Gingger Shankar, the eldest daughter of renowned violinist L Subramaniam and the grand-niece of Pandit Ravi Shankar, is making a documentary on the women who influenced the sitar maestro's music. The film will focus on her mother-classical singer Viji Subramaniam --and grandmother-Lakshmi Shankar.

“My grandmother left behind a scrapbook full of intriguing details about how she, along with my mother, would accompany my grandfather (Ravi Shankar) to his concerts. There are also several unreleased compositions of the duo, which will be a part of the film,“ says Gingger, one of the few artistes in the world who plays the double violin.

The LA-based musician, who has composed music for films like Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ and also sung for Jackie Chan's The Forbidden Kingdom, says she is remixing some of the unreleased songs crooned by her late mother. “It's an experimental project. The narrative will blend a whole new album with historic details and the legacy of my family,“ says Gingger, adding, “I didn't know that when my mother was 19, she won a contest conducted by the All India Radio-a big thing back then.“

Coming from a family of such stalwarts, does she ever feel the pressure to live up to the legacy? “Oh yes, all the time!“ she admits. “It's difficult, but I'm also extremely proud of all of them. Anoushka (Shankar) is doing such inspiring work! I don't get to meet her often but we keep in touch. Same with Norah (Jones), who's an incredible talent!“ She recently collaborated with Katy Perry on her album, Legendary Lovers, in which she played the double violin.

She has also composed the music for the thriller, Monsoon Shootout which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year. How different were these experiences? “Very contrasting. With Katy, the stress was on making a two-and-a-half minute segment as commercial as possible, with catchy tunes and words. But with a indie film like Monsoon Shootout, there is scope for plenty of experiment,“ she points out.

Mirror (January 23, 2013) was the first to report that Pandit Jasraj had recorded a contemporary, uplifting version of Mahatma Gandhi's favourite bhajan, Vaishnav jana to tene kahiye je, for Ananth Narayan Mahadevan's next bio-pic, Gour Hari Dastaan: The Freedom Files. Since Pandit Jasraj was unwell, the song was recorded at a Mumbai studio with him sitting on the floor, under the baton of Dr L Subramaniam. He was joined by playback singer Kavita Krishnamurthy who was singing for a Hindi film song for her husband for the first time.

Now Mirror has learnt that Kavita has also hummed a few lines of another bhajan, Raghupati Raghav Rajaram and a female version of Babul mora naihar chhooto hi jaaye. The thumri, penned by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah when he was banished from Lucknow, was made popular by Kundan Lal Saigal who sang it for the 1938 film, Street Singer. In 1973, Jagjit and Chitra Singh sang a version for Aavishkar. “Kavita's version was recorded and mixed in a studio in Los Angeles,“says Ananth.

He met Dr L Subramaniam and Kavita at a city theatre at a fest of Vidhu Vinod Chopra's films in March 2012 and asked the renowned Carnatic violinist, conductor and composer to do the background score for Gour Hari Dastaan. The film traces the 30-year struggle of an nationalist in free India to prove that he is eligible for a freedom fighter's certificate. Dr Subramaniam who had last scored for a Hindi film, Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay, in 1988, was intrigued by the subject but wondered if it lent itself to any songs.“Not regular songs but maybe a bhajan and an old classic,“ Ananth mused. In the two decades since Salaam Bombay, Dr Subramaniam had only composed for Nair's Mississippi Masala (1988) and resolutely steered clear of Hindi films which did not inspire him. He didn't turn down Ananth but simply asked to be shown the rough cut of the film when it was ready. “As soon as it was ready, I arranged a screening for Kavita and Dr Subramaniam. Sitting besides them, watching the film, I suddenly realised with a sinking heart that it was too raw. Had I been shown this film, I would have rejected it outright. Mortified, I sat through the the preview with my eyes tightly shut,“ recalls Ananth.

He only opened his eyes after the film had run its course and apprehensively turned to look at his distinguished guests. Kavita was teary-eyed and Dr Subramaniam was equally moved. To Ananth's delight, the musician he had revered for years, told him he'd compose for the film.

“It was akin to working on a Hollywood classic like Dr Zhivago. It is a minimalistic score because we didn't want to fill the screen with music, yet did not want to waste someone of Dr Subramaniam's stature. The result is music for the characters as well as defining cinematic moments, mostly recorded in LA and Poland. We have even recorded with a Polish pianist playing the grand piano live,“ informs Ananth, who is gearing up to unveil his film and its stirring score at the Kerela Film Festival, followed by a screening at the International Film Festival of India. “Gour Hari Dastaan is the only Hindi film to be shown in Kerela fest and the second Hindi film selected for IFFI, the other being Rajat Kapoor's already released Ankhon Dekhi. I can't wait for the world to hear Babul mora again.“