Malayalam filmmaker Rajiv Anchal goes West

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 13 (IANS): An English film by Malayali director Rajeev Anchal that deals with a person's spiritual being has won the Best Direction and Best Screenplay awards and the Grand Jury Prize at the New York International film festival.

Anchal, best known for his Malayalam film "Guru" that won an Oscar nomination in 1997, said his English film "Beyond the Soul" gives the message that "if an individual lives a virtuous life, it is good for him not only today but also tomorrow. It is also good for all the others around him, and society as a whole."

The film is based on a "sloka" or Sanskrit verse, which says "all the sins committed in a person's previous birth would follow him as incurable diseases in the present one", Anchal said.

After the screening was over at the Las Vegas session of the New York International Film festival, Thampi Antony - the actor who plays a doctor practising ayurveda in the film - was surrounded by people who wanted to tell him their health problems.

Anchal's earlier film "Guru" was inspired by the teachings of his spiritual guru, Karunakara Guru of Santhigiri Ashram. The film starred Mohanlal in the title role.

The film was about a man reaching a place where all were blind but his efforts to help them culminate in his death.

According to Anchal, all the gurus from Christ onwards have been first killed and then deified. "So, when I made 'Guru', Muslims thought I was talking about the Prophet, Christians thought it was about Jesus Christ. Similarly, Buddhists thought it was about the Buddha."

Anchal said the reasons behind his making two 'spiritual films' was that he was annoyed with filmmakers who presented the darker side of India to the outside world.

He said it "irritated" him that they only wanted to highlight India's poverty. He said he believes that India is not poor and it has a rich heritage that was not shown to the outside world.

Anchal has also made a quickie titled "Life in Las Vegas" that was shot entirely in the USA.

The film talks about expatriate Malayalis and stars Tamil heartthrob Madhavan in the lead. This is Madhavan's first Malayalam film.