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Journalism of Courage
Basheer Ali captured the barren beauty of desert lanscapes in J P Dutta8217;s Refugee. Now he hopes to reach out to the young with a documentary on Pandit Paluskar. Mohammed Wajihuddin finds out more8230;
When Ali grew up and became an ad filmmaker and cinematogrpher, a documentary on documentary on Pandit Paluskar was his pet project. It took Ali five years, numerous visits to Pandit Paluskar8217;s ancestral house in Pune, the places associated with him in Nashik, Mumbai and Delhi and the demanding exercise of recording reminiscences of people who knew Paluskar. The product is Pratidhwani Echoes, screened at NCPA recently.
The hard work shows. Naushad Ali, who had recorded Pandit Paluskar with Ustad Amir Khan in the film Baiju Bawra, pays homage to the genius in glowing words. Expressing his sorrow over the death of Pandit Paluskar at the young age of 34, Naushad says, :Chal diya woh us jahan ko gata hua, Apne geeton se is jahan ko rulata hua He left for another world singing, And this world is weeping for him and his music.
Ali, whose entire entire family has been involved in the documentary mother Zenab designed the costumes, while sister Ruksana helped in the production, is dismayed at the attitude of government agencies towards films on quot;unsung heroesquot;. quot;When I approached DD to get the documentary screened, it offered me Rs 50,000. The print itself costs me Rs 27,000. I am not selling it to DD. It will be shown at the Panorama section of the International Film Festival in New Delhi later this year,quot; he informs, and adds,quot;I am disenchanted with the insensitivity of DD towards films on our cultural icons. My film is far better than the rubbish they show day in and day out on DD.quot;
Starting with Lintas as an apprentice in 1981, Ali worked with ad filmmakers duo Sumantro Ghoshal and Pooh Sayani for a while, before moving on to work with Ishan Arya, the cinematogrpher, who shot films like M S Sathyu8217;s Garam Hawa. quot;Arya made me a cinematogrpher. I learnt from him that the cameraman is the king in filmmaking.quot; Ali has made more than 200 ad films for Pepsodent, Sony Tv, Citizen Watches, Fem Liquid soap with Mahima Chaudhary and Citibank. His break in a feature film came with Muzaffar Ali8217;s Zooni, which is still under production. Then came Tinu Anand8217;s two films 8212; Ek Hindustani and Major Sahab. But the film which truly established Ali and earned him rave reviews is J P Dutta8217;s Refugee. Critics might have panned the film, but they have lauded its cinematography. quot;Refugee was shot in a barren location. It is easier to shoot in the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland than in the deserts of Rajasthan. My only regret is that the film didn8217;t do welldespite a good story and scintillating cinematography,quot; Ali says. quot;Visuals define a film8217;s story. And we succeeded in doing this in Refugee, which has been appreciated by a filmmaker Deepa Mehta8217;s stature.quot;
Ali has also signed two films with Ripple Entertainment, which, in combination with Sony Tristar Columbia, is producing Hindi films.
Any other biopics on musicians? quot;Right now, I am looking forward to taking this documentary to the masses. I want the new generation to know about the icon who has left such a rich legacy. It will take a while before I decide to make a documentary on any other personality from the music world,quot; he says.
