Anantashayanam - The Cosmic Dream Sleep of Vishnu
AnanthaShayanam -Video Art Project
One of my constant endeavors in my Art Practice revolves around interpreting man’s multiple theories on Creationism. I believe Vishnu's Cosmic Dream Sleep, Anantashayanam, corresponds to the most widely accepted scientific theory of Creation, the Big Bang and the Big Contraction...creation and destruction.
Hindu creation myths say this is not the first universe. After each old universe is destroyed nothing is left but a vast ocean. Floating on this ocean, resting on the great snake Ananta, is Lord Vishnu. A lotus flower springs from his navel and from this comes Lord Brahma. And from Lord Brahma comes all creation. It’s a story of ceaseless, continuous creation, of the incredibly Big Bang of Creation. This Art Video project attempts to represent this cosmology myth, its striking focus on (a) the endlessly recycling periods of time, and (b) the notion of continuing decline.
The cosmic sleep of Vishnu invites us to consider creation from the perspective of time, the unfolding of the past into the present and the present into the future. The cosmos may have been created and destroyed, but it represents only one turn in the perpetual "wheel of time". After a 100 years in the life of Brahma, (= just over 311 trillion human years), the entire process repeats itself, endlessly.
Conclusion: The very idea of a sudden expansion out of nothingness into an ever-growing space and mass is proof of the vastness of knowledge left to be discovered.
The film is a live-action animated film shot on blue screen, with my own illustrations animated onto the live one-shot action. It starts with the toes and feet of Lord Vishnu, pans up, and reveals his consort Lakshmi, and how a lotus flower grows out of his navel, to bloom; and the appearance of Lord Brahma. The cosmic egg of creation appears and all the universe is created with a sudden Big Bang. Cosmoses move around and evil forces appear, Madhu & Kaitabha. Lakshmi warns Vishnu of this. He has all along been blissfully sleeping on the gently rocking multi-coiled serpent Ananta. Vishnu destroys the demons, and resumes his sleep; the universe is peaceful. Then the great Crunch happens and after another implosion, nothingness remains. Text explains this concept briefly. Then out of this nothingness, the cycle starts again, with Vishnu's toes appearing again.
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Murali RamanDirectorIMdB
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Murali RamanWriter
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Murali RamanProducer
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Chirag RegeKey Cast"Vishnu"
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Subhranshu DasCinematographerIMdB
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Milind KuriAnimation DirectorIMdB
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Project Type:Animation, Experimental, Short, Other
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Runtime:3 minutes 37 seconds
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Completion Date:November 30, 2019
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Production Budget:2,500 USD
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Country of Origin:India
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Country of Filming:India
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Murali Raman – Bio & Past Work
https://linktr.ee/Muralir
Writer, Poet, Blogger, Adman, Television Creative, Short Filmmaker, Photographer, Painter and Installation Artist, I have extensive script-writing, film making, advertising, web content and (conducting) Creative and Art Workshops experience. I am a consultant Director – Communications & Digital Marketing on a freelance basis.
After a good innings in Advertising, as Creative Director at Grey Cells Productions (now Mind’s Eye), I created/ worked on Environment-related and Human Interest Documentaries, Feature Film projects and TV Program Designs. I have experience in vetting international Feature film screenplays for Line Production feasibility. I script-doctor film scripts and edits novels for other writers as well.
Television Creative Direction, Concept, Story, Scripts
I have creative-directed two scripts for other feature film writer-directors, have co-produced, part-written and creative-directed 3 children’s teleserials - The Magic Make Up Box, for Zee TV, Door Door Doorbeen, for Hungama TV (UTV), and Chi n Me, another Zee TV production, and an award-winning (CNBC Golden Cursor Writers’ Award) children’s live –action animation Edutainment DVD of nursery rhymes, Rhymetime in Toyland for Shemaroo. I have made travel & tourism documentaries for Anala Outdoors on Manali & Himachal Pradesh, The Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, Medical NGOs, a fun short film, Chocolate Xcess. My Art practice _ I paint oils, acrylics on canvas, wall murals, make art installations - also employs video & film. See www.muraliraman.com, and follow the social media links for work samples as well.
I have written the screenplay for a fantasy feature film Tachyons – The Creation of Happiness, part of a trilogy I have started to write; as well as The Room with a Two-way Mirror, a romantic fantasy set in two different centuries. I am rewriting them in novel form now.
Some of my film work samples can be seen on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPf5KHOrRSU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsafPnR4eXY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1arGv7SqIvg
I’ve also published my book of poems on http://amzn.to/2qaoLON . Also illustrated by me with charcoal & graphite sketched, #FeelTouchSee – Connotations of Passion, is a deconstruction of modern-day myths, where feeling an emotion or action leads to exploring and touching, which in turn leads to understanding and realization.
Youtube id: Glimpsesofmywork has videos of some of my Art Installations and paintings as well.
One of my constant endeavors in my Art Practice revolves around interpreting man’s multiple theories on Creationism. How and Why was the Universe and all living beings created?
Theories of Cosmology or how the Universe came into being are as varied as the stars and galaxies themselves. I believe Vishnu's Cosmic Dream Sleep, Anantashayanam, corresponds to the most widely accepted scientific theory of Creation, the Big Bang and the Big Contraction...creation and destruction.
I conceived this Video Art project, an Art and Philosophy-related concept, to interpret it in my fashion, employing my own painting work in animation, on a live action -2 D animation platform.., to bring it alive.
Official Selections:
Lanzarote Arts Festival, Canary Island, 2019
Larroque Arts Fest, France
Indie Short Fest , LA, USA - Animation
Indie Short Fest , LA, USA - Best Short Film
Indie Short Fest , LA, USA - VFX
Indie- X Film Fest, LA
Druk Intl. Film Festival, Bhutan
The $5 Film Festival - Semi-Finalist
Arunachal Arts & Literature Festival, Arunachal Pradesh, India
8th Mumbai Intl. Short film Festival
Golden state Film Festival, L A
Awards
DIFF-2019
- Best Experimental Film,
Five Continents International Film Fest, Venezuela, 2019
- Best Experimental Film
- Best Art Direction
- Special Mention for VFX