Written by: PiyasreeDasgupta
3 min readMar 22, 2010 03:06 AM IST
First published on: Mar 22, 2010 at 03:06 AM IST
Leaving Home – a documentary on Indian Ocean is all set for a commercial release
Even as stars crossed and put a lid on Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday for years on end,there was something that kept us tied around the can,almost letting us feel the film writhing in its confines. It was Bande,a haunting,raw composition that identified Indian Ocean with more than just a bit of brine water. While music aficionados in the country utter the name with a pleasant mix of respect,awe and endearment,like most indie bands in the country,Indain Ocean,is yet to become a household name. Something that Leaving Home,Jaideep Verma’s film on the band intends to change. “This is one of India’s greatest musical entities post-independence,Bollywood and Classical included. I believe it is a scandal that they are not household names. Their music does not age,and is relevant in every corner of India,and everywhere else too,” says Verma,about the subject of his nearly four-year-long project,which makes it to the big screen in a couple of days.
The film shot over 50 days,takes us down the journey of four young music lovers,who chose to throw caution into the air and swam against cultural stereotypes and commercial demands of their time,to follow their hearts. Sushmit Sen,Asheem Chakravarty,Amit Kilam and Rahul Ram formed not just a band,but ploughed through the cultural wilderness to create a road,to be frequented by generations of musicians to come. While it was difficult to distance himself from the emotional involvement he had with the band and its music,Verma chose to tell the story of four people and their relationship with music. “I have never been in awe of them. They were kindred spirits whose work I greatly admired. I was interested in exploring their humanness,not their rockstar persona,” says Verma.
Consequently,the shoot threw up aspects of the members before the camera,that probably they weren’t themselves aware of. “Like Asheem’s lonely childhood,about which he has perhaps never spoken in so much length before. Or Amit’s family’s connection with the Kashmiri Pandit migration,” recollects Verma.
The writer and filmmaker (his film Hulla was released in 2008) believes that though documentaries don’t draw crowds all the time,this is a film that is an entertainer. “Anyone who enjoyed 3 Idiots or Rock On for that reason,will be as entertained,” he sums up.
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