“The Golden Age of Indian Music” , a docu-drama on the developments in Indian Classical music from 1850 to 1950 was screened at NCPA yesterday along with a discussion with the filmmaker Anjali Kirtane. I found some nice things about the movie, some superb archival photographs and recognition of some largely forgotten singers. Ram Deshpande was the music director and I found the music on the whole very well chosen and sung. Who was doing the singing though? The credits at the beginning rolled by very quickly and even if recognized might be difficult to place in the film. I think Shruti Sadolikar singing as Kesarbai Kerkar and Raja Mian as Faiyaz Khan (with all the medals on the lapel) seemed odd. Why not use some of the superb audio clips, easily available and out of copyright of those artists instead? What Shruti sings is itself very odd if it is supposed to be a reflection of Kesarbai. Since this is billed as a documentary I think the dramatized singing parts should have been captioned like this: “Raja Mian” singing in the style of Faiyaz Khan”. This is really for me just a basic matter of recognition and respect that should be given to these and other superb singers who have really done an impressive job. It is not so important if this film is intended only for children. It was not stated that this is a film for children but I believe the simplistic representation and historical narrative along with the drama recreations are really meant for youngsters. The history presented is the standard textbook version, one that does leave out many big names, Begum Akhtar, Azmat Hussain Khan, Bholanath Bhatt, Ashiq Ali Khan, vishvamadev chatterjee and any other singer from Bengal or Rampur. I asked the filmmaker about this and that it seemed to me to be a history of classical music in Maharashtra. Although the “golden age” was supposed to be a 100 year period, it only presented the history in the 20th century. Smt. Kirtane said that this is just one film of many that she is making and the full story is still on its way. It was mentioned in the film that Hirabai Barodekar was the first woman to present khayal in public (1921) paving the way for many others. Is this true? What about Vidyadharibai and Zorabai Agrawalli? Didn’t they perform khayal in public? For me the unrecognized prodigious feat was accomplished by Siddheshwar Devi, Begum Akhtar and others in bringing the tawaif music of the kotah to the public concert stage defying the raging puritanism of the period by their charismatic music. I would recommend to the filmmaker to drop the device of the drama recreations and make something more adult. The stilted formal dialogue could be substituted by relaxed informal interviews and anecdotes. For example Raja Mian giving specific vocal examples about Faiyaz Khan’s music could be very interesting, as Wynston Marsalis did in talking about Louis Armstrong and others in the “Jazz” documentary series by Ken Burns. Smt. Kirtane is passionate about her subject and knows film making well. For some reason she does not want government or corporate grants and relies on individual donations. I wanted to ask her the reason for this, but felt I had already asked her enough questions. It will thus be a slow movie making process. One last peeve: Why the excruciatingly loud volume????
