NEW DELHI: A documentary on Naga folk music, Songs of the Blue Hills by Delhi-based scribe turned filmmaker Utpal Borpujari is among the films that will be screened at the 14th New York Indian Film Festival taking place next month.
Neela Venkataraman’s Sound Check documentary on music will also be among the films at the Festival slated from 5 to 10 May
Anurag Kashyap’s highly lauded film ‘Ugly’ will open the Festival which will screen a mix of 23 narrative features and 11 documentaries. The festival is curated by Aseem Chabbra, a senior Indian journalist based in the US.
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Sound Check, a documentary on music commissioned by the External Affairs Ministry was made when filmmaker Venkatraman went to a Delhi pub where indie rocker Raghu Dixit was performing his sets. Dixit’s forte is high-energy Kannada tracks, and Venkatraman was understandably septic about the response he would get from the North Indian audience. She was in for a surprise. “In the heartland, here was a man singing in Kannada and the crowd was singing along this wouldn’t have been the scene a few years ago,” she added.
The 48-minute-long film features bands and artistes such as The Raghu Dixit Project, Indian Ocean, Swarathma, Agam, Motherjane, Yodhakaa and La Pongal, East India Company, Ravi Iyer, Dhruv Ghanekar and Rewben Mashawnga. “The concept is to show the change in the indie music scene in the last few years, as well as highlight the fact that many bands are tapping into their Indian roots,” says the director, adding firmly that indie music is “not fusion, mind you”.
“The bands are creating their own sound using their own languages and indigenous instruments alongside drums and guitars. Their music, however, has an international appeal,” she adds. Yodakhaa, for instance, uses Sanskrit shlokas while Advaita experiments with the sarangi and Ravi Iyer produces Raag Durga with the guitar. Sound Check manages to capture this variety in the genre.
Over 10 months, Venkatraman travelled to Mumbai, Pune, Guwhati, Sona Pani, Coorg, Bengaluru and Delhi. There is no narrator in the film, no voice-over guiding the audience through the points that the musicians are making in the film.
From rehearsal jams to live gigs, the film is full of intelligent and witty observations about the indie scene.
