Shiraz: A Romance of India is a labour of love from an era when cinematic grandeur had a different definition compared to the modern-day zeitgeist. That is why, the evening, as a part of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival, at HICC, was an interesting culmination, not just of cultures but also of styles. It was a conflation of music, in all its diversity – thanks to Anoushka Shankar and her ensemble – used as a tool to bring a gem from yesteryear to life.
Imagine this – a film which was made in 1928 through the collaboration of three different countries, screened in 2017, the year marked as UK-India Year of Culture. The German director Franz Osten based his movie — entirely shot in India with Indian cast and under natural conditions — on Niranjan Pal’s play about the monumental tale that preceded the conjuring of the Taj Mahal. The 1928 movie produced by British Instructional Films was truly a collaboration of three different countries. But, most parts of it were almost lost to the vagaries of time.
Only the British version of the movie was available – the German and Indian versions were lost – for restoration, thus starting the painstaking process of bringing back from oblivion a yesteryear treasure. After an extensive grading and clean-up process before production of digital elements, the movie from the British Film Institute’s archive was ready for re-screening. The collaboration of BFI with British Council should be thanked for restoring a movie that gave connoisseurs a sneak-peek into the cinematography style, production design – large parts of the movie were shot in the Agra Fort and as many as 50000 people were used across all scenes – and story-telling of the silent era. Anoushka Shankar who has six Grammy nominations and is the youngest recipient of the British House of Commons Shield, was roped in for her first film score, to lend the restored movie a sublime new touch.
The experience of watching Anoushka and her team play the score, while the silent movie was playing on the screen behind them, was an ethereal experience. Audiences, who were enamoured by her sitar-playing, also observed how the accomplished musician shed her celebrity profile in the interest of the theme at hand – giving the silent movie the centre spot. She did so with élan, experimenting boldly with instruments like cello, clarinet and piano, which are rarely used in Indian cinema.
The ensemble brought out the blend of Indian and Western music effortlessly – with several indigenous instruments like kanjira, bansuri, mridangam, ghatam and morsing used with great skilll. Anoushka’s brilliant sitar playing was interspersed generously with great contributions from her team – Ravichandra Kulur (bansuri and kanjira), Idris Rahman (clarinet), Preetha Narayanan (violin), Danny Keane (cello and piano), Pirashanna Thevarajah (mridangam, ghatam), Sanju Sahai (tabla) and Christopher Kemsley (harmonium, moog, modular synthesizer).
It would have been quite a challenge for Anoushka Shankar and her team to traverse the fine line between contemporary music and a narrative from the early part of the 20th century, especially in the absence of the movie director to help her with the narrative. She was bold in her choices, a mixture of various ragas to suit various scenes – war, love, betrayal, conspiracies, revelations and epiphanies - with solo parts for violin, percussion, cello and clarinet. She succeeded in creating several layers that had a wide spectrum and immersive depth. The result was a double delight – for classic-film enthusiasts and music-lovers – an evening to cherish for everyone who witnessed the spectacle.
