Kalakshetra by Louis Malle

[Annonymus]

Bharata-nyata?? what pronounciation this was??

[MehndiKeRang]

He says Bharatanatyam is a women's dance, well that is just plain ignorance.

[cyannj]

@tripmonk0: I am still trying to figure out what you consider ignorant or racial in the commentary- I feel LM's commentary shows tremendous respect for a world that "modern India" has shown very little regard for. You have to see how tradition has been strumpeted at the behest of commerce and industry, to admire the purity of his thought and depiction in this film-Thanks ofcourse, for uploading such a wonderful piece of work-looking fwd to any more such gems from your collection.

[Mohamana]

what happened to Dance ? dancers like this do not exist nymore ?

[tomememe]

what are you talking about--of course they do. go to a local dance class.

[Mohamana]

no you wont ! this is a class of its own...

[raaheelh]

actually i think you'll find they do. Kalakshetra still exists and dancers of this quality who start their training very young are still being produced. My teacher, a kalakshetra student, is one of them!

[tripmonk0]

There was a time of flux a while ago but since SMT Leela Samson took over as Principal it's back to the old standard.

Nick

[madhandagr8]

My fav husseni Swarajathi! :) :)

[telectroscope]

Louis Malle's Phantom India and Calcutta are an epic visual sweep. The former running at close to six hours and the latter at one hour give glimpse of an India at the cusp of modernist breakout. Yes, some comments may not be entirely valid as pointed out by tripmonk0. Yet, for an European, let alone a Frenchman in the 1950s to harbour deep cultural curiosity for a very distant Asian civilisation, to document it, deserves deep recognition.

[hippocampus23]

You're too kind! Grow some backbone and show a critical perspective. Where is your nationalist speech?

[giggles1987]

really good

[ardhanariswar]

Thanks for this!

If you have the BBC Kalakshetra Documentary from 1985, please post it, thanks mate!

[tripmonk0]

I originally did this on google but someone stole it from there & uploaded it to youtube. Just search Kalakshetra.

Nick

[suryayogini]

These docs were filmed over 40 years ago - mentalities were different then.

[madhandagr8]

exactly! he says the dancer takes 15 years to go on stage for her maiden peformance!

[sancharram]

so the other kalakshetra one with amala what happened to the missing part? please upload that one.

[sancharram]

no he died