Under Construction - UC Films

English / Hindi / Marathi (subtitled),  70 min, 2011, India

Kishori Amonkar’s divine music has entranced the audience for years. For Kishore Tai, music has a long unbroken history in the form of her Gurumata Mogubai Kurdikar, fondly known as Mai, who was the quintessence of Tai’s life. Wounded by the painful feeling that Mai never received recognition proportionate to her legendary talent, Tai donned a resolute, impenetrable mask in stark contrast to Mai’s fragility and vulnerability. Tai’s struggle to overcome the long shadows of her tumultous childhood has perhaps spread all through her life. Another aspect of Tai’s struggle for which she was frequently criticized was ‘transcending her musical oeuvre beyond the conventions and traditions of Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana’. Her experimentation with alapchari, her softened tonal accents and intense emotive content, or her liberties with traditional renditions were vilified by conservatives as intolerable deviations. The musical voyage of this tireless explorer continues unperturbed despite all such denunciation. Ultimately she found her position repeatedly vindicated by stependous audience patronage and a string of honours including the Sangeet Natak Academy awards (1985 & 2011) and the titles Ganasaraswati, the Padma Bhushan (1987) and the Padma Vibhushan (2002). The film is an accessible portrait of a pensive, creative artist whose life has been sublimated to and consumed by her art.

Note: Only available in DVD.