Dhrupad of the Dagars - The Mosque That Preserved a Temple is a documentary film by Ashish Sankrityayan on dhrupad and its renowned exponents - the Dagars.

Standard Version -162 minutes, Extended Version - 294 minutes (The extended version can be viewed in two parts with an intermission in each part or alternatively in four parts)

Trailer of standard version

Preview of extended version

This film on Dhrupad and its renowned exponents - the Dagars, is made almost entirely with footage shot between 1966 and 2006 in diverse formats in 4/3 aspect ratio. The film tells the saga of the Dagars - the renowned family of Moslem 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 Rahim 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 mostly with hand-held camera at a very close distance from the subject, the progression of the film parallels the meter, phrasing, grammar, structure, and the flow of the music, focusing on its complex system of hand gestures, and this 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 growing intolerance, violence, and the rise of religious nationalism. With parallel narratives of music, history, tradition, society, politics, and culture, the film through the recollections, singing, and teaching of Fahimuddin Dagar weaves diverse strands of the life, sights, and sounds of India into a rich tapestry.