INDIA: Filmmaker Abhimanyu Kukreja earlier today released the trailer of his much-awaited film ‘Rockumentary: Evolution of Indian Rock’ to be released in PVR Cinemas on 5th March 2021. Unfolding at a breezy pace, the documentary features Kukreja’s conversations with the likes of Usha Uthup, Louiz Banks, Lou Majaw, Susmit Bose, Zubin Balaporia, Gary Lawyer, Rahul Ram, Imtiaz Ali, and Moa Subong, among others.
All begins in the 1930s when a Gorkha musician named George Banks moves to India from Nepal and joins world renowned American jazz pianist Teddy Weatherford’s band as a trumpeter in Calcutta. In the 1950-60s, Calcutta’s Park Street becomes the undisputed home of rock music in India. The Beatles’ famous trip to an ashram in Rishikesh finds an important place in the documentary, among other things such as Psychedelic rock, Folk rock, Hindi rock, and various regional forms of non-English rock in India.
Watch: Indian Filmmaker Abhimanyu Kukreja In Discussion with Film Critic Murtaza Ali Khan
Kukreja’s film is essentially the story of how western music entered the pre-independence India in the form of the Blues and the Jazz music in the 1930s and how it converted itself into a phenomenon named ‘Rock n Roll’ by the 1960s that paved the way for present day rock bands in the country. This film captures the journey of unheard tunes that made inroads into a country dominated by traditional & classical folk tunes and the Bollywood film industry and has gone on to lay the foundations for a thriving independent music industry supported, followed & loved by millions.
The concept revolves around interviews with veteran & established music artists who have been the newel of the evolution of ‘Rock n Roll’ music genre in India. The musicians have been specifically selected upon the basis of their outstanding contribution towards this genre of music in India after the post-independence period till present times. Who were the bands that rocked India in the 1960s? What were the obstacles they faced? Who recorded the first album in western music in India?
‘8 Decades, 30 plus artists, more than seven years of filming and One Nation – Rockumentary: Evolution of Indian Rock’.
List of Featuring Musicians:
Abhinav Dhar, Arenla Subong, Arjun Sen, Bobby Cash, Gary Lawyer, Joe Alvares, Kanan Mohan, Kit Shangpliang, Kaustubh Dhavale, Karthik Pillai, Louiz Banks, Lou Majaw, Luke Kenny, Moa Subong, Madhukar Chandra Dhas, Late Nandu Bhende, Neel Chattopadhyaya, Nitin Malik, Paras Thakur, Raman Negi, Ramit Mehra, Rahul Ram, Rudy Wallang, Sahil Sarin, Subir Malik, Susmit Bose, Suryakant Sawhney, Sam Shullai, Tipriti Kharbangar, Usha Uthup, Uday Benegal, Vehrnon Ibrahim, Zubin Balaporia
List of Featuring Bands:
Avial, Agnee, Blue Temptation, The Local Train, The Vinyl Records, The Circus, Undying Inc, Peter Cat Recording Company, Summersalt, Soulmate
Watch the trailer of Rockumentary here
