Documentary on ancient India to be screened at Cannes

Chennai: `A Different Pligrimage`, a documentary on the ancient India`s cultural and religious impact on South-east Asia, will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival Market. The 10-day-long festival runs from May 12 to 23. The 109-minutes-long documentary has been shot by S Krishnaswamy, who first shot to fame with his 1976 `Indus Valley to Indira Gandhi`, a four-hour riveting work distributed by Warner Brothers. The new documentary brings alive Borabudur and Prambanan in Java, Angkor Wat and Bayon in Cambodia, Phimai and Pnom Rung in Thailand, Wat Phu Champasak in Laos, Mi Son and Po Nagar in Vietnam and Baisaki in Bali, where centuries-old temples and monuments keep alive Indian tradition till this day.

Daily worship has gone on there without a break. And here are a couple of fascinating facets: the `Rajaguru` to the Thai King traces his ancestry to India and the temple town of Chidambaram and recites Tamil Bhakti hymns, while the `Rajaguru` of the Cambodian monarch performs Hindu rituals in the royal court. "We exported much more than Buddhism to these places," Krishnaswamy said. He took four years to complete this documentary. Krishnaswamy`s `India 5555` was screened at the White House for President Bill Clinton as part of his familiarisation-of-India-process before his visit. PTI