18 days to Pandharpur

Ashadhi Ekadashi, the eleventh day of the lunar month of Ashadhi, has a special significance for the pilgrim town of Pandharpur in Maharashtra. Lakhs of varkaris , as the pilgrims are called, converge from all over the State in an 18-day procession from Alandi to Pandharpur.

It was during that period in 2009 that director Ajit Bhairavkar got the idea for his award-winning Marathi movie Gajaar .

“I was crossing the road and saw five pilgrims clad in orange robes and chanting. Childhood memories of taking food for the varkaris flashed through my mind. I have also heard interesting anecdotes about the pilgrimage from my grandfather, who was a varkari . That night I wrote a draft script for a feature film based on the varkaris ,” says Bhairavkar, who has in the past assisted Ketan Mehta in Mangal Pandey and worked as creative director in Kaleidoscope Entertainment.

He began work immediately on his debut feature, and Gajaar — Journey of the Soul released to critical acclaim in May 2011. Bagging as many as 32 awards, the film was remade in Hindi as Mokssh by producers Sunil Khosla, Vibha Khosla and Bhairavkar.

Mirroring the director’s own journey, Mokssh tells the story of a budding film-maker named Parth who rediscovers himself during the pilgrimage. It captures the transformation of Parth from an urban, egoistic adult to a more spiritual and responsible person. Bhairavkar and the cast spent a lot of time with varkaris and several of their real-life anecdotes have been depicted in the movie.

“Everyone can relate to various parts of the movie as it is so close to life,” says the film-maker.

A large part of the film was shot live, as 50 members of the unit followed the varkaris along the 240-km pilgrimage. “To ensure no problem cropped up on location, I conducted a month-long workshop with the cast to explain the concept, the history of varkari and dialogue delivery. For Mokssh , we once again followed the varkaris for nine days, just to shoot the Hindi dialogue portion with the same cast and crew.”

A highlight of the filming was an aerial shot taken through paragliding, for which the director of photography underwent training for three months. An interesting episode took place on the day of the shoot. “It was a stormy day and there was a lot of noise from the wind, so we could shoot only a bit from the air. Luckily, we were also filming the paragliding from the ground. This gave me the idea of incorporating it in the movie,” says Bhairavkar.

Despite all the preparations, however, the cast and crew faced several challenges.

“There were days when it was very hot and they got tanned; in a few instances it was difficult to find drinking water. We stayed in tents overnight. But they were so passionate about their work and adjusted very well,” says the proud director.

With Gajaar being received well, the crew has high hopes for Mokssh too. Its national and worldwide release is scheduled for January.

Says Vibha Khosla, “The script of Mokssh is crisper and has been modified a bit for a larger audience. We plan to take Mokssh to international film festivals.”