IndianOil Now Hear Us, Episode 1: The Disciple actor, singer Aditya Modak takes centre stage

Aditya Modak. Screengrab via YouTube/First Edition Arts Channel

The coronavirus outbreak this year has affected lives across the globe in varying degrees and proportions. While for some having been locked at home for nine months now has been an experience enriched with a lot of introspection and self-care, for some it has been nothing short of an utter disaster. The field of arts and the community of artistes have also not been spared. Concerts and shows have been cancelled, auditoriums have remained empty with a vacant stage, and several artistes have been facing a severe financial crisis as a result.

The IndianOil Now Hear Us Digital concert series, featuring some of the finest young Hindustani and Carnatic classical musicians, aims at offering hope and visibility to these artistes at a critical moment in their careers, on the global stage, with a set of aesthetically filmed concerts. The year-long series is curated and produced by the Mumbai-based performing arts company First Edition Arts. Each episode is filmed and produced with the musicians at a heritage site, a park, or a contemporary art gallery amidst an art district as the link between the city and its cultural history — especially the living traditions of classical music — becomes part of the overarching narrative.

Episode 1

The first episode features Mumbai-based Hindustani vocalist Aditya Modak, who played the protagonist in Chaitanya Tamhane’s acclaimed film The Disciple, winner of the Golden Lion for the best screenplay as well as the International Film Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival 2020. The episode has been filmed in Bharda New High School, one of the oldest cosmopolitan schools and heritage structures in south Mumbai’s Azad Maidan area.

In this episode, Modak performs three ragas — Nat Kedar, Rageshri Bahar and Sohoni. He also talks about his experience working in The Disciple, which is deeply rooted in Indian classical music. He is accompanied by his friends and contemporaries Swapnil Bhise on the tabla, and Siddhesh Bicholkar on the harmonium.

Watch the episode here: