Just out in the February issue of India Currents!
Working in a documentary format for the first
time was a transition for both Producer and Director. “It was a rude awakening. We both come from a narrative background” and
working on a documentary while filming in India proved to be a very different
experience. Moving from highly scripted
scenes to following a story as it evolved in real time was initially an
adjustment for Bhardwaj. The process of
production also turned out to be a marathon.
“I had to let go and let this film take its time.” And the challenge of showing your film to
your subjects at the end and awaiting their reaction? “It was nerve-racking, showing the final
cut. Everyone was watching in different
places. What would they think? But in the end they said, ‘Let’s go with
it.’”
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| Image Courtesy of CDDC |
“Two cameras, five weeks, and 100 hours of
footage. But where was the story?” is the conundrum that Producer Antara
Bhardwaj, Producer of Upaj: Improvise, began with. She and her crew filmed Indian kathak master
Pandit Chitresh Das and rising tap star Jason Samuels Smith on tour in India
for India Jazz Suites, an east-west dance collaboration. The result is a 50 minute documentary of an unlikely
but electrifying collaboration between a master steeped in the Indian classical
tradition and a 28-year-old tap dancer from a streetwise American art form.
“Guru-ji is 68 and has had a plethora of
experience. Trying to encapsulate his
life within 50 minutes? It was a little
challenging, and it was a little challenging for him to realize this film is
only about one part of his life,” explains Bhardwaj. Pandit Das is widely recognized as a
virtuoso, and was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship by the US government
in 2009 for his work choreographing, composing, and directing. Das is committed to the concept of
“innovation within tradition,” striving to create contemporary works rooted
within the kathak tradition while running one of the largest Indian classical
dance institutions in the world.
Das has also served as an unlikely mentor for
Jason Samuels Smith. Smith is an artist
who has risen rapidly in the dance field over the past decade, receiving an
Emmy and American Choreography Award in 2009.
African-American tap and kathak are both percussive, and deeply rooted
in improvisation, yet very different.
Das brought Samuels to India for his first visit during the documentary,
and the film documents this transformational experience. “India always changes people… and this is the
story of the unlikely friendship of two people who’ve come together through an art
form,” says Bhardwaj.
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| Courtesy of CDDC |
For Bhardwaj, the documentary presented a
personal challenge at an important period in her life. She had directed her own feature film and produced
Jag Mundhra’s Shoot on Sight,
featuring Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri.
Yet Bhardwaj found herself at a turning point with her work in filmmaking. “I didn’t want to live out of two suitcases
anymore,” and she missed dancing while working on films, having trained with
Das since childhood. Upaj gave her the opportunity to tour
with Das while working on the film simultaneously, an intensive process. “I was totally immersed,” she says.
Bhardwaj first stumbled into the project when
she saw sample scenes Rina Mehta, the Executive Producer of Upaj, had put together. Impressed by Hoku Uchiyama’s work as the
film’s Director, Bhardwaj thought, “What is this project? It was so near and dear to me. And I was blown away by Hoku’s
artistry.” Yet working on a documentary
about one’s teacher is a complicated proposition. “It’s a tough line to walk. I realized I shouldn’t try to direct; there
needs to be some distance from the subject.”
Knowing your subject is crucial for a documentary filmmaker, but so is preserving
objectivity. “At times I would watch
scenes and cringe. Maybe this shows my
guru in a vulnerable way? I had to step
back and realize how this was important to the story… you don’t want to
sensationalize, and you don’t want to exploit” says Bhardwaj.
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| Courtesy of CDDC |
“I’m proud of the unique insight I was able to
bring to a multi-ethnic team, some of whom had never been to India before,”
says Bhardwaj. Upaj, although a film about artistic improvisation, is also a film
about cultural improvisation as well.
Uchiyama, as well as crewman Shaun Jefford, had never been to India
before. While filming the unique
collaboration of two men from very different backgrounds on stage, the
documentary crew was also bridging some important cultural divides of their
own. Yet it’s the personal reactions to
her work that Bhardwaj finds most compelling.
She watches the audience react to the documentary, “whether that’s being
inspired, intrigued by a subject they didn’t even know existed, touched by the
passion” and knows her process has facilitated a connection between the
audience and the story of the two artists on screen.
Upaj will be screened at the
annual Chitresh Das Dance Company & Chhandam School of Kathak’s annual gala. A performance by the Chhandam Youth Dance Company
will start the evening, followed by a screening of the film, a performance by
Das and Smith, and a question and answer session with the dancers, Director, and
Producer. Dinner will follow.
Chitresh Das Dance Company Annual Gala
Featuring Upaj: Improvise
Performance by Pandit Das and Jason Smith
Saturday, March 2
Computer History Museum
1401 North Shoreline Boulevard, Mountain View
5:30 reception, 6:30 showing and performance
Traditional attire
Tickets start at $250.
