Director: Kumar Shahani; Writer: Kumar Shahani; Producer: Bombay Cinematograph; Cinematographer: K.K. Mahajan; Editor: Paresh Kamdar; Cast: Mita Vasisht, Birju Maharaj, Alaknanda Samarth, Rajat Kapoor, Navjot Hansra, Mangal Dhillon, N Pushpamala,
Alpana Shukla, Anandi Ramachandran,
Uday Bhawalkar,
Geneve Rajkotia,
Navjot Hansra,
Pankaj,
Duration: 01:40:01; Aspect Ratio: 1.352:1; Hue: 90.242; Saturation: 0.068; Lightness: 0.310; Volume: 0.170; Cuts per Minute: 3.539; Words per Minute: 18.374
Summary: Rather than imbuing stories about
contemporary conditions with epic dimensions
(cf. Maya Darpan, 1972; Tarang, 1984),
Shahani here addresses the epic forms directly
in a film about the Khayal, a form of classical
music established in the 18th C., based on the
earlier Dhrupad which it then adapted,
mobilising elements of other classical and folk
literatures and music. For Shahani, the crucial
relevance of this music to the cinema resides in
its theory of the shruti, the subdivisions
between given notes in a raga which eventually
yield a continuous scale and prove that ‘you
can only name approximations, never
absolutes’ (1986). By emphasising sequence
rather than discrete notes or the rhythmic cycle,
musical elaboration could be based on
improvisation so that, like jazz or other musical
forms emerging from oppression, it was able to
resist all efforts at encoding while remaining
free to assimilate the widest range of musical
elements from as far as Central Asia, Turkey
and Persia. The film merges the history of the
Khayal form with several legends associated
with it: e.g. the legends of Rani Rupmati
(Vasisht) and Baaz Bahadur (Dhillon), Heer-
Ranjha, Nala-Damayanti and others (some
invented for the film). These legends are then
worked into some of the key figurations
determining the Khayal narrative, such as the
nayika and the object of the address, and the
sakhi. A music student (Kapoor) moves
through these epochs and legends. The result
is a visually stunning narration condensing
legend, history and poetry, emphasising
hybridity in all cultural practices. The key
musical contributions are by some of the
foremost musicians from the Gwalior gharana,
the oldest of the several that exist, including
Krishnarao Shankar Pandit, Sharatchandra
Arolkar, Jal Balaporia and Neela Bhagwat.
Shahani also uses the dance of Birju Maharaj,
India’s top Kathak dancer.
Cast:
Alaknanda Samarth
Alpana Shukla
Anandi Ramachandran
Uday Bhawalkar
Geneve Rajkotia
Navjot Hansra
Pankaj
Pushpamala
Fazal Taawish
Mangal Dhillon
Mahavir Bhullar
Master Diksit
Mohini Puchvale
Mohammad Idris
Mukesh Dhasmana
Meeta Vashisht
Yusuf Khurram
Rajat Kapoor
Rupali Valliya
Rohini Rao
Vijaya Sharma
Sanjay Kohli
Silvia Raman
Suchitra Dakvale
Suman Chaudhari
Music:
Anand Kunte
Aneesh Pradhan
Uday Bhawalkar
Girish Nalavde
Deepak Nerurkar
Maseet Khan
Suresh Talvalkar
Shaswati Sen
Art:
Anup Singh
Stills:
Ashish Rajyadhaksha
Roshan Shahani
Make-up:
Ravi
Thanks:
Santosh Jain
Meenal Chaudhari
Ashish Rajyadhaksha
Sound:
Aradhana Sound Service
Rasayan
Prasad Film Laboratories
Assistants:
Menin Fernandes
Ramesh Pathak
With:
K. G Diksit
R. K. Chauturvedi
Gopal Singh Jhabua
Suresh Tambrekar
Prabhu Joshi
Anil Tiwari
Chandmal Dresswala
Kavita Sandhi
Shahid
Santosh Gupta
Updesh
Karnail Singh
Sajjan Chaudhary
Subi Thakur
Archeological Survey of India
Adivasi Vikas Sansthan, Bhopal
Municipal Museum, Gwalior
Museum, Indore
Animal Museum, Gwalior
Animal Museum, Indore
Mounted Police, Gwalior
Mounted Police, Indore
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