GOWRI MANICKAVASAGAM
Gujaratis from Indore came together to create a unique film, Manasvi, in the genre of Spiritual thriller. Directed by Manoj Thakkar, co-produced by Prateek Sanghvi, Rinku Thakkar and Archana Dubey with led by Jayesh Rajpal, the film was announced to the world last week by famous Bollywood trade analyst Komal Nahta.
The film is directed by Gujarati Manoj Thakkar, a publisher author and spiritual leader of the team. He is also an author of four books on spiritual subjects, and a recipient of four Presidential honours across the world viz Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and India. He has won several awards for his book Kashi Marnanmukti and has also been honoured at the Victorian parliament in Australia for his work.
Manasvi revolves around the spiritual journey of its protagonist, Satyakam, a CBI officer working to solve a case of serial child killings in central India. During this sojourn he meets his guru, Aghori Baba, who with his compassion teaches him what being Aghora is all about. At the same time his guru also introduces him to Lamaji, a Budhhist monk who sheds light on the meaning of incorporating Tantra into his life. With the help of these two gurus, Satyakam’s outward journey towards solving the mystery behind the gruesome killings is weaved together with his inner journey to wards the quest for ultimate truth.
Satyakam is played by Ravi Mittal, a chartered accountant by profession and film enthusiast by heart. Aghori Baba is played by a real-life sadhak (mystic) who spends most of his time in the Himalayas. While Lamaji is played by Vishal Choudhury, an alumnus of the National School of Drama.
The genesis of the film can be traced back to a book that Manoj, Jayesh and screenwriter Nupur had earlier written together titled Aghori: A Biographical Novel which was a biographical account of Manoj’s chance encounter with an actual aghori at the Kumbh Mela. After the success of the book, the trio decided to explore the story in another new format, and that is how the film came about. Jayesh shares the crew’s deep connection to cinema and each other, “We are a group of young people working together as a cohesive family unit doing business as well as undertaking social work. Most of us were well in our teens when we first met this extraordinary human being we call Sir (Manoj), who used to teach us economics. Manoj ji has been a film enthusiast all his life. For the last 30 years, he’s been watching a film a day. My father used to run a film distribution business, and we have distributed more than 50 films since 1982 in central India. #Manasvi is our first attempt at producing a film.”
According to Manoj, there were many reasons to make this film, but primarily, “it was to dispel the popular misconceptions that surround the concepts of Aghora and Tantra. We wanted to spread the much-needed message of spirituality to the youth of today, in their own language. Because in this modern life, we are burdened with many negative thoughts, fear, anxiety, resentment, an overworking mind, insomnia, we seem to have lost our sense of purpose. Manasvi aims to show us that the way out is but to turn within.”
Jayesh agrees wholeheartedly, “Within our country, the spiritual concepts of #Aghora! and #Tantra! have been much maligned, where the popular perception links them to cremation grounds or black magic etc, which is just far from the truth. India’s true heritage is its spiritual heritage and that is what we wish to show to the world with Manasvi.”
The film is a debut for many of the young cast and crew, including director Manoj, who shares, “With this film, we’ve shown that you don’t need to go to Bombay to pursue your dream of making good cinema. The youth of this country can come together and create a new kind of synergy, not just to make films but they can achieve success in any field they set their mind to.”
The film was shot entirely within 30 kms of Indore, during August 2020, with all COVID-19 safety protocols in place. The team brought their management experience from running their business together for many years to the set of the film. Says Jayesh, “Everything aligned smoothly with the production of the film, because when you follow your passion with your tribe, it doesn’t really feel like work. And now that theatres are finally open, we are very excited to entertain as well as educate audiences with Manasvi across the country!”
Produced by Divine Blessing Studios, in association with Rinku Thakkar, Archana Dubey and Prateek Sanghvi, Manasvi will release in theatres across India on Thursday, October 7.
