Reality Check

Documentary Film Screening

An NCPA Presentation in collaboration with Cinema Collective   

The Reality Check film series promotes and encourages documentary filmmakers in India whose work reflects life and culture in the country today in a thoughtful blend of creativity and integrity.

Back Then – The Story of Live Music in Bombay
English Film with English Subtitles (56 minutes)

Back Then – The Story of Live Music in Bombay is a documentary film that takes the viewer back 30 years to explore the sounds of the city’s musical counterculture. It puts the viewer in the shoes of its mercurial artistes, passionate folks behind the scenes and audiences who went to gigs through the ’90s, 2000s and 2010s. The film puts the spotlight on what happened in the shadowy world of underground live music and answers questions like what it meant to watch an artiste live in 1994, what it is like today and what kind of underground music was played in 2006. Over the span of 53 minutes, the documentary cruises through rare stories from the 1990s all the way to 2023.

Director Anindita Dutta Roy is from Kolkata. She has a master’s in journalism and has directed and acted in student films. Her husband’s gig-going stories and her discoveries of counterculture having lived across India inspired this film.

Directors: Anindita Dutta Roy & Abhishek Chandran
DOP: Ritwik Ghosh & Nehal Sejpal
Writer: Abhishek Chandran
Editors: Madhurima Basu Roy & Swaroop Reghu
Assistant Editor: Niranjan Ambhore
Producer: Anindita Dutta Roy
Executive Producer: Ritwik Ghosh
Creative Producer: Jitin Narendra Hingorani (Call Me Dancer, Zende, Night Queen)

The film screening will be followed by a discussion.
Admission on a first-come-first-served basis. NCPA Members will get preferential seating till 6.20 pm.