Nainsukh

In this film, a series of Nainsukh's miniature paintings -mostly created during his time as a court painter- are re-created adhering to the tableau vivant style. The paintings are used as templates for the enlivening of the deceptively flat pictures and painterly subjects. The compositions are meticulously curated and attention is given to both architectural and environmental details. The windows and doors of the palace are sometimes used as frames to accommodate the subjects and to organically create the dividing lines between them.

The subjects are given a dynamism that does not derive from their actions or personality but from their form, their movement (or its absence), and their place within the frame. The usage of wide angle shots creates a perfect environment for the subjects to move with surgical precision and to build a relationship with the environment that encloses them. The sound design plays a key role as well in the process of creating an immersive atmosphere and pushing the connection between the viewer and the artist one step further. Throughout the viewing experience, the sound design creates an eerie atmospheric soundscape, a riveting rhythm, and an inextricable link between nature and its living beings. Overall, Dutta's visual language inadvertently leads towards the immortalization of his subject -Nainsukh and his body of work.