Virtual Bharat Series of Films – Created by Bharatbala
About this event
Virtual Bharat Series of Films
Created by Bharatbala
Experience four powerful films from the Virtual Bharat Series, celebrating India’s diverse traditions, people, landscapes, beliefs, and cultural identities.
Join us for an evocative cinematic journey through Maharashtra and beyond, featuring stories of resilience, devotion, nature, rhythm, and transformation.
Grandmother’s School
In the small village of Fangane, Maharashtra, stands a school unlike any other.
Its students are not the typical school-going crowd. They are grandmothers who, driven by a deep desire to learn, pick up their bags, put on their uniforms, and attend school with one simple dream — to be able to sign their own names.
Their journey challenges the assumptions surrounding age, gender, and circumstance. With determination and an unwavering belief in themselves, these women demonstrate that the desire to learn has no age and that it is never too late to pursue a dream.
Grandmother’s School is a story of courage, dignity, education, and the limitless possibilities that emerge when we refuse to let circumstances define us.
Bhandara
Devotion comes in many shades. At the Bhandara festival in Jejuri, Maharashtra, it is yellow — fierce, vibrant, and almost asuri (demonic).
Bells jangle, whips crack, and clouds of turmeric dust rise as devotees lose themselves in celebration and devotion to Khandoba.
According to legend, on Mount Kailash, Lord Shiva assumed the sword-wielding form of Khandoba. The story tells of Rajni, the Goddess of the night, who beseeched him to turn her an auspicious yellow because she was the only dark-complexioned one in his court. Thus was born a golden night and a lone turmeric tree on the icy mountain.
It is believed that the dust from this tree was smeared by the Lord on his body before his battle with the demons Mani and Malla.
As Khandoba and his consort Mhalsa are taken to the Karha River for their ritual bath, Jejuri transforms beneath a canopy of turmeric. Through movement, music, ritual, and uninhibited celebration, devotees enact the Lord’s battle and release their prayers into the air — hoping to emerge victorious against the vagaries of life.
Story of Rain
When the first clouds touch the mountains of Konkan, the earth exhales in relief.
Rain falls endlessly, transforming brown fields into oceans of green. Amid the rhythm of thunder and song, life finds its pace.
Farmers rise with the sun, their feet sinking into soft mud as their hands shape the future grain by grain. Women hum to the rhythm of the rain while planting the seeds of tomorrow. Children laugh in the distance, and the air fills with the unmistakable fragrance of wet soil and new beginnings.
Here, farming is not merely a profession — it is a prayer.
Each drop of rain and every grain of rice carries generations of patience and wisdom. In Konkan, people take only what they need, leaving the rest for nature to heal and breathe.
Story of Rain is a celebration of balance — of abundance without excess, work that feels like worship, and communities whose lives remain deeply connected to the rhythm of the monsoon.
Ta-Dhom
In the streets of Mumbai, rebellion finds an ancient beat.
From the echoes of tin-roofed neighbourhoods during the monsoon to the crowded alleys of the city, a group of young rappers use rhythm and rhyme to express their struggles and survival.
Their world changes when maverick music producer Viveick Rajagopalan introduces them to Konnakol, the centuries-old Carnatic art of speaking rhythm.
What begins as a clash between the familiar bars of hip-hop and the intricate rhythmic cycles of South Indian classical tradition gradually becomes an electrifying fusion.
Public gardens become rehearsal halls. Street corners become stages. And the sound of Mumbai is transformed — raw, disciplined, and deeply rooted.
Ta-Dhom is a story about rhythm as identity, protest, and transformation — where ancient syllables meet street ciphers, and a city learns to listen.
A Journey Through India
Four films. Four distinct worlds.
From the determination of grandmothers in a Maharashtra village, to the fierce devotion of Jejuri, the monsoon-soaked fields of Konkan, and the rhythmic streets of Mumbai — the Virtual Bharat Series captures the extraordinary diversity of India’s people, traditions, and stories.
Date: 8 August 2026
Time: 4:00 PM
Venue: Nalanda Hall
Be part of this cinematic celebration of Bharat.
