Gaudiya documentary -

As many of you may have noticed, I collected a substantial quantity of video footage during my last trip to Vraja - somewhere in the range of 20-30 hours. Much of it is already available at Lake of Flowers. Some of it is still unprocessed.

What I'd like everyone to do is to throw in ideas on shaping some of the footage into a documentary of any length or variety. Let's hear some suggestions, but your brains to work.

Any thought to improve sound quality as in those footage Kirtans are not at all understandable? Also can you edit the videos so as to put your own commentary during parikrama. Specifically mention during the parikrama of Kirtan which are those Temple's name and if possible brief history of those temples. That is what coming to my mind in first look.

Which kirtan are we talking about with regards to poor sound quality? If you downloaded the higher quality files, it'd be better. Smaller file means lower quality. Go at least for the MPEG1 version that has 224kbps audio. The MPEG4 versions are only 64kbps which is really not sufficient for good audio when it's anything else than speech.

We are working on subtitling the videos. There'll be separate files you can download and have them played with subtitles with some relevant information.

However what I'm particularly looking at in this thread is not tweaking the existing files but building a documentary of sorts. I don't know exactly what kind of documentary it might possibly be, that's why I'm looking for input from our good audience here. If anyone feels like drafting together a sample script, that'd be great.

Two thoughts.

1. A real tabloid approach, (for those stateside) FOX tv style, called 'When Babaji's Attack'!

2. How about a series/show on 'Contemporary Gaudiya Saints'? Information on 20th century Guadiya personalities is kinda peppered around, but this might be a good opportunity to put something together?

Seems to me tho that this might be a goal for your next Vraja stay... when you can get very topic specific footage/research, etc?

Contemporary saints - I doubt any contemporary saint will want to be reviewed as a contemporary saint...

I'm thinking more along the lines of an overall documentary on Gaudiya Vaishnavism. FOX style?

Do you think we'd have enough footage at present to put together something?

I was thinking more 'Saints within the 20th century'. I agree re: getting a living sadhu to agree to that... I was thinking more along the lines of Kunja Bihari Babaji, or Tinkadi Goswami? But again, with the footage I don't think this could be done.. it would have to be a project to plan for on another trip. Personally I think more on these exalted personalities needs to be made available.

Are you thinking something more of a documentary on GV in general? I think there would need to be a lot of extra footage, puja, japa chanting, etc..

Is there footage enough to do site specific shows? Say, 1/2 hr on Govardhan, 1/2 on Radhakund?

Depends for which type of viewers you would like to make the documentary. If it is for the genereal viewer who has never been to India, or one who knows India but has not spent time with vaishnavas, it would have to center around those specifics that make India so special. The most prominent speciality that comes out in a movie, is that omnipresent chorus of sounds around human contacts. Thus you'd have to begin with nature and with the connectedness of inside and outside in the human world, where you do not have that separation of "behind closed doors" and "the public".

So at first, a short take of nature, sun, the elements, perhaps a woman carrying water in a pitcher to her house, then street-life, a sadhu or group of sadhus in the street, then veering or cutting toward a temple scene, arati, kirtan, movement of people in and out, animals present or visiting. Cut over to a Goverdhan Parikrama, you see feet walking in the dust of the path, then the people, cheerful, meditative, chanting, the different activities and expressions seen, show views of the mountain, again nature. Cut to a sadhu doing Goverdhan parikrama with 108 stones, then a couple doing a regular dandavat parikrama, then someone speaking of Goverdhan, a brief interview.

Then introducing Vraja Dham, with a scene of sunrise over Vrindavana (or Radhakund), the various temples awakening into activity, pigeons moving over it, then picking out one particular bhakta-sanga and showing how life begins early morning at one mandir and ashrama, explaining what they are doing and why. Introduce the vigrahas receiving arati, speak about love shown and felt and communicated in the form of worship, introduce the concept of bhakti, then turn to the back-ground lila as an explanation of what is behind this arati, and what is being meditated and sung (a bhajan-narration being heard and seen)

a cut to viewing Radha-Kund (could also be Kusum Sarovar because of more apparent serenity) with the narration of what Radha and Krishna do here, then a cut into a rasa-lila performance, some sweet expressions, a brief exchange between Radha and Krsna if available... then back to the singers how they commemorate those deeds.

All this would be the first few minutes.

I am afraid what turns out to be an obstacle for a western viewer is the likely male predominance in participation. So here needs to come in a balance, in which way I do not know. If you have some lady saint in Vraja who can be portrayed briefly, that would be excellent. If ladies are seen only in subservient situations, or in the form of western worshipers, you are going to have to do a lot of explaining. An option would be some vigorous form of chanting done by lady-bhaktas, or a scene of that men-thrashing in Barsana (if you dare filming that); that would do for a strong female balance .

If you have some footage of a dog entering a temple compound, you could remind the viewer of the interaction of nature and culture in India again, and how animals benefit also from sadhu-sanga, even if unknowingly. From here you could then cut to the guru-disciple relationship, speaking of initiation into the mysteries of bhakti, and the instructions following initiation, with a brief interview with a guru about rights and duties of a disciple on the path. Then some talks with disciples what they feel and experience, then some other sadhus speaking out, or singing, worshiping, offering (short jumps from one scene into the next showing the variety of expressions). Then you show how they all convene to hear the afternoon discourse of Ananta das Babaji, give brief attention to this gathering, then fade away and turn back to nature, to the view of Radhakund and things happening around it, at its ghats.

How does this appeal so far, just as a plot?

Of course, a professional presentation is something else than an amateurish one. You realize that when looking at details of angles and cuts and all. I watched briefly a discourse by your baba where he is taken from below, the filmer sitting at his feet. That footage would be impossible to use in a documentary. Only by doing and later viewing you get a feel what is right or wrong for a spectator. I know that so well from my own filming. I think, even just for propagation purposes, for putting videos online, it is a good idea to film someone in such a way that the person filmed is leaving an impression as favorable as possible in the viewer. A frog's perspective (Froschperspektive, technical expression) does not achieve that, it does the opposite.

Is there a device to use amateurish material in such a way, that it is enlivening rather than discouraging? One way would be if you could introduce the narrator personally and make it an "I have seen and I show you here..." story that you are telling. This could become a witty kind of short story, guiding the viewer through scenes that are serious, yet presented in a sometimes self-questioning way. What would it be like if the narrator was a woman? It could also be a couple, making it possible that he sees different things than she does. This would also bring in some balance in this predominantely male world... (My special preoccupation, I know ).

One positive thing with this plot would be that it is experience-oriented from begin with, and the more heady side can be presented with the distance of an observer who explains things to him- and herself, rather than in a confrontational way to the viewer directly.

Just some thoughts.

Sounds great, thank you.


Yes, I'm perfectly aware of this. When filming those shots, my prime concern was in attending the darshan, and the filming was a secondary pursuit. Of course, if we were to do a documentary with footage of him included, we would have to see for proper lightning and backgrounds, use a proper stand and all that jazz.



Now aren't we full of great ideas today? Creative thinking - thank you!

Just to make sure, I would like to add that I was not intending to be critical when I juxtaposed the amateurish versus the professional type of filming. I was just reflecting my own experiences, how hard it is to shoot usable material when you are in circumstances like you describe them: you do not want to miss something, a darshan, a kirtan, a talk, a bhajan, and yet you wish to record it best possible. I think the easier cameras are getting to handle, the more difficult all this becomes.