An old palace, now a museum, stands alone above the riverbank overlooking the city. It houses a set of the finest miniature paintings ever created in the Himalayan region. Hundreds of people come here to admire the art every day. When evening comes, the curtains are drawn, doors are locked and gates are bolted. In the calm of the night, characters from the pictures spring to life. They tell of the eternal love between King Nala and his wife Damayantin. Once while gambling, the king lost his kingdom and they were forced to live in exile. Separating soon after, they experience numerous adventures and eventually reunite at the end.
Amit Dutta approaches this story with visual composure and concentration. He lifts the curtains with the greatest respect, to give life to love. He searches for the cinematic equivalent of this tale and expands the cinema, with the miniature.

The project attempts to push the boundaries of cinema by juxtaposing it with ideas from philosophy, visual art, chess, mathematics, geometry, linguistics and psychology.

Nainsukh (born 1710, died 1768) was the greatest eighteenth-century Indian miniaturist, the son of the respected Pandit Seu and brother of the steadfast Manaku. He deviated from his family workshop style by following his interest for Mughal naturalism. At the age of thirty, Nainsukh was invited by Raja Zorawar Singh to his castle in Jasrota. Nainsukh served him until Singh’s untimely death, but was retained as court artist by his young son Raja Balwant Singh. These two dandy-like, non-ruling Rajput princes were connoisseurs who enjoyed spending their limited fortunes on entertaining colourful guests and they shared a refined taste in music, dance and theatrical performances. Nainsukh participated in their artistic amusements… —

The project attempts to push the boundaries of cinema by juxtaposing it with ideas from philosophy, visual art, chess, mathematics, geometry, linguistics and psychology.