Mystic Love : The secret world of Sahajiyas
LOGLINE -
Unearthing the mystical & unexplored secret cult community of Sahajiya Bauls from the eastern part of India whose knowledge about human science, their occult and sexually liberal way of life is not known to the outside world.
ABOUT THE SAMPLE WORK:
This 6-minute edit uploaded here is just to give an idea about the subject and to what extent and depth we have to access the inner chambers of this cult community for the very first time in the history of documentary. The main film, which will be around 80-90 minutes long, will not have any VO running over but the real voices of the interviewers crisscrossing along with the rich visual storytelling.
SYNOPSIS -
Sahajiya Bauls were enlisted under ‘Masterpieces of the Oral and intangible Heritage of Humanity” at UNESCO in 2008.
The way of life of a Sahajiya is a difficult and highly disciplined one. One of the earliest practices of feminism is embedded in this Sahajiya way of life. We find the worship of the femininity and nature.
Due to their secretiveness they are at the verge of extinction today.
Existing for more than thousand years with its roots in Buddhist Tao & Hindu Tantra, Sahajiya Bauls are popularly known as wandering minstrels from the eastern part of India.
The identity of the Sahajiyas to the mainstream conservative society and the outside world at large has been their mesmerizing songs and their rich musical tradition.
But the reason for the birth of these 'coded' & metaphorical Sahajiya songs is the experiential and real way of life of the Sahajiyas. This cult was banished by mainstream society due to their liberal sexual and their Tantric and Occult practice. Their apparent liberal male female sexual practice is based on the most important discipline of semen retention. Semen that gives birth to the most potential human being is considered a primal energy and most divine amongst Sahajiyas. After mastering breathing and yogic techniques over 12 years, under supervision of a Guru, a Sahajiya practitioner goes into copulation and turns the sexual energy into spiritual energy. They turn lust into love. The human body and nature is a Sahajiyas only treasure. Their way of life provides a testimony to the rich ancient knowledge system of the human body and its subtleties that man acquired centuries back.
To explore this secret wonderland of the Sahajiyas we follow Maki Kazumi, an urban Japanese woman, who took to the Sahajiya way of life 30 years back.
We explore the secret lives of the living masters, their occult rituals, and their unique and sacred copulation practices. We get a well-rounded perspective and relevance of such a way of life we talk to international researchers and authors, activists, feminists, humanists, Tantric and Tao practitioners, doctors and young people. We try to understand the relevance of this ancient oriental practice in today’s modern world and if it is relevant more than ever before. In this community a woman is worshipped. This ancient way of life teaches us to de-objectify a woman and sexuality and put them back onto the highest pedestal of respect that they deserve to make this world happy and beautiful again.
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Shoubhik RoyDirector
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Shoubhik RoyWriter
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Magik Lantern FilmsProducer
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Project Type:Documentary
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Runtime:6 minutes 6 seconds
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Country of Origin:India
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Country of Filming:India, Japan
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Language:Bengali, English, Japanese
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Shooting Format:Digital (5D mark IV & Sony A7S)
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Shoubhik Roy is born & brought up in Kolkata, India. He spent his formative years doing theatre, painting & photography and studying films. Since 1998 started directing & producing award winning commercials for multi national brands under his production house Magik Lantern Films in Mumbai, India. He has been a visiting lecturer at Xavier's Institute of Communication, Mumbai & taken workshops in filmmaking at FTII, Pune.
I like to work with the marginalised people and grass root cultures in attempt to discover that ancient one language & that one spirit of humanity. That innate universality about nature and mankind, which cuts across man made borders and institutions. Tagore in his conversation with Einstein said "My religion is in the reconciliation of the super personal man, the universal spirit, in my own individual being".
What attracted me to the Sahajiya Baul cult was their belief that whatever is there in the universe is present in the human body. To know the universe one needs to know one's body and God does not reside outside oneself but inside each one of us if we know how to open up and access that super consciousness within ourselves. The Sahajiyas live that life in flesh and blood. Also their man-woman sexual practice that upholds semen retention amongst other similarly intriguing aspects that constitute their way of life. All this to be genuinely happy, in a world where sustained state of happiness is rare and much sought after. The way to achieve this is unique amongst the Sahajiya Bauls. More so the world does not know of this way of life still existing. They had been secret and hidden from the mainstream society. We are taught to look outward for wealth, happiness, love and happiness. We have forgotten that we are born with and carrying the most modern tool of happiness i.e. this 'human body'. I believe in one world and one love. Another important aspect that attracted me to this cult is that they express and document and pass on this secret knowledge through beautiful music. Their songs are mesmerising.
This documentary, shot over five years, is in search of such an ancient and secret knowledge system and a dissipating community. This documentary explores that secret knowledge of this ancient and almost forgotten human science.