A new 70-minute documentary that was screened in chapters during the 59th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen festival, which concluded on Sunday.
The special and unwritten moments in the life of the Kirana gharana maestro, the late Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, have been captured in a new 70-minute documentary that was screened in “chapters” during the 59th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen festival, which concluded on Sunday.
The non-commercial documentary produced by Shrirang Godbole, scripted by Manisha Dixit and directed by Vinod Lavekar was specially produced to mark the occasion.
“The Joshi family was the starting point, of course. But they led us to various unknown connections that Panditji had throughout his lifetime,” said Godbole, proprietor of the audio-visual firm, Indian Magic Eye Pvt Ltd.
He specified that the film has been made for the people who were always around Panditji, and his fans, singularly as a tribute to the great singer. It draws from many sources, besides excerpts from other films made by Doordarshan, Prasad Mirajdar, Gulzar and Vikas Desai.
Portions from an interview taken by Ashok Ranade, and from programmes like Nakshatranche Dene and Hari Vitthal have been included. Books by Vasant Potdar and Shankar Abhaynkar and another with exclusive pictures by Swar Bhaskar were found to be extremely valuable in the making of the film.
“Two of our units went all over the country to Jalandhar, Delhi, Kolkata and places in Karnataka and shot the film. There were interactions with people who have been a part of Panditji’s life,” said Godbole.
Shots of Panditji’s riyaz room and his favourite Datta temple are an important part of the film as they talk about the places where he spent most of his time. An interview with Gangubai Hangal’s son is another valuable highlight of the film.
“The documentary is not a chronological account of his life. Rather we have attempted to divide it in chapters focussing on his personality, his guru, his musical journey, his mehfils, natya sangeet and chitrapat sangeet. This has made it possible to showcase small bits of the film during the festival, without creating a disconnect in the flow of the film,” Godbole explained.
Since the documentary is a non-commercial project, no copies have been made for sale. “If there are many inquiries, then we may seek permission or try to make the film available on the Internet for free,” Godbole said.
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