A film that spends a day with the Qawwals and Sufis
at the dargah of Nizamuddin at Delhi, celebrating Basant,
or the colourful and musical festival of spring.

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Summary of the film

North India wakes up from the chilly winter. Its spring here again. The yellow of mustard flowers covers miles on end. It is now that the joyful celebration of Basant will be celebrated. There will be singing and dancing. But few of us know the fact that Basant is celebrated not only by the Hindus by also by many Muslims in India. And this is not a recent phenomenon. Its been happening for last 800 years or so.

How Basant came to be celebrated by the Muslims is an interesting story. Apart from the fact that those who had migrated from Central Asia must have brought with them colourful memories of Spring being celebrated with much fanfare in their original homelands, it was the Chishti Sufis who may have begun the celebration of Basant amongst Indian Muslims.

The legend goes that 12th Century Chishti Saint Nizamuddin Aulia of Delhi was once so grieved because of the passing away of his young nephew Taqiuddin Nooh, that he withdrew himself completely from the world for a couple of months either locked inside his room or sitting near his nephew s grave. His close friend, disciple and famous court poet, Amir Khusro, who could not bear with his pir s absence any longer, started thinking of ways to brighten him up.

One day Khusro met a few women on the road who were dressed up beautifully, singing and carrying colourful flowers. He asked them what they were up to. The women told him it is Basant Panchmi today, and they are taking the offering of Basant to their god. Khusro found this very fascinating, and smiling he said, "well, my god needs an offering of Basant too". Immediately, he dressed himself up like those women, took some mustard flowers and singing the same songs, started walking towards the graveyard where his pir would be sitting alone. Nizamuddin Aulia noticed some women coming towards him - he could not recognize Khusro. On close inspection he realized what was going on, and smiled. That was it. They had all been waiting for him to smile for two months. The entire atmosphere went ecstatic. Other Sufis and disciples too started singing Persian couplets in praise of spring, and symbolically the mustard flowers were offered to the grave of Nooh.

The impact of this incident was such that the celebration of Basant became an annual affair in the Khaneqah (monastery) of Nizamuddin Aulia, and subsequently in other centres of Chishti order all over the country. The local Muslims affiliated to all those Dargahs and Khaneqahs automatically took to the tradition of celebrating Basant.

Sufis have a long tradition of adapting to the local culture and language of the places they travelled to spread their message. The Chishti sufis too, have not only tried to relate to the Indian culture and music, they even experimented and enriched the various cultural forms. Basant is a living example of that. In today's scenario while communities are being forced to get more and more polarized into their political molds, Muslims celebrating Basant or Hindus taking part in Eid may sound like a dream. In the past it was these Dargahs and Khaneqahs which served as a platform where the twine could meet. Don't we need the spirit of the dargahs today?

This short film has participated in two international film festivals Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF'98) of Short films, Animation and Video, in March 1998, and in the 6th International Short Film Festival, Dhaka (Bangladesh) 1999. In June 2002, it has been shown at a symposium at Harvard University as part of a presentation on Indian culture, besides in many of New Delhi’s schools such as Springfields, St.Mary’s, Shriram, and Blue Bells in 2002. The students of the Vasant Valley school (Delhi) have even featured the screening of this film on their website