A sound tribute

Bhaskar Chandavarkar cemented his place as a versatile composer,with fingers deep into both Hindustani and Western music. His contributions to Marathi theatre and films of several Indian languages resulted in an expansive legacy of bold experimentation and intense creative acumen. The event organised in his memory sought to revisit the music that he helped create and the impact that it had on listeners. And the mood of the crowd,dominated by salt and pepper hairlines,went along with the musical flow in disciplined appreciation.

The morning session opened with a rendition of some of Chandavarkar’s songs. This was followed by the launch of Chandavarkar’s book Vadyaved ani Bhartiya Sangeetachi Mulatatve at the hands of Karnad. Rohit Chandavarkar,son of the late composer,emotionally said,“My father was a genuine performer. He embodied a life-long fascination with music.”

Girish Karnad confessed that he felt a deep sense of poignancy on the day. “I shared a 25-year creative association with Chandavarkar. He composed the music for my first film. I also have an attachment with Pune itself as my early education had begun here,” he said. To mark the occasion,Karnad delivered an erudite lecture on the topic of ‘Entertaining India’. He traced how colonial sensibilities helped shape the evolution of the idea of art and entertainment in India. “The introduction of English in India affected our culture materially. The second turning point was the establishment of cities,especially of Bombay,Madras and Calcutta. These cities developed their own culture,that was different from the continuous culture that existed in other Indian cities,where the hinterland and the urban were one stream. These British cities adopted the English way of life,and this percolated into the field of theatre too.” The introduction of something as simple as the sale of show tickets was in fact the start of entertainment becoming a commodity. “With it,entertainment became a product of the market,and improvisation gave way to standardisation. And when Shakespeare was touted as the representative of the English culture,we were galvanised into re-discovering our own playwrights,” he spoke.

An interesting point that Karnad made was that regional languages are,in fact,flourishing in this day and age of pervasive television. “Though it was felt as being the on-set of a modern day cultural crisis,I feel the glut of TV entertainment has actually helped regional languages grow and vernacular channels become more popular.” Television today constantly walks between the tight ropes of over-exposure and mediocrity and Karnad feels that there is always a certain degree of gradation in art. “Music today is more powerful and more supported than ever before in our history. The following of arts now is unprecedented. But,at the same time,audience patience has gone down. They want entertainment that gives them value for their money. All art needs is to match up to this expectation,” he said.