Travelling south Asian film festival had been going around in the National gallery of Modern art in Bangalore for few weekends. This festival features some of the documentary from different parts of south Asia involving travelling and culture. I managed to attend three screenings last weekend, three totally different subjects.
Come to My Country: Journeys with Kabir and Friends: This was the documentary of three people, one is Prahladji, a teacher from Malwa district in MP, whose passion lies in travelling around with this troupe and his tambourine, and singing the Kabir songs in various gatherings; the second is Linda Hess a scholar who is teaching Kabir’s poems and songs in Stanford University for humanities students and the third is the director herself, Shabnam Virmani. First half is basically about the life of Prahladji and Linda. At times the documentary seemed to go overboard with spirituality and all those hoo-ha about Indian culture, but it soon gets back into the mainstream of Kabir songs. Linda Hess was at times boring! Prahaladji and his wife were wonderful simple individuals, very innocent, frank and witty. I loved their part .They journey together from their individual worlds to various places in search of friends of Kabir. On their way to and inside Banaras and later US, they meet many ‘fans’ of Kabir, including crooked saints and spends the time singing and contemplating the verses of Kabir discussing social issues prevailing in various parts of the country and world. Their discussions and disagreements over various aspects were very interesting. And Kabir’s poems are like arrows.
Saamam: This was a Malayalam documentary by Ramachandran K about MDR (MD Ramanathan), a carnatic musician and vocalist who used to sing at high octaves which is considered a very difficult thing and something which nobody often attempt. With booming voice he sings most of the recitals very slowly giving ample time for each words adding his own expressions into it. He was the disciple of Tiger Varadachariar another high octave singer whose got ‘Tiger’ attached to his name because at his high octave sound that almost turns into slow growls of a tiger! That was their uniqueness and also something that didn’t let them become popular vocalists. Many people didn’t find such high octaves pleasing to hear due to the growling gruff sound of it. But his followings and disciples are popularizing this through various mediums. Documentary featured Sanjay Subramaniam, Sreevalsan J Menon etc
The Salt Stories: This is a documentary by Lalit Vachani who takes a trip from Sabarmathi to Dandi, following Gandhiji’s path traversing through the villages where Gandhiji had halted on his way to break the salt law of British imperialism which would then ignite the non-cooperation movement. On his journey he meet various people from different human created strata of the society divided and ghettoised by caste, class and religion. It goes beyond the glossy and shining image of ‘vibrant’ Gujarat and does a profit-loss calculation of the development - How the SEZ culture is uprooting people from their villages, how the no-slum policy is mere aiming to bring down the slums without providing adequate rehabilitation to the people. He talks with many people, he met on way,- village heads, his own production controller and cameraman and some self proclaimed Gandhians who where revered elsewhere, about the slum clearance, communal riot, caste issue etc and is shocked and saddened when he finds that most of them happens to support the system and prevailing acute castes and communal despise . Some relief comes in the form of those inspiring individuals who had been fighting against the odds of the society, like the folks from Napa village which didn’t get affected by the post-Godhra violence, Ketanbhai - a progressive corporator, the salt farmer of Dandi, the people working towards the justice for forcefully evicted people and many similar individuals. It was a very poignant documentary which tried to tell what the real face of development is, which is pretty much the case of most of the upcoming states. At the end when the credits roll down, the pricking question as to what should take the priority – Social development for all or economic development for the benefit of few, lingers in the mind.
Mayomi: Mayomi was a documentary feature from Sri Lanka, showing the life of one of the Indian Ocean Tsunami victim, Mayomi's, life in the post LTTE Sri Lanka. Her husband was in navy, and was killed in a fight against LTTE and her mother died in the tsunami disaster that left many dead and thousands homeless. This feature showed how she was trying to cope up with taking care of her brother's son and her own ailing father, and at the same time struggling to get the new house allocated, as per the Tsunami relief, by roaming through the corrupt corridors of bureaucracy. To add to her troubles, her brother is a habitual offender and is another burden for her. The documentary was tad boring as it failed to evoke the true emotions of being homeless for years.
This coming weekend there are few movies being shown as part of this festival
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