Mohammed Samshad MN

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA under Productions will focus on the creation of a mixed-media documentary film titled Ballads of Ponnani. The project revolves around a 65-year-old music club Basanth Bahar, where three to four nights a week, a group of men gather beneath a single photograph of Mohammed Rafi, alongside portraits of legendary Malayalam singers like KJ Yesudas, and the room fills with the soulful strains of Bollywood classics and traditional Mappila Pattu. At the heart of the story are three men and their labouring bodies torn from the daily toil, but finding renewal through a fading musical tradition of a withering music club. Mohammed Samshad MN is the Coordinator of this project. 

Mohammed Samshad MN is a student of film and video design at MIT Institute of Design, Pune. His practice moves between documentaries, short fiction, and experimental media, with a focus on socially driven stories that combine artistic experimentation with impact. Over the years, he has worked as a photographer, cinematographer, editor, and assistant director in various photography and film projects. He has developed a strong interest in non-fiction narratives that explore the everyday lives, cultural memory, and sensory histories of communities. Given his expertise, he is best placed to be the Project Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.

For this project Mohammed Samshad wants to create a mix-media-documentary film which will focus on a 65-year-old music club known as Basanth Bahar in the coastal town of Ponnani, Kerala. The club was established by EK Aboobakkar and has sustained over the decades by Ashraf—a local Painting contractor. The club has a few regulars – Nassar, a 58-year-old fisherman as a vocalist, Ismail who is 60 and loves to sing, and the secretary of the club, frequenting between Muscat and Kerala, and Ashraf 52, who is the President of the club and an accomplished tabla player. The film will trace the daily routines of its members—Ashraf teaching his painter apprentices before rushing to the club, Nassar turning to songs for relief from physical pain caused due to the grueling years as a fisherman in the sea, and Ismail, whose visits from Muscat revive the group’s energy. Together, their stories will show how inseparable music is from their identities and shared life. Despite the rising rents and diminishing engagement from younger generations which threatens the club’s existence, night after night, the men make their way up the narrow stairs to Basanth Bahar, carrying harmoniums, tablas and memories, and an unwavering passion. Their persistence speaks to the endurance of tradition through simple, repeated acts of devotion. 

The outcome of this project will be a mix-media-documentary film which will also include stop-motion animation made from cyanotype prints. The Project Coordinator's deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be documentation materials from the project, and the film.

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Practice Programme in the manner in which it intends to create a documentary film that captures the fading cultural memory and musical tradition of a withering music club. 

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees. 

This project is supported by Tata Trusts.