A special thanks to Ira Bhaskar and the School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharal Nehru University, to Kiran Diwar and the staff of the National Film Archive of India, Neeraj Sahay, and Datta Berde. Madhava Prasad, Moinak Biswas, Nasreen Munni Kabir, Parag Amladi, Paul Willemen, Rachel Dwyer, Sibaji Bandyopadhyay, Tejaswini Niranjana and Virchand Dharamsey: much gratitude. To Amrit Gangar, Ashish Avikuntak, Behroze Gandhy, Laleen Jayamanne, M. Alaknanda Samarth, Rajat Kapoor, Anup Singh, Sandeep Chatterjee, Paresh Kamdar and Vikram Joglekar extended various and diverse kinds of help, including practical assistance, guidance, advice and feedback. This project is as much about him as it is about several key collaborators, colleagues and students. I have relied over decades now on his generosity in making available time and energy when both have been in short supply for him, and that is a debt for which I cannot find words. Putting these together and annotating them was a task that could not have happened without Shahani’s own unstinting participation. This long-delayed compilation of writings by Kumar Shahani includes several texts that are either out of print or are being published for the first time. Had it not been for the likes of him, my family, my friends, his colleagues, writers and artists, my students from distant parts of the world, my children too (like my beloved) who sustained me every day, I would not have survived the hurricanes of the last century that have accelerated into speed beyond conjecture. I want to thank him for being himself through all these years. Inevitably it led him to walk to and fro, to relocate in thought, word and deed, and yet remain steadfast in the sustaining of value in the image, the sign, the word. He wanted to do that even as he sought to be a true citizen, defending the imaginary of a ‘nation’, of the individual subject that constituted it. Instead, he wanted to step out and challenge the state. It implied that he would have to give up a lot that cushioned his life. It takes a lot of courage to do so, in a world hell-bent on bringing back slavery – ironically, a slavery based on monetization! I remember one morning long ago when he had come over to share with me his aspirations to deepen his study of culture and society. © Kumar Shahani 2015 ‘Kumar Shahani Now’ © Ashish Rajadhyaksha 2015 First edition 2015 ISBN: 978-93-8ĭesign: Alpana Khare Image correction of film stills for print: Sherna DasturĪshish Rajadhyaksha has shown a determination to overcome fashionable and therefore hegemonic terms of discourse ever since I have known him. Published by Tulika Books 35 A/1 Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110 049, India 2 Char Adhyay (1997): shots of weavers, a village woman getting up in a hurry, a policeman exiting a hut, a bloody knife thrown on muslin – the montage sequence that presages Ela’s death.
1 Khayal Gatha (1988): Alaknanda Samarth as the Oedipal sphinx. An aspiration turns into an object impeding its own progress.’ – Kumar Shahani fig. Kumar shahani the shock of desire and other essays
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