Ajantrik (1958 ) and its Unconventional Background Music by Sarod Maestro Ali Akbar Khan

LOKOGANDHAR ISSN : 2582-2705

Indigenous Art & Culture

Dr. Sukanya Sarkar

Abstract

Ajantrik is a film of Ritwik Ghatak based on a short story by Subodh Ghosh. It was released in 1958. The film revolves around the life of a driver Bimal who lives in the Chhotonagpur region. The narrative focuses on the relationship of Bimal with his old car Chevrolet Jalopy of 1920. The film vividly depicts the landscape of the plateau area of Hazaribagh, the folk culture, and rituals of the Jharkhand region. The music of the film is composed by Ali Akbar Khan. Like Ghatak’s other films, Ajantrik is also enriched with natural sound effects of machinery, folk musical instruments and a few pieces of folk songs along with folk dance form by the original inhabitants of the Chhotonagpur region. Ali Akbar Khan wonderfully designed the musical pieces which match with another soundtrack. The subject of the film is very interesting as it deals with an inconsistency of human nature. On the one hand, the director portrayed how society welcomed scientific progress by taking advantage of commuting in cars. On the other hand Ghatak beautifully showed that using an old car Jagaddal (immovable) Bimal created chaotic situations for the passengers from the very beginning to the end of the film.

Keywords –Ajantrik, Ritwik Ghatak, Ali Akbar Khan,Folk, Jagaddal

Introduction

Ajantrik(1958) was the second film of legendary director Ritwik Ghatak. The music of Ajantrik was composed by Ali Akbar Khan. The reason behind the selection of this film is that its music has not been given the importance it deserves which Ali Akbar did wonderfully. Though Ali Akbar composed music for many films, this film has some speciality as its music has many other components which are quite different from traditional Indian Classical Music. Ali Akbar showed his merit by incorporating the tribal tradition of folk music of Jharkhand and its adjacent areas. The assimilation of folk dance, music and various types of Percussion instruments has been beautifully demonstrated to give a realistic idea about the culture of the region.

The story of Ajantrik was written by Subodh Ghosh. As far as the narrative is concerned it is a loose adaptation of the original story by Ritwik Ghatak. The story revolves around the town of Hazaribagh (Bihar) where the author was born. Subodh Ghosh’s writings were very popular in the literary circle of Bengal. Many of his stories have been successfully translated into films by the directors. The author won the Filmfare Award for Best Story twice, for Bimal Roy’s Sujata (1960) and Gulzar’s Ijaazat in 1989. Actually, critics often wrote Ijaazat was influenced by Tapan Sinha’s Jatugriha (1964) which got a National Award certificate of Merit as the third-best feature film in Bengali. [i]

Many eminent fellows and scholars like Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Moira Weigel, Rochona Majumdar, Mani Kaul and Shoma A Chatterjee wrote various articles on Ritwik Ghatak’s work. It goes without saying that Ritwik Ghatak occupied a special place in the realm of Art House Movie. His films are always designed by wonderful music and sound effects. The narrative of the film revolves around a very old car and infinite love of its owner, Bimal for this vehicle. There grew an unbreakable bond of friendship between Bimal and his vehicle. An emotional bonding with it almost made the old car an inseparable member (as if it was a human being) of Bimal’s family. The imaginative music of Ali Akbar Khan made the film very much, lively and realistic. The maestro selected the perfect tune, instrumental music, folk songs and folk dance of the region in which the film was made.

Unfortunately Ajantrik did not get any award in our country. But it was considered for a special entry in the Venice film Festival in 1959. According critic George Sadoul. “What does Ajantrik mean? I don’t know and I believe no one in Venice Film Festival knew. I can’t tell the whole story of the film…… there was no subtitle for the film. But I saw the film spellbound till the very end.”[ii] This observation of a Western critic(Sadoul) , who could not even understand the language of the film, is a testimony to the greatness of Ghatak as a director.

