Mystic India

Pt. Ronu Majumdar composed music for the first Imax movie ‘Mystic India’ which was produced in the country. The music is a fusion of East and West composed by Ronu Majumdar & Sam Cordon. The music was a blend of rhythms and melodies from the different regions of India by using a variety of musical instruments to leave no stone unturned. The entire recording was done under the supervision of BAPS volunteers present in Ahemdabad and Mumbai & Western Symphony in Seattle. The music composition was done by a total of 60 artists and use of a 75 piece western orchestra.

The story

BAPS holds cultural festivals in India, Nairobi, and London and showcases Indian Culture to more than 50 million people across the globe. The movie of ‘Mystic India’ was an idea to show the true colours of India, where the protagonist Neelkanth, a child Yogi travels across India, showing the country’s rich diversity and unity to the viewers.

The medium

It was a large format film 70mm and each picture 8 – 10 times bigger than normal picture.

Story Research

Being a true story, extensive research was needed. BAPS historians did thorough research about the protagonist Neelkanth with books and illustrations. Research was also done to see how villages, transport system, and clothing looked like in the 18^th century.

Crew

BAPS finalized Director Keith Melton and Director of Photography Reed Smoot, along with writer Mose Richards, well-known figures in the industry and a top – notch team was created.

Location

A lot of search and travelling of the crew members went into finding the perfect locations for the movie where no modern objects were visible and was close to roads.

Production design

A lot of effort went into recreating scenes like those of 200 years ago people used to live. 200 BAPS volunteers including engineers, carpenters, artists, etc. worked with the production team to give the feel of ancient India. Neelkanth’s childhood town Ayodhya was transformed through fake huts, drawings, wooden frames as it was many years ago.

Casting

After video taping 11000 children, two children were finalized for the role of younger and older Neelkanth. In yet another scene 20000 children were filmed together in Akshardham, a great effort done by BAPS team.

570 volunteers

A large number of volunteers, including children, and professionals became a part of Mystic India, making it the only movie having One Million Man hours for a period of two years and all these people worked free of cost & gave their best contributions.

Principal Photography

Many challenges posed during the photography of the movie. Some shots like the scenes where large gatherings of people in thousands had to be shot, or mountain scenes were bit difficult to shoot. Still photography scenes with large panoramic view were taken.

Music

The music is the fusion of East and West composed by Ronu Majumdar and Sam Cardon along with 60 different artists working on it.

Post – production

David Bartholomew who worked on the movie prasied all scenes and shots. Visual effects added a nice touch to the movie. The still photography and scenes added a lot of improvement to the movie.

Mystic India received the Audience’s Choice Award at the 10^th International Large Format Film Festival at La Geode in Paris, France. It was also accredited with ‘Most Popular Film’ at the San Jose IMAX Film Festival.