City resident Raviraj Patel has made a documentary on Patna Kalam, a painting style that originated and flourished here during the 18th and 19th century.

He has featured around 100 rare pictures of Patna Kalam in his documentary. The 30-minute documentary also features interviews with people from the art world who have spoken about the history of this beautiful style of painting.

Patel has made the documentary - shot in six months from August last year to February this year - for the Rajya Sabha Channel, which would soon telecast it. Vividh Bharti artist Kamal Sharma, known for his show "Aap Ki Farmaish" has given the voice-over for the programme.

Sharing reasons for making the documentary, Raviraj said: "Patna Kalam is a very rich form of painting that originated in Patna. It is really sad that very few people know about this art form. That is why I thought to make a documentary on this very subject."

Style apart, he was also drawn to the history of this art form, another reason why he chose this subject. "Patna Kalam, also known as Patna School of Painting, brought about a revolution in the art world. There was a time when painters who used to work at various kings' courts were not being given due value and work. That was the time when some painters flocked to various parts of the country to explore work opportunities. Some painters settled in Patna in search of work. They found Patna suitable from the work point of view as it was situated on the banks of the Ganga.

The painters got to work with East India Company officials and this association reflected in their painting style. While earlier the theme used to revolve around their king's activities and various happenings in the kingdom, once they mingled with East India Company officials, commoners and their lives became their subjects. The painters then started capturing lives of common people.

"My documentary documents paintings which have been kept at Indian Museum in Calcutta, Victoria Memorial (also in Calcutta), Patna Museum and Patna City-based Chaitanya Museum," Patel said.

Among people he has interviewed in the documentary is noted Calcutta-based artist Bireshwar Bhattacharya, former Patna-based College of Arts and Crafts principal Shyam Sharma and secretary to chief minister Chanchal Kumar.

Interesting things featured in his documentary include "tum-tum (horse-cart) riders, barbers, landlords and Durga puja celebrations." Patan Kalam paintings featuring barbers was one interesting piece, he said. "The barber has been shown sitting on a brick while doing his job. This is interesting. It shows there were no salon-type set-ups like today and people used to work in the open," said Raviraj.