Bazaar: Chandni Chowk
Director: Madhusree Dutta; Cinematographer: Avijit Mukul Kishore
Duration: 00:46:09; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 22.279; Saturation: 0.173; Lightness: 0.330; Volume: 0.181; Cuts per Minute: 13.044
Summary: Going by the name and the location, Chandni Chowk (literary means Silver Square)was built by the Mughal emperor Shahjahan in 1650, just outside the historical Red Fort. Through the 350 years the bazaar has gone through various metamorphosis and has also expanded in size. Today Chndni Chowk is one of largest markets in the country for both wholesale and retail outlets. The market offers wide range of merchandise – textiles, tailored clothes, Jewellery, electorincs, hardware, vessels, religious accessories, papers, stationery and calendars, leather goods, musical instruments, antiques, Chemicals, medical equipments, kites, eateries, spices, sweetmeats, dry fruits and so on. No contemporary shopping mall can compete with Chandni Chowk both in terms of variety and quantity of merchandise. The bazaar is divided into areas according to the merchandise – Kinari Bazaar, Nai sarak, Chawri bazaar, Tilak bazaar, Flea market etc. Chandni Chowk is also populated by shrines of different faiths. Other than the famous Jama Masjid, there are also many Hindu and Jain temples, Sikh Gurudwara and Christian churches. Chnadni Chowk bazaar mirrors the Characteristics of India in its multiplicity in culture and religion, a cusp between tradition and modernity and the overlap between spaces and functions. Chandni Chowk is frequented not only by the traders and shoppers, but also by Indian and foreign tourists. If not for the silver jewellery or electronic goods, then for the prayer at the Jama Masjid or for the delicious Kebabs at Karim’s and the roadside chats at Khari Baoli. The old constructions and extremely narrow bylanes, smell of spices and street food, sound of many languages and many kinds of vehicles, slow moving cycle rickshaws and hand pulling carts, shop displays and event announcements spilling over on the road with the movement of a dense population – Chandni chowk is one seamless flow from old civilization to contemporary metropolis.
The bazaar was shot as part of a study of Indian visual cultures in bazaar, streets, shrines and homes. Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore.
ephemera
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
The video starts with a display of books of pulp literature placed on the manhole cover. The books have varied graphics on them with the titles written in Hindi. There are books on shaiyris (poems), math tables, learning stitching, learning cricket to Hindi and bhojpuri song lyrics. Some have painted illustrations while some even have pictures of foreign cover-girls and film stars copy pasted from other magazines to lure young boys into buying them.
It is the busy road outside the Old Delhi railway station with heavy traffic of all kinds of vehicles – cars, cycles, two wheelers, rickshaws, tempos and trucks. In this ongoing traffic the camera zooms into a bus- bus no.214. It has 2 eagles painted on a metal plate fixed on the front with a message between them saying 'jai mata di', meaning hail the goddess in Punjabi. As the cycles move, a small roadside temple is visible facing the road, in front of a neo gothic building. As the camera zooms into the temple, tiny details of that roadside shiv temple become more evident. It is a like its low budget counterparts in any other part of India. It is a mosaic of broken toilet tiles of different pastel shades and a few tiles saying 'om namah shivai'. As the camera zooms out slightly, we can see an ironical location of a small paan bidi, cigarette stall right next to that temple.
A lot of Cycle-rickshaws are seen carrying parcels, yet another feature typical to old Delhi. The co-habitation of so many different facets – trade, religion, addiction, sleaze… is an essential characteristic of Indian street culture.
books
cigarette stall
cycle rickshaws
delhi
film stars
graphics
illustrations
late morning
mosaic tiles
neo-gothic building
old delhi railway station
playrick
road side temple
street culture
traffic
vehicles
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
The other side of the road leads to a narrow by lane. It has a rickshaw stand on one side. The road further leads to a market which looks like a line of shops on a dingy footpath.
There is a display reading 'kaanch ki fancy chudiyan' meaning fancy glass bangles. This sign board leads to a cosmetic store, located at a corner where two dingy alleys meet. The bangles in the glass showcase are a riot of colours. They are of different patterns, all very bright and cheerful, glittering under the light of the naked bulbs hanging above. It is interesting to see how these small shops use each square inch so strategically for its display. In this cosmetic store, walls are used to hang packets of 'bindis', ceiling to suspend 'parandis' (hair pieces) and wigs and every other possible thing. All sorts of accessories associated with Indian feminity are in display in this cramped shop.
accessories
bangles
bazaar
bindi
colour
cosmetic store
cosmetics
display
feminity
hair pieces
market
parandis
pattern
space management
stall
wigs
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
The camera is focused on a rather strange board with names of 3 shops painted on it. Colourful frocks for small girls hanging form the board. It is only as the camera zooms out we realize how tiny and cramped up is the entire place, which justifies the presence of such a board.
board
crampness
display
frocks
over populated
shops
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
The shops for dress materials are like long narrow spaces. As you enter, there are mannequins with white faces, red lips and a wig of thick long black hair displaying their dresses. Though a small dingy space the owner likes to have all the paraphernalia of big shop windows.
display
dress materials
fabrics
mannequins
paraphernalia
shop window
Another shop facing the street is 'fancy saree shop'. It is a small square space, with low Indian sitting. The space has been utilized to the maximum for storage and display. They have a low wooden false ceiling and a loft above it for storage. The space is very well lit using both white and yellow bulbs to enhance the colour and 'zari'. These are ideal examples of space utility and control of elements such as natural and artificial lights.
