“Nimbu Mirchi” the Kathagaan Music Video

Kailash Kher, lead vocalist of the band Kailasa, a very talented singer of today’s generation who is known for his earthy voice and unique approach towards his music, came up with this idea almost a year back. Kailasa provided three tracks from their album “Rangeele” and gave a challenge to produce a meaningful video of any of those tracks.

Kathagaan, Babaji and Ujale Baant Lo..

When I listened to these tracks, all of them seemed very beautiful and unique in their own manner, significant and a stunning in their lyrics as well as musical structure. Kailasa is known for fusing the medieval music, folk music, Sufi music, contemporary Indian music with Western music. Their values are rooted in the earthy mysticism of Indian traditional music, but their approach is very modern. It reflects in their lyrics, their music and overall creation. And this makes them very special to me and most others of my generation.

One fine morning, Kailash’s better half, Sheetal asked one question to Kailash, “what is it that you would give your son, before you leave this world ? ” Kailash thought of something substantial, not physically, but spiritually; something that is immortal. He sat alone in the night and came up with three songs. These were those three songs.

Kathagaan narrates a playful story of the mysterious vision or a thought that leads to a riddle within your mind-space. It talks about the distance between reality and dream, the anonymity of an impression that comes from unknown source and the actual image. For some reason, I could relate to this song very quickly. Not those other songs did not amaze me, but maybe because of my artistic background, I could connect to this song instinctively. I guess it was also determined by my intellectual, emotional temperament and attitude at that specific time.

As a kid I was always interested in visual arts. Besides that, I started learning Hindustani classical vocal music at the age of 10. I continued it till early twenties, completed my graduation from Centre for Performing arts, Pune University. And then due to some circumstances I came across the medium called ‘Film’. This gave me a completely new outlook to look at things. Further I specialized in editing. My focus shifted from music to films but fortunately music never left me. Maybe because of all these factors ‘my’ interpretation of Kathagaan came with vibrant colours and a rhythmic quest that featured something mysterious. But Kailasa, that comprises all the musicians, lyricists; might have thought of something completely different while writing, composing and executing the song. And this is why they gave this challenge of making videos on those songs.

Because they were also curious to see how others ‘perceive’ their music.

I wanted to narrate a simple story with interesting treatment. I wanted it to be unpretentious yet entertaining. So I came up with a very shy and unassuming character of a Rickshaw driver. Why a rickshaw driver? Because he was supposed to be wandering on the unknown paths of his mind. So I thought that it would be apt to use him symbolically. In the middle of nowhere he finds himself in front of this mysterious lady, who he is not sure whether it’s a product of his imagination or reality.

Mesmerized by her mysterious face and beauty, he dreams of her. But then these dreams also bring little chaos and unexpected surprises that scare him. The chase starts, thought comes before or reality? What we dream, what we wish to create, what we wish to see, experience … are we aware of its existence? May be it exists somewhere around us already. Like they say in Indian Philosophy, “What exists in सुक्ष्म reflects in स्थुल ” and “ whatever exists in स्थुल subsists in सुक्ष्म ”.

In India, Nimbu Mirchi (Lemon and Chillies) are hanged in a vehicle to protect it from an evil eye. The rickshaw owners use it for the same purpose on specific days. But Nimbu and Mirchi are also used for few other purposes in a different context that could be unpleasant for some people and can lead to the darker areas of magic. In this music video I have used the same element symbolically. Something that is used to protect yourself can also be very scary if it’s found around you illogically, irrationally.

The lead character is played by Yogesh Shirke, a very talented actor who could pull off the shy rickshaw driver with his pleasant screen presence and a naturally infectious smile. And the lady in his dream is played by Karishma Chavan who is a very talented choreographer by profession. From my first encounter with her, I have always found her to be very mysterious, glamorous and at the same time very positively funny. I was looking for someone exactly like her. I am very proud to say that both these actors played unconventional characters with ease and because they enjoyed every bit of the shooting process, that energy reflects in the video as well.

The two day shoot of this music video consisted of lot of disasters that led to hilarious moments. But that did not discourage us. Adri Thakur, the cinematographer of this video is very experienced with the guerrilla film making technique, and since we did not have any permission for shooting on roads of Mumbai, his experience and tenacity really helped us to cover whatever we had planned. Most importantly, he was able to capture the real spirit of the video with limited resources.

Thanks to Abhimanyu Dange for giving his canon 5D digital camera for the shoot. I am very thankful to Mrs Hemangi and Anant Bapat for their enthusiasm and making their courtyard available for the shoot. I want to thank Ankita, Surabhi, their friends and Talashilkar family for the warmth and support they gave us while letting us shoot in their (Chawl ) building in Parel. Soon this building will be demolished for development. And I am glad that this video will always help them to revisit and refresh their memories of growing up in this building.

Many people have directly or indirectly contributed in the process of making this video and I am very thankful to all of them. Last but not the least; I want to thank Sheetal Kher for organizing Kathagaan Music Video Challenge on behalf of “Kailasa” (Kailash Kher, Paresh Kamath, Naresh Kamath, Kurt Peters, Sanket Athale, Sameer Chiplunkar, Sankarshan Kini, Tejasvi Rao)

And where does this story end ?

“Nimbu Mirchi”…