INDIA New England News
BY VINAYAK CHAKRAVORTY
Chaitanya Tamhane’s new film intricately weaves diverse threads. It talks of the state of Hindustani Classical music and its ‘Guru-Shishya parampara’. There is adequate reference to the blatant commercialising of music, as well as how myths are created around icons in the world of art. Importantly, in a sublime final scene, the film leaves a lingering question. What really is the mark of purity in art does it lie in rigorous learning, or is it about simplistic rendition that communicates to all with sincerity?
Tamhane’s new film, which boasts of Oscar-winner Alfonso Cuaron as an executive producer, is exceptional for the way it reiterates the value of the musical as a cinematic genre. Richly laced with remarkable classical recitals, the narrative uses its music quotient to do more than merely move the story forward. Here, music is a character in the plot.
The Disciple. Netflix
Before I saw
The Disciple, I knew nothing about Hindustani, or northern Indian, classical music. By the end of the movie, I knew a little bit more, though I d still be hard-pressed to follow the different intonations that singers bring to their performances, or to explain how a raga works. (That s the musical framework that allows performers to improvise.) Fortunately, no expertise is needed to appreciate
The Disciple, which is both a welcome introduction to a kind of music we rarely hear onscreen and a richly layered story of a young man s artistic struggle.
His name is Sharad, and he s played with great depth and emotional subtlety by Aditya Modak. It s 2006, and the 24-year-old Sharad lives in Mumbai with his grandmother, working occasionally but spending most of his time studying his chosen art form. Hindustani classical music doesn t just require impeccable technique and brilliant improvisation. It s an all-consuming discipline, demanding
The Disciple: Hits the notes of excellence
By IANS |
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The Disciple
Direction: Chaitanya Tamhane
BY VINAYAK CHAKRAVORTY
Chaitanya Tamhane s new film intricately weaves diverse threads. It talks of the state of Hindustani Classical music and its Guru-Shishya parampara . There is adequate reference to the blatant commercialising of music, as well as how myths are created around icons in the world of art. Importantly, in a sublime final scene, the film leaves a lingering question. What really is the mark of purity in art does it lie in rigorous learning, or is it about simplistic rendition that communicates to all with sincerity?