Veteran filmmaker Bharatbala is in the process of making a series of short films that will be on the diverse cultural aspects of India. Titled as Virtual Bharat, it will reportedly comprise of 1000 short films.
The first of the series is titled Thaalam which is about the boat races that happen in the backwaters of Kerala. AR Rahman has done a narration for this short film explaining about it.
He had shared a video about the short film and stated, “Presenting Thaalam: The Rhythm of a nation. A powerful film set in the Kerala boat races, about finding our rhythm as a nation. Created by Bharatbala. Thaalam is India on a boat… At the boat races of Kerala, not one man is a professional athlete, in fact, they are like you and me, fishermen, farmers, postmen, shopkeepers, school teachers. To row as one, they need more than just speed and talent. They need to find the Thaalam. What is Thaalam? It is a foundation of music, a message for all, a heartbeat, a rhythm. Imagine India on a boat. The boat is only as strong as the people in it… The power to win is not in any one person, but when all of us come together as one, one effort and one goal. To move forward as a nation is to dream, aspire together and to build together. Let us find our Thaalam, as a nation together.”
Presenting Thaalam rhythm of a nation”. A powerful film set in the Kerala boat races, about finding our rhythm as a nation. Created by @bharatbala. Thaalam is #indiaonaboat.https://t.co/Mr1OaEbUBx
— A.R.Rahman (@arrahman) August 28, 2019
Actor Dulquer Salmaan also shared a video and pointed out, “I am so proud to present 'Thaalam: The Rhythm of a Nation'! Set in our very own chundan vallam (snake boat) races, Thaalam is a film about how 150 men on a boat from all walks of life find their Thaalam and row together! It is a message from all of us in Kerala to all our brothers and sisters across our great nation to row in rhythm together!”
And filmmaker Bharatbala had this to say, “Some tell me Indians don't find India cool anymore; some tell me that the India we loved is no more; some tell me we don't feel for India anymore. I don't have the answers to all that... I found plenty to be proud of. I found simple human stories that want to be told -- that deserve to be told. I hope we will make them our own, one story at a time, starting August 28.”
(Content provided by Digital Native)