Art in its finest form is a moment of enlightenment and joy for the Artist. Any form of Art in its finest form has less audience. It is a sense of tranquility both for the creator and the reader. The mystery of art is because it is not craftsmanship. It can neither be completely taught nor completely learnt. Administration, Medicine, Engineering, Science, Law , Languages can be taught and people could be trained. Nurturing people can make them better in their professions. But art though can be taught and learnt has its own mystery around it. Who can excel in art, is that only through practice , no one knows. It is within and without.
Carl Jung in one of his books has written about Writing and creation. I wonder why a psychiatrist chose to write about Writing rather than write about Engineering or Science or Medicine. He writes the restlessness and conflicts of an artist with the mainstream life.He has to take care of his family, his children and art is a different zone altogether. All the rules , the ethos , the conventional ideas and ideologies has no value and meaning in the medium of art. An artist has to live two lives. He has to transform from one form to another day in and day out. He is neither here nor there. Cleverness has nothing to do with art.
Chaitanya Tamhane's The Disciple speaks about the restlessness and the inner turmoils of an upcoming singer. He could not deliver what he wishes to deliver. He keeps practicing , he is true to his Guru, he respects his art form , he is surrounded by the mainstream world , but he finally fails in his medium. He gracefully accepts it and moves on.
We dance round in the ring and suppose
But the secret sits in the middle and knows.
The lines of Robert frost can be that of art as well. The Disciple might have failed.But he pursued art with endurance , perseverance , innocence and faith. The major difference between an artist and a monk is monk could be in a permanent state of enlightenment and joy whereas artist can only have moments of enlightenment and joy. He can never stay there. An artist is always restless. Mainstream world always creates anxieties in him.
Chaitanya Tamhane is able to portray beautifully the life of a disciple to an art form. A person who pursues art in any form like Writing, dancing,film making, painting can relate themselves to this movie. I liked two aspects of the movie.One the long undivided shots, it gives lot of breathing space. One could watch everything in the frame in his own pace.He can contemplate while watching the movie. The other one was the voice over of Maai while the disciple is riding the motorcycle. The Wandering mind wanders even further while on ride. Towards the end of the movie he travels in a Metro Train. I believe the director chose it because the disciple no more wanders in his mind. He has rested and found peace with him.The inner turmoil is over , he has accepted the defeat. The defeat is the defeat of the person who has witnessed though momentarily eternal joy.
Chaitanya Tamhane's Court was a brilliant film. Disciple is a difficult film to orchestrate.Though i like Court over Disciple , we need to accept that Court is a much easier one to make. It needs a clever mind , Disciple needs a acceptance and surrender to art in its finest form.
The only worry i see in today's generation of artists younger than the age of thirty is they are brilliant , clever ,well read but are not innocent. When i read the poems of Sabarinathan i see his brilliance but is not as innocent as Shankar Rama Subramanian. Atmanam was even more. This is a poem of William Carlos Williams Proof of Immortality, which is present only in art.
For there is one thing braver than all flowers;
Richer than clear gems;wider than the sky;
Immortal and unchangeable;whose powers
Transcend reason,love and sanity!
And thou, beloved, art that godly thing!
Marvelous and terrible! in glance
An injured Juno roused against Heaven's King!
Any thy name , lovely One , is Ignorance.
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