Shot in India, on a mix of new and expired 16mm film, O SEEKER is a journey through a young girl’s absurd cycles of thinking about human existence, news media, and the cosmos, reminiscent of those that kept me awake at night as a child. These childhood fears and anxieties resurfaced recently as the world struggled to wrap its head around the COVID-19 pandemic. Sensing a gap in the information that science could provide at that moment or perhaps to process the immense grief we were all experiencing, we looked to religion, spirituality, and metaphysical realms to offer some solace. Many bizarre explanations and solutions surfaced to make sense of this invisible force taking thousands of lives. In India, too, many hypotheses were proposed by the devout, the superstitious, the politically motivated, and the helpless. Some people offered daily prayers to appease the “Corona Goddess” and prescribed the consumption of cow urine as a cure. Others, through more communal lenses, suggested that the goddess had arrived to teach “meat eaters” a lesson.
These strange contradictions made me question India’s relationship between science, spirituality, magic, and politics.
On a personal level, just before the cruel second wave of COVID-19 hit India in the summer of 2021, I lost Abba, my grandfather. I watched as my family contacted spiritual healers, tarot card readers, mediums, and psychics to have one last conversation with him. I wondered if Abba, a man with a scientific temperament and a former Supreme Court judge, would approve of us contacting him this way. These strange contradictions made me question India’s relationship between science, spirituality, magic, and politics. I became interested in how we explain what happens to us and how we mourn our loved ones. I spoke to scientists, poets, spiritual healers, and family members who were grieving their loved ones. I watched the news and followed the Indian government’s policies, tricks, and illusions as they tried to appear in control of the disaster. Collecting material intuitively along the way, I filmed the various pieces of the puzzle that made this film. With this film, I revisit childhood anxieties, this time with curiosity rather than fear, amusement rather than dread, and above all, with a sense of humor.
Gavati Wad
