Kumbh Mela: Sur les rives du fleuve sacré

Pan Nalin's FAITH CONNECTIONS is all that cinema should do; laugh, smile, cry, ponder, thrill or simply take your breath away!

I went to see this movie after reading a tweet from none other than Darren Aronofsky: "1st film of the day #tiff @PanNalin doc faith connections. beautiful meditation on largest spiritual gathering on earth. love to yogi baba." That made me curious, and since then wanting to grab first chance to connect with Faith Connections.

And boy, what a trip it was?! I do not smoke but after the movie my body and mind started craving for Ganja chillum! I needed to smoke Marijuana so badly that I ventured into illegal purchasing of the weed and smoked till my mind merged and became one with the movie!

That way I saw the entire movie again -and felt deeply close to all those holy cannabis-smoking- babas! And then suddenly I was thrown from Kumbh Mela movie into The Woodstock documentary! I saw the connections between these two epic documentaries where India and USA merged and became one!

Now which movie in the world will give you such a trip?

Never have I laughed so much while watching a documentary, Nor I have felt such deep emotion that at least twice my eyes turned wet while watching masterly crafted FAITH CONNECTIONS. I have never seen such a powerful documentary before; which entertains and spiritually uplifts your being -and that too I'm an atheist!

Brilliantly captured destinies among thickest crowds; I believe the Kumbh Mela gathering holds a world record for highest number of people congregating in one single place over a month. And that number is staggering 100 million!

This documentary is innovative and truly commences an era of New Wave within the documentary genre where such cinematic merits are are to come by.

A feel good movie, with haunting music score, mesmerizing cinematography and crisp editing kept me awestruck through out its 115minutes of running time.

Pan Nalin once again proves his exceptional talent -and its high time world wakes up to his kind of cinema: fresh, original, entertaining and inspiring!

The movie had very good cinematography. It did capture the spirit of Kumbh Mela in its own way. The interaction between a few of the kids and other adults was nicely done. That being said, I think there are a few distortions in this movie.

1 - Most sadhus DO NOT smoke ganja. Yes, some do, partly to help in bearing the cold, partly to help disassociate from the body, etc. But this movie makes it look as if sadhu = ganja and that is not the case.

2 - Too much focus on missing people and wailing spouses. Yes people have gone missing but imagine up to 100 million people are attending this program and there is no drunken brawl, major incidents of theft, chaos, etc. Yet this more "happy" side doesn't seem to be highlighted much at all.

3 - The movie sort of meanders for some time, somewhat aimlessly. So that too detracts to some extent.

Worth a watch 1 time but that's it.