Jaaved Jaaferi talks about ‘Padmavyuha’, says film depicts ‘religion’ in a neutral perspective

Jaaved Jaaferi and Pooja Bedi recently opened up about their short-film ‘Padmavyuha’ directed by Raj Krishna, which portrays different indices of religion. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Jaaferi who has a short role in the film revealed that the thing which he liked about the film most is it’s non judgemental approach to the issue. While talking about it more Jaaved said, “I did it for Raj, I respect the intention and objective he has with the film. I like how he has told the story, keeping it neutral so that there are no judgments here. I saw the film and then he told me I would like you to do the voice and I wasn’t very apprehensive – ‘oh, what am I doing it is just a voice’ . Because when I saw it, I realised it (the voice) is an integral character. I have always been doing a voice and I think voice can have an impact if done in the right way, just like it is used in an impactful way in this film. “

Film Padmavyuha was screened at International Indian Film Festival Toronto last week, which talks about a professor of Religious Studies who receives a mysterious call, who initially being a non-believer of faith and religion later becomes a staunch follower and is ready to do anything to for it, by hook or crook. Jaaved has given his voice over to the person who calls professor, the character which is played by an American actor Nikhil Prakash.

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Jaaferi also stated “I do not think it is an outsider view in the film. It is not an opinion, it is an out-of-the-box perspective, without being judgemental. The film offers a perspective. And I think that is very important – unlike what we see on Indian news channels – those are all biased opinions – this is one just a perspective. What I really liked about the film was that it did not pass any judgement. You can take what you believe, from it. “I think when it comes to something like this, a neutral perspective serves best purpose. I think all these questions are very potent. You don’t give the answers but raise the questions, which is very important. I think that was the beauty of it.” as put by Hindustan Times. Pooja Bedi who also has a role in the film of a woman who has been missing since a long also gave her opinion saying “I think it was also vaguely ambiguous because if you take any religion, it would all still apply. It is an exploration of morality.“

Raj Krishna while talking about Padmavyuha said, “I think I am making these films because I want to explore and understand Hinduism. I am a second generation American Indian (my mom is a Hindi teacher and that is how I know how to read and write Hindi). This is also my way of connecting with my heritage and that part of world.The film is an exploration of faith at its highest level. A religion studies professor has lost his faith and receives a call late night that takes him to a mysterious path. It leads him down a dark path that leads him to mystic puzzles and those puzzles lead him to a discovery of a global conspiracy. That conspiracy also reveals to him some new information about the history of Hinduism. Padmavyuh is a number of things – it is a mystery thriller, it is a Da Vinci Code style of a religious, mystery, puzzle. It is an exploration of faith, it is an exploration of religious fundamentalism.”