Except for two, or three scenes the music throughout the film is minimal. There are some solo playing of Sarod, duet of Sitar and Flute, Sarod and Sitar and Percussion effects. The music throughout the film perfectly matches the emotion and another social behavioural manner. Some ethnic folk music along with dance is shown many times in the films during the festival. The director very successfully knitted the scenes of several occasions which are followed religiously by the aboriginal people of that particular area. The authenticity of the scenes are complemented by the enriching music of Ali Akbar Khan and typical folk dance along with folk songs by the tribal folk artists of that particular region. His music composition in this film is full of variety and we hardly find any dull moment.

Ritwik Ghatak wonderfully depicts how modern machinery encroaches our age-old culture and nature. The old Chevrolet very often creates a lot of problems for the passengers whom Bimal used to carry in his car. It also disturbs the calm atmosphere of rural tribal area. But his innate love for the vehicle never allows him to part with it. Bimal shares a unique emotional bonding with the old Chevrolet called as Jagaddal in the film.

According to Samya Mondal in his social networking site “Diving Deep into Films” wrote a review on Ajantrik (1957) titled as Mechanics of Ajantrik “Probably the finest yet less popular parallel filmmaker of India, Ritwik Ghatak made his second feature film Ajantrik (The Pathetic Fallacy / The Mechanical Man) …… He proves his technical, innovation and ability as a master storyteller. It is not his best but certainly a very well thought experimental landmark (for Indian especially Bengali Cinema). Ustad Ali Akbar Khan orchestrates a graceful score for this piece, where sound is a very important aspect of its dramaturgy. The music is gracefully simplistic… Ghatak’s frequent use of deep focus is similar to the works of Orson Welles”.[iii]

Ritwik Ghatak dealt with a very complex theme. The love for an obsolete thing, in this case, the old Chevrolet car, has been beautifully portrayed in the film. The music of Ali Akbar Khan is also very appropriate as far as the subject of the film is concerned. It would remain a unique creation of Ali Akbar Khan in the arena of Art films. Thus we may come to conclusion that the film had a universal appeal. According to Anand Singh in his article on Asian Movie Pulse.com “Ajantrik is a microcosm of human relations. All this takes with the beautiful Bengali culture, and landscape as the backdrop”.[iv] In the film we find the portrayal of landscape of the Chhotonagpur plateau.

In the film, it seems to the viewers that Bimal treats his vehicle Jagaddal as a human being and often talks with it alone. His frustration reached its peak after being called mad and thrown mud by the kids. But his love for Jagaddal was so deep that he takes it to a river bank and washes away his wounds of extreme insult along with the mud.

Raju Roychowdhury wrote a review titled as “Man and the Machine”- On Ritwik Ghatak’s Ajantrik (The Pathetic Fallacy). At the end he mentioned Kumar Sahani’s notes in the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema , the film presents “a universalized leitmotif of cultural dismemberment and exile that evokes an epic tradition by drawing on tribal, folk and classical forms”.[v]

Kumar Sahani also mentioned some thoughts of Ritwik Ghatak, from his book Cinema and I (1987) ) where Ghatak explains. “The idea of the machine has always had an association of monstrosity for us. It devours all that is good, all that is contemplative and spiritual… ….It stands for clash and clangor for swift destructive change for fermenting discontent.”[vi]

MUSIC ANALYSIS OF AJANTRIK

Ajantrik, directed by legendary director Ritwik Ghatak, is one of the few films made by him in his entire career. Subodh Ghosh’s short story deals with machine and a human. It is a satire on human love for machine. Naturally the entire film is full of realistic sound of machines. In this case the machine is an old car which the owner called Jagaddal. The sound track is full of the several sounds of car, horn and other machinery parts. Hence there are some added non-musical sound along with musical tracks. The creative mind and effort of both Ghatak and Ali Akbar Khan made the movie a memorable one.

