Watch: A Three-Part Documentary on The Supersonics

The Supersonics with producer Miti Adhikari (extreme right). Photo: Naman Saraiya

When Kolkata band The Supersonics reunited in 2012, fans across the country sang Hossanahs. Mumbai-based gig photographer and videographer Naman Saraiya, who is also one of the biggest fans of the band, followed the band after they regrouped and recorded Heads Up. In a three-part mini documentary, Saraiya and his graphic designer friend Ishan Rathod documented the band’s journey between late last year and February.

The first part of the documentary was a profile on producer and sound engineer Miti Adhikari’s return to India. Adhikari recorded and produced The Supersonics’ debut album Maby Baking and also stepped in to produce Heads Up. The second part follows the reunion of the band, while the final section talks about Heads Up. Says Saraiya, “I treated this as a personal project, trying to document the journey of a band whose music had developed a cult following.”

Saraiya says he originally intended for a feature-length film of at least 40 minutes, and has planned another release based on interviews with the four band members Ananda Sen, Rohan Ganguli, Nitin Mani and Avinash Chordia. Says Saraiya, “In the second part, when I was talking to the band about breaking up and getting back together, Ananda got very emotional talking about it. There were a lot of anecdotes as well that I couldn’t fit in. Miti had tons of stories, especially one about how his wife is a big fan of [British artist] Damon Albarn and it’s known that Damon has expressed an interest to work with Miti.” More recently, Saraiya traveled with electro rock band Pentagram on during their Lovedrug tour in February. He says, “I’m thinking of making a tour film out of that, or something bigger in time for their 20th year together. It’s going to be something that’s not just restricted to a YouTube movie.”

Watch The Supersonics mini-documentary

 

Part 1: The Silver Fox

 

Part 2: We Are, We Are

 

Part 3: The Second Coming