Six-hour-long Hindi film

(Nov. 05, 12012) A six-hour-long film on Jesus in Hindi, directed by a Catholic priest, was released on Sunday (Dec.2) in Indore, central India’s Madhya Pradesh State, after he worked seven years on it with a team of some 200 amateur actors and technical staff. Divine Word Fr.Geo George's unique movie named ‘Christayan’ (the journey of Christ) was filmed mainly in Madhya Pradesh but the team of actors also had to visit 10 states including the north eastern part of India.
The team of over 200 people included scientists, professors, doctors, teachers, social activists, farmers, atheists, students, media persons, priests and religious sisters. Ankit Sharma, a Hindu young man, acted as Jesus. Over 80 percent of the artists were from other religions. Fr. George wrote the script, lyrics and also supervised the make up and costumes. He said “Jesus, the living and loving God, is present with us and within us. So we need to experience Him amidst us as Indians. This faith in the Universal Christ is filmed with socio-cultural worldview,” he added.
Fr. George said his concept of making the film in an Asian context originated when he was a student of theology and came to know the meaning of ‘incarnation’. His desire to know about what was happening to religions world over, the schisms, heresies, fatwas, excommunications, extremism and killing in the name of faith only intensified his passion to make the movie, he said. The priest said that he has not made a film to increase sentimental piety to Jesus and make him an object of worship, but Jesus as a prophet committed to empower women and give them a dignified place in the society. “I have presented Jesus as a person, who is concerned about environment, defending the oppressed, teaching lessons of optimism and positive attitude,” he added.