(Top) Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma in performance; (above) Ina Puri and Sharma (far left and second from left) at the screening on Friday.

Two separate media — film and music — came together to explore the journey of a musician and an instrument, from its folk roots to world-famous renown, at Starmark on Friday. Marathi playwright and filmmaker Jabbar Patel (whose documentary on Dr B.R. Ambedkar won national acclaim) unveiled Antardhwani, which traces the life and works of santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma.

From picturesque Jammu to Bollywood to global fame as a classical musician whose name became synonymous with the folk instrument that he elevated to the traditional classical world, Antardhwani is based on art curator Ina Puri’s biography of the maestro, Journey With A Hundred Strings: My Life In Music. The documentary — its title a play on Panditji’s self-composed raga by the same name and his personal philosophy — also captures the struggles and journey of a young artiste. Sharma called the film an “apt portrayal” of his life after he watched it for the first time in a theatre, with surround sound bringing out the full effect of Faroukh Mistry’s cinematography. “He (Patel) has created the music, the ambience, the struggles, the problems, my relationship with other musicians, my association with the film world and tied these different areas together in 70 minutes,” said the maestro.

The documentary is shot on location in Jammu & Kashmir — Panditji’s birthplace — and Mumbai. With superb cinematography, the interrelationship of the land with the music is depicted as Sharma walks through familiar landscapes of his childhood.

From his early initiation into the world of music, the talim given to him by his father Pt Uma Dutt Sharma and the trials and twists of fate that took him out of Kashmir and to grimy Mumbai, Antardhwani captures it all.

The film reveals interesting nuggets for the classical music aficionado, like the little-known fact that Sharma received early training in tabla and vocals. It was almost by chance that his father introduced him to the santoor — a Kashmiri folk instrument largely used by Sufi musicians.

Panditji’s life goes in interesting directions, quite like a film script, as he travels to Mumbai with only his santoor and Rs 500, far away from his comfortable life, to one of uncertainty and struggle. Tracing his journey through the golden era of Hindi film music to his innovations with the santoor that allowed it the range required for classical music, the film follows him to international conferences, famous collaborations with Pt Ravi Shankar and George Harrison, Ustad Zakir Hussain and perhaps the most famous pairing of them all — with Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia.

“The point of such a documentary is that it is inspirational to young people and we want to take it to schools and colleges,” said Ina Puri. “Also, cinema is perhaps the most effective medium to trace the life of a musician as you can see the concert footage, watch him play, hear him sing as well as look at the old photographs recreating another world. Most important, it is part of an archiving process so that people don’t forget and have these resources for research,” added Puri.

“It is important to make films like this which bring out the personality of a genre and the artiste and his instrument and help create awareness,” concluded Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma.

Diya Kohli
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