#the black garment

Qawwalis from Fareeda Mehta’s Kali Salwar (2002) by Wahajat Khan & Party, Badayun. 

Sultana at the market [0:00-1:00 “Is dasht mein…”

Sultana goes to the dyer’s [1:01-3:37] “Naina more..” (Juggan Mian)

Such intoxicating seduction!

Go my Queen,

Kali Salwaar, The Black Garment (2002)

Perhaps cinematography is the best form to show the unfolding of Destiny. Destiny, not as predetermined fate; but as it is getting made-as an unfolding of time and events within time. It gets made as people meet and exchange- a few words, or a look, or money. Seemingly inconsequential encounters change you forever and each time. In Kali Salwaar I try to come close to this pulse of random movement and imperceptible ‘happening’.

In scripting this feature length film the attempt was to flesh out the stark form of the short story (on which the film is based) by the selection and integration of events that would evoke the sense of ambiguity, humour and wonder that abounds in the everyday world of the seamy side of the metropolis of Bombay. The events are the occurrences of the ‘bazaar’ and concern common men and women-prostitutes, pimps, gangsters, drunks and artists who inhabit and work within these market places.

The sequencing of events in and around Sultana’s life and the inter-relationships of people, situations, objects and gestures that infuse the film follows a ‘logic’ as fluid as money-but infinitely more mysterious. One enters into a playful relationship with the narrative and ‘reality’ by referring to traditions of poetry, cinema, painting and music while drawing on popular idioms as well.