04/10/2017
Channel Heritage is proud to unveil its latest Heritage offering, "Andhaari" on the very apt and auspicious occasion of Vijayadashmi. A very dark martial love story of the slave who killed Allauddin Khilji. https://youtu.be/IXqX8jwzVYc
Channel Heritage, a Youtube Partner Channel, is engaged in narrating Heritage stories. It started the journey about two years back with "Shaniwarwada -96," a short narrative of the Peshwa Empire set against the backdrop of the iconic fort-palace in Pune. The documentary was intense with high emphasis on content. No wonder it has crossed more than 1,11,111 views in a short span as people loved the details that were shared from the fort.
Thereafter, the Channel has done stories on Jejuri, Raigad, Sachkhand, and Ellora. Now it brings us a noir martial story, of a warrior, who was enslaved and his journey from a slave to a fearsome military general who defended Delhi against the Mongol invasions. He expanded the borders of the Delhi Sultanate beyond Narmada. Eventually he got his revenge by killing the Sultan, Allauddin Khilji, but only after he had conquered the Dark Hole of Andhaari.
The film maker, Sanjayshankar, unveils the story in his trademark cross-linear fashion which takes us back and forth in time and space, as he engages us with some artistic visuals.
"Our thoughts, our emotions, and our life, everything moves at different planes, simultaneously, then how can our films move in a boring linear manner" asserts the documentary maker.
The research for this story happened over a period of almost a year, since 2015, when he had visited Aurangabad and the Daulatabad fort for a recce. He collaborated with some well respected local Heritage Consultants like Mr Umesh Jadhav, which helped him capture some of the unseen aspects of the Fort. Even those who have been to the Fort would wonder about some of these locations that his camera has captured.
The local academia was also involved in the making. Dr Rajesh Ragade, the HoD of Department of Tourism, at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University has played a key role both off-screen and onscreen.
The documentary is presented by the young and petite Ms Sanchi, who herself is an ardent student of International Journalism and is a well known figure in Aurangabad. She brings her own unique way of narration and injects life into the old and cold stones of Daulatabad.
The more than thousand year old fort was handcrafted by the Yadav Kings. It was the capital of Ancient India. It has survived the test of time, both natural and human and is in a very good condition unlike many of the forts. It is one of the strongest forts in the world. Archaeological Survey of India has already submitted a proposal to UNESCO to grant the fort the coveted UNESCO World Heritage site status.
It is expected to happen soon and when that happens, Aurangabad with three World Heritage sites, (Ajanta and Ellora being the other two), would truly be the Tourist Capital of South Asia.
In continuing with the objective of the Channel, to promote Heritage Awareness, the film is available for free viewing https://youtu.be/IXqX8jwzVYc
The story of a wrestler, who was captured and enslaved. He turned out to be a fearsome military general who defended Delhi against the Mongols, and then push...