Bharath Bala on National Award-winning Ramnami, Virtual Bharat and his mission to document India’s untold stories

I was visiting my father-in-law in Auroville when I stumbled upon the work of a French photographer. It is amazing how some people travel and explore. He had gone deep into Chhattisgarh, and I happened to see one photograph—just one and I had to discover the place for myself. That led me to a remote area called Champa in Chhattisgarh.

For me, the goal is always to bring out their lived experiences. It is not just about observing people or portraying them as exotic. There is reality, humanity, art and emotion. What fascinates me is whether I can somehow go there through my lens. The opening line captures their philosophy beautifully: “Humain koi parvaah nahin”. That is their strength. They are inflicting pain on themselves, but they see it as a way of discovering themselves through difficult circumstances. “Humara tan hi mandir hai” Imagine if that were the guiding philosophy of humanity. There would be far fewer conflicts. We simply took what they said and presented it in a way that allowed people to experience it.

If you ask me, the greatest challenge is winning people’s trust so they feel comfortable enough to tell you their story. When you come from outside, there is always the possibility of exploiting that trust. But they became completely comfortable with me, and that made all the difference. They opened their minds and hearts to me and allowed me to become one of them. That is why I was able to get so close to them.You cannot just arrive there with a conventional shooting style and start filming. You need patience. You have to observe. They are not actors. If I have a particular way in which I want to tell the story, I need them to give me those moments naturally. That is extremely challenging.

I was on my way to the shoot. We do not just land up somewhere and start filming. First, we conduct a recce, do our research and spend time speaking to people on the ground because you can only learn so much from the internet. We actually made three trips to create this film. During one such trips, I happened to meet Kailash Kher at the airport. We already knew each other, so he asked where I was going. I told him, “I am going to find Ram. And if Ram comes back with me, will you make a song for the film?” He replied, “I am a Ram devotee. I will definitely do it.”

And that’s how the song happened. I gave him the words spoken by the people in the film. The lyrics are a reflection of their inner voice; they are not something imposed on them from outside. Kailash sang the melody, while the music was reproduced by Varkey from Trivandrum, a Catholic boy. The kid did not know much about the Ramcharitmanas or the sound of that land, yet he was able to bring something fresh to the track. He also learnt some verses from the Ramcharitmanas and sang alongside Kailash.We are always looking for opportunities to collaborate with young talent. It becomes a layered process.

Vinay Sridhar, who works on Anirudh Ravichander’s projects, did the final mix. I told him, “I want this to feel like cinema. Bring out the richness we want to present. Do not compromise. Give it the very best." It is not just another short film or documentary. For me, it is a piece of art. I want it to be inspiring.

I have now made around 124 films like this. When I look at them collectively, I think, “Oh God! What an incredible richness of experience.” I live in an urban environment and understand the modern world, but travelling to these places and meeting these people has enriched and transformed me enormously.

If you just visit these places without understanding the people through their own stories, you might look around and think, “They are poor.” But we do not see poverty. We see the richness of their lives. When I am among them, I often feel poor in comparison. Their compassion and devotion—I am nothing in front of them. Interestingly, the film is in Hindi. But when you tell stories like these, language becomes secondary.

When the film came out, I was invited by the Government of Chhattisgarh. They asked me, “What have you done? You came to our own backyard and inspired our people with their own story.” Then they asked me what else I could do. I said, “I can do more of the same. I want to go to Bastar.” So I went to Bastar and made five more films. They have not yet been released. We have made films about Dokra art, Baiga tribes and the Bison Horn Maria tribe. Bastar is an incredibly rich place. It is often associated with conflict and Naxalism, but there is so much more to it. Tribal life there is powerful and rich. I have also made a film about Gotul, a traditional institution that has existed for centuries within tribal society. It explores the way people lived together, mutual respect and a very different understanding of relationships. They are so modern in their thinking.

Absolutely! We have been doing something very unique over the last 10 months. We selected ten contrasting stories and brought them together into a 90-minute film, with Dolby Atmos sound. On a large screen, it is visually striking, and the Atmos sound makes the experience completely immersive. We are taking it to America. In San Francisco, for instance, we do not simply want to screen it in an ordinary cinema. We want to find a beautiful destination with its own history, art and architecture. Collective viewing of these stories has a multiplied effect. Usually, when people go to see a film, they know something about the story, recognise a star or have some other reason to be there. With these films, there is none of that.

Someone from the Indian diaspora might be Telugu or Marathi. They may watch one story in Marathi, another in Tamil, another in Punjabi, another in Nagamese and another in Malayalam. Suddenly, they experience the extraordinary richness of India’s diversity.You might think, “I am a technology professional. I went to IIT. I have achieved all these things.” Then you encounter these people and realise how much more there is to learn.That’s why I am going from place to place and saying, “Boss, this is a way to inspire people.”

We also tend to divide storytelling into fiction and non-fiction. I do not make that distinction. For me, both are storytelling. If I take non-fiction, work with real people and capture their lives with the same ability to hold an audience’s attention as fiction, the impact can be far greater. That is why the craft matters.

We capture things cinematically, record live sound and create an original background score. We go through whatever process is necessary to make a proper film. We put the same level of effort into a ten-minute film as we would into a much larger production.

I would say I am the busiest filmmaker in the country today. I tell young filmmakers who come to me: make a beautiful ten-minute scene. Make something powerful with new people. That is your calling card. You have an extraordinary opportunity. You are not necessarily working for somebody else; you are working for yourself and trying to create your best work. We are therefore looking to collaborate with partners and bring in young talent. We are building a creative lab through Virtual Bharat.

It does not matter whether someone is young or established. Ravi Varman is a big fan. Santosh Sivan is a big fan. Mani Ratnam loves Ramnami, and AR Rahman supports the initiative wholeheartedly. He says, “You are having a good time, Bala.”You need to open yourself up. I am not making a Tamil or Malayalam film. I am making a story for any audience.We had a screening in Stuttgart, Germany. They didn’t know which language it was in, but they loved the film.We are planning to take it into universities and bring young people to cinemas. There is more to art than imagination.

People often ask me, “How do you find these stories?” It is almost as though my algorithm has kicked in. The people who work in my research team have the same instinct. We are only finding these kinds of stories. Every day, we come across five to ten potential stories. And now, as more people see our work, they also start sending us stories. I am also experimenting with new technology. There are so many possibilities today, and I want to explore them. We are already working on virtual reality films, and we have completed two. I think children, especially, could find that fascinating.

If I tell someone, “I am making short films about India,” they might think, “You can see plenty of those on YouTube.” That is not what I want to create. I want to build something much bigger. Imagine that, in the next four or five years, we have more than 500 or 600 films like these. We would have one of the largest repositories of stories from India, created to the highest possible standard. What a treasure that would be for generations to come. That is what fascinates me.I went to Nagaland recently and thought about a child growing up there. That child may never have the opportunity to travel to Odisha, Tamil Nadu or another part of India. But imagine giving that child the opportunity to see stories from across the country, including stories that belong to their own culture. An Odia child could watch a story from Nagaland, while a child in Nagaland could discover a story from Tamil Nadu. That is the opportunity we have today. The question is whether we are going to seize it. So, the next time you come across an interesting story, you know whom to call!

The film is complete and has a new title. It is probably one of AR Rahman’s finest works in recent times. He has used Hindustani classical music across the songs. Imagine, we filmed it inside the Mahakumbh Mela for 40 days. Although the film is set against the backdrop of the Mahakumbh Mela, the story is about a father and daughter. I will say more when we are ready to talk about it. The film is ready; I am simply waiting for the final Dolby mix. It will be released soon.