Out of this World! All you need to know about Yaanam, world's first science documentary in Sanskrit

Who would have thought that the ancient language of Sanskrit could feature in a scientific documentary?

Well, it’s true and it’s happening. The documentary called Yaanam (journey) will be the first science documentary in Sanskrit. The 44-minute documentary attempts to tell the story of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) scientists who worked on the Mangalyaan mission.

National award winner Vinod Mankara, who directed the project, said that Yaanam is entirely narrated in the ancient Indian language Sanskrit.

The documentary premiered on 21 August in Chennai.

Let’s take a closer look at what the documentary is about.

What is the documentary about?

The documentary Yaanam is based on the autobiography of ISRO’s former Chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan called My Odyssey.

Through the documentary, director Vinod Mankara hopes to showcase the expertise and capabilities of ISRO and its scientists. The film also reveals how India was able to make an interplanetary journey in its first attempt with the help of ISRO’s scientists.

'Yaanam' is the world's first science-sanskrit film &it is entirely about India's Mars Orbiter Mission(Mangalyaan), how #indian #isro scientists succeeded on maiden attempt(a world 1st).This 44-min documentary features fmr Chairman Dr.Radhakrishnan & others, all speak #sanskrit pic.twitter.com/VEWcyN0lmS

— Sidharth.M.P (@sdhrthmp) August 21, 2022

The movie shows the process of rocket making, its launching and how scientists controlled the interplanetary travel.

Mankara further said that the documentary is made by putting together the archival videos of the Mangalyaan mission.

The producer of the project, Dr AV Anoop was quoted in a report by WION saying, “I had read the entire biographical account of Dr Radhakrishnan and at one point in time Vinod (the director) told me about the documentary idea and also checked with Dr Radhakrishnan (former ISRO chairman), and that's how the project took off. The entire team is excited and we will be organising special screenings for the scientific community.”

The project will feature both Dr Radhakrishnan and Dr S Somnath (current ISRO chairman).

But why in Sanskrit?

The entire team of Yaanam made sure that the ISRO scientists whose footage has featured in the film spoke and explained the significance of their work in Sanskrit.

Vinod Mankara said, according to a report by PTI, that since majority of the ancient texts on space and astrology in India are compiled in Sanskrit, he decided to make his movie in Sanskrit.

His movie Priyamanasam had won the national award for the best feature film in Sanskrit language. Yaanam is Mankara’s second Sanskrit movie.

According to a report by WION, he said “There is a misconception that Sanksrit is a language that is only meant for devotion and and scriptures. Even my first Sanskrit film Priyamanasam was made to break this misconception. The Sanskrit language has a wider scope and now Yaanam is my second Sanskrit film project. This documentary has been made in such a way that it can easily be understood for even the common man and those with least exposure to space science.”

What is the Mangalyaan mission?

The Mangalyaan mission was India’s first successful attempt at an interplanetary journey. With the successful launch of the mission in 2013, Mangalyaan made India the first country in Asia and the fourth in the world to get to the planet.

The mission’s objective is to understand Martian atmosphere by studying its surface features, minerology, morphology and atmosphere.

As of 2018, the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) completed four years in its orbit around the planet. According to a report by Business Standard, ISRO is now planning to launch a follow-up mission called MOM-2 in 2024.

Another movie on Mangalyaan

In 2019, the Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan starrer Mission Mangal told the story of the women scientists involved in India’s first mission to Mars.

The movie, even though the characters were fictional in nature, portrayed the struggle and achievements of the women who made MOM a successful endeavour.

With inputs from agencies

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