Lamakaan ( ur, ) is an open
cultural center
A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run.
Asia
* Ce ...
in
Banjara Hills
Banjara Hills is an urban commercial centre and one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. This is an upmarket locality close to Jubilee Hills. This area was a hilly forest and was least inhabited in the past. Only ...
,
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. The non-profit organisation provides space for events such as arts, literature, theater, music, and debates.
History
Lamakaan started hosting events in March 2010. It was founded by Ashhar Farhan, Humera Ahmed, Biju Mathew, and
Elahe Hiptoola
Elahe Hiptoola is an Indian film producer and former actress. Her credits include producer of ''3 Deewarein'', ''Hyderabad Blues 2'', ''Iqbal'', '' Dor'', and '' Dhanak''.
Early life
Elahe Hiptoola was born in Mumbai and resides in Hyderabad.
C ...
.
The center
Lamakaan hosts
Pecha Kucha
PechaKucha (Japanese: ぺちゃくちゃ, IPA: etɕa kɯ̥tɕa ''chit-chat'') is a storytelling format in which a presenter shows 20 slides for 20 seconds of commentary each. At a PechaKucha Night, individuals gather at a venue to share personal ...
, concerts of famous artists like
Warsi Brothers
Warsi Brothers are an Indian Qawwali musical group, consisting of brothers Nazeer Ahmed Khan Warsi and Naseer Ahmed Khan Warsi (the Qawwāls), along with eight accompanists (the ''humnawa'' or party). They are based in Hyderabad.
Family of qaw ...
,
Vittal Rao,
Ateeq Hussain Khan
Ustad Ateeq Hussain Khan Bandanawazi Al-Hashmi Qawwal () (born 1980) is a Hindustani Qawwal.
He was born in Hyderabad, India. He started his training in Indian classical music ( Hindustani shastria sangeeth) from his father from the early a ...
among others. It conducts book releases, plays and seminars. It hosts events like Wikipedia Meetups. Theatre groups have performed at Lamakaan including
Samahaara, Sutradhar,
Manch Theatre
Manch Theatre is an Indian theatre group based in Hyderabad. Manch was formed as a hobby club at Infosys in 2004. Since 2009 the group has produced and staged several acclaimed plays in English, Hindi and Telugu.http://www.thehansindia.info/News/ ...
, Nishumbita, Evam, Shudrka, Taher Ali Baig Productions and others.
Closure threat
On 23 December 2015, a notice was issued to Lamakaan by the
GHMC
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, commonly known as the GHMC is the civic body that oversees Hyderabad, the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It is the local government for the cities of Hyderabad and Secund ...
to shut down in three days, citing "creating nuisance to the surrounding residents and general public" as the reason. After notice, Lamakaan gave a reply to the civic body that was 'not satisfactory', to which the civic body responded by issuing a closure notice on 23 December. P. Mahender, the GHMC Deputy Commissioner (Circle 10), when contacted, said that there were traffic problems every Sunday in the lane but did not mention anything about the nuisance. One certain complaint was regarding women smoking in the premises.
The notice was withdrawn soon. Due to an uproar in the number of people protesting against shutting down Lamakaan and the signing of around 3,000 people on the online petitioning site change.org demanding the withdrawal of the notice, the attention of IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao was drawn. The issue was resolved after GHMC Deputy Commissioner P. Mahender spoke with the owner of the place. The notice did not specify what was the cause of the nuisance but instead talked about the place running without a license. It was decided that the parking space of Jalagam Vengalarao Park would be used for four-wheeler parking.
References
External links
Official site{{Commons category, Lamakaan
Cultural organisations based in India
Culture of Hyderabad, India