Kolkata, 21thJune,2013, The Dale Carnegie auditorium in the iLEAD campus was chock a block full on the morning of June the 21st. Students from at least ten schools of Kolkata had congregated here to watch two episodes of Goutam Ghose’s epoch making documentary series Beyond the Himalayas and interact with the filmmaker after the screening. Goutam Ghose had undertaken this three months long journey with a 35 member team in 1994, several years before these students were born. Theirs was the first Indian expedition through China. And the film, documenting this journey in all its nuances, still has the power to captivate the kids of the globalization era with its exposition of the cultural, geographical and religious diversity of the civilizations dotted along the silk route.
The presence of two other expedition members – Jagannath Guha and Phalguni Matilal, was a bonus to the students as they shared anecdotes of how they overcame linguistic barriers, not only to survive in a bleak environ, but also to discover a cultural tie with the people of Central Asia. Jagannath Guha told the students, “If we trace back our ancestry, we shall realize that all of us are migrants. So if we feel a little like outsiders in our own land, we shall feel a little at home in an alien land.”
Goutam Ghose urged the students to watch more documentary films to get a first hand experience of people and places. He thanked Mr. Pradip Chopra, Chairman of iLEAD for creating this wonderful opportunity for the students of Kolkata. He promised to lend all the five episodes of Beyond the Himalayas to the schools and interact with them whenever they would invite him.
About the Filmmaker Goutam Ghosh:
Born in Kolkata in the year 1950, Goutam Ghosh ventured in the filmmaking by first documentaries like New Earth and Hungry Autumn. He is appreciated for his films like Maabhoomi, Antarjali Jatra, Padma Nadir Majhi, Paar and Abara Aranye, that have portrayed the spectacular intricacy of emotions and thus, touched the hearts of the viewers. Ghosh has won about 16 National Awards for his excellent contribution to Indian Cinema. His film Moner Manush was adjudged the best film of the year at the 41st International Film Festival of India in 2010.