A Tongue Untied — The Story of Dakhani is a film about a fallen language and its rich history. Poorly regarded for centuries, Dakhani’s glorious history and rich legacy have been largely ignored. Written out of history books, 350 years of classical literature has remained in the shadows. But there are many who keep the spoken form alive through their everyday pithy, folksy humour. While exploring the poetry of modern era satirists, this film simultaneously traces the journey of the language over time till its precipitous fall in the early 18th century. The language is a marker of a rich mixed culture born out of encounters between migrant Sufis and native saints. This is the story of a land, a people and their beloved language. This is the story of Dakhani.
Gautam Pemmaraju is a Mumbai based writer and filmmaker working in history, literature and art with a special interest in the cultural history of Hyderabad and the Deccan. A Tongue Untied: The Story of Dakhani (2017), his documentary film on the vernacular satire & humour poetry of the region and the history of the language is currently screening at venues across the world.
Venue: kaTTe- The Creative Community, #545, 6th Main, 4th Cross, Indiranagar 2nd stage, Bangalore.
February 8, 2019, 7-p.m.
