Mysuru: Karya Siddhi Hanuman at Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Ashrama (SGS) or Avadhoota Datta Peetham in city has become the first Hindu deity in the world to be worshipped through 4K projection mapping. It expands the definition of Karma Kanda and blends ancient tradition with sophisticated technology in a unique and never before manner. With 4K projection mapping, Sri Ganapathy Swamiji has achieved another unique distinction of the first seer to embrace projection mapping as a means of worship. He has blended tradition with technology in every endeavour.

A special demonstration has been organised for media persons tomorrow at 7 pm.

What is projection mapping?

It is a highly skilled and sophisticated technology where a physical immovable object like the giant Hanuman statue is studied in great depth and its every contour is understood from a visual perspective.

By creating the same 3-dimensional image on a computer and matching its image on a projector screen, light is scattered on the surface of the object altering it at will where the statue is made to appear differently.

The director and visualiser create images that amaze the audience as these images seem to be a magical new shape of the object itself. The result is an awesome experience. The granite Hanuman develops two additional hands which tear into his chest and show us Lord Ram and Sita. Or a forest grows around the statue and a tiny Hanuman jumps from branch to branch.

The concept and execution of the project was done by Mani Shankar, renowned Bollywood film maker, engineer, inventor and 3D Holography expert and Guinness World Record holder. Mani Shankar is also a student of Vedanta and is an ardent student of Indian philosophy and tradition. The project has been creatively supervised by Anjali Joshi who is a Bollywood writer, producer and production designer. The music has been composed by Sanjay Wandrekar, noted Bollywood music director and composer.

Design Strategy

Mani Shankar took up Sri Swamiji’s vision of showcasing the ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ as the primary design element. Many improvisations were done in this regard and first the audio. Music Director Sanjay Wandrekar was roped in and he was given an emotional storyboard of the broad meaning of the content in 40 verses.

Primarily it was observed that the Chalisa content moved from descriptive emotion to personal emotion and this swing was the main design of composition by Saint Tulsidas. After a careful thought, a musical style of rap plus melody was adopted with the rap being masculine and melody being feminine. This gave the music a distinct texture and character. The visual elements were then defined layer-by-layer. This was a long and difficult process with several rejections and recreations. The mapping was completed after six months of non-stop effort.

The show can be viewed in the YouTube link: