The making of Shyama has been a voyage of discovery for me. Not only have I had to immerse myself in the deeply philosophical world of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (who has had a major influence on my life thanks to my parents) but I have also had to push the boundaries of digital film-making techniques. Indeed, without the technological developments which took place even as the film was in post-production, Shyama would not have been made. It seems fitting to me that we should be using the latest techniques to bring Tagore's classic work to a new, global audience. Shyama was filmed in Tagore’s home town of Santiniketan in West Bengal, India in February 2007. It was a unique experience, thanks especially to the commitment of all the world class performers based in Santiniketan who came forward to take part in the production. Most of them take part regularly in productions such as Shyama which are staged during the annual festivals which attract over 100,000 people to Santiniketan. The dancers and singers rehearsed daily for four weeks before the shoot itself, under the guidance of Jitenda (Shyama's dance director, who also dances the role of Uttiyo in Shyama) and Ashokda (Shyama's music director, who also sings the role of the King's Guard). I should perhaps explain that the long-standing convention in Santiniketan is to address one's elders as '-da' (literally, older brother) or '-di' (older sister). I joined the team after I arrived in India a couple of weeks into the rehearsals. Through the rehearsals and also during the shoot itself, the dancers, singers, musicians and crew developed a very strong team spirit. I hope that the end result will do justice to their skilled performances. Clearly, as it's now been a year and a half since principal photography was completed, the post-production has taken quite a long time. This is both because I have been doing it single-handed around quite a demanding day job and because we have also been completing a more commercial project back-to-back (Kaberi's Indian dance workout - see www.kaberi.eu). Of course, the advantage is that digital distribution and marketing have also evolved during this period, including the creation of MovieSet. I should also underline that Shyama really has been a collaborative effort. So the true credit for the performances lies with the performers themselves and with Jitenda and Ashokda, who have trained them not only for the film but also for a number of years. Although originally written in 1939, the story is timeless and I believe Shyama is as relevant today as it was when it was first performed, against the backdrop of growing turbulence in pre-Independence, British India and Hitler’s treatment of Jews in Europe. Of course, the turbulence and racial intolerance are of a different kind today. However, they are still very real elements of the world we live in. Unfortunately, the errors of this period of world history are being replayed, though not necessarily only in the same countries. Tagore developed his dance form towards the end of his life after seeing, on his international travels after winning the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature, that people struggled to understand his Bengali prose in translation. His idea was that dance was a universal language which could help people around the world understand his work better and more easily. Unfortunately, perhaps because Shyama was one of his last works, or perhaps because the lyrics of the songs alone would not mean much in translation without being able to hear the music or see the dance, Shyama does not appear to have been translated before from the original Bengali. This feature film version of Shyama allows us to use the audiovisual medium, multilingual subtitling and the global reach of digital technology to realise Tagore’s dream, while drawing attention to his creative genius. At the moment, we're finalising the soundtrack album, which should be available from online digital music stores by the time the film is launched at the end of November. We're aiming to complete the film itself by early October. I'll try to keep you updated on our progress here on MovieSet. Meanwhile, please let me know if you have any comments about the trailer.