The First Trip to Ajintha

On the 10th of July, I had a programme in Nagpur. Renuka Deshkar, the compere from Nagpur interviewed three personalities from various fields. Rani Bang, the famous social worker, Devendra Phadnavis, the young BJP MLA from Nagpur and I were the three judges. Nitin Dada had planned a trip to Ajintha on the 12th of July. On the 11th of July I took a cab from Nagpur to Ajintha. It was an Innova and it was booked for me by Shri Mhaisalkar of the Vidarbha Sahitya Parishad, whose library I had gone to see that morning.

I started in the evening with a halt at one of my relatives' places in Nagpur and reached Ajintha at 2:30 AM. Mandar Joshi was asleep in the room and I too slipped into the bed as I was dead tired after the hectic travel.

We got up in the morning and were joined by Na. Dho. who took us to the Ajintha caves. Imagine having the poet himself as a guide to the scenario in which the story of the film takes place. We were also joined by producer-actor, Trupti Bhoir.

Ajintha has been declared as a world heritage sight. No vehicles are allowed to the foothills of the caves except those buses approved by Maharashtra Tourism. So we all took a bus and reached the foothills of the caves. There was an uphill walk after that but when the caves were revealed to us, it was nothing short of breathtaking!

The Waghura river was subdued, but Mahanor assured us that by September the river would start roaring like a Tigress!

We went inside the first cave and I was so mesmerised by the sculptures and the temperas that it did not occur to me to click pictures of the place. Anyway, I have reached the conclusion, that photographs reveal not even a fragment of what the mind clicks!

I remember having spent a quiet time in each of the caves, trying to listen to the silence inside. The feeling seems surreal and also bears the risk of sounding pretentious... but after a while I could hear the caves sing. Whether it was the caves or was it my heart responding to the silence, I don't know, but there was music in there. Take one look at the picture and you can see why Mahanor begins the poetry with Dolyanna dasale pahaad ithale (डोळ्यांना डसले पहाड इथले). Literal translation of which would be - The mountains here stung the eyes. Mostly, the music comes from the verbs - that word डसले (stung) got to me and that is how faint waves of music slowly started approaching. It is always a word or an image that gets me started on to a tune. Making music is actually a translation of what is perceived by the senses. I know that sounds like a quote by somebody else, but I just made it up.

Actually, the landscape where the caves are located is an inspiration in itself. The Waghura carries with it an atmosphere and your heart starts flowing in it. On the one hand Nature with its impeccable beauty and on the other the caves representing the human power to turn Nature more beautiful makes you surrender. You stop thinking of yourself as a creator and you just want to be part of Existence. You want to drink in the present moment and you want it to last as long as eternity.

While the assistants of Nitin Dada kept clicking unlimited photos of the caves for their research work I was trying to feel the atmosphere in the caves and also think of what music I remembered on seeing each picture and each sculpture.

The obvious music that I recollected was from films based on the Buddha era or the Buddhist philosophy. The song that stuck in my mind was Man re tu kaahe na dheer dhare.

We had lunch at the foothills of Ajintha and then spent some time at the curio shop where the smart salesman sold us a lot of stuff.

At night over dinner, at the MTDC resort where we had stayed, Mahanor recited the songs from Ajintha in his own imitable style. I recorded them in my mobile phone. When a poet sings his own poem, the music composer feels that this is the inevitable tune!

We retired to bed after the poetry session, but Mahanor's recitation kept ringing in my ears. I wondered - If the poet's tune continue to haunt me, how am I going to compose my own?

Na. Dho.

 I first met Na. Dho. Mahanor twelve years earlier at Shri Ramdas Bhatkal's residence. I was just out with my second album, Ratra Bhizali, and it was a closed gathering with Ramdasji, Na. Dho. and Saumitra (Kishor Kadam). Ramdasji asked me to sing something for Na. Dho. and I remember having sung Divelaganichi Vel, Na. Dho's own poem from his collection, Raanaatlya Kavita. For years, I have began my concerts with this song.

Last month, when I met the farmer poet again in Nitin Desai's office in Powai, the last thing I expected was for him to recognise me. Not only did Na. Dho. recognise me, he also reminded me of the songs that I had sung that evening twelve years ago. Great men become greater when they put ordinary people at ease. That is precisely what Na. Dho. did to me. I felt confident that I could do this job.

Because Ajintha was on my mind for the last several years, I had got that strange feeling in my stomach. I was tentative and edgy and felt more responsible after Balgandharva because Nitin Dada had repeated me. It was a compliment as well as a challenge and I had warmed up to it. Mandar Joshi read out his first draft of the screenplay and I instantly knew that a great deal of this film would rest on the music. The story of Ajintha has the potential to be poetry on celluloid and music would play a major part to bring that effect. After the story session, Na. Dho. called me near him and said:
"I am certain you are the right man for the job. You'll do well."
His words have gone a long way in boosting my confidence. For the person who has worked with the likes of Hridaynath Mangeshkar and Anand Modak, I knew very well that for him I was as good as a rookie composer. I took his blessings and said I would do my best.

Well, this was one month back and in my next post, I would like to describe our visit to Ajintha and Palaskhed. 

Preface

I first heard of AJINTHA in the year 1994. I was initiated into theatre by Late Chetan Datar, the prolific playwright and director and it was a time I was bursting with opinions. If there was an idea, I had an opinion! Chetan Datar mentioned Ajintha to me when he expressed his wish to make it into a musical. That was ten years after the epic poem was written by Na. Dho. Mahanor in 1984. I remember that we had read the entire poem on the campus of the Ruparel College. After the reading, I remember being excited to get it onto the stage. I was impatient and prodded Chetan to write the play immediately, but Chetan, cautious as he was, was not to be hurried. I wonder if I should have prodded harder. Like many other theatre enthusiasts, it remained a dream for Chetan.

Since then and may be even before that a lot of artistes tried to interpret Ajintha into theatre. Attempts were made to turn the poem into a screenplay and show the epic love-story of Paru and Major Robert Gill on the silver screen. Works of art come with their own destiny and as destiny would have it, 17 years after Chetan first mentioned his wish to bring Paru and Robert Gill alive on stage, I am now composing music for the movie Ajintha, being produced and directed by the veteran Art Director and Production Designer, Nitin Chandrakant Desai.

The past seventeen years have changed me a lot. I have gained a few kilos and shed a lot of opinions! So when I was approached for the music of Ajintha, the film, I proceeded with caution. The one thing that I have learnt in these past seventeen years is that with every new project, one has to unlearn one's own previous success or failure. As the artist starts a new painting on a new canvas, one must start with a blank mind.

What I am about to share with you is a learner's diary. Read it with sympathy. Like a child, I am going to fall, stumble, hold on to whatever comes to hand while falling, cry, get up again, and like a child I am going to walk and then run... and get there!

Kaushal S. Inamdar
Mumbai
30th September