'I never imagined I would be playing Swami Chinmayananda some day'

'Acting for On The Quest was a very fulfilling experience,' Sandeep Hebbar tells Praveen Sundaram/ Rediff.com

Sandeep Hebbar plays the young Swami Chinmayananda in Tamil filmmaker R S Prasanna’s English film, On a Quest.

Produced by Chinmaya Creations, the film is a biopic of Swami Chinmayananda (1916-1993), who spread Advaita Vedanta and collaborated in the founding of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

On a Quest will premiere on December 15.

In an email interview with Praveen Sundaram/ Rediff.com, Sandeep talks about his new film.

We heard you are a monk.

I am not a monk yet. I am a spiritual seeker on a quest for the truth.

I have given up my job in the corporate world and am studying Vedanta from 2011.

How did you end up being a part of On a Quest?

When I was studying Vedanta in Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Powai (run by the Chinmaya Mission), I was told by many of my classmates that I look like Swami Chinmayananda.

During one of the festivals, they asked me to play his role for a skit, which I did reluctantly since I was not interested in acting nor did I have any past experience in acting.

Everyone loved it. Eventually that led to the movie.

Director Prasanna told us that there were a lot of pre-production workshops before the shoot.

There were a few sessions before the shoot to prepare us for the roles and make us more comfortable with the script, the crew, and the shooting process.

How did you prepare for the role? Did you read up on him or watch clips of him?

The biggest preparation was the study of Vedanta. That is walking his path.

During the study, we used to watch a lot of his lectures as a part of the course, which in itself was the preparation.

Other than that, I didn't really do much preparation. I just did what the director and Swami Mitrananda (who conceived the idea of the movie) asked me to do.

Surprisingly, during my initial days in Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, whenever we watched a talk of Swami Chinmayananda on the screen, I always hoped that some day I could talk like him.

I never imagined that I would be playing him some day and that too in a movie.

National Award winning production designer Thotta Tharani plays the elderly Swami. Did you get to interact with him?

Thota Tharani was on the set for only one day. I did get to interact with him for some time. It was wonderful to see how down-to-earth he is.

Both of you resemble the Swami.

We were worried about who would play the elderly Swami Chinmayananda. Somehow things fell in place at the right time and Thota Tharani Sir agreed to work for the movie even though he has never acted till now in spite of working in the movie industry for a long time.

It was because of his respect for Swami Chinmayananda that he agreed to do this role. We were surprised during the audition how closely he resembled Swamiji.

How was your experience of working with director Prasanna and cinematographer Siddhartha Nuni?

It was a great experience. I was initially hesitant to do the movie because of the notion that the film industry is not the best place for one to work in. But once I started working with the crew, I realised everyone was very friendly and approachable.

Moreover, most of the crew was young (late 20s or early 30s). This helped us to bond together.

Prasanna was always making us laugh, even when working under stress. Siddharth also was very friendly and made me feel at home. Anand Krishnamurthy too helped me a lot with the acting and rehearsals.

Your thoughts on Swami Chinmayananda?

Swami Chinmayananda was a great Vedantin who took the message of the Upanishads and the Bhagwad Gita to the common man in India and abroad.

He was also involved initially in the freedom struggle. Later on in his life, during his career as a journalist, he wanted to expose the Sadhus of the Himalayas since he was an atheist but was transformed by Swami Sivananda into a seeker and then into a sannyasin.

Thus his life-story is proof of the power of spirituality -- the transformation that it can bring about.

How relevant is Swami Chinmayananda today?

The Chinmaya Mission has grown tremendously since its formation and the Chinmaya Mission family is spread all across the globe today and is still growing.

Hence even today Swami Chinmayananda is very dear to lakhs of people. A film about his life will be very eagerly welcomed by all of them.

The trend of spreading Vedanta continues in many institutions today. Swami Chinmayananda is still working through all of us mission members today for the spread of Vedanta.

What about the experience of movie-making?

Acting for the movie was a very fulfilling experience. I learnt a great deal of patience since some of the shots had to be repeated many times in difficult conditions.

Now I am better able to appreciate the hard work involved in shooting and will not pass a light comment about a bad actor.

Your future plans?

I am planning to continue my study of the scriptures for some more time. I don't have any plans for acting.