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Stills from the film: Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer

What creatures are these musicians who create such beautiful music to mesmerise thousands? Ramani’s film demystifies the kutcheri giving stars who are talented alright but, otherwise, are simply ordinary human beings, thinking and talking about mundane affairs, joking, giving facile compliments to fellow artists, smiling and fending off fans, clinching another concert — all just before or just after their concert. Once on stage and the curtains are up, however, they are transformed personalities. In a very striking footage in the film, vocalist S. Sowmya is shown chuckling away in a shared moment with her accompanist just minutes before the concert. The very next frame shows her and the mridangam player creating some intense moments in a complex swaraprastara in Vasanta.

‘Season’ captures moments with most leading musicians and dancers. Not exactly an exhaustive documentary on the December ‘season’, the film leaves out accompanists who have their own stories of movement and pursuit of excellence while grappling with a secondary status and also younger musicians and dancers for whom, especially, the season is a maker of destinies….

There is no place in the film for the lecture demonstrations and vidwat sadas-es, the award giving ceremonies, and the media people who too are in a state of frenzied activity. The film seems centrally about Ramani’s fascination with the creative mind, the electrifying performer.

T. Viswanathan.

The camera moves restlessly from one sabha to another, one artiste to another. The overall ambience is that of a fair where so much is on offer and one wants to get as much out of it as possible. But at the end of it all, in the midst of all this hectic movement and activity, what both audiences and artistes aim at is a lysis, a dissolving of one’s personality in the music or dance. A long and relaxed swaraprastara in Bilahari by Neyveli Santhanagopalan perhaps captures this. Ramani observes some matters of form such as M.S. Subulakshmi lighting the kuthu vilakku at Kartik Fine Arts in one of the opening scenes and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer wishing everyone happiness and prosperity after his concert at the Music Academy at the end….

A three-hour film can be quite long but the film easily retains interest. There is no voiceover commentary; only what actually transpires at the scenes is captured in sound. In its very silence the film is a powerful commentary, showing the cameraderie, sometimes the shallowness, arrogance even, that one can encounter among artists. It is striking how most artists seem oblivious of the camera (of course, Ramani had their permission) — all except dancer Shobana, perhaps because she knows what even an unobtrusive camera can do.

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