from the Pune Mirror April, 26th, 2015

By Ashwin Khan

The first ever biopic on Osho focuses on the mystic as a youngster in search of enlightenment.

Osho as a Teenager

It’s not easy to encapsulate the life of a mystic in a two-hour feature film. And when the subject happens to be a personality as complex as Osho, recreating the events that led to his spiritual awakening can be a daunting task. But Jagdish Bharti, who never made a film before, took up the challenge and produced the first biopic on the young Osho, Rebellious Flower, which is ready for release.

Owner of the Osho Inspiration Book Shop and a follower of Osho, Bharti talks about his inspiration. “Sitting next to Osho was like being in the presence of Buddha. As his follower, I felt overwhelmed by his persona,” recollects Bharti, who was introduced to Osho and his teachings in 1980. Although he never thought of making the film back then, he did harbour the desire to do something for his master to express his gratitude. “I think I had to first assimilate his wisdom in order to put his life in perspective on film,” he adds.

So last year in April, with a budget of Rs 2 crore, a wizened Bharti finally got around to shooting Rebellious Flower. To keep it authentic, the film was mostly shot at places where Osho once lived. “I visited places like Kuchwada, a small village in Madhya Pradesh where Osho was born as Chandra Mohan Jain in 1931. I was also at Gadarwara, the city that was home to Osho’s parents,” shares Bharti.

The film stars Shashank Singh, cast as the young Osho , Prince Shah as the child Chandra Mohan, and TV show host and actor Mantra plays the three roles of Magga Baba, Masto Baba and Paagal Baba, the three gurus who Osho learned from at various points in early life.

Right from the start, the plan was to concentrate on Osho’s life between 1938-1952. This was the period when he was seeking ‘enlightenment’. “It wouldn’t have been possible to depict the entire story of his life in one film,” says Bharti. So Osho, in Rebellious Flower, is shown as a young seeker much before the time he adopted the honorific Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later, Osho.

The narrative follows a linear pattern focusing on the time Osho spent with his grandparents in Kuchwada. “Osho’s conversations with his grandmother simply known as Nani had to be featured. She was the one who gave him unbridled freedom to speak his mind, and was also his first disciple after he became enlightened,” explains Bharti. To recreate the scenes, Bharti referred to content published in Call of the Ocean, a book he had written on the life of Osho.

Keeping in mind Osho’s love of music, particularly Indian classical, Bharti sought the help of his musician friend Amano Manish to arrange the music for Rebellious Flower. A master slide guitar player hailing from the Senia Maihar Gharana, Manish drew from his vast knowledge of ragas to accentuate the right cadence for scenes where music was required. “This was the first time I was asked to do extensive studio work, so I didn’t know where to start. Moreover, this was a period film — relying on electronic equipment was out of the question,” says Manish.

However, he did follow Osho’s philosophy to keep life spontaneous while scoring the background tunes. “I would turn up at the studio without any preparation. This surprised the sound engineer as he felt we could save studio money had we come prepared,” smiles Manish. In the end, everything worked out well for Manish, who was able to compose music inspired by meditative Indian classical melodies and folk songs. Interestingly, Bharti, who’s otherwise a cartoonist having freelanced for a Delhi-based Hindi magazine Madhu Muskan in the 1990s, wrote the lyrics as well.

And to helm the film, Bharti chose Mumbai-based director, Krishan Hooda. “When I came to meet him in Pune last year, we had a brief conversation about what he expected from me, and that was it. And then, he called me up later to say that I was on board,” recollects Hooda, who’s made short films like The Last Audition and Nayi Ammi.

The 26-year-old started reading up on Osho, as soon as he was confirmed as the director. “I quite liked his message,” says the youngster. For him, the challenge lay in depicting Osho’s early life as authentically as possible. “The problem with period films is that you can’t afford to have even a hint of modernity peeking through in the shots. Right from the costumes, mannerisms to locales, it must transport the audience to a bygone era,” says Hooda, who was not familiar with the mystic’s teachings earlier, but believes they rubbed off on him in the process of making the film.

“When the shoot started last year, everything was going haywire. Most of the cast fell sick upon reaching Madhya Pradesh in the middle of summer. I remember losing my temper a couple of times and shouting at people. But then I started becoming more patient as the shoot progressed. I also realised that even a humble spot boy is an important member of the crew,” shares Hooda.

Now that Rebellious Flower is set to be released later this year, Bharti and his friends, who pooled in funds to make this movie happen, can’t contain their happiness. So much so that a sequel is being planned already. According to Bharti, Osho had once stated that if anybody were to make a film on him, they should only feature 30 per cent of his life story. “To him, it was more important to get his message and vision across to the world,” says Bharti. “So…,” says the producer with a content smile of a man who’s accomplished the impossible, “while in Rebellious Flower, you see him as a seeker, in the next, Osho will appear as a master.”