The Monk at Rongbuk Monastry

April 23, 2006 | 06:14 PM
The Monk at Rongbuk Monastry
Years and years ago I had trekked to the Rongbuk Monastry, which is the last Monastry on the way to the Everest Base Camp...

...where I met a young Monk that kept laughing. He must have been in his late 20's at that time, and we spent a lot of time talking. He had been at the Monastry since he was a little boy.

I don't remember much of the conversation other than him laughing at my attempts to eat Yak meat that is incredibly tough especiazlly when cooked at those altitudes. But I do remember asking him how long he had been practising meditation.

"15 years, he said"

"And how long can you truly be 'in meditation' ", I asked

"About a minute". He replied, as he laughed.

Buddha's Enlightenment did not just happen, I guess.

The path to the union with the Self is a lifelong journey that involves every step I walk, every breath I breathe and every thought I think. And every word I speak. Knowing that not a single moment must be wasted. It is a torturous, tough, devastating and exhilarating journey.

And not one amongst us can say for sure what lies at the end of it,

Oh, well,

Shekhar

Buddha

April 07, 2006 | 06:06 AM
Buddha
A lot of people, including pim, ask me when Buddha is going to be made,

Buddha is one of those films that has it's own Destiny, and I found I could not push it along. I just need to let it happen. Just let it go, for it to form itself organically. I tried very hard to make it happen, but then found that in trying hard, in pushing it, I was becoming the biggest obstacle.

I had started developing Buddha not as a script, but as a visual treatment, with music. I wanted to see if I could tell the story of Buddha without words. After all words cannot explain the concept of the infinite, can they ?

But yesterday I was showoing the DVD to Cate Blanchette, and she remarked that the story I was trying to tell in Buddha was so similar to the story I was trying to tell in Golden Age ! So it is true that all directors have only one story to tell. But why not ? The most relevant story I have right now is that which reveberates in my spirit at the moment. Why deny it ? Why not embrace it and keep searching your search in whatever you do, even in your own films ?

Shekhar

Buddha, hope ....

September 14, 2005 | 08:43 PM
Buddha, hope ....



Buddha in meditation. A skethch from the designs of the film Buddha.

shekhar kapur

Buddha, hope

August 06, 2005 | 08:00 PM
Buddha, hope
Thanks to friend and co- writer, Deepak Chopra,
the hope for Buddha as a film has been re-ignited
a raging fire in my bieng was dowsed,
but a lamp still burns
reaching out to inflame my passions once again

a director in the middle of a film
is like a pregnant mother

vulnerable, emotional and willing to do anything
to protect the little child in her womb,
even die of hunger herself, as the child feeds on her body
and fight like a tigress if she has to

but also like a protective mother,
I make sure that everything is safe
solid
in anticipation of pregnancy

and when people treat me
with callousness
they dont see that it is not a personal ego that cries out
but the ego of creativity
the fear of a terrible pregnancy
the fear of loosing the baby

and perhaps the decision not to get pregnant


perhaps the only way out for me
is not be so vulnerable
but then,
how can I be the conduit of creativity
and not completely surrender to it ?
How can not be completely vulnerable ?

So in which hands do I put myself
when I am so vulnerable ?
destiny and fate perhaps,

I am not sure

shekhar

buddha no more

August 05, 2005 | 02:12 AM
buddha no more
Oh, well
I guess it had to happen
I am not doing Buddha any more
I am both very sad and somewhat relieved
Sad because I was looking forward to a personal journey
Relieved because my interpretation was so personal
that I knew I would have had to fight all the way for the creativity of the film

Interpretation

August 01, 2005 | 11:09 PM
Interpretation
All Art is interpretation. Life is interpretation. For what is life but our ever-changing perception of all things. Our ever-changing perception of reality.

Ask a hundred witnesses to a single event, and each will describe that event differently..


So when I am asked if I will be true to the story of Buddha, I have to ask. True to which Buddha ? There are so many interpretations. All I can say is that I will be true to the Buddha in myself. My search for the Buddha in myself. And hopefully the known story of the Buddha as interpreted by my desperate need to find a meaning to my existence, to my life, to the universe that I believe I exist in, but cannot comprehend.

The many masters I read that intellectually excite me, but leave me still in an emotional void that I am desperate to fill. I am hoping in the making of this film I will be able to fill some of that void.

I do not believe I will be able to ‘discover’ the Buddha. I will merely be able to ‘search’ for Him. I will try and interpret cinematically what the moment of enlightenment might be though.

But I believe that “God lies in the search for God’. There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The journey is the destination.

With that in mind I will embark on the journey if I am allowed to. Allowed to ? Because a film is a cooperative effort between many individuals. Lets see if the film is in my destiny.

Brad Pitt ???

July 25, 2005 | 01:43 PM
Brad Pitt ???
Today, I had 3 calls from the press asking me if Brad Pitt is acting in Buddha. I assume they are asking if Brad is playing the Buddha ?

I have no idea where this idea comes from. I have heard that Aishwarya Rai also is in the film. That is not far from the truth. I have spoken to Ash about playing either Sujata or Yashodhara.

However, I have heard that the producer, Dr Modi is getting restless and is approaching other Directors. Well, I will ot be the first to fall by the wayside. He had signed Bernardo Bertolluci 17 years ago. That obviously did not work and Bertolluchi went ahead to make his own film "Little Buddha". Dr Modi then went to Mira Nair, who was pretty close to shooting the film when it all fell through.

So if it does not work with me, I will be in great company !

But honestly ? I would love to make this film. Who would'nt ?

Shekhar Kapur