Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts

A modest tradition of making clay images existed in Bengal in pre-British times. These craftsmen originally “Potters” by caste became the core settlers of Kumartuli, which means “Potters Quarter”. “Documentation of Clay Image Makers of Kumartuli”s an attempt to understand their plight and Kumartuli’s contribution to one of the biggest festivals in the world.

15th century Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankardeva is an iconic legend permeates beyond the realm of spirituality and spreads across every other social and cultural aspect of lives of north-eastern part of India, including arts, literature, drama, politics, warfare and so on. Sankardeva was not only a religious leader but also a social reformer of outstanding merit. A progressive visionary by nature, he wanted to build an egalitarian society which would bring solidarity, unity and integrity among the people belonging to different castes, communities and sects in Bharatvarsh.

The 8th-century craftsmen left Shiva’s rock-cut temple in Masrur unfinished. An earthquake left it half unmade. From the forest to the heart of the temple, the film follows the ancient plans, step by step. The rock breathes. What remains becomes a sign of the non-apparent.

This documentation explores anthropologically various nuances of Car Nicobar tribes within the geographical settings of the Nicobar. It provides a rare view of the lesser known life style, belief system rituals practices festivals and livelihood patterns and traces the oral traditions mythology, costumes and dialect of the Car Nicobarese. The documentary highlights the vernacular style and architecture including the indigenous beehive like thickly thatched huts with afo grass and traditional structural geometry. The film explores the Betal and Coconut production as an economic activity within an overall fame work of ecology and associated folklore.

The creative self of the Master Adoor Gopalakrishnan gets explored through self-reflections, memories and conceptual interventions.

Towards the end of the eighth century, an architect journeys across the lower Himalayas in search of the perfect site for constructing a temple, not merely as a place of worship but as a monumental record crystallizing the collective accomplishment of a civilization.