From Deepak :”You know Shekhar, today I watched Bandit Queen. I was in early school when it was released and it was out of bounds then. I can’t understand how something made so way back seems to grab me NOW from the first moment. You know this is your most honest attempt. You – simply are not there in the movie, neither is there technique. Nothing..nothing at all sat between me and the murk and dust of chambal. This movie ironically is more ‘masoom’ than any of your other movies including ‘masoom’ itself. Phew..a blast from the past..still so raw and tough and so bloody gritty..
where is that rawness and fearlessness these days(this is not directed so much at you..but at all filmmakers today)..does the passing of time,weathering at the hands of emotions and knowledge cripple the ability of an artist to express instinctively ?”
Thank you Deepak. I always say Bandit Queen is my most honest film in that I just did not allow anything to come between the ‘moment’ and the film. It took courage and sheer obstinacy too. For holding on to my instinct for dear life and shooting so fast that no one had time for doubt. Not even myself. Often thinking too much will cause more doubt and less courage. Partly it was the actors complete faith in what I asked them to do and also in their ability to invent their roles in their own identity. The ravines of Chambal spoke to me constantly and being and living in the harsh environment itself forced an act of adventure that became both challenging and exciting. It was guerrilla film making at it’s most adventurous.
And last not least – this as an ode to the greatest and the most underestimated Director of Photography I know – Ashok Mehta, who’s courage and energy was boundless and from whom I learned much of my visual instincts from. The very same visual style that I adapted for the Elizabeth films
Author: shekhar
Beginings….
These are times for new beginnings. Beginnings are not events that can be taken for granted. They are offerings to us for our past Karma’s and we are then held responsible to seize the offering, nurture it, worship it, and see in them immensity that we are, not letting the petty ups and downs blind us to the dazzling potential of what the universe offers provide we set out sights higher.
With the rising dawn, I see a new beginning.
AR Rahman and I at Ajmer Dargah Shariff of Hazrat Khwaja Muinuddin Chisti
I want to thank A R Rahman for taking me to Ajmer to visit The Dargah Sherriff of Khwaja Muinuddin Chisti. It was my first visit and going with AR Rahman made the visit even more amazing. It is very difficult and perhaps not right to write or express the feelings unless one has had time to live with them for a while.
Rahman and I were working in the music of Paani when on the way back to Mumbai I found myself sitting next to him on the flight when I had just said bye to him ! He was going to Ajmer and asked if I would come and of course I went. I saw that as a sign for the beginings of Paani.
My only regret is that I was not there for the early morning Qwaali.
Bikram Yoga an Olympic sport ?
Not sure what to make of this one. Apparently Yoga is going competitive in the US, and is being promoted by none other than our own Bikram Chowdhary and his wife. ! But since the essence of Yoga is completely internal, how can you judge a Yogi ? Apparently Mrs Chowdhary knows as she is the judge and the promoter both.
Would you put brain sensors on to see if there are truly alpha waves being emitting (or whichever wave is emitted when the Buddhist Monks are in deep meditation). Or do people see yoga now as form of gymnastics? I would have thought that competition is the antithesis of Yoga
Are we the product of the contradictions of the Universe ?
Deepak Rajgor sent this post, and I wonder if anyone has any comments before I try and answer him ?
“Many a times in your blog you have mentioned that universe is amoral. It exists in unending contradictions. Are we the cause of those contradiction sir? As we try to understand onself, we get to stage where one question almost gets solved and another quest starts…we comphrend ourself…we contradict…
Thoughts are unending, we contradict… ..Are our thoughts or sum of all our thoughts get impregenented in unending universe?…. Are our sublime feelings vibratory? Do our feelings and thoughts make universe of what it is and what it will be? Is universe an effect or is universe a cause?
I am still trying to understand this. Can you please share your thoughts? Can you simplify?
Awaiting a reply so that I understand…”
Thank you.
I love Sachin Tendulkar
I love cricket – and the focus, dedication, joy and sheer artistry Sachin has brought to the game is so rare in any sport. Not just in cricket. And I love him for being him. And now I admire him even more for the courage to say what he believes regardless of the consequences.
I agree that Sachin should stay away from politics – why should we see such a pure soul muddied in the dirty waters of our country’s politics ?
So if you support Sachin – just say “Yes to Sachin”.
India going Green or Red ?
