• Our thoughts, our dreams, our hopes always were, are, and forever will be rendered in music. This is who we are. This is who we will always be!

    Music
  • The nature of art practice, and the understanding of what qualifies as art, has itself been transformed radically during the period.

    Visual Arts
  • Of all the arts that underwent a dramatic change in the years just preceding and after Independence, the most graphic attempts at the restitution of a fragmented and complex heritage were witnessed in the case of India’s classical dances.

    Dance
  • The literatures of independent India are marked by two tendencies that may seem opposed to each other, but in practice have been complementary to and even overlapping each other: modernisation and democratisation.

    Literature
  • The story of theatre in India is not one but many. Its chapters are spread across the length and breadth of the country. It is not possible to encompass them all in a single sweep.

    Theatre
  • By its very nature, cinema, the newest of the arts, which came into its own as late as the early years of the 20th century, draws freely from tradition (classical and folk) and other allied arts while incorporating prevailing trends and representing a people’s collective cultural journey.

    Cinema

Note by Shashi Vyas:

Through the ups and downs of a 5,000-year-old history and political and social upheavals, our country has upheld its democratic traditions and can rightly claim a cultural heritage to be proud of, despite the warts on polity and society.

As a keen observer of our cultural scenario, I want to celebrate the Indian Republic by bringing out a set of books dedicated to our major arts—Music, Visual Arts, Dance, Literature, Theatre and Cinema. Artistes from these fields have nourished our minds and souls with their outstanding contributions to their art and this series is a token of my deepest appreciation for the joy they have brought into our lives. With the support of a team of friends who shared my enthusiasm, we are happy to present, Pathfinders.

As the title indicates, the focus in the series is on some of those personalities who have forged a new path by shunning beaten tracks, and have scaled the heights of artistic achievement. Pathfinders is an attempt to pay our tribute to these cultural icons and document the challenges and triumphs of Indian. Through it, we salute India’s multicultural fabric and the personalities who have contributed to it.

I am confident that through this series, we will be successful in our endeavour to truly acknowledge the multifaceted achievements of our musicians, painters, dancers, writers, theatre practitioners and film-makers, and present their work to a global audience.

I would like to thank our writers and contributors from across the country, the editorial, creative and production teams who have worked tirelessly on this project, and our sponsors. There are numerous others who have helped us to source images and other archival material and I thank them all too. Pathfinders could not have been completed without their assistance. I hope that it generates even more interest in our arts and culture all over the world.