Half Pencil

24/05/2022

Half Pencil Conversations

Half Pencil conversations will resume from the third week of June, we are currently in the process of raising cash and sealing corporate sponsorship for this conversational platform.

Some of the top Indian and international brands are already in place, we are searching for more.

The format will now change post Covid, we will no longer have these talks in coffee stores with sandwiches, we will host these events inside a studio and then edit and mount the shows on various channels.

Besides Indian web channels, we will offer these shows to global networks like Central European News, AsiaNews and Zenger. We will not do shows on zoom chats, our guests will travel to the studios and interact with the anchor.

We will not replicate what the news channels are doing.

The broad idea is to discuss issues that haunt us boldly and fearlessly. We aren’t preaching anything, we are generating debates, pushing discussions. We will discuss to***co, water, tiger & elephants, liquor rules, hunger, joblessness, cancer, the madness of marks in schools, internal displacement, river rejuvenation and a host of other topics. Some will be very very controversial, we want such discussions to take place.

We will do two shows per month. Cash saved from the shows will be utilised for a host of activities. Half Pencil will push some interesting art shows, music shows. We will work with directors to push childrens’ theatres in Delhi, we will work closely with manual scavengers in a host of Indian cities and towns, we will work with s*x workers in Mumbai and other cities, we will work on river rejuvenation and tea garden programmes in north Bengal.

So what did we do during 2020-21. We funded theatres in Kolkata and Delhi, paid cash for hapless shopkeepers of College Street, raised cash for backstage theatre workers, organised help for cyclone-struck villagers in the Sundarbans, hosted two top films directed by Anik Dutta and Srijeet Mukherjee in Delhi, and worked closely and silently with Covid victims in Delhi.

Watch this space.

08/10/2020

Tarader Sesh Tarpan শেষ হোলো

Gautam Bhattacharya has completed a very unique assignment, earning praises and marbles on the way. Everyone has loved the show, some were inconsolable, some argued about their choices.

I am sure Gautam’s popularity graph is on the swing, on a high. I am told there will be a second episode as well. Strange a casual conversation over the phone one turned into an unique show, and I am amazed how everyone opened their purse and hearts.

Half Pencil, true to its name, was a part of this journey, it was a small step for us. It was the year’s last assignment. We were a part of the wind that pushed the sails for Gautam.

The affable journalist helped Half Pencil gain mileage and stature. We thank Gautam, and his wife Raya Bhattacharya for opening a new world to us.

2021 will be better. We will always stand thick with this wonderful couple.

17/09/2020

Mahalaya over, time to wait for Durga

There’s a kind of hush in the homes of Bengalis once they are through with the mandatory session of Mahalaya. The programme - brilliant on all scales - is telecast at a strange period, around the time when the first rays of the Sun actually kiss the earth, prisons sing songs from their cells and the pious head for the Ganges.

Gautam Bhattacharya has earned both name and fame with his newly crafted show of tributes, very appropriately titled, Tarader Sesh Tarpan, the show is being watched by hundreds, sorry thousands across India, Europe and in the United States.

Half Pencil had joined hands with Windows Production in Kolkata to shape this venture. This will be our yearend venture, Half Pencil has already started planning for 2021, most importantly we will start our coffee and conversations from this month in a studio format.

May I take this opportunity to mention here that an unique Bengali calendar designed by Sarbajit Sarbajna for Half Pencil is ready for distribution. We will courier it in a special box with both love and care.

We will celebrate Durga Puja, so please come for the festivities. Keya Guha Roy and Oindrilla Roy will create a bio bubble, everyone will be safe inside. A disciple of Ramkinkar Bej is sculpting the idol, decorations have reached Delhi, thanks to Tina Das Gupta and Amurto Basuray. Rest, the goddess will take care. Durga will kill the virus.

Happy Pujo

12/09/2020

01/09/2020

Half Pencil, we are just a year old

My daughter Oindrilla Roy reminded me this morning that Half Pencil, our conversational think tank, has completed a year.

It’s amazing we Tina Das Gupta Amurto Basuray Keya Guha Roy started our journey by funding a children's play and then showcased in Delhi Anik Dutta’s film Bhobhishyoter Bhoot, which was having serious problems in Bengal. Anik came for the launch and took questions after the show.

We then showcased the Bengali version of Gumnami, the movie on Subhas Bose. This was followed by a unique performance by Project Maya, the Shyama Sangeet band.

