Changes between Initial Version and Version 1 of Khayal Gatha

Timestamp:

Jul 29, 2012, 6:17:27 PM (12 years ago)

Author:

Trupti

Comment:

--

Khayal Gatha

@@ +1 @@
+'''Khayal Gatha'''
+
+
+aka Khayal Saga
+1988 103’ col Hindi
+d/s Kumar Shahani pc Madhya Pradesh Film
+Dev. Corp., Bombay Cinematograph
+dial Ashmaki Acharya, Kamal Swaroop
+c K.K. Mahajan m supervision Roshan Shahani
+lp Mita Vasisth, Birju Maharaj, Alaknanda
+Samarth, Rajat Kapoor, Navjot Hansra, Mangal
+Dhillon
+Rather than imbuing stories about
+contemporary conditions with epic dimensions
+(cf. Maya Darpan, 1972; Tarang, 1984),
+Shahani here addresses the epic forms directly
+in a film about the Khayal, a form of classical
+music established in the 18th C., based on the
+earlier Dhrupad which it then adapted,
+mobilising elements of other classical and folk
+literatures and music. For Shahani, the crucial
+relevance of this music to the cinema resides in
+its theory of the shruti, the subdivisions
+between given notes in a raga which eventually
+yield a continuous scale and prove that ‘you
+can only name approximations, never
+absolutes’ (1986). By emphasising sequence
+rather than discrete notes or the rhythmic cycle,
+musical elaboration could be based on
+improvisation so that, like jazz or other musical
+forms emerging from oppression, it was able to
+resist all efforts at encoding while remaining
+free to assimilate the widest range of musical
+elements from as far as Central Asia, Turkey
+and Persia. The film merges the history of the
+Khayal form with several legends associated
+with it: e.g. the legends of Rani Rupmati
+(Vasisht) and Baaz Bahadur (Dhillon), Heer-
+Ranjha, Nala-Damayanti and others (some
+invented for the film). These legends are then
+worked into some of the key figurations
+determining the Khayal narrative, such as the
+nayika and the object of the address, and the
+sakhi. A music student (Kapoor) moves
+through these epochs and legends. The result
+is a visually stunning narration condensing
+legend, history and poetry, emphasising
+hybridity in all cultural practices. The key
+musical contributions are by some of the
+foremost musicians from the Gwalior gharana,
+the oldest of the several that exist, including
+Krishnarao Shankar Pandit, Sharatchandra
+Arolkar, Jal Balaporia and Neela Bhagwat.
+Shahani also uses the dance of Birju Maharaj,
+India’s top Kathak dancer.
+
+[[Film]]