The film begins with a noisy scene of a village taxi-stand. When Bimal, the central character, drives his taxi with his passengers through the rural area of Hazaribagh, a beautiful scenario of muddy road, a canal by the side of the road and the horizon have been beautifully captured through cinematography. A distinct folk tune can be heard from a distance during the journey. This folk tune perfectly matched with a sound track full of noise and realistic sound of taxi. All through out the journey various dialogues being interposed with a beautiful orchestration mixed with Percussion effect. Here the folk Percussion instrument Kashta Tarang[1] made a wonderful music. The orchestration is based on raga Dhani[2] which is not a very popular raga of Hindustani Classical Music. The orchestration prominently used the sound of Sitar and other Indian Classical Instruments. This appears as a background music in several scenes and enriches the sound track of the film. One would be astonished to see the creative genius of both Ghatak and Ali Akbar Khan. The entire duration of the musical pieces in this first fifteen minutes is not continuous. It has been used in piecemeal nature. Though the duration is short the impact on every scene is amazing because of the compositional ability of the maestro(Ali Akbar Khan).

The piece on raga Dhani is accompanied by a six beat rhythmic cycle called Dadra. The various folk Percussion instruments create a unique sound body matching with the realistic engine sound of the car in a natural way. Ali Akbar Khan beautifully used his musical knowledge and perfectly assimilated the sound effects with machines. His application of noise created in the market is amazing. He turns this realistic sounds into musical notes with some help of certain Percussion touch or adding a sound of a Flute and local bow instrument.

One striking aspect of the music of Ajantrik is its short span in almost every scene. The touch of Classical Music can be heard when some composition of Sarod and Sitar is applied. The leitmotif designed in raga Dhani appears constantly all through out the movie. Another piece in Khamaj in a compositional format with a Percussion help is applied. There are three or four sad scenes when the car is not working and the car driver Bimal is looking very sad. One finds a beautiful musical piece on Sarod in adlib format in raga Bilaskhani Todi[3]. Sadness has been expressed through the Alapchari of the phrases by the maestro himself. A few chords of Bhairavi[4] here and there is also articulated. To express the pathos beautiful musical phrases of Kafi[5]is wonderfully incorporated. These beautiful musical passages bring out the melancholy that the film demands. Indeed breath taking panoramic view of the entire area of Jharkhand erstwhile mining area of Bihar is beautifully captured by the cinematographer.

The photography is matched frame by frame through music also. Ali Akbar did orchestration with Sarod and Sitar, where beautiful Flute pieces are interjected within a compositional format . It is properly accompanied by simplistic beat system that is similar to folk form of beat system which is called Khemta[6]. It is predominantly used as the main rhythm of that region of present Jharkhand. It may be mentioned here that from Chhotonagpur to Ranchi down to Jharia, is a mining belt rich in minerals.

The film Ajantrik has sadness, some small happiness and some other local practices. The film had very little scope for the music director as it is filled up with dialogues and mechanical sound of machines and cars. The film is full of many other sound effects along with the sound of the central subject the car, Jaggaddal. So it was, to a certain extent, a big challenge to compose music for such a movie, which has little space for compositional part of music. But Ali Akbar successfully introduced the Classical Instrumental music elements played on Acoustic instruments. He innovated experimental format of various sounds against the real diegetic sound . The director used noise also in such a beautiful manner that the entire sound track turns vastly attractive and enriched the entire sound track of the film.

He used various percussion drums like Kashta Tarang, Khanjani in the movie very perfectly. He got the training of composing orchestration track from his father Baba Allauddin Khan. To use various Percussion drum to depict a lighter aspect of the story line or the dialogue is a wonderful idea of the maestro. To assimilate various Percussion Instrument to convey a mood of the situation Ali Akbar used them not only for rhythm but also as musical hands to produce sound effects for depicting various emotions, actions and comedy. The Percussion team helped the maestro a lot in composing music for Ajantrik.

