Sharing your tale in 360 degree will redefine once upon a time
With over 500 temples and 52 bathing ghats, Pushkar, a city in the state of Rajasthan, is one of the ten most religious places in the world. Legend has it saying that Pushkar originated when Pushp( flower ) fell off from Brahma’a hand ( kar ). The excitement to visit the mystical place multiplied when I learned from my parents about the significance of the Hindu Trinity; Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer).
My curiosity got the better of me when I recently traveled with my brother to Pushkar, to see lake, ghats, bazaar and Brahma temple. I happened to ask one of the chief pundit on why Lord Brahma is not worshiped elsewhere except at Pushkar and few other places across India? He told me a story of how Brahma went into a fierce battle with Lord Vishnu to establish his supremacy. The fight continued for years until Lord Shiva finally decided to intervene and put a halt to the fight. Shiva created a fiery wall between them and gave them a task to find the ends. Vishnu descended to underworld but was unsuccessful in finding the base and came back. On the other hand Lord Brahma, transformed himself into a swan and rose to the sky. On his journey, he met Ketaki flower, and told her to say falsely about him discovering the beginning of the fiery wall. Lord Shiva, came to know about Brahma’s false claim and cursed him that he wont be worshiped by anyone.
My spiritual journey to Pushkar was a sort a revelation of how stories belonging to different genres like mythology, wars, family, relationships, politics, gothic, have been told across ages, geographies, culture and groups by the people and to the people. Since the advent of man on earth, stories have been told and retold in different ways. Storytelling became an integral part of humanity that without them there was nothing left to contemplate, share, and talk about.
The evolution of storytelling has its own story to inform to the generation of today on how our ancestors evolved and communicated. When Neanderthals (modern human ancestors) first painted on cave walls they told visual stories about survival and living standards. Many year later, came a storytelling intellect Homer who recited the epic poems Iliad and Odyssey to the Greeks. His work paved way for oral storytelling. With the invention of printing press in 15th Century, storytelling witnessed a revolutionary jump as handwritten materials were accessible to people across Europe in form of books and magazines.
It was 400 years later that world caught a glimpse of enacted storytelling; a juxtaposition of narrative and drama told in form of movies across cinema theaters. Storytellers by this time realized the importance of evoking human desire and emotions which were withheld inside human beings for many years.
The art of storytelling has transcended generations .Before the advent of motion pictures, street and stage plays were the earliest medium for telling stories. I was intrigued when my Dad told me his story about him being a mummer and performing a mime act on stage in front of a large audience. He told me that works of various silent film actors like Charlie Chaplin had inspired him to tell their stories through mime, where action spoke larger than the words. Following my father’s footsteps was tough, but he mentored me and I took this art form more seriously during my graduation days. I started performing mime based on social issues, a day to day events, and works of the great silent film star Charlie Chaplin just like my father.
Born in the era of echo boomer, I have grown amidst the rise of information technology, internet and mass media. Storytelling in films have undergone a massive change. It all started with the first silent film Raja Harischandra in 1913 based on legends from MahaBharat and Ramayana. During the 40's, many storytellers started exploring subject like honesty, justice and concern for the poor. It was between 60’s and 80’s when storytelling took a new turn depicting intense drama and songs. By 90’s Indian cinema depicted stories of reverse brain drain, family values and romanticism. I remember watching Dil Wale Dulhaniya Le Jayenga for the first time with my parents and how they reacted surprisingly when I asked them to buy me Shahrukh’s mandolin. Its interesting to see how storytelling evolved in parallel with the rise in technology.
I recently had a long conversation with my friend Aurko, who is a founder of a production company on how technology has played a crucial role in shaping the storytelling in films. He said,
“The growth in technology has enhanced cinema in many ways;the depth in camera, and the new media has drastically changed the way cinema is projected today. With the development in graphics and animation, unrealistic projects are possible.”
He added,
“technology is like a catalyst for the dreamers and believers. It helps the director carry his story in an effective and efficient way.”
With the rise of social media platform like Facebook and Twitter, storytelling took a new shape and dimension as now storytellers were not just professionals, they were an ordinary consumers who started telling their stories on timelines in form of text, visuals and videos. We all remember how Arab Spring shaped up and became a mass movement. It was during this time that digital storytelling became more evident and storytellers started writing stories about people in their country facing tyranny, poverty, corruption and human rights violation. Now stories were broken on these social networking platforms so to reach wider audience instantly. News about Prince William marrying to Miss Catherine Middleton is testament to that.
We were just getting used to the smartphone revolution when out of the blue a new medium emerged last year that shook the entire tech ecosystem. Yes, I am talking Virtual Reality, a replication of the real world created through computer simulation to allow human interaction in the artificial environment. I was taken by surprise when I got familiar with the technology. It completely immersed me to a far distant place which had all the elements of the real world.
I recently watched Virtual Reality film My Mother’s Wing and Displaced created by a VR company, VRSE in association with United Nation and New York Times. The former dealt with story of a mother coping with the loss of her two children during Gaza-Israel conflict in 2014, where Israel bombarded school shelters in Gaza , ruining life of thousands of Palestinians. The later is story of three children; Oleg, Hanna and Chuol showing endurance and strength amidst the ruins and destruction caused by wars,oppression and natural disaster which resulted in displacement of these children within their own country to some foreign land.
With the help of VR device, I immersed myself into the lives of these families and children and teleported myself to their world by sitting at home. The experience was so overwhelming that it brought tears in my eyes on visualizing the current situation of these families who hoped for better life.
Seeing both the films in VR made me foresee the future of storytelling. With the help of this technology, storyteller will perpetuate to create compelling stories which will transport audience into a distant world; evoking the sense of empathy and connect with people across the world.
Its interesting to note how viewing a content in VR has disrupted the traditional method. Currently we all are consuming videos and images and in rectangular and square format be it your smartphones, laptop or TV, but in near future we may enter into a spatial world which will allow us to move and socialize just like we do in the real world.
