{"id":4256,"date":"2012-12-24T07:38:47","date_gmt":"2012-12-24T15:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=4256"},"modified":"2012-12-24T07:38:47","modified_gmt":"2012-12-24T15:38:47","slug":"bollywood-life-of-jesus-movies-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2012\/12\/bollywood-life-of-jesus-movies-then-and-now.html","title":{"rendered":"“Bollywood” life-of-Jesus movies, then and now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>A couple weeks ago, Asia News<\/a><\/i> reported that a new film about the life of Jesus had just been produced in India. Called Christaayan<\/i>, the film \u2014 actually a six-hour TV mini-series \u2014 was described as \u201cthe first Hindi production about Jesus\u201d and the \u201cfirst Bollywood-style movie about Jesus\u201d.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just one slight problem with that description: Christaayan<\/i> was beaten to the punch over 30 years ago by a film called Dayasagar<\/i>, which is Hindi for Oceans of Mercy<\/i>. That film \u2014 which has also gone by the titles Karunamayudu<\/i> and Karunamoorthy<\/i> \u2014 has an official website here<\/a>, and you can watch it in its entirety, albeit without subtitles, via YouTube, here:
\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qWPSNME-dOQ<\/p>\n

As for Christaayan<\/i>, some outlets, such as Christianity Today<\/a><\/i>, went beyond the Asia News<\/i> report to suggest that the film will \u201crepresent [Jesus] as a Hindu.\u201d But apart from the fact that the actor who plays Jesus is a Hindu in real life, there is nothing in the original report to suggest that Jesus himself will be portrayed as a Hindu within the film \u2014 unless one means \u201cHindu\u201d in a purely cultural, non-religious sense, given that the actors are wearing \u201ctraditional\u201d Indian clothing etc.<\/p>\n

In fact, the report cites a number of Catholic<\/i> figures who are behind the new film, including Leo Cornelio, Archbishop of Bhopal<\/a>, and it indicates that the film was produced by a Catholic missionary organization known as the Society of the Divine Word<\/a> (or, as Asia News<\/i> puts it, the \u201cDivine Verb Society\u201d).<\/p>\n

Indeed, if you watch the trailer below, which is subtitled in English and relies heavily on the prologue to John\u2019s gospel to emphasize that Jesus is both truly human and fully divine, it certainly looks like Christaayan<\/i> will be as traditionally Christian as any other Jesus film out there:<\/p>\n