In the taxi-stand in the morning the sound track of bells and conch shell gives us an idea that a Puja is being performed nearby. There is a beautiful solo Sitar in Alaap format based on raga Ahir Lalit [7], which is a beautiful morning raga. The tune of Sitar merges into another piece of beautiful tempo of Alaap format on Sarod, strumming the notes of Ahir Bhairav[8]. This two minute long sequence is applied amidst children’s noise, the sound of vehicles in taxi-stand and various dialogues of the people in the temple. All this merged into the soft slow tempo with melodious Alaap of these two ragas.

Primarily there are two sets of music, one in raga Dhani and the other one in raga Kafi, appearing as Leitmotif. Both the pieces are quite enjoyable. The profound maturity, understanding and creativity of Ali Akbar Khan have been widely appreciated. Each time, no matter how long the piece is, one finds ample elements of musical variations. The speed, the note, the taal and the movement remaining the same, the subtle changes frequently along with instant improvisation in the moods give us a clear idea about the thought process of the music composer. It is an amazing feeling if one puts all these pieces of same tune with innovative idea.

The film is centered around taxi and its various journeys. It is full of beautiful breath taking, panoramic view of the area, it’s mountain range, jungle, water lake, and single roadway filling up with the immaculate photography. Similarly in the sound track Ali Akbar Khan fills up every such portion with wonderful composition on the Indian traditional Instrument such as Sitar and Sarod. In many places using the traditional folk music of that region with their own folk instrument and lyrics of the song in the tribal language give a perfect identity of the area. The folk Percussion Instruments like Madal[9], Dholak[10], Dhak and instruments like Flute, type of Clarinet type and other local folk Instruments create a wonderful musical ambience.

The folk dance form like Jhumair[11] and Domkach[12], along with the accompaniment of folk musical instruments has been articulated very authentically in the film. In the entire film one scene portrayed local tribal dance with its music. The entire performance of folk dance with musical accompaniment was wonderful. This dance form gives us an idea of the rich art and culture that this area of Jharkhand contributed to the heritage of Indian folk dance. The connoisseurs of folk dance and music have appreciated the contribution of the tribal people of this region over the centuries. They have maintained and restructured a very rich cultural heritage both in music and dance uninterruptedly for centuries.

The most exciting and beautiful music has been displayed by a composition in raga Sohini[13] with its Chalan (Extensive series of note pattern summarizes the development of a raga)and with a lot of integrated right hand maneuvering called Bol. The Bol ang lasted for about two minutes. Probably this was the longest piece of music in the entire film. It comes almost at the end when the battered car is getting repaired. The excitement, exuberance that is exhibited in the movie is very beautifully played on Sitar and Sarod in a duet performance. The bol patterned taans after the introduction of a Percussion instrument in a fast tempo is amazing . The composition of a complicated raga like Sohini has been presented perfectly.

After a long and continuous attempt to repair his old companion Jaggaddal, ultimately Bimal was compelled to discard it. The saddest part of the story is that the car was sold as a scrapped material part by part. It is a complex scenario of mixed emotions. A sense of sorrow and frustration loomed large on Bimal’s face after his separation from the old Chevrolet car. The music director composed the entire music beautifully to portray the emotions. A wonderful two-line folk song has been used without any musical support, along with a Bhangra[14] folk pattern song sung by the Punjabi taxi driver. It is intermingled with too much sound of the machine, noise of the market place and taxi stand.

Almost every musical score of some scenes are associated with noise . The musical pieces are assimilated in format of collage with other realistic sound effects. The maestro himself added a few notes of raga Bhairavi in a very subtle way in some emotional scenes, which brought out a magical effect. The wonderful blend of Instrumental music often ended up with a few strokes of drum. The folk instruments like Dhamsa, Madal and the Mandar gave an authentic essence of rich folk culture of Chhotonagpur region. It gives a surreal touch at one point of time in the film, where a happy Bimal starts a new day with the child assistant Sultan, playing with his car horn, reminding him of a beautiful past that he enjoyed and looking ahead for a happy future.