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
colour
design
light
merchandise
saree
shop
storage
utility
zari
Camera moves to the green of beetle nut leaves in a paan stall, and a broken red bucket next to it used as a dustbin. The green of the paan and the red almost look like a still life painting.
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
beetle nut
colour
green
paan
red
still life
Camera moves through a lane moving towards the interiors of the market, casually stopping to look at the wares of random shops. The small shops sell various things ranging from sarees to lehengas to fabrics. This is the cloth market in Kinari bazaar. In this kind of wholesale markets an entire area or a lane is marked for a particular merchandise. The dark lane opens out into a space brightly lit by natural light and a fragment of the blue shy.
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
Kinari bazaar
bazaar
dresses
fabrics
lehenga
market
narrow lane
saree
shops
sun light
wares
Another shop in Kinari bazaar selling dress material. Framed and unframed posters of models posing wearing the dresses they sell adorn the wall. The images of the models occupy the same space of privilege and respect as the religious icons. Some frame of models are similarly garlanded as the image of Laxmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth.
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
display
dress materials
god
icons
kinari bazaar
model
posters
wall
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
Still around the Kinari bazzar. The tiny yet over stocked stalls are actually located at the entry level of buildings. The buildings themselves are quite old with paint gone off and wires hanging loose off the walls. Moving in further, the camera stops at a stall where a man sold shimmering red and gold cloth used for religious purposes. The palm size stall is overflowing with stacks of this fabric with place only enough for the shopkeeper to barely sit.
buildings
fabric
kinari bazaar
merchandise
red cloth
religious accessory
shops
stall
wires
Around it there are stalls of suiting materials with their stall stacked in the passage. One shopkeeper shows a customer various red cloths to a customer. The red and gold of the flimsy fabric (to be sed only for religious rituals) glitter under light. The shopkeeper conducts transaction standing on the narrow corridor, as other people go about with their own chores. The bazaar and the streets become one and yet separated only by mutual understanding.
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
business
customers
space
stack
suiting material
transaction
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
In between the moving crowd, we can catch glimpses of a dry fruit vendor who has set up his stall on the road. Camera then shifts to this other dry-fruit vendor, sitting in one corner, surrounded by heaps of almonds and cashews and walnuts and all other sorts of nuts. He has also set up his stall on the road using wooden planks and bricks. This is Ramzan month when the pious Muslims fast for the whole day and then break their fast with dry fruits.
Islam
Muslim
almonds
cashews
dry fruit vendor
dry fruits
fast
ramzan
roadside
stall
walnuts
ware
wooden planks
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
The camera continues moving down the road following the crowd and the mess of overhead telephone and electric wires. At some intervals, there are long banners suspended from the building façades on either side. Together the banners and the cables have made an overhead net through which the blue sky can be seen in pieces.
banners
blue sky
buildings
cables
crowd
net
wires
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
The roadside stalls selling sweetmeat. It is the afternoon of Ramzaan. People are making purchases for the evening feast.
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
The side stall selling dry fruits on the road acts as a surface for display for the shop next to it. The shop keeper is a teen age boy, sitting cross-legged between dry fruits kept on baskets covered with shiny green cellophane papers and beautiful brass bowls kept for removing them. The boy is chatting with someone outside the frame.
The camera shifts back to the shop next to it which is selling all sorts of souvenir items. The shop houses clocks in a golden frames, Islamic religious messages inscribed in a black frame in gold, cds (most probably of prayers), hand fans, miniature Taj Mahal, brass plates with Islamic religious texts and many such curios. The owners, two middle aged men patiently indulged the intrusion of the camera.The camera constantly moves between the shop and the dry fruit stall, bringing out the relationship between the two.
A customer comes by the dry fruit seller. The boy weighs and hands over the parcel while his friend looks over.
antiques
boy
brass bowl
cart
cellophane paper
curios
dry fruit seller
fancy goods
golden framed
green
shop
souvenirs
stall
taj mahal
weighing machine
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
The camera is steadied at some spots concentrating on the assemblage of cloth banners written in Urdu all over the place as opposed to the constant movement of people. The random positioning of these banners all over the place adds to the flutter in the market.
From above the banner, a building is visible partly in the state of ruins. The bricks are exposed as paint and plaster is peeled off from most of the exterior.
