Evolution of classical music captured in documentary film

Sound technician-turned-filmmaker Pratik Biswas has captured the journey of Indian classical music in his documentary 'On and Off the Record', which had a screening at the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.
For Pratik, the documentary is a culmination of his 15-years of experience in working on various projects with several Indian Classical music maestros.
The documentary discusses the crucial issues which a sound engineer undergoes when he records a classical singer's performance in rehearsal halls and studios.
"I had the opportunity to work with various maestros of Indian classical music. Initially, I thought that it is my mistake that I am not being able to capture their performances properly but I realised that there is a difference between what they are performing in their rehearsal room and what they are performing in my recording," said Delhi-based director.

The difference of performance level in the rehearsal rooms and studios always bothered Pratik.
"As a technician I had no answer for this. I realised that there is something very peculiar happening when we are trying to capture the recorded performance. This is the key question that this documentary revolves around.

"I tried to follow the development of Hindustani classical music from day one of recording in India when representative of HMV which was then Gramophone and Typewriter Limited captured Gauhar Jaan," added Pratik.
From the days of Gauhar Jaan (1873-1930) till today's mp3 world, the Hindustani classic has gone through huge changes.

"I have worked with most of the famous singers and musicians starting from Pandit Ravi Shankar. During the making of documentary, I had series of talks with various musicologists and musicians and music thinkers and from their talk, I tried to assimilate the journey of Hindustani classical music," he stated.
Pratik is planning to make a couple of feature films on this line because this is what he understands.
"This subject needs a lot of work and this is also very important. While researching the subject I realized that very little has been done," he added.