And then we had Prothom Partho, an unique show hosted by some of Bengal’s biggest stars. It came only because Bengal’s creative couple, Raya Bhattacharya Bhattacharya and Gautam Bhattacharya, brought this to table.

By then, we had already hosted our first Coffee and Conversation show.

Half Pencil also raised some decent cash for booksellers of Kolkata’s College Street, and also helped villagers in Sundarbans with cement bags. We helped Kaushik Sen raise some cash for backstage theater workers. This was post Amphan, the dreaded cyclone. Donations came many, our sincere thanks to them. In Delhi, Half Pencil distributed both cooked food and raw materials to famished workers who were out of jobs and food because of the Covid-19 lockdown.

We worked on two, lovely shows scripted by the talented Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee Chatterjee, it revolved around Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, hope and life.

Just now, we bankrolled an unique animation film, Thikana, which translates into Address, by the young actor, Riddhi Sen. The movie, showcased by Windows Production of Bengal’s top director Shiboprosad Mukherjee, got lakhs of hits on You Tube.

On Mahalaya, Gautam Bhattacharya will showcase his unique venture, Trader Sesh Tarpan, on Hoichoi TV, a big one for tributes to legends who walked into the clouds.

Our Coffee and Conversations will resume this month in a studio format, anchored by the ever talented Smita Sharma. We will discuss absolutely topical stuff, issues that impact you, and us.

And hopefully, we will conclude the year with a commitment from a top Bollywood actor on a series that will take a look at iconic Indian cities like Mughalsarai, Pokhran, Naxalbari and Sriharikota. And a play on soccer, and the way the clubs are evolving in India. This will cap the iconic play Nandikar produced many moons ago.

We want conversations to continue. Let people talk, only then bonding will grow. I thank all who worked tirelessly on our projects. Keep us in your thoughts.

27/08/2020

https://youtu.be/Q3ZNRLdwEwg

খুঁজে চলি ঠিকানার ঠিকানা কোথায়? ঠিকানার খোঁজে সবাই আর আপনারা? উইনডোজ নিবেদিত শর্ট ফিল্ম 'ঠিকানা' র গান 'ঠিকানার খো....

27/08/2020

So today, on August 27, 2020, Half Pencil presents an unique animation film directed by the very talented Riddhi Sen and showcased by Windows Production House that has carved a niche by showcasing very classy films.

We will upload the film at 1900 hours tonight, launching - in the process - the Half Pencil youtube channel.

The film, produced by these bright and brilliant kids during the lockdown, will open a new world, offer a new light and hope to the troubled mankind.

Subscribe to our channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQAOVA3KsMfx3uPgAZGY8-g and enjoy the show.

Half Pencil thanks Riddhi and others involved in this unique project, especially Tina Das Gupta, Oindrilla Roy, Amurto Basuray and Keya Guha Roy.So today, on August 27, 2020, Half Pencil presents an unique animation film directed by the very talented Riddhi Sen and showcased by Windows Production House that has carved a niche by showcasing very classy films.

We will upload the film at 1900 hours tonight, launching - in the process - the Half Pencil youtube channel.

The film, produced by these bright and brilliant kids during the lockdown, will open a new world, offer a new light and hope to the troubled mankind.

Half Pencil thanks Riddhi and others involved in this unique project, especially Tina Das Gupta, Oindrilla Roy, Amurto Basuray and Keya Guha Roy.

27/08/2020

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3181938068557026&id=126428094108054

21/08/2020

For those who walked into heaven

Gautam Bhattacharya planned this unique venture for celebrities who crossed the thin red line.

He was kind enough to include Half Pencil as one of the presenter, the other being Windows Production, a top Kolkata-based house headed by Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy which has produced some very classy films.

Gautam will pay tribute to some of the biggest stars of India who walked into heaven, explaining how they handled their sunset days.

Covid-19 has triggered a strange fear of death in us. We are worried, not stepping out of homes. Gautam will explain death in it’s true meaning.

This big bucks production will be streamed on Hoichoi, which has millions of subscribers across the world.

This show will sure put Half Pencil on a different platform. For long I wanted a series of conversations on death, I had even read up Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s brilliant book on death. This is a soul stirring series, a must watch

I have seen death from close, I know what it means to lose someone you love, someone so dear to you and your family.

The show will premier on Mahalaya, which marks the start of India’s big festive season, the Debipakkha which translates into the time for the ten arm goddess.

Stay tuned. My sincere thanks to Tina Das Gupta Keya Guha Roy Amurto Basuray Oindrilla Roy