| |
Lens Wide Open
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basheer
Ali captured the barren beauty of desert lanscapes in J P
Dutta's Refugee. Now he hopes to reach out to the young with
a documentary on Pandit Paluskar. Mohammed Wajihuddin finds
out more...
When Ali
grew up and became an ad filmmaker and cinematogrpher, a documentary
on documentary on Pandit Paluskar was his pet project. It
took Ali five years, numerous visits to Pandit Paluskar's
ancestral house in Pune, the places associated with him in
Nashik, Mumbai and Delhi and the demanding exercise of recording
reminiscences of people who knew Paluskar. The product is
Pratidhwani (Echoes), screened at NCPA recently.
The 30-minute
English film, Pratidhwani has Pandit Ravi Shankar, Pandit
Paluskar's classmate Pandit Vinay Chandra Maudgalay, music
director Naushad Ali and music critic Mohan Nadkarni talking
about his illustrious legacy. "I started work on this
documentary in 1995 on a shoestring budget of Rs 1.5 lakh,
contributed by Gandharva Maha Vidyalaya, Delhi. The money
would come in instalments. So I had to spend from my pockets
as well," says Ali. Apart from the financial crunch,
Ali had to "go through hell" fixing appointments
with the musicians who knew Pandit Paluskar. He went to Delhi
thrice to record Pandit Ravi Shankar's bytes, who introduces
the film and speaks about the philosophy of classical music.
"Appointment with Pandit Ravi Shankar was getting postponed
for one reason or the other. I went to Delhi and stationed
there for 15 days. His views were crucial to the documentary.
I came back to Mumbai only after recording him," says
Ali.
The hard
work shows. Naushad Ali, who had recorded Pandit Paluskar
with Ustad Amir Khan in the film Baiju Bawra, pays homage
to the genius in glowing words. Expressing his sorrow over
the death of Pandit Paluskar at the young age of 34, Naushad
says, :Chal diya woh us jahan ko gata hua, Apne geeton se
is jahan ko rulata hua (He left for another world singing,
And this world is weeping for him and his music).
Ali, whose
entire entire family has been involved in the documentary
(mother Zenab designed the costumes, while sister Ruksana
helped in the production), is dismayed at the attitude of
government agencies towards films on "unsung heroes".
"When I approached DD to get the documentary screened,
it offered me Rs 50,000. The print itself costs me Rs 27,000.
I am not selling it to DD. It will be shown at the Panorama
section of the International Film Festival in New Delhi later
this year," he informs, and adds,"I am disenchanted
with the insensitivity of DD towards films on our cultural
icons. My film is far better than the rubbish they show day
in and day out on DD."
Starting
with Lintas as an apprentice in 1981, Ali worked with ad filmmakers
duo Sumantro Ghoshal and Pooh Sayani for a while, before moving
on to work with Ishan Arya, the cinematogrpher, who shot films
like M S Sathyu's Garam Hawa. "Arya made me a cinematogrpher.
I learnt from him that the cameraman is the king in filmmaking."
Ali has made more than 200 ad films for Pepsodent, Sony Tv,
Citizen Watches, Fem Liquid soap (with Mahima Chaudhary) and
Citibank. His break in a feature film came with Muzaffar Ali's
Zooni, which is still under production. Then came Tinu Anand's
two films -- Ek Hindustani and Major Sahab.
But the film which truly established Ali and earned him rave
reviews is J P Dutta's Refugee. Critics might have panned
the film, but they have lauded its cinematography. "Refugee
was shot in a barren location. It is easier to shoot in the
snow-capped mountains of Switzerland than in the deserts of
Rajasthan. My only regret is that the film didn't do welldespite
a good story and scintillating cinematography," Ali says.
"Visuals define a film's story. And we succeeded in doing
this in Refugee, which has been appreciated by a filmmaker
Deepa Mehta's stature."
Ali has
also signed two films with Ripple Entertainment, which, in
combination with Sony Tristar Columbia, is producing Hindi
films.
Any other
biopics on musicians? "Right now, I am looking forward
to taking this documentary to the masses. I want the new generation
to know about the icon who has left such a rich legacy. It
will take a while before I decide to make a documentary on
any other personality from the music world," he says.
|
More>>>
 Jewels
in the crown
Viewpoint:
BIJON DAS GUPTA
Anupam
Kher dons the director hat
Dusty
affair
Celeb
Watch with Bikram Saluja
Licence
to thrill
Taking
a step backward
From
Cover to Cover
The
fragrances of a new age
|
