The Disciple

Aditya Modak in The Disciple

A keening portrait of one man's artistic quest, Chaitanya Tamhane's The Disciple resounds with a subdued and ambivalent power. Sharad, the protagonist, is a devotee and practitioner of Indian classical music. He hones his craft and devotes his life to his musical guru, played by the noted singer Arun Dravid. Yet, though he has technical skill, Sharad fears he lacks that spark of genius that would allow him to fully inhabit and expand upon the music he loves. Improvisation, central to the performance of ragas, seems to be outside his ken. 

Sharad fears that he will become like his father, from whom he developed his love of music, whose attempt at a classical music career turned him into a bitter mediocrity. Tamhane peppers the film with flashbacks of father and son bonding over their love of music. He implies that a devotion to this musical genre is an ascetic one in which individuals not only must eschew material wealth, but also love and friendship. The world of traditional Indian music is counterpointed by the glossy excess of the pop world in the form of an America's Got Talent type show glimpsed on television sets.

Tamhane stresses Sharad's isolation visually. Shots predominately stay fixed, with little camera movement, and are held for twenty seconds or longer. The lack of movement mirrors the stasis of Sharad. Even when he is riding around Mumbai on his motorcycle listening to recordings of his idols (which we hear also, instead of the street noise), Tamhane's camera emphasizes Sharad's isolation.

Aditya Modak's deft performance underlines how Sharad's ascetic devotion has led to his isolation and emotional constipation. When his guru dies, Sharad seizes upon the moment to grab the chance for a normal life. The Disciple's final scene displays that Sharad has a newfound happiness, but that he will never escape the legacy of his past. 

Western interest in ragas seems to have peaked in 1967, so the minimal impact The Disciple has had, despite critical praise, is not a surprise. I learned to appreciate drones from the rock bands of my youth, so I lapped up both the music and the intelligent sound design of this film. Tamhane's still focus visually augments the impact of The Disciple's soundtrack. The film works as both a character study and an appreciation of a musical subculture. Currently streaming on Netflix, the film is a balm of stillness and meditative overtones in a frantic world.