Depictions of Gautama Buddha in film
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The life of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, has been the subject of several films.
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[edit] History
The first film about the life of Buddha was probably Buddhadev (English title: Lord Buddha) which was produced by the well-known Indian filmer Dadasaheb Phalke (1870-1944) in 1923. Two years later, another important Buddha film was released, The Light of Asia (Hindi title: Prem Sanyas). This movie was made by the German filmmaker Franz Osten (1875-1956). Himansu Rai (1892-1940) played the Buddha. The script was based on the book The Light of Asia composed by the British poet Sir Edwin Arnold, which was issued by the Theosophical Society in 1891. The film was a greater success in Europe than in India. It gives a somewhat romantic picture of the life of Buddha. Buddhadev as well as The Light of Asia were silent films.
On March 20, 1952 the third feature film representing the life of Buddha had its premiere, Daibutsu kaigen (The Legend of the Great Buddha). Director Teinosuke Kinugasa (1896-1982) directed the picture for the Japanese film company Daiei Eiga. It was nominated for the Cannes film festival of 1953.
The fourth film about Buddha was a documentary film entitled Gotama the Buddha. It was released by the government of India in 1957 as part of the Buddha's 2500th birthday celebration. Rajbans Khanna acted as director and Bimal Roy as producer. It got an honourable mention on the filmfestival of Cannes in 1957 because of its beauty and high morality. It is a black-and-white film consisting of beautiful images of natural environments, archeological sites, reliefs and paintings, ancient ones from Ajanta as well as modern ones accompanied by a voice over relating the history of Buddha.
The fifth film about Buddha was a Japanese one, Shaka, produced by Kenji Misumi in 1961. It was shown in the USA in 1963 under the title Buddha. On February 13, 1964 a Korean film about the life of the Buddha had its premiere, Seokgamoni, the Korean translation of the Sanskrit Shakyamuni, which in Mahayana Buddhism is the term for the historical Buddha. The context in which the life of Buddha is narrated is in both films more Japanese or Korean respectively than Indian.
Little Buddha, a film by Bernardo Bertolucci of 1993, is primarily a present day film but relates the life of Buddha as extensive story within the story.
In 1997 the Indian producer G.A. Sheshagiri Rao made a Buddha film as well. It was simply entitled Buddha. This one did not roll in cinemas, but it was only sold on dvd. This one is also the longest movie about Buddha, as it consists of five dvds with approximately 180 minutes film each.
In 2001 the French filmmaker Martin Meissonnier made a documentary film entitled La Vie de Bouddha (Life of Buddha). In the film images are shown of the places where Buddha was during his life time, while Nepalese story tellers relate his life story. In the last part of the picture the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh teaches the essential doctrines of Buddha.
[edit] List of films on the life of Buddha
| Date | English title | Original title | Country | Notes | IMDB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1923 | Lord Buddha | Buddhadev | India | Silent film by Dadasaheb Phalke | [1] |
| 1928 | The Light of Asia | Prem Sanyas | India / Germany | Silent film by Franz Osten | [2] |
| 1952 | The Legend of the Great Buddha | Daibutsu kaigen | Japan | Film by Teinosuke Kinugasa | [3] |
| 1957 | Gotama the Buddha | India | Documentary produced by Bimal Roy. Director was Rajbans Khanna | [4] | |
| 1961 | Buddha | Shaka | Japan | Film by Kenji Misumi | [5] |
| 1964 | Shakyamuni Buddha | Seokgamoni | South Korea | Film by Il-ho Jang | [6] |
| 1967 | Gautama the Buddha | India | Rerelease of Bimal Roy's documentary | [7] | |
| 1989 | Buddha | India | Short documentary | [8] | |
| 1993 | Little Buddha | Film by Bernardo Bertolucci, where the life of Buddha is enacted as a story within the story | [9] | ||
| 1997 | Buddha | India | Serial produced by G. Adi Sheshagiri Rao. Director was P.C. Reddy | ||
| 2001 | Life of Buddha | La Vie de Bouddha | India and France | Documentary produced by Martin Meissonnier | |
| 2004 | The Legend of Buddha | India | 2D animation film | [10] | |
| 2007 | Buddha | India | Upcoming Indian film | ||
| 2008 | Buddha | To be based on the book Old Path White Clouds by Thich Nhat Hanh | [11] |
