In a moment, she is here, in plain sight, draped gently in the adornments of her characters and in the next, she has opened the door to the complex universes within which her characters have roamed for thousands of years. And you and I, we stand as witnesses to a careful bridge that is being built between this world and that. What we see is the storm of her performances, what we feel is the calm of a lifetime of reflections.
Both near and far, in earth and ocean are creatures as vocal as us. Although we might never hear some of them, we know that they call. They hoot and howl, chirrup and cackle, sing and snarl - could it mean something to us? Their voices vibrating as one note alongside our own, in this ringing spinning, humming earth. Today, we bring you, 'I am here'.
In this sacred space of the Kalari, a Guru doesn't say much, he doesn't need to, for there is an exchange greater than words. It is a conversation of the inner voice, of things that don't have to be said, but are simply understood as they has been for thousands of years. This inner voice is drawn carefully through movement, through your every breath, through an exercise of emptying your every expectation. For if you are received with silence, you have taken one step right in his watchful eyes. It is at this starting point that you begin to follow his symphony of silence, the epic tradition that he has been taught the same way, the very threshold that he now guides you through. A universe, the ends of which you can reach, if you simply follow the whispers of his inner voice.
Courage was not taught to him. Neither was fear or Instinct. His only education were the stories his mother told him. 'Kadar' is a story that softly calls to you from the jungle. In the Anamalais, where the 'Kadar' Tribesfolk or the 'People of the forest' step gently alongside creatures that inhabit these wild slopes, an unspoken bond exists. Every once in a while, perhaps unintentionally, boundaries are crossed and chaos comes calling in the dead of the night. This is the story of that night in the jungle, under a moonless sky, when a lone male tusker broke down Loganathan's door and stood right before him.
They say that the Martial art masters just know, they just know of what is to come next. Their awareness is not just of this moment, but of what is gone by, and of what is to come. This film is a portrait of one of those masters of the ancient martial art from India, Kalaripayattu. This is the portrait of Radhika Gurukkal and her conversation with fear.
In Mattancherry, a place that is 5 square km, a stone's throw away from Fort Kochi in Kerala, there live 39 communities from all around the country, and a few from across the high seas, who have resided together, for over 500 years. This is the story of Mattancherry, a place where the idea of India comes alive like no place else.
From the stormy wilderness of the Western Ghats, Faraway Originals and Sanctuary Foundation are proud to bring to you, 'Sacred'. The story of Malhar Indulkar, Sanctuary Mud On Boots Project Leader. 'Sacred' is the first of many portraits of incredible women and men out in our forests, protecting our wild country.
The boy who saw more follows Nordan, a ladakhi teenager as he explores his homeland. Although Ladakh is revered for her majestic mountains , her great blue lakes and mighty rivers, Nordan shows us that there is more. That in places and spaces we often overlook, there are stories unfolding, just as incredible as the big wonders.