Alif

Film maker’s profile Kanika Gupta is a student of National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi pursuing under graduation in Communication Design. In her course she has specialized in photography (outdoor and studio) and costume styling. She has done a film making workshop by documentary film maker Kavita Joshi. As part of that workshop she made her first documentary film ‘Umangein’. She has been leaning Kathak since the past six years. Alif is her second film as director.

Synopsis of the film Alif, in search of the above… Hindi 17 minutes 40 seconds Islamic Calligraphy is the art of writing often done with a special pen or brush. It came to India with the coming of the Mughals, where it flourished and crossed various boundaries of creativity. New styles also emerged which had elements of the previously existing arts of India. However in the modern age of typewriters and computers it lost its place to such extend that now people hardly know of it as an art form. The number of calligraphers declined and now in Delhi there are not even five to be found. Alif is a documentary on the art of Islamic Calligraphy. Shot in a small village called Mau, 120 Km from Varanasi, the film takes its viewers into the studio of a calligrapher who actually manages to make a living out of his art in today’s age. The film creates a parallel between the students of the Madarsa of the village and the calligrapher who teaches them. The calligrapher still makes his own ‘kalam’ using bamboo sticks and teaches his students to do so as well. The students start with the bamboo pen and write on ‘takhti’ (wooden slab). In the film we see different nibs being made and the fact that while learning one has to begin with the very basic that is Alif, the first letter of the Urdu Alphabet. With every Alif there is a new beginning, a new style of writing waiting to be explored. The calligrapher Maulana Abdul Moid Kamil is a calligrapher in Mau who earns his living by doing calligraphy. He also makes wedding and invitation cards with calligraphy on them for people. He teaches in the village’s Madarsa which he does not take money for. In this village children in the beginning are taught to make their own ‘kalam’ using bamboo and they use wooden slabs (takhti) to write on. These they wash every evening to prepare it for the next day. This is a culture which was followed in the past, even by our parents’ generation. However now it has faded away. None of us have ever used this kind of pen or notebook while learning to write the Alphabet. In this village of Mau this still continues only to fade away sometime in near future.