As the camera tilts down, the true essence of old Delhi market is captured. There are electric cables, banners and display hanging from banners adding to the crammed atmosphere.
Tourists pass by on cycle-rickshaws, looking into the camera.
ambience
atmosphere
banners
bazaar
confusion
cycle rickshaw
display
electric cables
exposed brick building
exterior
flutter
market
movement
people
tourists
urdu
Camera zooms into a vessel stacked by the road in which the reflection of the surrounding market is broken down into fragments. From there the camera gradually moves into the store, carefully looking at the intricacies of some displayed plate and bowl.
The camera then captures how the shop spills out of the actual demarked area of the shop onto the road. There are all sorts of brass, copper, steel, aluminum vessels displayed in the shop.
A woman's voice is heard in the background asking people to move and not crowd around the camera.
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
aluminum
bazaar
boundary
brass
camera
copper
design
display
market
metal
steel
store
vessels
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
There is a shop of a person selling perfume, locally called 'attar'. There are bottles of locally prepared fragrances as well as packed branded perfumes locally available in any shop. The shopkeeper is seen filling up a tiny bottle with a fragrance from a bigger bottle in which it is stored. 'Attar' is an ancient delicacy of this region.
attar
bottle
delicacy
fragrance
perfume
region
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
The shopkeeper packs up the tiny bottle first by putting cotton at the joint between the cap and the bottle and then puts it in a thin pink paper.
He rubs the fragrance on the customer's shirt.
Camera shifts to the crystal bottles with floral print in which different colored fragrances are kept. The shelves on which these bottles ate placed are lined with mirror so as to reflect more light on the display. In a glass cabinet next to these fragrances, fake bottles of branded perfumes like Tommy, Charlie and polo sport are displayed. The indigenously produced fragrances and the multi-national brand names lay peacefully next to each other in this tiny shop in Old Delhi.
brand name
contrast
crystal bottles
display
fake
floral prints
fragrance
indigenous
light
mirror
multi-national
old delhi
pink paper
reflection
shop
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
Two welders are shown sitting outside an audio cassette shop and soldering /welding a cylindrical object.
The man who holds the flame is wearing dark glasses to protect his eyes from the flame. While the other one is assisting him. The camera zooms into the metal which is under fire. The hot metal is seen changing colours from yellow to red to grey as the flame is blown in and out. The fire, the metal and its colour in close shot create a hypnotic visual. His assistant stacks the ones that are finished and cold into a plate and gets back to helping the other man. After he is done working on that piece, the assistant takes it off and throws it into the heap where he had left others for cooling.
colours
dark glasses
fire
flame
glares
metal
red
soldering
visual
welders
welding
yellow
Camera moves to a hardware shop where rusted gears are hanging from the roofs with the help of chains and binding wire. Camera zooms into the junk. The gears are of different sizes, the different number of teeth but are all attached to each other as if forming an instillation.
Outside that shop, a man is seen sitting with a display of second hand horns. He is testing if a particular one is still in working condition.
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
display
grease
hardware
horns
installation
junk
metal
noise
rusted gears
shop
teeth
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
Ray of sunlight falls on ornate brass and copper buckets hanging from the roof of a particular shop and makes parts of it shine like gold. Copper pots stacked outside the next shop come into frame and the camera then zooms into them showing how their colors change when someone passes by and casts a shadow on them. Clinging of utensils and cycle bells are heard in the background.
colour
copper
gold
ornate buckets
sunlight
utensil
vessel
Camera moves into the shop that is selling embossed copper goods. There are cisterns, buckets, pots, trays, plates. A customer is seen examining one such tumbler. Some vessels are made of thin sheet of metal with religious motifs embossed on them. The camera then shifts to a circular wall hanger with lord Shiva embossed on it. The camera shifts to capture each intricate detail of the buckets displayed. Both Hindu and Islamic motifs co-exist in this shop. Is it a sign of local culture? Or an instance of tolerance for the sake of business?
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
Hindu
Islamic
buckets
business
cisterns
copper
culture
display
embossed
metal
motif
plates
religious
shop
tolerance
trays
wall hanger
Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi
Chawri bazaar
Paper market in Chawri bazaar. A shop selling various printed objects such as posters, calendars, picture postcards. The prints are mainly of Hindu gods, in different poses. Camera shifts to the packs of desk calendars, laid out in front of the shopkeeper. They have all sorts of prints on them ranging from religious icons to scenes from epics, to bright colour flowers to waterfalls to even mortal celebrities. The camera moves onto posters of gods and then onto calendars hanging on a tiled wall. Camera then enters a room in which calendars are stored. A man flips through one such sample and shows the various prints possible. The camera rotates about its position surveying the room.
calendars
celebrity
filmstars
flower
gods
icons
images
papers
posters
printed objects
sample
scenery
stationery
waterfall
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