Janamsakhi Movies
ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕਾ ਖਾਲਸਾ ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕੀ ਫ਼ਤਹਿ
Gurdwara Aid is supporting this triphasic project where cinema-quality short films, each around 30 mins long can be made of the janamsakhis, the stories of our Gurus, that are easy to watch and are memorable for all. Each short film costs around £10,000, from the research, scriptwriting, shooting, music score, editing, the actors and actresses to the final production. We hope to continue this project through your donations and support. The first movie is called Nanak Noor eh Elahee. We are grateful that Dr Sukhpreet Singh Udhoke has researched and written both the script and the lyrics.
There are several janamsakhis. The backdrop of this movie is the B40 janamsakhi (sometimes known as the “puratan” or the “valaeti” janamsakhis) as translated by Bhai Vir Singh ji.
Research has to be carried out to match the sakhis and decide which elements to use and how to express them in a short film. The Janamsakhi of this movie is when Guru Nanak Dev ji visited Shikarpur on the way back from Turkistan to Kartarpur. Turkistan is in Central Asia and inhabited by the Turkic people, often referred to as “tur-k” in Gurbani and who speak the ‘Tur-kic’ language. They are more commonly known as the mongols or in India as ‘mughals’, and are the descendants of Ghengis Khan’s mongols. Timur or Taimur saw himself as the heir to Ghengis Khan and founded the Timurid empire. After the mughals conquered Persia (‘Khorasan’), they turned towards India. Babur was a descendant of both Timur and Ghengis Khan, and the first mughal to conquer and rule India, at the time Guru Nanak Dev ji. Whilst there are several sakhis of Guru Nansk Dev ji in Shikarpur, this sakhi is told through the eyes of a muslim weaver named Dawood, who made a galeecha (carpet or Dari) for Guru Nanak Dev ji. He asked the Guru to put the galeecha down and sit down on it.Guru Nanak Dev ji replied:
“The earth is the galeecha, which is spread by the lord. This galeecha neither grows old nor becomes dirty.” Nanak Noor eh Elahee beautifully and emotionally captures the essence of the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev ji through this janamsakhi. We hope you enjoy this movie whilst learning this sakhi and hope this motivates you to explore the janamsakhis and the many other ithihasic texts. We also hope that you will decide to support this project by making a donation, of any amount, before watching this movie. The funds raised will be used to help fund the next movie. ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕਾ ਖਾਲਸਾ ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕੀ ਫ਼ਤਹਿ Gurdwara Aid
Folios from a Janamsakhi published in the 19th century, now at Asian Art Museum San Francisco. Left: Guru Nanak meets mythical Prahlada; Right: Guru Nanak enters the grand mosque in Mecca and sleeps with his feet pointing towards the Kaaba.