According to Times of India ‘Ajantrik is also the first film film that used Oraon language’. [vii]

The background music is generally never too lengthy. Ali Akbar Khan did fairly well to put the right musical tracks in the scenes. In fact the background music is applied only to enrich the emotions of a particular scene. In Ajantrik the use of musical tracks are very limited. But there are long sequences of folk dance performances by the tribal people of Chhotonagpur area. Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum mentioned in an article “…it is the observation of Oraons tribe through the elaborate dance rituals that offers a glimpse of Ghatak’s personal ethnographic fascination with marginalized culture and people”. [viii]

In Ajantrik the music is composed within very short duration. There are no complex orchestration or traditional Asthai, Antara based composition. The music of Ajantrik has its own dimension. It is full of authentic folk music of tribal area along with the surrounding sound of the small town, market place etc. The music director used the Sarod, Sitar, Flute and all other Acoustic Indian Classical Instruments very judiciously. A special mention must be made about the fantastic usage of the local Percussion Instrument, the drum, use of Dhamsa[15] and the usage of the rhythmic patterns of various Kasht- Tarang, Xylophone etc. along with the Tabla, Dholak and the Khol playing the simple four beats and six beats called Keherwa and Dadra respectively creating magical effect at times.

Ali Akbar Khan successfully demonstrated how a complete music can be composed and executed within a few seconds which can create an amazing effect in the scene. Ajantrik will always remain one of the finest examples for its creative music within a minimal area which can make a magical effect. The sound track of the film is an example of how perfect musical score could go along with the storyline, cinematography and change of emotions. The sound track is a unique example of how innovative music can create a huge impact where the central theme is full of mechanical noise. The sound of the car, the sound of machine, the noise created in the market place are all the basic sound continuously going on in the film as for its need. The maestro single mindedly keeps on working with the music by colouring it with a collage of musical thoughts by Indian classical Music played by Acoustic Instruments. The amazing range of Percussion instruments in both traditional and folk music continuously produced wonderful effect at the background. The folk music is applied in a very realistic way.

To work with a theme of car machines , continuous noise and different sound of the market place in a small town with a lots of activities of the original inhabitants of the area was a stupendous task for any director. But a genius like Ritwik Ghatak accepted such a challenge to make a perfect sound- track mixing up a whole gamut of music borrowed from the classical and tribal folk elements with lots of innovative Percussion instruments. A perfect understanding of sound of different beat and rhythmic pattern between Ritwik Ghatak and Ali Akbar Khan made the film a grand success. At the end we must mention that we find wonderful sound designing in almost every film of Ritwik Ghatak.

Performance of Folk Music and Dance by Tribal Community of Hazaribagh (Part of Chhotonagpur):-

A brief description of musical instruments along with folk Percussion of Jharkhand area will help us to understand the folk music and culture of the area. Nagara[16] is a very common folk instrument which is often used just before the commencement of a community meeting or hunting by a group of people or any commencement of war between two ethnic communities.

The second instrument is Singi[17] also called Singara which is generally performed generally before the beginning rural form of theatre and drama. This instrument is made of buffalo horn. The artists blow the instrument through the narrow portion of the horn. It is a type of wind instrument which is often played in festivals like marriage and other rituals of Adivasi people. The sound comes out from the larger end which is round in shape. The sound resonates for a longer period as the folk artists give a strong blow to create an effect of echo (surrounding sound). Sometimes Singi is played at a short interval to frighten the wild animals in their region.

Generally Nagara is very popular among Munda and Oraon tribe who are the original inhabitants of Chhotonagpur plateau and adjoining area. But in Santhal tribe the instrument Tamak[18] is often used in their regular festival and cultural activities in different seasons. Another instrument Mandar[19] is quiet in Chhotonagpur area of Jharkhand. The tone of Mandar is melodious and mostly used in keeping the rhythm of folk music.

Another instrument Thechka[20] is quite famous for keeping the rhythmic accompaniment of folk music. This instrument was used by Oraon tribe when Shershah invaded Bihar . Afterwards during the period of Santhal rebellion under Sidhu and Kanu this instrument was very common .

