In Panic City I was trying to comment on the new
construction fever, the social hierarchies and the
cleaning process the government was involved due to
the upcoming commonwealth games in Delhi.The panic
city is an animation constructed from photographic
stills. The area you see is the old Delhi shot from
the minaret of Jama Masjid (one of the Asia's largest
Mosque built by the Mugal emperor Shah Jahan ).I took
almost 36 shots, which are stitched together then
used the flash animation to move the buildings up
and down. The music used was a mix of western classical
and the opera records from Pavarotti. The western
classical music is used in the video in-order to show
the role of a 'conductor'. The conductor takes the
stand as an outsider and controls the event from a
higher pedestal. In the same manner the forces of
globalization encounter with the local system, which
is very practical and has a basic logic of survival.
Most of the area you see in the video was once part
of the target for the cleaning drive. Panic city also
functions as a musical video without forcing the viewer
to get into any of the serious discourse. In the sense
it suggest that the ignorance make us rejoice and
find beauty in the most panic situations of our times.