I was asked by NDTV to come on a show to argue with our Minister of Environment on the fact that the Himalayan glaciers are NOT receding. I wonder if he has been there ? This is not about statistics, dear minister, ask the local people. Statistics can be manipulated, as we all know. Just go there and look for yourself. Actually statistical data shows that the Himalayan glaciers are receding at the greatest rate than any other in this planet !
And now about India going Red. Naxalites and Maosists. The huge rebellion against oppression and mis-governance – that has led to ambitious armed groups to take advantage of the oppressed people to rebel. While our press and government call it a rebellion against the Indian State and Law and Order, the truth is that these people have never really seen the Indian State and the only Law and Order they have seen is the callous treatment and humiliations they have suffered at the hands of the representative of the Indian Govt or their Law and Order. And they have only felt India’s rise as a global is economic super power by the land grab for the rich resources that lie in their lands.
As the Indian army goes in for a full scale assault against it it’s own people – and this time unable to blame a foreign power, or Islamic fundamentalism – it’s time for us Indians to seriously think about ourselves.
What is it about us that allows the rich and powerful to completely over-ride not only the basic needs of a majority of our people, but oppress them, their families and their women often worse than animals. Does our constitution that gives EVERY Indian citizen the same fundamental rights not mean anything ? Or was the constitution written only for the elite, urban and powerful ?
What a contradiction. While the Indian government is (rightly) talking about Inclusive Growth, it is launching a huge armed offensive against its own people, And in the cross fire who knows how many innocents, women and children will lose their lives.
How did we ever let it get to this stage ?
The sweet acrid nostalgic smell of Delhi winter
Walking the streets of Delhi just as dusk has set in. The slight smell from the fog mixed with the smell of traffic fumes on Janpath. Memories. Of my mother, always in her colorful saris, red shawl, her carefully bobbed hair just down to her neck. And laughing, always laughing as if she feared if she did not, somehow the demons of unfulfilled child hood dreams would get to her. As they ultimately did.
But God, I loved that laughter – and the streets and smells of Delhi were filled with her laughter this evening. And my father, quite and often brooding, a compassionate smile on his face as he watched his life partner laugh, hiding his pleasure at it, but feeling it’s warmth just as me and my sisters did.
And when my mother passed away he missed it so much that he gradually too let go. The laughter that filled our lives had gone – but we the kids were off on our own adventures – our own dreams, heartbreaks, ambitions – the family house empty of laughter and hope – still lies there languishing – waiting for someone to fill it with the bubbling excitement – so it’s walls can lose the forlorn dampness that is spreading everywhere.
And this evening as I walk through Janpath to my hotel – the restored and magnificent Imperial Hotel – the sweet acrid nostalgic smell of Delhi winter – brought tears to my eyes – as passerby’s saw me and stopped “wasn’t that Shekhar Kapur who also cried on TV” ?
The song, not the singer
Thank you HSK for reminding me “A simple lesson: problems arise when artist becomes bigger than the art”
Yes, absolutely
words that dissolve the speaker
or colors that overwhelm the artist
films, where the director is merely the gardener
tending to the process, and praying for rain and sunshine
and watching the film grow organically
In the recent art installation David Adjaye and I did for Swarovski
both of us walked in and were astonished and exclaimed
“oh my God !” How did we create this ?
The truth was we did not
somehow our energies
and all the energies involved
collected and created the art work
Our passion is the spice which both catalyzes
and sparks the Universe
beyond that, we wait
and watch it emerge
Delhi descends into savagery : another personal experience
It may be wrong of me to keep posting these stories, but it is important to know that the carnage against Sikhs in Delhi is not something that can be consigned to History. It is something that happened recently and the both victims and criminals are still alive. It also shows (as in Gujarat and in Mumbai after that) how easily we descend into savagery worse than animals, where a human being ceases to be one. Why ? what happens ? Why would a neighbor kill another ? Is it within us to do this ? Within you or me ? This one is from Aimee :
my uncle was the first sikh who was killed in the riots… he owned a huge business of taxi’s and this is the story i heard from his own family that survived… i must have not been 9… my uncle was dragged out from his house to his taxi stand beaten all the way there… while his young daughter ran after him trying to save him… they hanged him in front of her but did not kill him fully and then burned him alive… imagine seeing your own father die in front of you…. she was left to die at the stand… broken arm leg and god knows what else… I heard of her after 1 yr – she lived and joined the radical Sikh movement… then they ask why and how do we save our children from something like that. ? .. she is dead now.. well that is what i know… no one talks about this in our family… but 1984 case are still going on… so many died in name of caste system… we should not repeat the past and learn to heal those who have been hurt…