Imax is perfect showcase for India’s natural beauty

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Imax is perfect showcase for India’s natural beauty, colorful spectacle

 

By Catherine Fox

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Friday, January 02, 2009

Part travelogue, part primer, “Mystic India,” an Imax film opening Saturday at Fernbank, is an eye-popping display of natural beauty and man-made spectacles framed by the spiritual journey of a legendary 18th-century Hindu yogi.

In this tale, the precocious sage Neelkanth left home at 11 and spent seven years traveling 8,000 miles through the vast subcontinent seeking truth and dispensing wisdom. His travels take us from the snow-capped Himalayas to the beaches of Kerala, with visits to intricately carved temples and rapturous ceremonies along the way.

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<!--startclickprintinclude--><!--begintext--> He settled in southern India and, renamed Bhagwan Swaminarayan, founded the sect to which the Hindu temple that opened in 2007 in Lilburn belongs. BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, a Hindu organization that promotes his principles through good works, seeds the captivating images with information about India’s accomplishments and the sect’s beliefs.

Imax is the perfect vehicle to convey India’s sensory intensity, particularly the pervasive presence of color and pattern and diverse geography. Yet, as a sort of Hindu bible story, the film’s vision of India is so sanitized —- everything is spanking clean, everyone happy and well-fed —- that the country comes to feel more like a Bollywood set than a real place.

Still, in the face of the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, a reminder of the religious violence that has marred India’s history, and the brutality and squalor revealed in the film “Slumdog Millionaire,” Bhagwan Swaminarayan’s message of love, tolerance and unity bears repeating.

MOVIE REVIEW

“Mystic India”

Grade: B

An Imax film directed by Keith Melton.

Not rated. Opens Saturday at Fernbank Museum of Natural History; runs through Feb. 13. $13, adults; $12, students/seniors; $11, children 12 and under; $8, for museum members. 767 Clifton Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-929-6400, www.fernbankmuseum.org.

Bottom line: A legendary yogi’s spiritual journey set against gorgeous scenery and colorful ceremonies makes for pleasurable viewing, despite occasional hokiness.