Marching for peace with Sri M

Walking with M, a documentary which was recently screened in Bengaluru, spreads awareness about efforts to bring about unity and peace in the country

A group of people clad in white, led by spiritual author Sri M, begin to walk from Kanyakumari with one goal: to speak of peace, unity, and communal harmony to everyone they meet on their 7,500 kilometres long Walk of Hope to Kashmir. In the hour and half it takes to watch this year-long journey unfold in the documentary, Walking with M, recently screened at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, this group of 80 swells and shrinks in size with people of all faiths and communities joining in.

Sri M, born Mumtaz Ali into a Muslim family, was drawn to spirituality from a young age and initiated into the Nath tradition at 19. Without a long beard or flowing robes and a family of his own, he is not what one would expect a spiritual guru who quotes the Gita, the Vedas, and Sufi poetry with ease, to look like.

Ideas of peace and unity were brewing in his head long before he set out on The Walk of Hope in 2015, but what triggered him to take the first step was when he was violently attacked by people upset by his views.

“I am not blaming this side or that. I believe if bad ideas and violence can spread, non-violence and good thoughts can spread too. I believe if we make a little change, a tweak good or bad, it should make a difference. This set me off and I thought perhaps this ripple effect would spread.”

The documentary, seven years in the making, takes viewers along on this 15-month-long journey, allowing viewers to see India’s communal fault lines through a new lens.

Filmmaker Akash Sagar Chopra who had to sift through 1,800 hours of footage, talks about the challenges of putting the documentary together. “From a technical perspective, finding the story was challenging. How do you tell a journey of 7,500 kilometres in under two hours? We fall in love with our footage and with so many beautiful moments, but you have to kill your darlings and chip at the marble block to make this sculpture, to convey the intent of what this film is supposed to be.”

Despite being welcomed by people across religious and party lines on his padayatra, Sri M makes it clear that he has no political ambitions, repeatedly emphasising his political neutrality and disinterest in contesting elections. At one point in the documentary, he says he is often asked if he is protesting anything. “I’m protesting against people who turn into animals and kill each other,” says Sri M.