Virtual Bharat is a monumental project by renowned Indian filmmaker and director Bharatbala to create a repository of high-quality content on India through 1,000 short films. We will be sharing the 21 short films that have been released so far, all available to watch on Virtual Bharat’s YouTube channel.
This is the second instalment of films from the Virtual Bharat collection, with six stories on faith, wisdom and will.
- Chasing Gandhi
Vishwanathan Jayaraman is the Principal Financial Advisor at the Southern Railways in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. From 3.30 AM to 7.30 AM, 5 days a week, he runs 32 kilometres, barefoot and bare-bodied. He has been doing this for 15 years. Vishwanathan Jayaraman is a living example of the power of the human will. Watch his extraordinary story here.
- 123 – The Happiest Man
123-year-old Swami Sivananda is full of life, energy, and charm, and attributes his long life to discipline, yoga, bland food and no desires. He travels around the world, teaching his way of living and is a rare look at purity, simplicity, and happiness. He has not been certified as the longest living man on earth by the Guinness Book of World Records, but a temple register notes his date of birth as August 8, 1896. Watch his philosophy here.
- Ramnami
One sect from Chhattisgarh were violently stopped from praying at the temples of Ram for over two centuries, banned from the temple because of their caste. So, they inked the name Ram onto their bodies, making their bodies their temple. They are the Ramnami. Watch their story here.
- Sarla Behn: The Last To See Gandhi Alive
Sarla Mehta is one of the last living people who knew Gandhi closely and was with him from age 6, right up until the moment of his assassination. 72 years after having left the Sabarmati Ashram, she takes us through the corridors of her memory as she walks the grounds of her childhood home. Watch the film here.
- Kulasekarapattinam
Deep in the coastal village of Tamil Nadu, over a million devotees gather at Kulasekarapattinam during the ten days of Dussehra, surrendering their pains and their challenges to the Goddess Shakti. Watch the film here.
- Buchen Lamas: Healers of The Pandemic
A long time ago, in a kingdom far away, King Tsongkhapa Rinpoche looked in fear and confusion at his kingdom afflicted by a pandemic that none could cure. He summoned the Lama Thang Thong Gyalpo who knew the seed of the sickness was fear, and created a sacred troupe of healers and began a sacred Tantric Buddhist ritual, the breaking of the stone. So goes the legend from Lhasa, Tibet, which tells us of the birth of the Buchen Lamas. More on the Buchen Lamas, who are near extinct, in the film here.
About Parminder Vir OBE
Parminder Vir OBE has dedicated herself to positively impacting and transforming lives through a professional career spanning 40 years in philanthropy, entrepreneurship, film and television production, arts and culture, and investment funding. She is the co-founder of the Support4AfricaSMEs campaign and The African Farmers Stories, launched in 2020. She served as the CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, based in Lagos, Nigeria from April 2014 to April 2019. Prior to joining the Foundation, Parminder has enjoyed a distinguished career as an awarding winning film and television producer and private equity investor in film and media.
