‘Who is Baul?’ documentary delves into the philosophy of Bengal’s musical mystics

Sairam Sagiraju’s documentary — Who is Baul? — delves into the centuries-old philosophy of Bengal’s wandering musical mystics

Four years ago, filmmaker Sairam Sagiraju, Grammy-winning composer Ricky Kej, and historian Vikram Sampath set out to document music traditions in India. They decided to begin the project with the Bauls of Bengal. The mystic singing minstrels living in rural West Bengal and Bangladesh have a big influence on Bengali culture, especially on the works of one of the land’s most famous sons — Rabindranath Tagore. The Baul songs are also listed under UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Once Kej and Co started the project, however, they realised that telling the Bauls’ story shouldn’t just be a segment of their work. “They have a tradition that is over 1,000 years old. Incredibly, they have been passing on their philosophy through songs and music — they don’t have any written text. And, they use music as a path to spirituality, a path to God. So, we thought we should go deeper into their story,” says Kej over a phone call. The 54-minute documentary (directed by Sagiraju and produced by Kej, Sampath and Rajib Sarma) begins with the titular question — Who is Baul? — posed to a few people in Bengal.