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Bharat Bala

Indian film director, screenwriter and producer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Bharat Bala is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer who is based in Chennai and Mumbai.[1]

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Career

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Bharat Bala first gained national attention for the patriotic music videos Vande Mataram (1997) and Jana Gana Mana (2000), created with long-time collaborator A. R. Rahman.

He was set to direct and produce an Indo-Japanese film, co-produced by Disney, called The 19th Step, written by and starring Kamal Haasan, but the project was later shelved.[2] He went on to direct Hari Om (2004)[3] and Maryan (2013).[4]

In 2010, he directed the music video of the official song of the Commonwealth Games, Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto and also the opening ceremony of the games.[5]

In 2019 he launched Virtual Bharat, an ongoing 1,000-film digital museum documenting India’s art, culture and landscapes.[6] During the COVID-19 lockdown he directed the four-minute short We Will Rise (2020), shot remotely across 14 Indian states.[7]

At the 55th International Film Festival of India in November 2024 he spoke on the panel “Culture as Context for Cinematic Storytelling,” highlighting Virtual Bharat’s crowd-funded model.[8]

Bala’s next feature, Mahasangam—set against the 2025 Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj and scored by A. R. Rahman—entered post-production in early 2025.[9]

Virtual Bharat highlights

  • Thaalam (2019) – inaugural short filmed at the Kerala boat races.[10]
  • Ganga – Daughter of the Himalayas (2023) – first film in the Uttarakhand cycle.[6]
  • Several additional shorts released online between 2019 and 2025.
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Filmography

Feature films

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Selected short films / documentaries

  • We Will Rise (2020) – short film
  • Virtual Bharat series (2019–present)

References

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