Educational Media Reviews Online

This sweeping slice-of-life films follows the happenings at the 2013 Kumbh Mela, the largest religious gathering in the world, which occurs every 12 years at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and invisible, mystical Saraswati rivers. Lasting 55 days, this event draws millions (the film estimates 100 million in attendance) and takes up 55 square kilometers (approximately 34 miles) on the banks of the rivers. This Kumbh in Allahabad attracted director Pan Nalin, who was sent at his father’s request, to bring back some of this “nectar of immortality” so that he might take a “holy dip.”

What follows is Nalin’s journey through this anarchic crush of people, dust and ritual to follow particular storylines: young parents who have lost their 3 year old son; a revered sadhu, or ascetic holy man, who has returned from a life of renunciation to raise a baby; and, a vagrant, precocious boy who one minute aspires to be a mafia-like don, another to take on the life of a sadhu, depending upon whom he is talking to.

The narrative of the lost child allows for the vast scope of this experience. According to police, 135,000 individuals are reported missing by the midpoint of the Kumbh. Police are at pains to keep track of the lost, displaced and/or kidnapped in this chaotic mess of temporary tent cities. It is conjectured that organ traffickers have taken this poor child as we follow the grief-stricken parents through one shanty town after another, until after 9 days, their boy is finally found.

The film is particularly interested in the vagrant 10 year-old boy, Kishan, who is all swagger and braggadocio, as he lives off the considerable kindness of those who take him in during the Kumbh. He claims his parents are dead, that he has been left to his own devices and will make his own way in the world. When that proves not to be true, he is returned to his grateful family only to find a way to run away again.

The imagery and grand sweep of this documentary is impressive as the camera lovingly presents the simple faith of the multitudes present. However, there is no narration to speak of save for the introduction and conclusion. Many specifically Hindu ritualistic terms and concepts are introduced with no explanation or effort to put any of this in context. For example, one sadhu laughingly points out that all sadhus smoke chillum, a traditional spiritual pipe that in this instance is often filled with marijuana. This practice is defended as the way that sadhus serve the good of the world by getting high (the word the subtitle used) and filling it with ganga, which is unclear from context whether they are referring to the River Ganga or the smoke from the pipe. It’s impossible to know from the film if marijuana use is the norm in Hindu ritual practice or if this is the experience of certain ascetic sects. Furthermore, there are cringe-worthy scenes of extreme religious excess where body parts are contorted and punished with no justification for what purpose this serves or why this is—or even if it is—essential to sadhu practices. Finally, the ritual reaches a climax when a great sadhu arrives for his holy dip in the river, but the import of this holy man or what he represents goes without explanation or context.

This film provides those interested in comparative religions fertile ground from which to derive a sense of what a great religious gathering looks like. Those familiar with Hinduism will find this a positive representation of the faith. However, its lack of context and explanation renders this limited for general audiences.