The documentary unveils the story of Indian cinema through the eyes of the filmmaker. It is a journey of discovery told through a visual interpretation of time and space, objects and memories as he travels around the country stumbling over significant historical artifacts and spaces. It depicts the paradox of India’s relationship with cinema: the romance and the power, the neglect and the worship. The narrative imagery depicts Dadasaheb Phalke’s car that he must have driven while shooting his films; K.L. Saigal’s harmonium that was the accompaniment to that singular unforgettable voice; the homes of Satyajit Ray and Baburao Painter where films like Pather Panchali and Savkari Pash took shape; a hundred-year-old cinematographer sifting through letters from Jean Renoir speaking of a deep and abiding friendship; the whirring of the only surviving black and white lab at AVM Studios; a daughter reminiscing about her mother T.P. Rajalakshmi, South India’s first woman director… each image evoking a remembrance of an artist who spoke the language of cinema from the time it began. Each element comes together to visually reflect the diversity and magnitude of Indian cinema.

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur