'Crossing Over' - Episode 5 of the film 'Had Anhad'

Any journey with Kabir leads irrevocably within, where we confront how we secure the borders of our identity, both inside ourselves and outside in the socio-political reality of our worlds.

This episode of the film Had Anhad perhaps is ironically relevant to the present political climate in India, where anybody who questions the dominant faith or the nation-state, is asked to “go to Pakistan”. Well, that’s exactly what this episode does – it goes to Pakistan, crosses over into the heart of the intimate enemy, the ‘other’ that helps us secure our ‘self’.

This episode later became the subject of a censorship controversy, with the Central Board of Film Certification demanding that the conversation with the travellers in the bus returning from the Wagah border be excised. Judge S. Muralidhar of the High Court ruled in our favour, saying…

“As long as the film provides space for dialogue and discussion of a contentious issue, the ‘policing’ out of a point of view or a visual merely because it is disagreeable to some cannot be justified…Regions, borders, languages, religions and nations melt away in Kabir’s universal message of love and compassion that is compellingly portrayed. At the end of the film the viewer is, far from being left feeling hateful or vengeful towards any religion, impelled to introspect on the philosophical message of the futility of violence that forms the running theme of Kabir’s poems.”

Had Anhad is one of 4 films on Kabir made by Shabnam Virmani, filmmaker, singer and director of the Kabir Project, located at the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology in Bangalore, India. Write to her at [email protected]. See the full film at    • 'Had Anhad: Journeys with Ram & Kabir'  . DVDs of film available at http://www.amazon.in/dp/B00PJTQILW

Film Credits:
Camera & Direction: Shabnam Virmani
Direction Support: Rumah Rasaque & Smriti Chanchani
Script & Editing: Shabnam Virmani & Rikhav Desai
Animation: Orijit Sen & M M Pradeep
Songs by: Mahesha Ram, Prahlad Tipanya, Mukhtiyar Ali, Kaluram
Bamaniya, Shafi Faqir & Fariduddin Ayaz
Sound Recording: P M Satheesh in Rajasthan & Malwa; G M Chand in Pakistan
Sound Mixing: Fireflys Post Sound, Mumbai
Research & Concept: Shabnam Virmani & Tara Kini
Advisors: Linda Hess, Ashok Vajpeyi, Vidya Rao, Purushottam Aggrawal
Translations: Shabnam Virmani, Homayra Ziad & Linda Hess
Financial Support: Ford Foundation, New Delhi
Produced by: Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore
Collection: The Kabir Project
Year of Production: 2009

This is one of a series of uploads for Ajab Shahar, an upcoming webspace featuring songs, images and conversations around bhakti, sufi and baul poetry from India and thereabouts, currently under construction by the Kabir Project team. www.ajabshahar.org, www.kabirproject.org