Portfolio / Section 01

The Sitar Project

A feature-length documentary in development, following the sitar through the hands, materials and landscapes that make it possible.

Hands working on the strings and fittings of a sitar. — Fig. 01Detail of the instrument in the workshop.

Pale gourds laid out in rows beside vegetation. — Fig. 02Gourds for instrument making.

Research

Following the instrument

Before it is played, a sitar passes through fields, workshops and networks of exchange. The project follows its materials from cultivation and selection through assembly and into musical use.

In Kolkata and Domjur, Vinayak’s fieldwork brings him into conversation with luthier Barun Roy, gourd cultivator and apprentice luthier Netai Hazari, and musician Subhranil Sarkar. Their accounts sit alongside his own experience of learning the instrument.