Who were the bands that rocked India in the 1960s? What were the obstacles they faced? Who recorded the first album in western music in India? Do you know the history of rock n roll of your own nation?

‘Rockumentary: Evolution of Indian Rock’.  ‘Rockumentary – Evolution of Rock’ is a film about the rock and metal scene of India. This film takes you to the epic journey of the bands which were here during the 70s/ 80s and 90s. Its the history of Rock in India covering 6 decades, 40 bands and 10 cities..

‘Rockumentary’ is an internationally acclaimed documentary, featuring the journey of rock music in a country like India, which is dominated by traditional and classical folk tunes and the Bollywood film industry.

‘Rockumentary’ is co-produced by Indian film maker, Abhimanyu Kukreja, Saurav Dutta and Elizabeth Coffey and took around 7 years in the making,. The documentary attempts to capture the origin of rock music in India through the eyes of 30 prominent artists in Indian rock music scene including Usha Uthup, Louiz Banks and Moa Subong of Abiogenesis. These musicians have been specifically selected upon the basis of their outstanding contribution towards this genre of music in India after the post-independence period till present times. The documentary feature film has won accolades in 20 international film-festivals across India, USA and Europe and was screened at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival – film market. 

This documentary feature length film is a never before heard story of how western music entered a pre-independent India in the form of the Blues and the Jazz music in the 1930s and how it converted itself into a phenomenon named Rock n Roll by the 1960s that paved the way for present day rock bands in the country.This film is an attempt to capture the journey of unheard tunes that made inroads into a country dominated by traditional and classical folk tunes and the Bollywood film industry and has gone on to lay the foundations for a thriving independent music industry supported, followed & loved by millions. 

Says director Abhimanyu Kukreja, “When I was growing up in India, I knew the sound of American Rock, English Rock and even German Rock but I wondered, where was the sound of Indian Rock? This question prompted me to begin my research on Indian Rock music when nothing much was available on the internet. The making of this film took 12 years from the time research began, which included seven years of shooting in different parts of India. This film will give you a very clear idea on how western music started in India way back in the 1930s and how it transformed into different genres of music, particularly rock n roll.”

Abhimanyu Kukreja is a writer, director and producer, began his career as a music journalist with television stations in India. During his early career days with media outlets, he is credited to have interviewed Grammy Award winning musicians like Herbie Hancock, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Jethro Tull and Boney M, amongst others. He has been chronicling the history of music in India since 2006, when Rock n Roll hit him while being a university student in New Delhi. He has been a Director's Assistant in Hindi cinema films like, ‘Buddha In A traffic Jam’ (2016) and ‘Junooniyat’ (2016). He is presently working on an American production named the Lost India series (Under - Production) that traces historical and archaeological sites mentioned in the Mahabharata book.

So now do you want to watch this flick? Head to the venue below and book your seat to go back into Indian rock history. Seats for this feature presentation are free and are available at the venue.

Screening details:

Date: Saturday, 24th August, 2019

Time : 6 pm - 9 pm

Venue : GIFLIF Corner, Max Towers, Sector 16B, Noida

RSVP : Arsheen Jain I 9811371767