Barbie and Bhabhi in Coventry

WE HAD TICKETS to watch the new “Barbie” film yesterday (the 7th of August 2023) at 5.50 pm at the Gate Cinema in Notting Hill Gate. We watched the advertisements and then the trailers for forthcoming films. Halfway through the trailers, emergency lights were switched on, the soundtrack disappeared, and the pictures being projected shrunk in size. There had been a power failure, and everyone was asked to leave after having been given complimentary tickets for a future screening of any film. We left without watching “Barbie”.

The next day, we travelled to Coventry to see the cathedral and the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. At the Herbert, we saw several excellently curated exhibitions. They were far better than many we have seen in London in recent months. They were imaginatively and intelligently conceived, as well as being superbly displayed.

One of these shows was called “Divided Selves”. In simple terms, it consist of mostly recent works of art by various artists, which deal with conflicts between different groups of people all over the world.

One of the exhibits is by an artist and filmmaker Hetain Patel. Part of the artwork are three sets of plastic dolls. Each doll is contained in a cardboard box with a transparent plastic window, just like the containers in which dolls are often sold. One pair of dolls was labelled ‘Bhai anmonthshi’, Bhabhi means sister-in- law in Hindustani and Bhai means brother.

We missed Barbie yesterday, but seeing Bhabhi today almost made up for not seeing the film.