The Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) hosted film screening of “O Friend, This Waiting!” by Sandhya Kumar and Justin McCarthy on 5 March, 2013 at 6:00 pm at the IIHS Bangalore City Campus.
Synopsis:
O Friend, This Waiting! (32 min)
The film tells the fortunes of a group of love songs, Kshetrayya’s padams, and its devadasi performers from 17th century South India.
Could a song be full of love, and yet banal and trifling? Such were the padams of Kshetrayya. A wandering poet-musician, Kshetrayya wrote for devadasis, the dancing courtesans at the courts of the 17th century Nayaka rulers. His padams became the most cherished of her songs of love. O Friend, This Waiting! reflects on the entwined fortunes of the padams and the women they were written for, from the 17th to the 20th century, while dwelling in the performance spaces of temples and courts of the Nayaka period.
About the Directors:
Sandhya Kumar:
Sandhya Kumar is an independent filmmaker and editor. She has been making documentaries and experimental shorts since 2007. All her films are rooted in the non-fiction, and inspired by the desire to make visible the poetry of everyday life. Sandhya holds an MFA in Film from San Francisco Art Institute, and an MA in Mass Communication from Jamia Millia University, New Delhi. She lives and works out of Bangalore.
Justin McCarthy:
Justin McCarthy is a musician and a dancer. As a musician he plays both the piano and the harpsichord. On the piano, apart from solo recitals, he has worked with many vocalists and instrumentalists. On the harpsichord, he has played solo programmes as well as duo recitals with harpsichordist Douglas Amrine. As a dancer he teaches and performs Bharatanatyam, sometimes as a soloist and sometimes in works he has choreographed for his group of dancers. Justin lives and works in New Delhi.
