A weekend school for women in their 80s and 90s, the secret to a 123-year-old man’s life, the legend of the Bharani festival in Kerala, the life and work of the Tanpura makers from the narrow lanes of Miraj in Maharashtra, the folklore behind the faith healers from Himachal Pradesh’s Spiti Valley…
These are just some of the stories filmmaker and writer Bharatbala collected over the last 30 years. Yes, Bharatbala from patriotic videos such as Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana.
The short films are part of Bharatbala’s ongoing digital archiving project that is known as Virtual Bharat.
Bharatbala tells The Telegraph, “I have always been interested in covering or maybe you can say uncovering the real India in an artistic way.”
He calls these films “high-impact documentaries”, each of them anything between 6 and 15 minutes. He continues, “At the moment, we have 300 researched ideas, of which 110 have already been turned into films. About 50 of those films are available on YouTube.”
Virtual Bharat was rolled out four years ago. According to its official website, it is a mission to uncover 1,000 stories of India. Bharatbala says, “All of our films are of high quality. They offer you an immersive experience and take you through an India, which perhaps you don’t get to see every day.”
On the Virtual Bharat website, you will come across India’s map. Click on a state and it will take you to a list of regional films produced by Virtual Bharat.
Not all states have a roster of films to their names yet, but Bharatbala is confident that once he is done, there will be films from every Indian state.
“All the films are made in regional languages with songs and narration, wherever needed,” says Bharatbala.
Back to the school of grandmothers. This film is titled Ajjichi Shala. It tells the story of the village of Fangane in Maharashtra, where the More family runs a school for grandmothers on weekends. Prakash More donated the land and his wife Sheetal, who has studied up to Class X, is its sole teacher. Her mother-in-law Kantabai More sits among her students, often getting scolded for not having done her homework. The school prayer — “Come, come, let us go to the grandmothers’ school” — sung by the 75-year-old Neelambari Kirkire is the anthem of the film. The documentary ends with the grandmothers pushing aside the ink pad for thumb impressions and picking up the pen to sign their names.
Thaalam is about the famous boat races in the backwaters of the Kuttanad river delta in Kerala. In August, hundreds join the race in their chundan vallams or snake-like boats.
In Kuttanad, there are no professionals. The racers are schoolteachers, farmers, shopkeepers, fishermen... They will tell you that their lives move in a single rhythm. And when they hit the waters and slither away to the finishing line, nothing matters more than this rhythm.
Bharatbala is now taking these films to the theatres. He curated nine such stories and turned them into a series called India Experience. “We have done screenings across North America. About 30 per cent of our audience are non-Indians,” says Bharatbala.
Another set of films for Season 2 of India Experience is ready. And plans to bring these screenings to India are also afoot. Says Bharatbala, “People don’t know what to experience when it comes to India, especially the diaspora. Even if they visit India, they will not find these stories, these people, these aspects that we bring forward.”