Bangalore is innovation.city

Bangalore, the city of new ideas and innovations has more than its share of talented thinkers. Celebrating two years of innovation today ourselves, DNA invites the city’s top three innovators to reinvent the idea of IQ — Innovation Quotient

The film industry’s exploring
Radhika Pandit, actor

Over the last year, Sandalwood has finally seen the growth that it was waiting for. Be it the kinds of films that have been produced, the technology or the talent, the industry has definitely set new standards.

Apart from focus on the storyline, the industry has taken things like locations, equipment and even costumes, seriously. All this add to the richness you see on screen.

Films like Aptharakshaka, Krishnan Love Story, Jackie or even the recent Super — the number of genres that have worked well at the box office speaks volumes of the times to come.

Personally, I have made it a point to choose scripts that I believe in. At the end of the day, a good script is what truly matters. The good news is that there are a number of people in the industry today who are open to experimenting with new stories and different genres.

With the way things are going, I am sure the industry will resume its place of being one that others reckon very shortly.

Radio ga-ga
Carlton Braganza,
music promoter and producer, owner, Opus

In the last year, I saw some cool innovations in music presentations, which were incorporated in the form of great collaborations within different styles and genres of performance arts.

There is also an increase in vocal performances, like beat boxing, along with base line singing and rhythms from a single performer. Though art forms like beat boxing have always been prevalent, there was more of it in the past year.

The past year also saw further growth of www.myopusradio.com, India’s first Internet streaming radio, that offers international music. When we started, we just had one channel and now, we have expanded to 20, offering different genres for music lovers in 140 countries. We also have a new page, the platform news that offers comprehensive content on interviews, music reviews, different gigs and more.

Another new concept that I am working on is the customised radio channels for corporate or retail houses. These audio platforms feature specific information related to the organisation for the use of its employees across boards. In spite of the Internet and other audio options, I feel there’s a sizeable listening audience, who still tune in to keep in touch with their kind of music.

Art is here to stay
Rukmini Vijayakumar, danseuse

Any innovation in an art form is a continuous process and in the last year I’ve seen a lot of young Bangaloreans getting increasingly interested in dance forms — be it classical or contemporary. In fact, they are also trying to do a lot of new things — productions or group dances. 

I made it a point not to merge classical and contemporary dance, even though it means my spending more time on them individually. But I must say that while dancers are practicing traditional dance forms, they are pretty open to modern innovations to strike a balance.

A mention must be made of Dr Padma Subramanium, one of the senior students of the late Sundari Santhanam, who has helped revive the karnas from the Natyashastra. While at modern and contemporary dance, attakalari is being popularly practiced and followed by a lot of youngsters and the fact that a lot of foreign dance productions are also performing in the city gives performers here a world view as well.

Dance forms need to be cultivated both socially and individually for it to reach out to all.