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Ravi Shankar - In Portrait

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"Between Two Worlds", a 90 minute film by Mark Kidel, is the 'definitive' portrait of Ravi Shankar, as it attempts to encompass all facets of his life in music, while also drawing a rough sketch of his personal life as well. The film begins in Benares, India at a birthday gathering where Ravi proclaims that his life is a spiritual journey through music, in which he feels a special love for everyone that is expressed through the language of his art.

Reflections by Ravi, on his relationship with his parents and family, lead to a description of his early travels to Venice, Paris, New York and Hollywood, where he was influenced by a range of talented composers, musicians, dancers, actors and painters. In 1938, his Brahmin origins expressed their attraction in his decision to become an austere musical disciple of the guru Ustad Allauddin Khan. He spent more that seven years with 'Baba' and came to marry his guru's daughter.

This intensive musical preparation led to Ravi assuming a role as an Indian cultural ambassador, influencing musicians as diverse as Yehudi Menuhin, John Coltrane, George Harrison and Philip Glass. The film portrays that the indisciplined excesses of the 1960's popular culture, and Ravi's own participation in this exotic milieu, led to a year and a half break from musical life and finally to a rededication to more moderate ways in the years which followed.

The film closes with a tour of the construction of the Shankar foundation in New Delhi and plays a plays brief concert excerpt in which Ravi performs with a deeply solemn and profoundly beautiful sadness. In the performance, we see that music can become almost a form of worship. A world where humility, introversion and improvisation become one in the pursuit of expressing the presence of the ineffable.

Bonus footage in the two DVD set shows Ravi in the process of constructing a new musical work with his students. A second 54 minute disc records Ravi in a live performance at the Union Chapel of London with his daughter Anoushka. If you love Indian music, then the publication of "Ravi Shankar - In Portrait" can be viewed as a rare event in world of international culture.

This two-DVD set is a worthwhile purchase for anyone interested in Ravi Shankar. The first CD has two segments, "Between Two Worlds" and "Benares Ghat." "Between Two Worlds" uses Shankar's 80th birthday as a point of departure for a video retrospective, including film clips of Ravi with his brother Uday's dance troupe in the 1930s, sample footage from a film he scored, excerpts of his Monterey Pop and Woodstock performances, a short segment from the 1969 film Raga where he visits his guru Baba Khan, clips of Ravi teaching (including George Harrison), and Ravi and his wife showing the construction of his cultural center in India. The second program on Disc 1 shows Ravi teaching his composition "Benares Ghat" to a group of students. Disc two includes live performances of two complete classical ragas with a group including his daughter Anoushka, two tabla players and tampura. Anoushka is a very accomplished player, but limits her involvement here to trading several instrumental phrases with her father and playing occasional secondary lines to support him. This performance from 2002 shows Shankar's virtuosity undiminished despite his age. Disc two concludes with Ravi discussing Indian music and the sitar, playing several examples to illustrate his points. This segement also includes short performance excerpts. Covering his biography, teaching, performance, and views on Indian music, this set fairly comprehensively covers Ravi Shankar's long and varied career. The sound, image quality, editing and camera work are all excellent throughout.

I am a rock n' roller for the most part, but my music and cultural interests go far and wide.
This DVD set on the BBC/ OPUS label is simply brilliant visualy, auraly and content-wise. The spirit and integrity to this man and his music is truly inspiring.
There are segments of Ravi teaching a piece to his young group, as well as a segment on sitars and the differences between Western and Eastern music.
Brilliant, this is by far the dearest and highest quality of my large video collection. It gets watched repeatedly.
Wait till you see the concert performances...his daughter Anoushka (who is no slouch on sitar herself) seems somewhat in awe, shaking her head in near disbelief as Ravi spins his magic.
World class.

