Maihar Raag
Directed by Arunabh Bhattacherjee
Produced by Sunil Shanbag
60 min, 16mm, Hindi with English Subtitles, 1993, India
Watch the film online on the BIC website from January 26-30, 2021
Swati Dandekar will be in conversation with the makers of the film on January 28, 7:00 pm IST.
The screening is free and open to all.
Synopsis
Maihar Raag started as an exploration of the importance of a physical place in the Hindustani Music tradition of gharanas. Maihar in Madhya Pradesh was home to the Maihar gharana formed by Ustad Allaudin Khan, a guru to several great musicians of the 20th century, and an icon of a secular & syncretic tradition of Hindustani music. Filmed in 1992, twenty years after the passing of Ustad Allaudin Khan, the film looks at what happens to a place after the guru is no more.
Awards:
National Award for best non-fiction film 1994
National Award for best audiography for Indrajit Neogi.
THE DIRECTOR
Arunabh Bhattacherjee is a filmmaker based in Mumbai. He began his filmmaking career with fiction films. After working with Govind Nihalani on four features, Arunabh partnered with Sunil Shanbag to form a production house for documentary and nonfiction projects.
Aside from several TV non-fiction shorts, they made Maihar Raag, their first independent documentary.
Subsequent work for television and related projects ensued, and Arunabh continues to produce/direct with increasing infrequency.