April 12th, 2008
Surabhi Sharma’s Documentary Film ‘Jahaji Music: India in the Caribbean’ + My Own Bhojpuri Connection
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During my year of being off-consumption, I’m not allowed to watch movies, plays, or concerts, unless they are free.
However, I’m discovering that Mumbai has a wide variety of free entertainment to offer; all you need is the inclination, and a copy of Time Out Mumbai.
But it was not Time Out, but a flier someone thrust into my hand as I walked out of the Alliance Francaise auditorium after watching Godard’s ‘Little Soldier’ that led me to the Little Theater at NCPA on Friday evening to watch Surabhi Sharma’s documentary film ‘Jahaji Music: India in the Caribbean’.
I saw three stories unfold in front of my eyes during the evening.
The first story was the film itself, a musical road trip in which FTII alumnus Surabhi and academic Tejaswini Niranjana follow maverick Indian singer Remo Fernandes as he travels to the Caribbean to explore potential collaborations and create new work. This is the story of young women at an Indian wedding in Trinidad thrusting their pelvis to Bhojpuri numbers, like dancehall queens in Jamaica. This is a story of Chutney Soca artist Rikki Jai worrying about not sounding like an Indian singing Calypso, then asking his mother to write Chutney Soca lyrics for him in Bhojpuri. This is the story of Remo wearing his disdain for Hindi film music like a talisman, even though his most popular songs are from Hindi films.
