Dhrupad of the Dagars - The Mosque That Preserved a Temple is a documentary film on dhrupad by Ashish Sankrityayan scheduled to be completed in February 2024

Total duration 293 minutes, 4K, in two parts

The film tells the saga of the Dagars - the renowned family of Moslem royal musicians, who over many generations practised and preserved dhrupad - the oldest form of Indian classical music, that has its origins in Hindu temple music and spiritual thought. The two main protagonists are Fahimuddin Dagar, one of the last bearers of the knowledge of this tradition, and his student Ashish Sankrityayan, the filmmaker, who wields the camera while learning, discussing, singing, and travelling with his teacher.

Shot with hand-held camera at a very close distance from the subject, the film follows the meter, phrasing, grammar, structure, and the flow of the music with its complex system of hand gestures, and this progression merges into a stream with the many-layered history and life of the subcontinent with its conflicts and reconciliations and its syncretic traditions and meeting of cultures represented by the Dagar dhrupad tradition that Fahimuddin Dagar talks about in the backdrop of the disturbing political developments of the last few decades. With parallel narratives of music, history, tradition, society, politics, and culture, the film through the recollections, singing, and teaching of Fahimuddin Dagar weaves diverse facets of the life, sights, and sounds of India into a rich tapestry