Co-directors Franz Osten and Himansu Rai wanted to recreate the background of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, onto film and be as realistic as when the 'Enlightened One' walked around in India preaching his teachings. To make their film, October 1925's "Prem Sanyas (The Light of Asia)" believable, they hired scores of non-actors in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. The pair searched for authentic priests and beggars to play themselves in front of the camera.
One scene called for a dieing person in "Prem Sanyas." An assistant director knew of a man who could play the part to perfection. He led Osten to an elderly male who had trouble breathing. The director was horrified by his condition and told his assistant the last thing he needed was for the sick person to die right in front of their eyes while filming. The old man then related something in which the translator said "He is one of the happy people who leaves this world so easily." He would be honored to be in the film. Osten reluctantly agreed, and filmed his scene. Two days, the ailing man died.
The image of a rather plump Buddha sitting and meditating may hold true in his later life, but the Osten/ Rai portrayal of the eventual Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, fills in one of the many biographies handed down through the generations. In this version, he's a sheltered, sensitive prince (director Rai plays him) who, once he's exposed to the poverty and death of the lower-class people, he forsakes his royal life for one of meditation and spiritual discovery. In his journey towards enlightenment, he exchanges his pearl necklaces and comfortable garments for a beggars' torn clothes. He adopts his new life of fasting, meditation and revelations to give him a profound awakening to birth, living and death. These new inspirations spur him to share his deep beliefs to those who are willing to hear.
India's film industry by the mid-1920s was gradually taking hold from its earliest foundations. In 1925 for example, 88 movies produced in the country were released, as opposed to a mere 11 six years earlier. Rai, a lawyer who had dabbled in acting on the London stage, met Niranjan Pal, author of "The Light of Asia" play, who based his story on Edwin Arnold's 1879 verse novel by the same name. Pal knew of German filmmaker/director Osten, specialist in exotic documentaries. The two linked up and not only conceived of the film based on the Pal play, but they established a film company to tap into the burgeoning Indian motion picture market. In 1925 the country had 300 theaters as well as a number of traveling cinemas projecting their films.
"Prem Sanyas" was a huge hit in England and in Germany. But in India, not so much. Its viewers were accustomed to fast-paced, quick edit movies, similar to the old Keystone Studios. "Prem Sanyas" has a more deliberate manner of unfolding Gautama's story, in an almost poetic manner. Because of "Prem Sanyas'" international success, Rai, Osten and Pal eventually founded Bombay Talkies, becoming one of India's leading film studios in the 1930s and 1940s.
One scene called for a dieing person in "Prem Sanyas." An assistant director knew of a man who could play the part to perfection. He led Osten to an elderly male who had trouble breathing. The director was horrified by his condition and told his assistant the last thing he needed was for the sick person to die right in front of their eyes while filming. The old man then related something in which the translator said "He is one of the happy people who leaves this world so easily." He would be honored to be in the film. Osten reluctantly agreed, and filmed his scene. Two days, the ailing man died.
The image of a rather plump Buddha sitting and meditating may hold true in his later life, but the Osten/ Rai portrayal of the eventual Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, fills in one of the many biographies handed down through the generations. In this version, he's a sheltered, sensitive prince (director Rai plays him) who, once he's exposed to the poverty and death of the lower-class people, he forsakes his royal life for one of meditation and spiritual discovery. In his journey towards enlightenment, he exchanges his pearl necklaces and comfortable garments for a beggars' torn clothes. He adopts his new life of fasting, meditation and revelations to give him a profound awakening to birth, living and death. These new inspirations spur him to share his deep beliefs to those who are willing to hear.
India's film industry by the mid-1920s was gradually taking hold from its earliest foundations. In 1925 for example, 88 movies produced in the country were released, as opposed to a mere 11 six years earlier. Rai, a lawyer who had dabbled in acting on the London stage, met Niranjan Pal, author of "The Light of Asia" play, who based his story on Edwin Arnold's 1879 verse novel by the same name. Pal knew of German filmmaker/director Osten, specialist in exotic documentaries. The two linked up and not only conceived of the film based on the Pal play, but they established a film company to tap into the burgeoning Indian motion picture market. In 1925 the country had 300 theaters as well as a number of traveling cinemas projecting their films.
"Prem Sanyas" was a huge hit in England and in Germany. But in India, not so much. Its viewers were accustomed to fast-paced, quick edit movies, similar to the old Keystone Studios. "Prem Sanyas" has a more deliberate manner of unfolding Gautama's story, in an almost poetic manner. Because of "Prem Sanyas'" international success, Rai, Osten and Pal eventually founded Bombay Talkies, becoming one of India's leading film studios in the 1930s and 1940s.