Adi Sankaracharya

Adi Sankaracharya was the first movie in Sanskrit (English subtitles) released by the NFDC. It was directed by G.V.Iyer. Bharath Bhushan played the role of Sankaracharya’s father Shiva guru, and Sarvadaman Banerjee (Sirivennela fame) played Sankaracharya’s role.

The movie begins by highlighting how Buddhism, Jainism and other religions were influencing or in some places replacing Hinduism in India. Adi Sankara revived Hinduism in India by becoming an authoritative and influential interpreter with his extensive study of Vedas and Upanishads.

Sankaracharya at a very early age realized that as long as wisdom (jnanam) and death (mrutyuvu) are one’s friends, and if one can welcome death as a friend then there is nothing to fear. This is symbolically depicted in this movie. Sankara befriended two boys named Vignana and Mrutyuvu after his father’s death.

Sankara began his journey as a brahmachary to find his guru Swami Govindapada who then lived in Badarinath. The movie then depicts how he debated and won over other religious authorities of the time with his immense knowledge, faultless logic and profound philosophy.

The last part of the movie analyzes how Sankara became the founder of the Advaita Philosophy and established a highly efficient, decentralized religious institution - the mutts across the country to take forward the task of preserving the Vedic culture.

The movie included the famous and the most popular writings of Sankarachrya like the Bhajagovindam and Kanakadhara Stotram.

Though the movie did not cover all the accomplishments of Sankaracharya, it does give a brief history of the great philosopher, who not only preserved Hinduism by interpreting the Upanishads but also took it to its peak.