'Music Teacher' - The Genesis

The First shot we took during the shooting

Imagine. You are educated. Well settled. Earning well. Quickly jumped a few levels up in your organisation. Married with a kid. Career looking bright. And that’s when you decide you want to make a career in something about which you have no idea, no background, no support.

That’s where ‘Music Teacher’ had begun. Around 2001 summer. My wife had a job. She said, if you really want to make films, now is the time to jump. Any more delay, the decision will get harder to make. One blind person having faith in another. Faith moves mountains, they say.

I quit everything. Began calling people for apprenticeship. Those days there used to be a fat directory with industry numbers. I guess it is still around. I had called everyone up from the Director and Producer sections. Soon there was no number to make a call to. And from all those numbers, not a single one had called me back. Even for an interview.

When the tunnel gradually got pitch dark, I had two options. One was to retrace my way back. The other was to create my own light.

To direct, I needed a script. So I told myself, I’ll write my own script. There used to be a Lotus bookstore in Bandra, which stocked a lot of Filmmaking books. I remember buying my first book on filmmaking from there. Syd Field’s book on screenwriting.

I needed a story.

Bengali singer Lopamudra Mitra had just recorded a song of a famous contemporary poet, Joy Goswami’s poem, called ‘Benimadhav Benimadhav Tomaar baari Jabo… (Benimadhav, I want to go to your house)’. One afternoon, something in the poem suddenly got me stirred. The poem is about a woman reminiscing about her life of being in love, from a young age, with someone called Benimadhav, who has never even noticed her presence. She is now a forgotten old hag, but the yearning for the man still shines brightly.

The poem made me feel so choked about the imaginary woman’s despair, that I wanted to have my own imaginary scenario where I could empower her. And in that, the person yearning for her is Benimadhav. A reversal.

‘Music Teacher’ was conceived out of my extreme compassion for the imaginary lady in the poem and my intense need to reverse the patriarchy for her. Seven months later, I had my first draft ready.

To honour the seed of the idea, I kept the name of the protagonist of my film, Benimadhav.

To Be Continued…