Bharat Bala’s ‘Ramnami’ Wins National Award, Spotlighting a Chhattisgarh Community That Tattoos ‘Ram’ on the Body
Filmmaker Bharat Bala’s short documentary on the Ramnami community has won the National Award for Best Documentary, bringing renewed attention to a distinctive faith tradition from Chhattisgarh in which devotees inscribe the name of Ram across their bodies. A week after the win, Bala reflected on a career spanning more than 1,000 films and on reuniting with composer A.R. Rahman after their landmark collaboration on Vande Maataram.
