It came in as a pleasant surprise to both the band and film director Jaideep Varma to know that Leaving Home had won a national award for being the best art and culture film.
“I did not even know about it,” reacts Susmit Sen, front-man of music band Indian Ocean (IO). “I was practicing with my band mates when my wife called me up to convey the news.”
“When Jaideep approached us with this project, we had no idea of how it would turn out. It was his passion and belief in the film that made us agree to do the project. But when we saw the final product, we were over the moon… the way it looked and felt, I loved every minute of it,” says drummer and percussionist for the band Amit Kilam. “I’m so happy that the film has won the highest honour that the country has to offer. It’s sad that our dear friend and band mate Ashem Chakravarty is not here to share this moment,” he adds.
Jaideep has been an ardent follower of Indian Ocean’s music all over these years, and also shared a good rapport with all the band members. Their story and musical journey was what had fascinated him a lot. “I am an Indian Ocean fan and have known them for six years now, but the film was made to expose people to their music and know this talented bunch of people,” says Jaideep.
The idea occurred to Jaideep long back since he was very much fascinated by Indian Ocean’s story — their music and the way they managed to chart their way up. Though Jaideep calls it a “creative exercise”, he swears to not try this again. “It was a long exhausting film. Releasing it was way more difficult than making it. But I hope others do take a cue and produce films which are not mainstream.”
He believes that the National Award was just “an icing on the cake”. “A national award doesn’t make a difference to your life the way an Oscar does,” laments Jaideep.
While the theatrical version of this documentary is only two hours in length, Jaideep has also come up with a five-hour long version of the film (called Leaving Home — the longer trip) which is now available on DVDs. What would interest IO fans is that the film also features Asheem (the late vocalist of the band).
Early this year, Indian Ocean also made news for having won the Best Music Award for the film Peepli Live at the Asian film Awards in Hong Kong. The band is presently working on their next album — which will probably be hitting the stores by the end of the year — and at the same time concentrating on their live performances. “We are working on it and have not decided the name yet,” Susmit says.
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