Lord Buddha's head.

A week ago, all the stone figures, now on show in all their glory, were lying flat in coffin-shaped wooden boxes. Some pieces, like the star attraction which shows a Buddha with two bodhisattvas, weighed 1200 kgs. It took 11 men to bring the whole piece back to life.

Looking at the men hard at work, carefully handling the pieces, I couldn't help but think of the artisans who worked on this piece centuries ago. What sort of picture did they have in mind, if at all? Did it all start with a sketch? And could they have ever imagined the journeys their creations would make some day?

Source: Shandong Provincial Museum

It is unanswered questions like these that make these lost and found Buddhas all the more intriguing.

Sure, you don't get to see the sun set among broken ruins, which you would if you journeyed across the seas to the Unesco World Heritage Site of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka. What you do get to see in the 35 sculptures on show in Singapore is what happens when the cultures of the world come together. In this day and age of conflict, it is a wonderful reminder of what is possible when people choose to exchange the best, rather than the worst, of their cultures.

View it:
www.peranakanmuseum.sg
What: Serenity in Stone: The Qingzhou Discovery
Where: Peranakan Museum, 39 Armenian St. Exhibition is at Dr Tan Tze Chor Gallery, Level 2 and Upper Annex Gallery, Level 3
When: Till April 26, 9:30am-7pm (Tues-Sun, open till 9pm on Fri), 1pm-7pm (Mon)
Admission: $8 (adult), $4 (concession). Ticket price includes admission to the museum's permanent galleries.
For details call 6332-7591 or visit www.peranakanmuseum.sg

Read Deepika Shetty's full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times' Life!

High-flying but not so adored?

2008-09-25T12:01:00Z

Deepika Shetty wishes the debate will go further on the Singapore Biennale blog.

POET Cyril Wong takes a Walk In The Park, and finally the Singapore Biennale blog has something brilliant to talk about.

In a post done today, he writes:

'Biennale is definitely hilarious though. It's a theme park disguised as a cultural phenomenon. Because we need to believe we have a culture. That we are a country. One worth investing in. We're saying the same things all over again, aren't we? Like you said, some things need repeating.'

I just hope that the responses that follow will pick up on the intriguing ideas and themes that he has raised about the Biennale.

I say this because in the past few days, posts have degenerated into slamming and slanging matches.
The fuss started on Sept 15 when a post titled "Quick Guide to One Hundred Years of Solitude", appeared on the Biennale blog.

It began innocuously enough: Someone didn't quite get what artist Heman Chong's work was about - which is perfectly fine.

After all, reading, mis-reading and not reading a work of art is sometimes what art is all about. And as it is often said, it isn't art until someone hates it.

Like poet and playwright Ng Yi Sheng, I was enjoying the fight. That was till the attacks became personal, the language degenerated and the debate and intent of the blog was well and truly forgotten.

I am all for debate, I'm all for discussion, for arguments, especially when they are laid out as lyrically as the ones in Cyril Wong's post.

Can we keep it there on the Biennale blog?

Sure, if the tempers stay in check, the intent behind the blog isn't forgotten and people who say their bit stick by what they write.

Blogs, posts and comments leave little room for apology. And people who join in the act need to remember that.

However, it is encouraging to hear the Singapore Biennale blog organisers will not be policing this site.

As Low Kee Hong, the general manager of the Singapore Biennale, has spelt it out: "Any official blog would die a natural death. I would much rather prefer that people who join the fray stand by what they write."

I'll second that. But it would be nice if the level of discourse lived up to the high-flying intent of the blog's organisers.

Dame Diva has a heart

2008-08-18T07:57:00Z

Deepika Shetty finds out that opera diva Kiri Te Kanawa has a heart.

NO QUESTIONS about her age, no questions about her retirement plans and the questions for the phone interview must be in early, otherwise “the interview cannot go ahead”.

When the rules of engagement are so clearly spelt out, it’s only natural to feel a tinge of nervousness.

Sure, this is not my first brush with a diva. I’ve had my share of vain stars, snappy stars, entirely forgettable stars and some entirely unforgettable ones.

The most recent interview that comes to mind is one with India’s Queen of Sauciness - Shobhaa De. Despite her crazy schedule promoting her new book Superstar India, designing her collection of cocktail saris, writing her television scripts, her newspaper and magazine columns, De returned my calls.

Nothing is too trivial for her. Even when I ask her personal questions, she gives me the information I need, with a gentle request: “If it’s not relevant to the story, could you ask your editors to leave it out.” When I ask her about the Jackie Collins of the East tag, I know she’s hearing the question for the millionth time. Instead of dismissing me, she gives me a quotable quote.

Perhaps that’s why I find the first five minutes of my phone conversation with the critically-acclaimed lyric soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, extremely trying.

Despite steering clear of all the questions I shouldn’t be asking, I can’t resist asking where she is speaking from, only to be chided: “As a journalist you shouldn’t be asking me such questions. You know in my profession we have stalkers.”

There is a part of me that wants to give up at this point, but there is a job to be done and I persist.

The diva softens a little as the interview progresses. “I am speaking to you from England,” she tells me.

I can sense the frostiness being overtaken by her warmth. She strikes the winning note by reflecting on her long and distinguished career: “I have had to work extremely hard. When you look at opera singing, you have to be prepared for a long and demanding career. We never get to take a day off. When we are not performing, we are learning.”

What bowls me over is the commitment she has shown in setting up and leading the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. She left the opera stage in 2002 but continues to perform concerts and recitals to raise funds for the Foundation which aims to provide support and financial aid to promising singers and musicians from New Zealand.

Speaking of the motivation behind it, she pointed out: “When I was growing up, I didn’t have anything like this. I certainly couldn’t earn a living by singing in New Zealand. I started the Foundation to nurture the next generation of singers, musicians and conductors from New Zealand.”

It is a cause she is truly passionate about. “I am always singing for my charity. I am always raising funds. I go to garden parties, I do special concerts, anything that can help raise funds. Beyond this, it isn’t about just finding the talent, it is about nurturing them.”

Spoken like a diva with a heart.