Hari Om

Colour, 35 mm
India, 2004, 106 min
Section: Another View
Oficiální stránky: www.hariomfilm.com

Synopsis

A couple from Europe are travelling on the luxury Orient Express across India, but during the long journey their relationship comes to a head. The Parisian Benoît, a rational dealer in precious gems, bored with the certainties of his life, sees his journey as nothing more than a planned business trip, and the colourful cultural heritage of this exotic country as chaos and noise. On the other hand, the impulsive Isa is enchanted by India; she seeks only ‘true love’ in this romantic setting. Hari Om is a rickshaw driver waiting in the calm before the storm for something to happen. He was happy with his lot until his employer turned his life upside down. Every day, he goes to the station to wait for rich tourists. But he encounters Benoît and Isa under quite different circumstances. This socially divergent trio of various nationalities finally realize their true wishes and desires during a much longer journey than they had originally planned.

About the director

Ganapathy Bharat (b. 1963, Madras, India), credited in film titles as G. Bharat or Bala, studied zoology. He began his film career as assistant cameraman and by making wedding videos. Since 1985 he has made over 300 TV commercials in India, some of which have won prestigious prizes. He was a prize-winner at the New York festival with the short film Vande mataram – maa tujhe salam (1997); the short Timeless India (1997) brought him victory at Cannes. He created a national poem about India, Jan gan man, in 2002. Currently, he has several films in production: Meghdoot – The Cloud Messenger, the feature-length documentary Gurus of Peace about the most distinguished Nobel Peace Prize holders, and The Heart of India – Taj Mahal, a project which makes him the first Indian director to work with the Imax format. Hari Om (2004) is his feature debut, representing the first of a series of stories in which Bharatbala plans to bring India closer to viewers from all over the world.