CELEBRATE: Holi
* CELEBRATE: Holi *
Click CC [Subtitles] > EN for English Subtitles!
Amid India's spring festival of colors, a young drama teacher at a shelter for Delhi's street children looks into his own past for reasons to celebrate the present.
Director / Photographer / Music by Jeffrey Waldron
Learn more about Salaam Balaak Trust: http://www.salaambaalaktrust.com
Click CC [Subtitles] > EN for English Subtitles!
Amid India's spring festival of colors, a young drama teacher at a shelter for Delhi's street children looks into his own past for reasons to celebrate the present.
Director / Photographer / Music by Jeffrey Waldron
Learn more about Salaam Balaak Trust: http://www.salaambaalaktrust.com
Transcript
00:16It's a Hindu tale.
00:18There was a king, Hiranyakashipu.
00:23Hiranyakashipu had a son...
00:27...Prahlad.
00:32Prahlad, straight from his birth,
00:35when he was in the womb of his mother,
00:37he was a very ardent devotee of Vishnu.
00:39And his father, Hiranyakashipu, was an enemy of Vishnu.
00:44Hiranyakashipu was like a terror to this whole world.
00:49He was, you know, like a barbarian.
00:52His own son Prahlad is praying for Lord Vishnu.
00:56So...
00:57He tried to kill him.
01:01This is the point from where the Holi festival starts.
01:34India is a land of festivals,
01:38and Holi is a festival of colors.
01:44Different people, different cultures, different clothes,
01:47all are different.
01:49And different kind of people are like different kinds of colors.
01:56This game is about following the instructions of daddy, 'Papa'.
02:02Actually in English they say Simon Says,
02:06in Hindi I say Papa Says.
02:07Papa is like daddy says.
02:11"Papa says sit down, Papa says go up,"
02:13"Papa says be very angry."
02:16All these things.
02:17So for the very intense expressions.
02:25Mainly, the aim is to work with like street and working children.
02:28Like children who are on the street,
02:31their parents left them,
02:33and children who are working on the dhaba,
02:35or a factory, for those kind of children.
02:39Yeah, they work for survive, for money,
02:41because they have to.
02:43If they're on the street it means they don't have the hand,
02:45they don't have the parents,
02:47they have nobody to 'take care of.'
02:49that's why to survive they do this kind of job.
02:54Actually I know all these things because...
02:57I am one of them... child.
03:06Krishna... he is of a bluish complexion.
03:11and Radha, is of a golden complexion.
03:14Now Brahma took these two colors,
03:17mixed them together,
03:19and the color which came out is green.
03:25There is a saying that after Holi
03:27the winter will be gone and the summer will start.
03:30The new green trees will come,
03:33and people say it's like a new starting of life.
04:20He said, "Okay, one day. One week. One month left."
04:23Day by dady. And again that situation started,
04:27drinking...
04:29beating my mother, sometimes beating me also.
04:32After that the situation was worse and worse and worse and worse,
04:36and even my father was not coming on the track, he was not right.
04:40So one day he beat me very badly and I decided to run away from there.
04:52The first Holi at the center...
04:57...in the starting I was thinking how can I live in this kind of atmosphere.
05:01It's very different.
05:07When a child is very young, when they come here,
05:10and when they start doing theater, drama,
05:14when they start thinking in a different way.
05:18You know, we have to create a different story.
05:21And we have to create different characters.
05:29Hiranyakashipu felt like there is only one enemy of mine
05:33that is my son. I should kill him.
05:35Because he is not following me.
05:37He doesn't accept my supremacy. He doesn't accept me as God.
05:40So my blood has become my enemy.
05:44Hiranyakashipu had a sister, Holika.
05:48Holika had a boon that she wouldn't be burned by fire
05:52at any moment, at any time.
05:57So she took Prahlad on her lap...
06:02...and Hiranyakashipu lit fire.
06:08"Papa says...
06:09...be angry."
06:12"More angry!"
06:15"Feel angry. Feel angry from inside."
06:19"Show your anger."
06:22"Look at me! Look at me!"
06:25"More anger! More anger!"
06:45And slowly and slowly...
06:46...the fire started engulfing Holika.
06:50She started screaming, she started shouting.
06:57Prahlad was completely untouched.
07:03Every year a night prior to Holi festival,
07:06people in different parts of India collect wood,
07:11and they light the fire.
07:12That actually resembles Holika.
07:15When Holika was burned, the Holi festival started.
07:20So Holi is a festival which gives the message of victory of good over bad.
07:28Maybe there will be a high tide and a low tide in life...
07:31but a color of happiness should always prevail.
07:42So it's like a moment, a chance, a time...
07:46when they say okay, let's forget everything,
07:49be together, be happy, be colorful, be positive, be connected.
08:28Holi is the celebration of victory over evil.
08:33They don't have a family, father, mother,
08:36but they have family here.
08:39And I'm one member of this family.