India Herald
June 3,2015
On a Quest, a marvelous biopic
Seshadri Kumar•Wed, Jun 03, 2015
“On A Quest” gripped the minds and filled the hearts of Houston audience at the AMC theaters in a simultaneous showing on two screens on May 30.
The ‘reel’ was real and realistic, clear and convincing.
A great cinematic challenge to depict the story of Swami Chinmayananda has been successfully executed during his birth centenary year.
The life story of an ordinary man who became an extraordinary saint of modern times, the movie sheds light on a freedom fighter, an atheist, a seeker and finally a master and spiritual guru.
Some riveting dialogues in the movie mirror the word power of Swami Chinmayananda. For example, “India is free; are Indians free?” says it all. Asked to explain Vedanta in a hurry, he says “Detach and Attach”. (Detach from the worldly pleasures, attach with the divine spirit.)
How could the biography of a contemporary personality evoke interest and sustain the suspense for an audience to watch it with interest?
The only way to find the answer is to watch the movie and experience it, as mere words can’t explain the experience.
There is no suspense or mystery in the life of Swami Chinmayananda, yet every scene was pregnant with a meaning and message that kept the entire movie interesting, captivating the audience.
What about the “actionless action”? You enjoy the beautiful mountains, but you don’t own the mountain.
Another brilliant analogy of a car, driver and petrol (gasoline). The divine spirit is like the petrol which is essential for the car to run, but the car itself cannot do anything and the driver is responsible for the car to reach a destination, not the petrol.
When Chinmaya nee Balakrishna Menon survives an assault by the British, his young friend dies prematurely, leading him to question the fairness of god.
The opening scene was bold and somewhat provocative as young members of an atheist club, with wine glasses in their hands, celebrate their so-called success in exposing godmen. Obviously, they were under the influence.
There is no miracle in the story as one would expect in the life of a godman, but a mischievous child, growing into an atheist and a questioning intellectual journalist, ending up in a quest for knowledge is unbelievable, yet it was real.
The one who sought to expose the fake gurus becomes one among them, but not fake. That story is inspirational.
Sandeep Hebbar, a monk undergoing Vedantic studies at Sandeepany in Mumbai, a look- alike of Swami Chinmaynanda, in his younger days, plays the role.Noted filmmaker R.S. Prasanna, who made the Tamil movie “Kalyana Samayal Saadham” in 2013 has done an outstanding job in this move, shot in 27 days across India and the Himalayas. He was really “destined” to make this movie.
The movie does no propaganda. In fact the movie merely shows the beginning of his mission to bring Vedanta to the common man, in English. The rest is well known. Even the establishment of Chinmaya Mission, its motto and its expansion get mention in passing and there is no suggestion of Swami Chinmayananda claiming “I did it.”
To give maximum happiness to maximum number of people for maximum time is the motto of Chinmaya Mission.
The movie on Swami Chinmayananda does live up to this motto.