Gujarat academy teaches Sanskrit Bollywood-style

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

‘Bhavatah samipe kim asti?
Mam samipe mata asti...’

Ahmedabad: That’s the mother of all dialogues Bollywood has ever produced. And if you still couldn’t get it, here is another clue — it’s Hindi cinema’s most explosive face-off, the fight between the two top stars of the 70s — Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor — over the quintessential Mother.

That’s the famous ‘tumhare pass kya hai? Mere pas ma hai ...’ dialogue from ‘Deewar’, now part of a unique experiment at Ahmedabad-based Eklavya Sanskrit Academy to popularise Sanskrit. One of the steps is to translate popular Hindi film dialogues into Sanskrit to draw the youth to the ancient language.

‘‘There is a notion that Sanskrit neither has any future nor market value. But, the language has immense potential. Even the advertising world quotes Sanskrit shlokas and many manuscripts hold great knowledge. ‘‘We want to create awareness about Sanskrit and promote research,’’ says Mihir Upadhyay, founder member of Eklavya Sansakrit Academy.

The academy also runs a monthly magazine in Sanskrit with a circulation of 500 copies. The academy has 190 members who gather once in a month.

‘‘Films are extremely popular in India and have a wide reach among the masses. Catchy dialogues, which remain etched in people’s memories and also recited often, would help popularise the language as it would cause curiosity,’’ says Upadhyay.