Dedicated to the art of poetry

IN DETAIL

One effortlessly attaches the adjective ‘filmmaker’ with his name but with time, he has moved on to explore his artistic zest through means of designing, social work and art of music and poetry.

Having set up a landmark cultural event in the City, Jahan-e-Khusrau, the sexagenarian Muzaffar Ali speaks to Metrolife about his journey of 12 years with the festival.

The annual world Sufi music festival, Jahan-e-Khusrau, began in 2001, years after the filmmaker’s last documentary Khizan was released in 1991. For Muzaffar, the festival was started, “to promote oneness of human race and celebrate the poetry of Khusrau and mystics like him.” Because to him, “poetry has a deep impact and is the essence of culture.” So he endeavoured to search for and take this poetry to people through
global music.

His artistic appeal didn’t stop there as his agenda was to “take it in the same spirit as Khusrau experimented with his poetry, music and imag­e­ry,” and thus he translated all poetry to English to be published with music. “It is a taxing job but we manage to present around 15-20 new poems every time. So for me, this is a spectacular poetry festival where poetry is presented through sound and music. We have created a lot of content which is available on high class footage and is part of the big Jahan-e-Khu­srau archive.”

He feels it is just one step ahead to change the cultural mindset of people. “Today, people have become sensitive to Sufi music and discovering poetry, even spawning Jashn-e-Khusrau, a festival which copies from the original.”

Ali is, however, stuck with budgetary limitations. “We operate on a very shoestring budget which restricts me from introducing a lot of production values that I would love to add as a filmmaker. It is difficult to find artists who take poetry forward but there are some artists who are open to getting reinvented through this kind of interaction. Abida Parveen is one such person.

“But every time I like to bring in some new people who get exposure through this and then embark on their own journey,” he says pausing to state the international dimension of the festival, “Every time we try to get one or two phenomenal names in the genre of international music. This time is will be Jaan Bebe. I have been listening to his CD’s and trying to track him down for last two years. This time, he was available when we wanted him,” he sighs.

What helps him remain in budget is his wife, Meera. “I don’t do anything without checking with her lest I make mistakes. She manages the whole festival, the entire nitty-gritty. It is a labour of love for us. Most of the times we don't even know if we will be able to make break even and often we are edge to edge. A slight slip and we can go overboard by 10-15 lakhs easily. But she manages to make sure that we stay in budget. My job is basically meeting people and looking after the creative aspect,” Something that is suits the man completely.

What follows is the inevitable question. Is he directing more films? “Every time somebody asks me this, I don't know what to say because I am focusing on a more intimate kind of connection with audiences. I have two-three really rocking scripts up my sleeve but you need commercial himmat that people don’t have here. They are only looking at narrow Indian market which focuses more at multiplexes. Unless they look at films in a global way and from the grass root level, I am really helpless!”