New Delhi   

On a grand tour from past to present

— photo: Benoy K. Behl

Vajraraksha, an 11th Century sculpture.

NEW DELHI: A two-day festival of films titled “The Journey Within” by noted art historian, film-maker and photographer Benoy K. Behl on India’s cultural and artistic heritage opens at India International Centre here on August 29.

To be inaugurated by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, it acknowledges Mr. Behl’s work in unravelling India’s art heritage, particularly in country’s remote and inaccessible corners.

Over the past 25 years Mr. Behl has made many films, including 26 documentaries, on “The Paintings of India” and 26 documentaries on “The Sculpture of India” that will be screened at the festival.

Doordarshan’s series, “The Paintings of India” is the first major work which connects the tradition of paintings from the time of Ajanta to the present day. The films show many sites of paintings which have never been clearly photographed before.

“The governments of many countries have cooperated to make this project possible. Museums across the world have cooperated for the shooting of the films,” says Mr. Behl.

Doordarshan’s “The Sculpture of India” presents the tradition of Indian sculpture spanning 5,000 years from the Indus Valley Civilisation to the 17th Century. The films trace the development of philosophical concepts, themes, creation of deities of temples and of bronze images which come out of temples.

The films, which focus on the tradition of aesthetics, have been shot from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and Tripura to Gujarat. They present an overview of the tradition, including many monuments which are not often visited such as the Pilak Stupa in Tripura and the Charang monastery in Kinnaur.

Mr. Behl has taken over 34,000 photographs of Asian monuments and art heritage. His exhibitions have attracted art connoisseurs and collectors in 24 countries and his name figures in the Limca Book of Records for having travelled to all corners of the country.

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