For preparatory research and documentation towards a film on the Sufi and bhakti music of the Punjab. The audio-visual documentation will be made available to music researchers through cultural organisations.
For researching and documenting the history and unique weaving technique of the Molkalmuru sari from the Chitradurga district of Northern Karnataka. The documentation is expected to facilitate the revival and marketing of simplified versions of the sari.
For documenting heritage buildings in Solapur, which exhibit architectural influences that span 1,000 years of successive rule by the Deccan Sultanates, the Mughals, the Marathas and the British. The documentation, which will include measure-drawings and photographs, is expected to lead to an exhibition and aid conservation efforts.
For documenting literary practices in nine languages spoken in Mumbai as well as translating selected texts among these languages. The resulting database will facilitate further translations among these languages.
For researching and documenting the repertoire of biraha (songs of separation) in the folk music of Bengal, towards a musical travelogue in Bengali and English. The project, to be carried out by a contemporary songwriter and performer, will yield an archive of songs and interviews.
For completing an illustrated manuscript provisionally titled ‘Include by Design: Architecture for the Inclusive Artplace’. The grant will enable the recasting of the manuscript for publication through the use of new photographs and illustrations, and will underwrite the book’s production costs.
For the publication of a book on the use of photography as a social tool by the Bengali upper class in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The book, to be published by the Oxford University Press, will be made available at a subsidised price.
For making a film on studio portraiture in India, which will explore the human and social dimensions that inform photographs, as also the experience of being photographed. The proposed film will seek to deconstruct the photographs in terms of cultural influences, social aspirations and individual fantasies.
For making a documentary film on the oral legends of Mirabai narrated and sung by the lower castes of Rajasthan. The film will map the alternative texts and performance spaces that refigure the mainstream cultural icon Mira, laying open issues of caste and transgression to scrutiny.
