Dhrupad

Synopsis : Dhrupad is the oldest surviving form of Hindustani Classical music and the Dagars, who have been singing for twenty generations are responsible more than any one else for keeping it alive. Times have changed but the Dagars have tenaciously not allowed the pristine Dhrupad to be diluted or distorted. This film on the Dagars, is a slow meditative journey that fuses the depth and quiet of the traditional with the hurly-burly of the modern. The conflict between the soulfulness of the Gurukul as envisaged and practiced by the Dagars and the philistinism of city life is more left to the imagination than spelt out here. The film’s mood ranges from the occasionally playful to the largely pure and profound. Director: Mani Kaul Year: 1982