IIC to screen Benoy K Behl's films on art and culture
Benoy K Behl is a film-maker, art-historian and photographer who is known for his tireless and prolific output of work over the past 43 years. He has taken over 52,000 photographs of Asian monuments and art heritage and made 144 documentaries which are regularly screened at major cultural institutions worldwide.
His films, including 26 documentaries each on 'The Paintings of India', 'The Sculpture of India' and 'Spectacular India' have been nationally telecast on prime time in India. DD Bharti has been showing a film of Behl every day for the past 17 years. The vastness of Behl's documentation presents a wide and new perspective in understanding the art of India and Asia.
To honour Benoy's hardwork and dedication, India International Centre has organised a festival, which will present a selection from Behl's renowned series of films on Indian art and culture. It will be held on August 31, 11:00 am – 1:20 pm, and 2:30 pm – 7:30 pm. Films like Enchanted Ajanta, The Second Buddha Ramayana : A Shared Culture in South and South-East Asia, Celestial Dancers of Manipur, Divine Search: Baul Singers of Bengal, Hindu Deities Worshipped in Japan, International Premiere of Yoga for Health and Global Harmony will be screened.
A look at some of Benoy's best works:
Doordarshan's 'The Paintings of India'
This series is the first major work which connects the tradition of painting in India from the time of Ajanta to the present day. The films show many sites of painting which have never been clearly photographed before.
The governments of many countries have very kindly cooperated to make this comprehensive project possible. Museums around the world and state governments and museums in India have cooperated immensely for the widespread shooting of these films.
Doordarshan's 'The Sculpture of India'
This series of films produced for Doordarshan presents the tradition of Indian sculpture spanning 5,000 years, from the Indus Valley Civilization to the 17th century.
These films trace the development of philosophic concepts, themes, the creation of deities, of temples and of bronze images which come out of their shrines and temples. These are understood in the light of the highly developed Indian tradition of aesthetics and the guidelines suggested in the Chitrasutra of the Vishnudharmottara, the oldest known treatise on the making of artistic images.
Doordarshan's 'Spectacular India'
This is DD India's series which takes you into the heart of 'Spectacular India'.
For the series, Behl and the crew travelled once again across the whole of India. They faced the awesome spectacle of nature while crossing 14 high-altitude mountain passes.
These 26 films take us on an enthralling journey. From the Kashmir Valley to Kanyakumari. We are taken into the lives of forgotten Aryan tribes, living in a remote corner of Ladakh. To the invisible Aakash Linga in the Chidambaram Temple. To the frozen icy deserts of Spiti.