Making of Folk Instrument Mandar:-

The instrument Mandar was initially made by people associated with the art of pottery and subsequently when leather was introduced in some portion of the instrument, the cobblers were engaged in this art of making the instrument. Another community called Rangrez used to decorate the instrument by colouring it and at the end Gorait and Mahli tribes give the finishing touch in making the instrument.

Gorait tribes are generally the dwellers of hilly area of Bihar (Now Jharkhand) and are primarily agrarian people.

In this film the folk dance form of Jhumair , Domkach and Elephant dance performance are done original inhabitants of the area of Chhotonagpur region.

I would like to conclude the chapter of Ajantrik (1958) with some opinions of the film scholars. Brandon wrote a brief review on Ajantrik on 6^th December,2011 where he mentioned that the ending of the film Ajantrik is good. In his words “ The car…..sold for scrap metal, but Bimal smiles again seeing a child playing with the horn”. [ix]

According to Dennis Schwartz, ‘Indian filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak directs this humanistic comedy, a satire about the modern world’s love affair with machines. The auto, a 1920 Chevy, is named Jagaddal, and is the object of ridicule among Bimal’s fellow drivers’. [x] Actually Bimal was always grateful to Jagaddal as it helped him earned bread and butter for quite a long time.

In moviemahal.net film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum finds some similarity of Ajantrik (1958) with Jacques Tati’s masterpiece film “Mr Hulot’s Holiday” in his article “Ritwik Ghatak: Reinventing the Cinema” in 2006. In Rosenbaum’s word ‘I have no way of knowing if Ritwik Ghatak ever saw Jacques Tati’s 1953 masterpiece Mr Hulot’s Holiday, but when I look at his second feature, Ajantrik (1958), it’s hard not to be reminded of it’.[xi]

In the Indiaclub.com there are some reviews like “ The young director of this picture gives the Indian Cinema, a lead which is followed, will give our film unusual depth and scope”.[xii]

Imagine India published a review on 5^th July 2023 on Ghatak’s Ajantrik where the car 1920 Chevrolet Jalopy was compared to the apple of Bimal’s eye.[xiii]

According to Suvadip Sinha, “ The tribal people appear on screen at crucial moments…….. outside the tumult of the town….. the sudden interjection of a scene showing their festive parade, the shrilling sound of their bugles, their flying Bairakhis(flags). These elements are often shown through…abrupt and unexpected shots. Ghatak tries to create what James Clifford terms as modernist collage”.[xiv]

Eminent English film critic Derek Malcolm stated in an interview that “Ghatak was a world class director, but he did few films only. He had amazing knowledge about sound track and the way he used sound which is often copied by the people in West”.[xv]

Scholar Hafiz-Al-Asad found influence of Ghatak’s Ajantrik (1958) on Satyajit Ray’s Abhijan (1962) and Martin Scorsese’s Award winning film Taxi Driver (1976).[xvi]

[1] Kasht Tarang is a type of Xylophone or Marima used in India. It is also known as Kashth Tharang. It is characterized by the use of wooden resonating bars.

[2] Dhani , a pentatonic raga of Hindustani Classical music, belongs to Kafi Thaat. It has its own distinct character and frequently used in popular music. It has some similarity with Bhimpalasi and Malkauns. But the Komal Dha of Malkauns is replaced by Pa in Dhani.

[3] Bilaskhani Todi, a morning raga of Hindustani Classical Music, belongs to Bhairavi Thaat. It is a blend of Asavari and Todi. Though it is named Bilaskhani Todi, it does not belong to Todi group. It has close affinity with Komal Rishabh Asavari and similarity with Bahaduri Todi. Categorised it in Bhairavi Thaat , it is an example of the flaws of Bhatkhande system

[4] Bhairavi, a heptatonic morning raga, of Hindustani Classical Music, belongs to Bhairavi Thaat. It produces a rich, devotional atmosphere. The genres of Thumri, Kajri, Bhajan are often based on Bhairavi.

