The Motion in Devotion

Faith Connections is peppered with interesting characters along the way. There’s the mischievous Kishan Tiwary,a 10-year-old runaway,who scouts shops and helps newcomers around the area for a quick buck. He jokes about his plans of becoming a don when he grows up. Two starkly opposite babas provide humour and austerity to the narrative: Bhole baba,who rolls out sardonic advice and believes that Bob Marley could have been a baba; and Hatha Yogi baba,who was previously a wandering soul but now devotes his time to raising an abandoned child. “There was such chaos when we first arrived that I thought I would return within five days. Then,I found these characters. Midway through the film,Kishan also disappeared,and we had to spend all our time finding him. This film is an experience I will never forget. I found my ‘something unique’,but you will have to watch the film to see if I found my answers,” says Nalin.

The film was shot over 40 days with a 13-member crew. The visual language of the film,deliberately so,is sombre and emblematic of meditation,admits Nalin. It may be one of the reasons why he chose the medium of a documentary. “To find something new,you have to have the ability to rely on the unpredictable. A documentary allows you that space,whereas fiction sometimes,can give the impression of being artificial and laboured,” he says.

In the film,one sees glimpses of busy public spaces filled with cubes of people,of an equally busy and functioning lost-and-found camp,and of devotees walking 25-30 km to the sacred areas to catch a glimpse of the rising sun. The naked sadhu dance does make an appearance,but is easily overshadowed by the overall aura of the pursuit to get closer to god,or the larger force,if you will. Is the Mela worth it after all,we wonder? “Absolutely. Whatever nationality or walk of life you are from,you will be blown away by the collective sight and energy of the place,”says Nalin.

The filmmaker’s next feature film,set in Goa,is based around Indian goddesses,and is his attempt to make something that encourages female leads. Meanwhile,Faith Connections has already picked up many international distributors,including Germany-based NFP Distributions,France’s Sophie Dulac Distribution and Filmcoopi from Switzerland. The producers of the film,Jungle Book Entertainment,India and Raphael Berdugo of Cite Films,France are now working on its India release.