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REVIEWS FILM
An Oasis of Peace The documentary allows us into the innermost world of the sanctum sanctorum REVEALED: THE GOLDEN TEMPLE Genre: Documentary Running Time: 48 minutes Producer: Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs and Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific
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Sheikh too becomes a storyteller, opening the doors to the diverse belief systems of the country. His kaavads are like accordions stretching to fold and unfold narratives of violence and spiritual accounts of Sufi and Bhakti saints. Sheikh not only paints history but also creates reality around it. His large size kaavads include Majnu, Kabir, Gandhi, St. Francis, peasants and dalits – all in a dialogue with time and the viewer itself. In his equally moving works inspired by the 7th century Chinese monk Hiuen Tsang’s visit to India, Sheikh has Google’s eye – rich in detail, infinite in expanse. The often bright colours in Sheikh’s canvases represent different spaces, sometimes blurring and sometimes accentuating the diverse human feelings buried in history. Undoubtedly, no other artist is as consumed as Sheikh is in discovering and documenting India in all its images.
uch of Revealed: The Golden Temple is composed of footage of never-before filmed rituals and spaces that make up Amritsar’s Sri Harmandir Sahib, the sacred centerpiece of Sikhism, the world’s fifth largest religion. This remarkable 48-minute film brings alive on the screen hitherto barely known details about how the sprawling holy Sikh shrine welcomes and handles a sea of devout humanity on a daily basis ‘like a well-oiled machine’. The film doesn’t, however, dwell merely on the physical dimensions of Sikhism’s holiest shrine, which, by themselves, are fascinating enough as the temple blends the wisdom of the past with the needs of the present as part of its daily interface with the religion’s 30 million adherents from around the world. Revealed: The Golden Temple provides a holistic insight into the philosophic construct of selfless service, spiritual surrender and martial preparedness that today underpins the great religion founded by Guru Nanak in 1499. Even as the religion draws its strength from ancient traditions, it readily adapts to the changing times to retain its ageless relevance. A doctor from New York who visits the Golden Temple once every year with his wife says on camera: “This space is an oasis of peace, tranquility and divinity that helps him recharge his spiritual batteries.” Indeed. If a viewer immerses himself in the rituals and the many-splendoured ambience of the shrine as it wakes up to a new dawn every day and winds its way towards midnight (when the 11th Sikh guru, Guru Granth Sahib, is ceremoniously carried by the priests to its ‘bedroom’), that is pretty much the effect the film is likely to have.
—Malvika Kaul
—Saibal Chatterjee is a film and media critic
Sheikh’s kaavads
EXHIBITION
Opening Doors, Telling Stories Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh’s paintings depict the multi-cultural ethos of India
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or nearly three decades, Vadodara-born Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh, 74, has been mapping cosmopolitan India and vernacular Bharat in his often monumental and elegiac canvases. Sheikh’s paintings are journeys in the mind and outside, narrating the multi-cultural and multi-religious ethos of India. ‘‘Living in India is about growing up amidst different religions and cultures,’’ he says. It is this convergence of diversity which was on display at a recent show, City, Kaavad and Other Works, organised by Vadehra Art Gallery, Delhi. An accomplished poet, Sheikh is also a distinguished art historian and critic. Sheikh’s art show included his seminal piece Kaavad: Travelling Shrine, Home, and City, Memory, Dreams, Desire, Statues and Ghosts – Return of Hiuen Tsang. Performers in Rajasthan use kaavad, a mobile wooden shrine containing painted narratives, as props for storytelling.
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DECEMBER 2011 ! INDIA PERSPECTIVES
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