I knew there was a reason why I was so excited about this DVD even before I got it. I have already watched it three to four times in so many days. My two year old loves to sit with me and watch it too! I remember going to the concerts in Bombay in the 80's and Panditji always seemed to be playing from Himalayan heights.He seemed to be un approachable to us then. We always had theories about artists who lived in the west.Most of us were known to have (unqualified) OPINIONS! This DVD brings Raviji's human side in front of you. My impression about him has completely changed. I have even more love and respect for the man now. ThanX to BBC for such a great job, I particulary enjoyed the B/W clips from his childhood days.
What a life ! Watching this DVD one gets a insight in to his spirituality and at the same time he seems to be such a simple person. Raviji thinks, speaks as if he never left his childhood place in Benares. He still has an accent which most people like me try hard to get rid off. It was quiet touching to see his wife correct him from saying "servants quarters", a non-PC term used commonly in India, I had tears in my eyes. Some of the footage with Raviji's Guru, Allaudin Khan is simply brilliant. I am mostly stuck with the first CD, but the concerts on the CD 2 are very well recorded and if you have a 9:16 big screen TV , its quiet a treat.
I am already making a list of people I can buy this for as a gift!

If you are interested in Ravi Shankar, India music and/ or the arts in any way I would suggest getting this DVD. It takes you to India, to see the roots of classical Indian music. To spiritual places and Ravi's connections to those place. Absolutley beautiful filming. To the mind of one of the worlds greatest composers and frankly a wonderful man. The first disc is filled with history, imagary and musical knowledge. To be veiwed over and over again. The 2nd disc was recorded in 2002, a beautiful live concert. Excellent sound and quality. To see a such a great master at work brought tears to my eyes. Seeing his influence on Pop and western music and the warmth of a man that will live forever in the hearts of many musicians and music lovers around the world. He IS music. This DVD has it all and I highly suggest it.

The Indian approach to academics, music or religion is so much different from the Western approach that it is very difficult to comprehend this approach for anyone who does not belong to India. It is the way the inner discipline and moral values that find conviction through the physical discipline and ultimately a release through the creative spirit of the disciple.

As the Guru (in Ravi Shankar) rightly puts it through, it is the pain of being able to comprehend a shade of that omniscient but inability to express that through the only medium he knows (the sitar) - that leads to this lifelong struggle for perfection. And that is why no 2 renderings of the same raga is ever the same. It is that attempt to describe that transcendental emotion by breathing life into the immaculate weave of notes which makes this struggle so endearing, so unique, and so divine to the listener. In this struggle one is only competing with his inner self to express his realization to the best of his capabilities. This production is a wonderful testimony (for the Western world) to all the components that go into creating masters such as Ravi Shankar.

However, the 2 ragas that come along with the documentary are definitely not the best pieces that the Pundit has recorded. May be these were chosen to allow Anoushka to come onto the centrestage - which also allows us to see where the father (in Ravi Shankar) might err but the Guru would not. This is another rare side reflected in this documentary - the conflict of the sentiments of a father and a guru. A trained ear would not fail to grasp the diffrences between the same notes coming from the 2 sitars. That is the difference of the emotional depths that back the production the 2 identical notes from 2 different sitars. It is this finesse that marks out the maestro from all the rest.

If the viewer is new to Indian arts, he would do himself a great favour by listening to the duo Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar playing Sindhu Bhairavi where Alla Rakha accompanies them on the tabla. The youthful lilt together with the depths of emotion that stand testimony to the heights achieved by the masters of Indian Classical Music is an all-time treasure for one and all.

Viewed together with a little bit of understanding of the Guru-Shishya relationship this collection is definitely something that should be treasured by any connosieur of Indian arts.

This dvd brought me tears of joy in several places, both for the music and for the spirit and soul of the man, Ravi Shankar.

I was lucky (along with millions of other "hippies") to have been introduced to Ravi's music back in the 60's, by George Harrison. I have listened ever since and have had the pleasure of seeing Ravi perform twice, live. Once was on his 60th birthday, and I was amazed at how good he still was. Many Western musicians seem to begin to "lose their chops" by the age of 60 but not Ravi!

