Mirror Effect

In the summer of 2001,the quest to record the rich traditions of Indian painting led art historian and photographer Benoy K Behl and his team of three to travel across 13 countries,including 20 states in India,over a period of 240 days. “The aim was to document and analyse the tradition of Indian painting,which is far from well-known,” says the 54-year-old. Back in the Delhi studio,the recordings were categorised into a series of 26 films,of 30 minute each,and screened on Doordarshan as The Paintings of India series. The episodes have now been released in the form of a set of six DVDs,priced at Rs 3,000. “It’s an effort to reach out to the masses,” smiles Behl.

The project was conceptualised when Behl was still photographing the Ajanta caves for his book Ajanta: The Unseen Jewel,that featured photographs of paintings taken without artificial lights,to give an understanding of how they looked in their original setting. “That gave me an opportunity to document some of the finest artwork. The appreciation received led me to conceive of a more extensive project,” says the author.

The sites covered in the dvds include 10th century Chola paintings in Brihadisvara Temple,Tanjore,7th century paintings of Kailashnath Temple in Kanchipuram,9th century paintings in the Jain caves of Sittanavasal,15th century paintings in the Lepakshi Temple,Anantapur,and Indian miniatures in museums in the US,UK,France,Ireland and Switzerland. “It took six months to get a go-ahead to shoot in Myanmar,where we eventually filmed 12th century paintings in the Pagodas in Bagan,” says Bahl,recalling how over a thousand official letters were written to seek permission to film the paintings. Work is now on,on a film series on the culture of India. “This will focus on a large expanse,from the forgotten Aryan tribe of Ladakh to the Manipuri raas leela,” adds Bahl. The series goes on air in three months from now. The travel,though,will continue.Vandana Kalra