'Returning Home' - Episode 8 of the film 'Had Anhad'

Pee dhoondhhan main nikli ghar se, aur piya base more mann mein.
(I set out from home in search of my Beloved, I found the Beloved dwelling in my heart)

Seekers from India cross the historically volatile border between India and Pakistan, both physically and metaphorically, to find a reverence and delight in both Ram & Kabir on the other side. This final episode from the film Had Anhad maps the journey back home to India, which carries with it a new recognition of intimacies beyond borders, a shared love for the poetry of mystics, and a belief in a borderless, undivided land where we can all sit down for a satsang and celebrate love and truth. Which ‘home’ are we returning to then? To which des (country) do we belong?

Kabir was a 15th century bhakti poet of north India who defied the boundaries between Hindu and Muslim. He had a Muslim name and upbringing, but his poetry repeatedly invokes the widely revered Hindu name for God – Ram. Who is Kabir’s Ram? The film Had Anhad journeys through song and poem into the politics of religion, and finds myriad answers on both sides of the hostile border between India and Pakistan.

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