[5] Kafi, a Hindustani Classical raga, belongs to Kafi Thaat. It corresponds to Kharaharpriya of Carnatic Music and similar to Dorian mode in Western music. It has a direct lineage of Indian folk music. Many Tappa, Hori,Dadra, Bhajans are based on Kafi

[6] Khemta is a taal of six beats. Musicians often believed it as an off-spring of Dadra Taal. The format is same as Dadra excepting the Baya usage. It is often used in folk music.

[7] Ahir Lalit, a morning raga , belongs to Bhairav Thaat. It is an assimilation of Ahir Bhairav and Lalit. The raga used both form of Madhyam and Pancham is omitted

[8] Ahir Bhairav, a morning raga of Hindustani music, belongs to Bhairav Thaat. It is a combination of Bhairav and ancient raga Ahiri. Musicians often believed it as an assimilation of Bhairav and Kafi.

[9] Madal is a folk musical instrument for keeping rhythm. It has a cylindrical body with a slight bulge at its center and heads at both ends, one head is larger than the other. It is usually played horizontally in a seated position, with both heads played simultaneously.

[10] The Dholak , a two-headed hand drum, is a folk Percussion instruments. It is used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

[11] Jhumair or Jhumar is an Indian folk dance form of Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chattisgarh, Assam,Bihar and West Bengal. It is a folk dance form of Sadan, Indo-Aryan ethnic groups of Chhotonagpur which is usually performed during harvest season. Mandar , Dhol, Nagara and Bansuri instruments are used.

[12] Domkach is a folk dance of Jharkhand, Bihar and Madhesh province of Nepal . In Jharkhand the women and men of groom’s and bridegroom’s families perform this dance during marriage ceremonies. They form a semi-circles by holding the waist of each other

[13] Sohini, a Sandhi-Prakash raga of Hindustani Classical Music, belongs to Marwa Thaat. It is a raga with limited scope of elaboration. It emotes the feel of longing.

[14] Bhangra is a type of folk dance of Punjab area during the season of harvesting. It is associated with Vaisakhi festival . In a typical performance of Bhangra the accompaniment of short songs are called boliyan. Dhol is used as Percussion instrument.

[15] Dhamsa is a traditional percussion instrument with a rich bass sound essential for Chhau dance performance.

[16] Nagara is a Percussion instrument used for its rhythmic sound. It is a drum used in India during mandir ceremonies and weddings. These are typically two drums ,one treble and one bass are played with sticks.

[17] Singi is a wind instrument from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. It is a horn with a bamboo mouthpiece which is held with both the hands and has bells attached to the sides of the instrument.

[18] Tamak is a stick -struck double headed drum of the Santhal people of India. The body of the drum is made from metal and shaped like a large bowl. It is often used in religious ceremonies and Santhal festivals.

[19] Mandar is a folk instrument of Jharkhand. It is used for producing rhythmic pattern in folk music . It was made by people of Jharkhand

[20] Thechka is a rare folk instrument of Jharkhand

[i] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subodh_Ghosh

[ii] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajantrik

[iii] https://samyamondal.wordpress.com/2016/05/28/mechanics-of-ajantrik/

[iv] https://asianmoviepulse.com/2018/10/film-review-ajantrik-1958-by-ritwik-ghatak/

[v] https://read.kinoscope.org/2017/08/24/man-and-the-machine-on-ritwik-ghataks-ajantrik-the-pathetic-fallacy/

[vi] ibid

[vii] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/docu-on-a-directors-search-for-adivasi-culture-at-fest/articleshow/107128871.cms

[viii] https://moviemahal.net/2014/10/20/ajantrik-pathetic-fallacy-dir-ritwik-ghatak-1958-india-man-and-machine/

[ix] https://deeperintomovies.net/journal/archives/6939

[x] https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/ajantrik/