Leaving Home: A Soulful Tribute to Indian Ocean

(L-R)Asheem, Rahul, Amit and Susmit

Indian Ocean is hard to slot. They’re not quite rock, not just folk, but that’s not all. Starting out as an instrumental band, they still play long instrumental passages, but the concert crowds know every word of their lyrics. They’ve done the odd film score, but they’re certainly not Bollywood. They’ve been around for almost twenty years, but smooth-chinned collegians find them cool, as do greybeards. Amazingly inventive, they’re hardly prolific, with just five albums in all those years. Which still sell well, but gigs keep the fires burning; their hectic concert schedule sees them play all over the world.

What is incontrovertible is that Susmit Sen, Asheem Chakravarty, Rahul Ram and Amit Killam are icons to younger bands, admired and praised by musicians of every stripe, and, unusually, in a field where success strains the closest ties, and despite their disparate personalities, friends.

Now, they’re the subject of a full-length feature. Several years in the making, the film is homage; Jaideep Varma, director, writer and producer, is a fan, and it shows in every frame. Which can get in the way; there’s no attempt to show anything but the good stuff, there isn’t any critical evaluation of the music and the journey.

But here’s the thing: the good stuff is good. The film gives you insights into the the creative process, tells you of the group’s roots (did you know that at the beginning they had a rather attractive female bandmate?), and takes you up close with each member. You hear Susmit speak, and see the depth of the quiet man behind the half-smile and the magical fingers. You get the warm, earnest person behind Asheem’s gravel-and-honey vocals. You ride with Rahul, the broke young man getting by on ten rupees a day. You melt when Amit confesses that he’s a drummer by profession, a guitarist at heart. You see the easy camaraderie, and are at once envious and admiring. You feel like they’re all your old friends, you’re on first name terms with them. There’s music, of course, from concert footage to informal jams to rehearsing and experimenting and fun in the beat-up 100-year bungalow that is their HQ.

The old skool titles taking the narrative forward, and the abrupt cuts between sections are annoying, but Varma also gets you to share his passion, and you forgive him. If there’s one major quibble, it’s that Asheem’s death after a heart attack last year gets no more than a slide at the end, though it’s been three months since his passing. Even that omission, though, makes sense. There was the first phase, the instrumental group. Then the phase that saw them finding their voice, literally, and their fans. Now, without Asheem, they will have to find a new rhythm, a new phase.

Is this the best film that could have been made on the band? No. But it’s good, well worth the price of admission for old fans, who will enjoy the walk down memory line with the lads, and certain to win them hordes of new ones.

(At the film’s launch concert in Mumbai, IO said they will — finally! — release a new album around June, featuring, for the last time, Asheem’s work with them. All tracks will available for free download on indianoceanmusic.com)

Leaving Home – The Life and Music of Indian Ocean. Written and directed by Jaideep Varma. Non-Fiction, 115 mins.

Disclosure: CNN-IBN, a Network18 group company, is a partner of the film