Babaji, an Indian Love Story (2009)

Directed by: Jiska Rickels | 72 minutes | documentary

Babaji is known as a Shaman (a kind of naturopath and miracle doctor). He heals people who come from far and wide from pain and disease. He also expels spirits with special rituals and locks them in metal horns from which they are no longer allowed to escape. Even a former Indian finance minister has consulted him. Babaji traveled to New Delhi by invitation and healed the man.

He is the first to admit that he is not omnipotent. His own wife died of cancer, he could not cure her with his herbs and exorcisms. However, these are not the main reasons why he has now received a star status. According to Hindu customs, Babaji had his wife cremated, but was unable to say goodbye to her and buried her only partly charred remains – very contrary to Hindu customs – in his own yard. He derives his fame from the bizarre fact that he has now dug a grave for himself next to his wife’s grave, in which he lies down every day in anticipation of being reunited with his wife. This ritual has been going on for many years now.

This fact came to the attention of a journalist from the Hindustan Times who saw the publicity value of this and who – partly to the glory of his newspaper and himself – interviewed Babaji. His articles have earned Babaji a real cult status. People now come from all over the world to witness this bizarre ritual. However, his death seems to be getting further and further away. Although he is said to be 107 years old, villagers say that “death is running away from him.” According to them, Babaji will look younger and younger. The story of the film is small, the atmosphere of the film is honest and intimate. We follow Babaji in his daily life where he and his daughter explain the events. This is interspersed with short conversations with the journalist who gave him more or less national fame, the doctor who treated his wife for cancer and the villagers from the hamlet where he lives. Many actually know very little about him.

The – in itself small – story and events have been carefully and slowly worked out. The spectator gets a view of the daily, sober, life of Babaji and the villagers. In various musical interludes, traditional music and songs deal with the eternal story of life and death, love, saying goodbye and mourning. These interludes fit seamlessly with atmospheric images of village processions. The camera captures the atmosphere in a colorful way and in warm colours, resulting in an intimate, tranquil and poetic documentary. Babaji waits in his self-dug grave, but is at the same time full and in the middle of life. After her earlier and much acclaimed ‘4 Elements’, director Jiska Rickels has delivered another intimate piece of documentary cinema.