Mohammed Rafi Fan Blog
2017
documentary film
31:02
Mohammed Rafi Fan Blog is a film that examines two stories in my family’s history related to the Indian playback singer Mohammed Rafi. The first of these took place in 1958 when Rafi was invited to Cochin to sing at my grandparents wedding. Along with a performance of his hit songs from the period, he also sang a song specially composed for the occasion. Recordings of this song were made but were eventually lost.
The other began in 2008 when my uncle Parvez started a blog dedicated to the singer. After collecting and sharing information related to Rafi, and after being an active presence in various online communities, my uncle eventually deleted the blog in 2014.
In the absence of both the recording and the blog, the film sets out to trace the story around these two media objects. In the process, the film reflects on my family’s relationship to technological documents, memory, and forgetting.
Further Reading:
Interview for View:India with Niclas Ostlind and Niyatee Shinde, Buchhandlung Walther König
2017
documentary film
31:02
Mohammed Rafi Fan Blog is a film that examines two stories in my family’s history related to the Indian playback singer Mohammed Rafi. The first of these took place in 1958 when Rafi was invited to Cochin to sing at my grandparents wedding. Along with a performance of his hit songs from the period, he also sang a song specially composed for the occasion. Recordings of this song were made but were eventually lost.
The other began in 2008 when my uncle Parvez started a blog dedicated to the singer. After collecting and sharing information related to Rafi, and after being an active presence in various online communities, my uncle eventually deleted the blog in 2014.
In the absence of both the recording and the blog, the film sets out to trace the story around these two media objects. In the process, the film reflects on my family’s relationship to technological documents, memory, and forgetting.
Further Reading:
Interview for View:India with Niclas Ostlind and Niyatee Shinde, Buchhandlung Walther König