A quick search on Google says that Mount Shivling (6,543 metres) takes about 25 days to summit. The journey starts at the mountain town of Gangotri. Mountaineers walk through the base of forests at Tapovan, and find themselves tackling the mountain’s daunting icy slopes. The ascent is said to be special for two reasons: it is the perfect preparatory climb for those who wish to scale Mount Everest; it is also a spiritual oasis for those seeking a power higher than themselves.
When Devyani Semwal, a mountaineer from Mukhba, an obscure village tucked away in the the foothills of Gangotri, opens her eyes to the reflection of Shivling in water, the audience inadvertently finds itself doing the same while watching the short film Ganga — Daughter of the Himalayas. Here, the director Bharat Bala, through stunning visuals of Devyani’s relentless climb, says that her ambition meets the sky.
In the span of eight minutes and 17 seconds, Bharat Bala acquaints the audience with two daughters of the mountains — Devyani and the Ganga. They are driven and are eager to travel long destinations to reach their eventual goal. The Ganga hopes to meet the sea and Devyani wishes to climb Everest. “Devyani has gotten all of Mukhba excited. You should see the way the locals have accepted and embraced the story. There is a sense of pride and belonging,” says the filmmaker.
Mountaineer Devyani Semwal | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The trailer of this film was released in 30 cinema halls in Uttarakhand — on the big screen. Devyani feels respected for what she is doing and her perseverance, says the filmmaker.
Ganga — Daughter of the Himalayas is the first of the filmmaker’s seven-film Uttarakhand leg. The others speak about the pahadi (hill) women of Almora, the rejuvenated forests of Jabarkhet, the nomadic Van Gujjars and the 700-year-old recordkeeping tradition of Bahi. His larger vision is to study India’s vast culture through a 1,000-film odyssey. The project by Virtual Bharat, in collaboration with the Rural India Supporting Trust (RIST) is expected to be completed over a course of five years.
“My lifetime is not enough to keep telling these stories,” says Bharat Bala. Through quick short films, the director says he hopes to bring the audiences into an immersive world where cinema is used to experience human stories. “Cataloguing these stories should ensure that the ideas and appeal remain timeless. The emotion it elicits should be the same as the first time one sees it,” he says. Since he firmly believes that these films need to remain timeless, he has attempted to create the best visual experience. Each short is treated like a feature with elaborate background score, sound and editing.
“All films are in their original language for the preservation of their sound and culture” he adds.
Bharat Bala says that the stories he has told, like the one on Bahi, the record-keeping tradition, where people seek to uncover their ancestry through hand-written scrolls, appeals to the temporal nature of ancestry. It is an emotionally exhaustive experience where a woman arrives at the banks of the Ganga, hoping to find her lineage and forage connections with all whom she has lost. These films, he hopes, remain engaging and educative to watch.
On the poster of Ganga — Daughter of the Himalayas, one can find the names of sherpas who have accompanied them on their trail through the long shoot. Bizarre things happened during the trek to Mount Shivling, says the director, and adds that only the kindness of their network could have helped them while filming. A credit on the poster is the only fitting tribute.
Filmmaker Bharat Bala | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Although the filmmaker wishes to capture an eternal version of India, the looming reality of climate change encapsulates Gaumukh. In the film, one can see melting glacier breaking and falling into a gushing slope at a rapid pace. For now, one must take comfort in the present. Rivers may change course but the stories they tell will remain timeless.
The short films can be watched on Virtual Bharat’s YouTube channel.
