On a Rail Trail

Did you know that right next to the Nizamuddin Railway Station in Delhi, there is a cycle rickshaw yard? The yard is like a sleepy willow, in the midst of one of noisiest areas of the city, where a number of rickshaw-pullers take a break during a busy day.Not many people travelling to Delhi might have stopped by to notice this corner in the middle of the city, but when Mumbai-based filmmaker Dhanya Pilo and Bharatnatyam dancer Parimal Phadke were asked to make a “dance film” in Delhi, this was the first site they visited. Titled Dudro, the film will be screened as part of the “The Yellow Line Project”. Organised by Gati Dance forum, it features six five-minute films that were shot at various locations across Delhi.Named after the Delhi metro line, the three-week residency project had six teams of two — comprising a media artist and a dancer — who were trained by British dancer Liz Aggiss and Delhi-based media artist, Sonia Khurana.With dance, camera and Delhi as the buzzwords, the filmmakers set out to explore Delhi. “Parimal being a multifaceted dancer, specialising in Bharatnatayam, had to visualise the rickshaw yard as a stage,” says Pilo. The other sites the duo visited included the bustling Nehru Place shopping centre, pavements in Green Park, Nizamuddin Railway Station Yard, a hospital construction site in Mehrauli and a collapsed building on MG Road.Frederic Lombard and Surjit Nongmeikapam also found an unlikely pair in each other. “Frederic is from France and I am from Manipur. Through this project, we have learnt so much from each other and our different cultures,” says Nongmeikapam. The duo’s film, Underline, is in abstract format, with no narrative, and focusses on how the ethos of a location can be described through dance. Films of “The Yellow Line Project” will be screened at Devi Art Foundation, Gurgaon, on December 17 and International Artists’ Association, S-17, Khirkee Extension, New Delhi, on December 18 at 7 pm