This documentary surprised me by revealing the intimate side of Ravi the child, the man, the father and husband, not just the genius musician.

It is obvious that his daughter and wife and friends love him very much, and he, them, and that is wonderful to see in someone whose music you have loved and respected for so long!

I learned about his childhood and was even treated to pictures and footage of Ravi as a young man! Saw pictures of his father and learned about his upbringing by his mother. One scene that made me smile was when Ravi professed his love of a movie star when he was a child living in California and when another actress there asked to adopt him, he was very sad when his family said "no".

It was not long after that, when he made the decision and commitment to devote his love life to learning to play the sitar instead of having fun in Hollywood! What may have been a great loss for Hollywood, was a great gift to the world of music!

This documentary is so well done. The way the music runs through it is perfect, and though the first disc focuses on Ravi's own words and words about him, there is plenty of music in the background as well.

It gave me so much joy to see and hear him speak about music, about the sixties, about George Harrison and John Coltrane and others. I smiled when he spoke of how upset he was over Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire at Monterey Pop. What was an iconical musical event for most of us, was for Ravi a great tragedy, a "nightmare" as he called it. His love of his instrument is so deep, he just could not imagine a great musician setting his instrument on fire!

This documentary is full of such surprises and delights, and I am so happy that I finally got it!

There is something so special about sitar music and there is something so special about Ravi Shankar too. I love him and I hope others can get such joy from his music, as I do.

For fans of the Indian classical form, this documentary provides an indispensable and fascinating look inside the life and art of its greatest practitioner, Ravi Shankar. On the occasion of Shankar's 80th birthday in 2000, the filmmakers introduce us not only to his life story but also to his family and his day to day life, to the magical complexities of his native India, to a generous helping of his musings on his music and, on the second disc, to live performances of two ragas. The entire feature clocks in at over three hours, but it never gets boring, and there's no distracting narrator: The filmmakers wisely let the sights and the sounds of Shankar's life and music speak for themselves. And they speak volumes.

In Portrait does justice to one of the greatest and most accomplished musicians of the 20th century.

The movie is paced beautifully, shows the development and lifeline if this amazing man in an eloquent fashion, and intersperses vintage film in a way that augments the unfolding of Shankar's career quite well. It is both technically flawless and very beautiful.

And the subject of the film - Ravi Shankar - must be addressed!

Here is a man who was a seasoned musician and performer before he finished his teenage years. He engaged in intense study with the greatest Indian musician of the 20th century, and emerged a master. After establishing himself among the classical and film music world of India (with their exacting standards) he singlehandedly introduced Indian Raga to the world. In doing so, created the genre, and by default all the subsequent subgenres, of world music. And then went on to exploit unexplored possibilities in Raga; without ever once abandoning or betraying it.

The music on both the documentary and concert DVDs is beyond criticism. Even in his twilight years, Shankar's power and musical brilliance remain undiminished. Personally, I am in awe of anyone who is so heavy that the likes of John Coltrane approached for music lessons!

if you are a musician, lover of Indian Raga, and / or Ravi Shankar, I highly recommend this DVD.

I ordered the DVD after reading all these wonderful reviews and I can't wait to get my hands on it. I love Ravi Shankar's music and consider him a genius myself. I can only hope I can acquire enough wisdom to appreciate the music of people like him. I do have a bone to pick though. As a person who grew up in India we saw nepotism all around us, it is a unwritten law of the land. Now, living in the US I don't have much tolerance for it. I went to a concert in the late 90's at the Mesonic hoping to see and hear Ravi Shankar's music but he was shamelessly pushing his daughter all over the concert.She wasn't even ready and would just stop playing every now and then. What most leaders in India failed to do is set themselves as an example.He is well traveled and well acheived person. Its a tragedy that such a great man passed on such an opportunity for more greatness. I will be certainly skipping the part where she plays on the DVD. That will be for all the great musical talent in India who will never be discovered because they are not related to anyone famous.