'The Disciple' remains on the edge of the well of musicianship
The Hindu
Chaitanya Tamhane's Marathi drama, now showing on Netflix, engulfs you in its web of paradox and irony
Chaitanya Tamhane makes me jealous. Like the protagonist Sharad in The Disciple, my induction into the universe of Hindustani music was one of rapture and awe at the depth of the tradition. Many years passed before I identified the surprisingly homogenous — and disillusioningly pedestrian — subcultures it consisted of. Tamhane latches on to one of these — the Marathi Brahmin subculture of Khayal music in Mumbai — and presents an astoundingly faithful representation of its textures, timbres and contradictions. . After the debacle that was Bandish Bandits, much was expected from the director of the incredible Court and Tamhane does not disappoint. From its unostentatious settings to its often stiflingly closeted worldviews, from its endearing music schools to the lovely music itself, Tamhane conjures up a world that is almost too familiar. In this sense, Tamhane is practically an ethnographer. Like the many ethnomusicologists who have studied this music, Tamhane is less interested in stardom and glory and more in the peculiar shapes the music’s human ecology takes. The Disciple plays out like a mehfil, a languorous soiree that takes its time to engulf you in its web of paradox and irony.More Related News