Marathi filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane struck film festival gold with his first full length feature, the deep, subtle, insightful Court (2014), a telling drama on the Indian judicial system.
This time he trains a keen, settling eye on the life of an aspiring Indian classical singer.
Michał Sobociński's cinematography casts a single-minded, wide angle view on the rigours of learning classical music through the singular experience of Sharad Nerulkar (Aditya Modak).
The quieter side of Mumbai coincides with continual tanpura (background string instrument) strains, blending with the disciple's unending journey.
Bound by centuries old guru-shishya parampara (teacher-disciple tradition), Sharad has to ward off family, financial limitations and bodily desires to pursue his passion.
The unending quest
We catch Sharad first in his twenties as outwardly calm, inwardly restless soul attempting turbulently to master the eternal art from the elderly Guruji (Arun Dravid).
In his mid-thirties, Sharad has a music teacher job to support his passion, his ailing master points out that Sharad's singing skills have a long way to go.
There are short flashbacks to Sharad's childhood too, that partly explains Sharad's interest in music, while providing a few answers to his personality.
The most telling part features Sharad in his forties, echoes of human perseverance and courage in the most damning yet effective way.
How does human endeavour fare largely, flashes across Sharad's face in the final scenes, beautiful strokes to sum up a life journey.
Slow burner
The Disciple takes a while to get going, but writer-director Tamhane is surefooted and steady in chronicling various aspects of a classical singer's life.
Underplayed drama and the three timeline variations are the movie's strength. The lead performance is too underplayed, especially Modak's lead act.
The Disciple, not as sharp and fiery as Court, is a studied unflinching take on the lonely, hungry road to sculpting one's art, and thanks to its unblinking, uncompromised treatment, is a good watch for cinema lovers.
Now playing on Netflix
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