Tuesday 1 April 2014

INDIAN ROCK AND METAL DOCUMENTARIES

From when rock began in India for the very first time till today, we've been a very interesting growing scene. Here are a few videos of rock and metal documented in India, with a few international ones as well. 

Rockumentary - the evolution of Indian Rock was Directed by music journalist Abhimanyu Kukreja during his stint with NewsX, a national English Channel based in India. The documentary was released on national Indian television in the year 2008 and still gets broadcast occasionally. In 2005, while still being in university, Abhimanyu realised that not much was written about Indian rockers as compared to their international counterparts. This prompted him to start his own word of mouth research and document the roots of Indian Rock and Roll music. So by the time, he passed out of University, the script was almost ready. Instead of practicing hard news and make an easy career in the news industry, he decided to be a music journalist. He wanted to make a series that would document the history of Indian rock but unfortunately the channel gave him a 24 minute slot. Approximately 450 minutes of footage was shot but a lot of it could not be aired as news stations in India prioritise hard news over rock music. Not their fault, rock is not exactly a selling point for them. During his time with zeenews.com and NewsX, he is also credited to have shot and interviewed the likes of Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit), Jethro Tull, Boney M, Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Chaka Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Indian Ocean besides a host of other Indian and international acts. Since his resignation from mainstream television, he has been working on his second one which is independent, details of which will be out soon.



Part 1


Part 2


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This is the most popular one. 'Global Metal' (2008) is a documentary film by Sam Dunn of Banger Films Inc. Sam studied anthropology and his work mostly focused on the heavy metal culture. He made this documentary after 'Metal: A Headbanger's Journey' (2005). He is also popularly known for the Iron Maiden film 'Flight 666'.

The documentary is on parts of the world where most of the west doesn't really believe metal thrives. Some people still think we don't have Internet. But fuck them, check this one out if you haven't. It's a must-watch for every metalhead. Featured are some popular dudes like Sahil 'Demonstealer' Makhija of Demonic Resurrection, Reptilian Death and Workshop, and heavy metal cooking show Headbanger's KitchenNolan Lewis of Bangalore band Kryptos, Ananth in Prakalp days, Spiked Crib and an amazing gig at Razz in Bombay.


This was shot back when no major headliners had really played, Iron Maiden being one of the first and biggest bands.
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There was something amazing that came out last year, a film on heavy metal in India by Mehr Singh. At the time, Mehr, a Delhi filmmaker submitted this as her final project while she was doing a course in film and design through the Symbiosis Institute of Design in Pune.

This is another must-watch.


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Now Rock el Casbah hosted by 'Yusef Hashish' (I see), had a small episode where he promoted videos of Indian Metal bands like Demonic Resurrection (Mumbai), Scribe (Mumbai), Artillerie (Delhi) and Kryptos (Bangalore).

This guy is epically cute. Please watch! :P



Bhayanak Maut was also playing randomly in the background!
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We are all aware that Iron Maiden had segments of India in Flight 666. There are some other bands that did so too, like Meshuggah and Parkway Drive. Here are the featured parts of India from their documentaries.

Meshuggah played 'Great Indian Rock' in Pune and Delhi in 2010:



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Parkway Drive played Kolkata, India in 2011. This was pretty cool! The crowd was on stage! xD


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And then we have these guys too


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And these guys


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India has also featured in the Lamb of God documentary film 'As the Palaces Burn' with me and a segment from the Indian show, which will soon be out of DVD this year.

That's all for now! :)







3 comments:

  1. Its pretty amazing how metal have thrived in india. Wish to see some materials about the scene in norrh-east india where we fail to get proper promotions and publicity..

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    Replies
    1. It would be really nice if someone could help me understand the scene out there. I don't know what's happening, and no one this side knows. Can you link me up or direct me to someone who is thorough with this?

      Email me at evangeline93@gmail.com

      Cheers!

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    2. Its kinda demoralising out there. I will link you up with someone who can give every answers. The scene is heavy but is confined there itself.
      Btw be sure to attain dying fetus there. You might catch a glitch. And thanks for the interest. Will mail you soon. \m/

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