Room #140 Famous Cine Building | 20 Dr E Moses Road | Mahalaxmi | Mumbai 400011.
Phone: 00-91-98206 317654. email: sumantra@cinematixfilms.com
Sumantra Ghosal | Director
Bharatanatyam - one of India’s most profound classical arts - is being reinterpreted, renewed and invigorated through the work of an artist rooted in tradition but with a uniquely contemporary sensibility - Malavika Sarukkai.
The film is not simply about Malavika Sarukkai; it deliberates the valuable connections and departures that the artist makes from a hallowed and, often, unforgiving tradition.
Today, even as she impresses her footprint on the world stage as
a celebrated Bharatanatyam dancer, Malavika finds herself
making increasingly personal and difficult choices about how
she wishes to lead that life.
The questions she asks are essential and they have no easy
answers in the re-iterations of craft.
It is this co-existence of consummate expression with a deeper,
spiritual questioning that makes her dance so exciting.
The film is not simply about Malavika Sarukkai; it deliberates the valuable connections and departures that the artist makes from a hallowed and, often, unforgiving tradition.
Today, even as she impresses her footprint on the world stage as
a celebrated Bharatanatyam dancer, Malavika finds herself
making increasingly personal and difficult choices about how
she wishes to lead that life.
The questions she asks are essential and they have no easy
answers in the re-iterations of craft.
It is this co-existence of consummate expression with a deeper,
spiritual questioning that makes her dance so exciting.
16:9 | Stereo | 98 minutes | Blu-ray & DVD | 2013
Celebrating 40 years of public performance | Chidambaram temple | 2012
2013
THE UNSEEN SEQUENCE HAS ALREADY SHOWN IN
MUMBAI | CHENNAI | DELHI | BENGALURU | HYDERABAD | CHANDIGARH | DEHRADUN | NEW YORK | PHILADELPHIA | PALM BEACH | ZURICH | CONNECTICUT | WASHINGTON | ATLANTA | LOS ANGELES | TORONTO
Director Sumantra Ghosal and dance artist Malavika Sarukkai have made a visually stunning and deeply profound dance film. This is a unique (and timely) Indian classical dance film where process and deconstructing the body via personal historicity is front and center. This is very refreshing.
Hari Krishnan
Assistant Professor of Dance at Wesleyan University
Assistant Professor of Dance at Wesleyan University
Q&A after the screening at the Wesleyan University
2014 Sheth Lecture in Indian Studies
2014 Sheth Lecture in Indian Studies
The Unseen Sequence has got terrific Press coverage ever since it started screening. Many papers have covered it repeatedly.
But, perhaps, the most unusual "review" was posted in the form of a poem by Karthikeyan after the Chennai screening. Click here to check it out!
But, perhaps, the most unusual "review" was posted in the form of a poem by Karthikeyan after the Chennai screening. Click here to check it out!
For Institutional screenings (PPR | DSL rights) contact
Ayesha Sayani at pooh@cinematixfilms.com
The camera revealingly shifts from close-up to
long-shot, from angle to angle, showing the rich multidirectionality of Bharatanatyam, the interplay between strict geometric form and speaking gesture, and, above all, the singular way a great Indian dancer visibly subordinates the self to a sense of something far larger.
long-shot, from angle to angle, showing the rich multidirectionality of Bharatanatyam, the interplay between strict geometric form and speaking gesture, and, above all, the singular way a great Indian dancer visibly subordinates the self to a sense of something far larger.
Alistair Macaulay
The New York Times
The New York Times
"Faced with Ghosal's searching questions, his great desire to know and understand her art as fully as he can, Sarukkai's answers acquire an immediacy that catches and holds our attention."
Shanta Gokhale
Mumbai Mirror
Mumbai Mirror
"At a time when artistes like Malavika are making an effort to preserve living classical traditions, retain their essence in the face of rapid commercialisation and make them engaging rather than allowing them to be a mere spectacle, Ghosal thinks what The Unseen Sequence could do is excite the uninitiated, make the form accessible and demystify the art."
Chitra Swaminathan
The Hindu
The Hindu
"The Unseen Sequence is about an artist who didn’t give up her dream, who found her freedom in dance. It’s about an artist who did all her exploration in dance, and whose life itself is dance.
And Sumantra Ghosal perfectly captured the journey of this great dancer in the structure of cinema to make it a must watch for every art lover."
And Sumantra Ghosal perfectly captured the journey of this great dancer in the structure of cinema to make it a must watch for every art lover."
Rakesh Konni
Narthaki
Narthaki
The making of The Unseen Sequence was a journey of excavation.
It helped me mine deep into myself to articulate dance as I had not done before.
Collaborating with Sumantra Ghosal was an intense, unhurried experience.
Narratives of dance, of self, unfolded without inhibition as the space we created
around us was of mutual trust and respect for each other.
This led not only to making of a film, but to a deeper friendship.
Malavika Sarukkai
The Unseen Sequence is available for home viewing. Click on the links below.
