On the Making of "Qi"

Ghirija Jayarraj on Shastram TV Episode 24: "The behind the scenes making of Qi (Chi), Shastram's first dance video. This one is for all interested in the process of making a dance video. Check it out!!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtYrqi9kQFA

My comments to Ghirija on this clip: Qi constituted my introduction to you Ghirija, and also to a number of other people: Shruthi Kezhakepuram Purushotham, Shweta Krishna, and Prabal Gupta among them. The year after, in 2015, I had the pleasure of meeting with Shruthi and Prabal in Bangalore, very briefly, but meet them I did.

Qi struck me immediately as a work of the highest aesthetic quality. I was disappointed it was so brief but I was enchanted by its beauty. I watched it over and over again. I had the feeling, in places, I have had watching some of Satyajit Ray's work, and Akira Kurosawa's. Your movie captures some moments, perhaps five or six or seven, of superlative beauty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoWgSU8i8yU

Some of the movements are etched forever in my head. Like Shweta's foot coming down. It descends almost like a spacecraft on alien soil with slight hesitation, it hunts, it hovers, but ultimately it lands with conviction and certitude. There is a most satisfying connection every viewer will see, the joy of a toe coming down exactly at the spot that seems destined for it. There could never, in the whole Universe, there could never have been another spot it could have come down at like that.

When Shruthi puts on her necklace and glances sideways into the camera, that is a moment of pure shringar, of ultimate seduction. The jasmine flowers that Kavya Mulridaran casts before her, the moment they touch Mother Earth, that is a moment of sanctity. There are so many scenes I remember. So many scenes I will never forget: many of them illuminated by the warm yellow glow of oil lamps.

It was therefore with great anticipation and great pleasure I watched this movie about the making of Qi. Thank you for making it. Keep your storyboard in a safe place. It came to life, and it gave life to some very precious scenes.

Thank you for Qi. Thank you for this movie. Thank you for all the many Shastram clips I have enjoyed, and more I look forward to enjoying. Thank you for introducing me to the wonderful people in Qi. And, most recently, thank you for introducing us all, and me especially, for I had not been aware of her before, through your two-part interview, to Sreelakshmy Govardhanan. - End of post ---