Walking for peace- Film Review

Film Maker and producer,  Akash Sagar Chopra’s highly acclaimed documentary film ‘Walking with M’—produced by Mount Avenue Studios and Sagar Pictures Entertainment—that has won a string of awards and honours had its Bengaluru-premiere  on Wednesday (August 7) at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall.

The film, made with over 1,500 hours of archival footage, has received the Best Documentary Award (Berlin FFI) at Milan Italy, The Global Peace and Harmony Award at The International Film Festival The Hague, Outstanding Achievement Award at the Swedish International Film Festival and has also won the prestigious Honorable Mention Award at the Athens International Monthly Film Festival in Athens, Greece.

The 90 minutes gripping narrative is an engaging docu-feature that puts across the arduous and genuine intent behind spreading oneness, based on the Walk of Hope 2015 movement (Aasha Yatra) a peace march led by Spiritual guide, author, social reformer and educationist Mumtaz Ali (widely known as Sri M).

Sri M—who led the 7,500 km journey of 474 days by foot through the exquisite diverse landscape covering 11 States in India along with a group of 100 co-walkers  from Kanyakumari to Kashmir—had a simple message cutting across language and faith barriers to showcase a ‘walk to unify a nation’ and bring the message of peace in a polarized world.

Sri M, recipient of the Padmabhushan Award 2020, has been a guide to seekers of spiritual solace, providing knowledge from the scriptures to people across the globe. He travels widely from his base in Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh (140 kms from Bangalore) where he heads The Satsang Foundation and Manav Ekta Mission, two organizations he started in the late 1990s as spaces for dialogue and discussion around shared humanity.

Sri M, as the young Mumtaz Ali, often speaks about his ‘divine-call’ he experienced as a nine-year-old at Tiruvananthapuram where he was born. It swept him away a decade later from his parents of a Muslim lineage to the Himalayas, 2000 miles away from his native place.

It took the teenager through a few adventurous months wandering in Haridwar, Rishikesh and Badrinath sheltering himself in temples, ashrams and meeting a host of saints, sadhus, scholars, and experts on yoga, even as he journeyed through thick-and-thin looking for ‘his guru.’

As he climbed the mountain ranges in the Himalayas higher and higher that finally took him to the farthest village Mana and the Vyas Cave he heard the voice of his guru Sri Maheshwaranath Babaji, the ‘call’ that helped him surrender and gradually gain insights on every possible aspect of living in the teeming world.

The youth wandered with Babaji in the Himalayan caves for the next few years getting tutored and readied “for his peace mission.” 

Flagging-off the mission on foot

In the film ‘Walking with M’ we see Sri M and his followers beginning their journey from Gandhi Mandapam in Kanyakumari on January 12, 2015, the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.

A beautiful wide-angle view of the three waters - Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean - sets the mood for what is to become an effortful foot-travel across highways, forests, villages, and cities through intense heat, thundering rain and cold nights, not to forget the sea of humanity that gathered to interact, discuss, sing and dance along, until they finally reach Srinagar  on April 29, 2016.

Says the director, Akash Chopra belonging to the lineage of veteran film maker Ramanand Sagar, “As I heard about this incredible journey that Sri M had curated, I asked him if I could film the journey, and that was it! Every moment was worth it for posterity sake, as it was the longest peace march ever witnessed in Indian history!”

Recollecting his shooting saga amidst events and spontaneous interactions where Sri M addressed people everyday for 474 days, Akash says “The film took seven years to gain a shape, and the challenge was to chisel from the gargantuan footage we had as the incredible ‘Walk of Hope’ saw a sea of people-exchanges. 

It was such a genuine and authentic endeavour - with no other hidden agenda - that emphasized ‘the change to be brought within the individual’ to accelerate positive societal changes. As a film maker, it opened up a wider spectrum of thinking and understanding life.”

And how does Sri M feel after all this documentation of his efforts that have fetched awards? “Walk of hope will be realized fully only when violence stops, and a single point agenda of brotherhood and peace is accomplished.

My Walk of Hope, although saw overwhelming support from people of diverse backgrounds agreeing to shun hatred, it hasn’t seen a profound impact as we witness violence continuing unabated. But the film has garnered tremendous response and acclaim, and perhaps it has to be screened more and more in public and educational institutions for bringing in more connect.

Also, people should have smaller group discussions on peace in your own localities, or at places of worship, where we can converge.

After all, the film will answer many who wondered why I was so mad to undertake such an impractical task! Some even wondered if I had some political agenda too. But except bringing about harmony and kinship nothing more interests me!” says Sri M, who at 68 had undertaken the peace walk in 2015.