Glimpse of Arts & Artists of J&K

O P Sharma
Name of book : of Art and Artists
Author : Rajeshwar Singh ‘Raju’
Publisher : Notion Press, Suaksha Vihar, Jammu
This 159-pages book in English entitled “Of Art and Artists” by Rajeshwar Singh “Raju” focuses on art and artists in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr. Raju has thrown light on the art works and artist through his write-ups which mostly appeared in either the Daily Excelsior or other media. Rajeshwar Singh ‘Raju’ an eminent art critic and writer has come up with a significant collection in the form ‘Of Art and Artists’, which is a valuable collection of articles written on prominent writers and artists hailing from Jammu & Kashmir. Majority of these eminent personalities have been regularly contributing for mother tongue Dogri and Duggar art forms. The book carries 27 articles out of which 18 are dedicated to stalwarts of Dogri literature like Dinu Bhai Pant, responsible for taking mother tongue to every household through his poetry.
Focus on Arts, Artist
Eminent writer and filmmaker, Ved Rahi has been penned by the author sketching his activities and achievements both in literary field and film world with some production: television serials like Gul Gulshan Gulfam, a film on Veer Savarkar, a bio-epic of Indian revolutionary. In addition, he has written some screen plays and dialogues for more than 25 Hindi Bollywood films and directed few others. Mr. Rahi has penned a number of books including one which got him prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award.
The book mentions that N D Jamwal, recipient of Sahitya Akademi award, has a solid contribution like Prof. Lalit Magotra’s, Darshan Darshi, convener, Dogri Advisory Board Sahitya Academy, New Delhi; Prof. Veena Gupta, a linguistic and exponent of Dogri; Chhatrapal, a well known short story writer; Mohan Singh and many others.
Interesting Narrative
The book also carries write-ups on Abhinav Theatre, a dream destination of all artists, WHY NO DUGGAR CHANNEL? is a question mark for the administration to set-up a full-fledged satellite channel to fulfill utmost need of majority of the population. Importance of Guru-Shishya prampara, the obligations of theatre groups, relevance of Dogri Manta Divas, approach of theatre groups towards Dogri theatre plays, the role played by immensely popular Radio series based upon short stories; Katha Sarita; another chapter is “Books- all time friends”.
At the same time it has a few articles on those personalities also who despite writing in other languages carry the rich traditions of region in their creative expressions and have been a pride of mother land. The book is recommended for all art lovers and those who wish to know about prominent art and artists of this part of the country.