Lost notes

When filmmaker Mani Kaul decided to make a film in 1982 on Dhrupad — one of the oldest forms of music in India that originated from vedic chants — he was already learning vocal music from rudra veena exponent Baha-ud-din Dagar’s father Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and his uncle Ustad Fariduddin Dagar. Delhi-based Kaul finally made the 69-minute documentary that year and called it Dhrupad but it was screened only once. Now,after 28 years of its first screening,the film which is still considered to be one of the finest films on a dying art form,will be screened at the National Center for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai on August 27 and will have a screening in Delhi later this year. The film is being screened by the Films Division as a part of their Music Mirror series. “I was 12 then and remember Mani ji coming to our house and taking lessons from my father. He later began to learn the rudra veena too and we all were quite surprised by a filmmaker’s deep interest in music. By the time he made the film,the man not only knew the spiritual dimension of dhrupad as an art form but also the entire Shastra of music,” says Baha-ud-din,who also plays the rudra veena. The Dagars are among the oldest families of classical musicians in India and one of the few who still continue to perform the rare art form. Baha-ud-din Dagar and Wasifuddin Dagar belong to the 20th generation in an unbroken chain of Dhrupad singers,who have preserved the tradition for more than five centuries.

The film opens with a shot of a young Baha-ud-din learning to play the rudra veena from his father after which Kaul begins to narrate the history of dhrupad through 14th and 15th century to its condition at present. He then takes the audience through cities like Jaipur and Delhi where the art form grew and then goes on to describe the aesthetics and grammar of it,while reinstating its early glory. It also describes Dhrupad’s connection with India’s tribal music by shots of celebration and tribal dances which not many people are aware of.

Sixty-six-year old Kaul,a student of renowned film-maker Ritwik Ghatak at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) though,will not be able to attend the screenings due to ill-health. “One of the most memorable experiences during shooting the film was to hear Baha-ud-din’s father sing. He was a rudra veena player and one rarely heard him sing. His voice was not a deep resonant voice but an extremely moving one. For somebody who never sang in public it was a rare treat to hear him,” says filmmaker and editor Lalita Krishna,Kaul’s former wife who was involved in shooting the film.

“Out of a handful of films that have been made on Dhrupad,this one stands out because not only does it deal with the intricacies of Dhrupad as an art form,it also talks about its history,aesthetics,its highly developed classical form,its elaborate grammar and the fact that it was a primary form of worship. The film highlights how refined this music is and how it hasn’t lost its sheen with the passage of time ,” says Baha-ud-din.