Through the maze of faiths, political beliefs, personal relationships, contradictions and contexts each one finds her own Kabir and an expression as personal as that connection.
In this episode from the film Koi Sunta Hai, we meet many Kabirs - the fiercely political Kabir who speaks truth to power; the Kabir who speaks of the rasa (taste) of everyday life, who sings of beauty and emptiness in the same breath; the Kabir who speaks to the soul in moments of deep personal crisis and comforts the pain; the Kabir who is constantly written and re-written sifting through each body (house) that receives him as a guest.
Interweaving the folk music traditions of Kabir with the life and music of the late classical singer Kumar Gandharva, the film Koi Sunta Hai searches for that elusive sound, that ‘jhini si awaaz’, Kabir urges us to hear. Where does it resonate, that subtle sound? Journeying between folk and classical, oral and written, rural and urban expressions of Kabir, the film finds moments of both continuity and rupture between these disparate worlds.
Koi Sunta Hai is one of 4 films on Kabir made by Shabnam Virmani, filmmaker, singer and part of the Kabir Project, located at the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology in Bangalore, India. Write to her at thekabirproject@gmail.com. View the film at www.cultureunplugged.com/play/2833, and get DVDs of the film at www.amazon.in/dp/B00PJTQURE.
Film Credits -
Camera & Direction: Shabnam Virmani
Script & Editing: Shabnam Virmani & Rikhav Desai
Editing Support: Aarthi Parthasarathy, Parmesh K
Direction & Production Support: Smriti Chanchani & Rumah Rasaque
Songs by Pt. Kumar Gandharva, Vishnu Khuprao Deshmukh “Kabir Baba”, Babulal Ranaji, Vidya Rao, Shubha Mudgal, Prahlad Tipanya, Dhulichand
Music of Kumar Gandharva licensed by HMV & Inreco
Sound Mixing: Fireflys Post Sound, Mumbai
Research & Concept: Shabnam Virmani & Tara Kini
Still Pictures of Kumar Gandharva: Avinash Pasricha
Motion Graphics: M M Pradeep
Poetry Translations: Linda Hess, Shabnam Virmani
Advisors: Linda Hess, Ashok Vajpeyi, Vidya Rao, Purushottam Aggrawal, Tara Kini
Financial Support: Ford Foundation, New Delhi
Produced by: Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore
Collection: Kabir Project
Year of Production: 2009
This is one of a series of uploads for Ajab Shahar, an upcoming webspace featuring songs, images and conversations around Bhakti, Sufi and Baul poetry from India and thereabouts, currently under construction by the Kabir Project team. www.ajabshahar.org, www.kabirproject.org