With a runtime of 83 minutes, Road to Vrindavan is a project that is written and directed by Ravinol Chambers and produced by Ravin J Ganatra. The documentary has already been selected for several international film festivals. The documentary follows Ravinol on a 1800Km Tuk-Tuk adventure across the west coast of India where he meets girls trying to overcome extreme cases of gender stereotypes. An award-winning filmmaker, Ravinol's company Be Inspired Films makes films designed to impact social change
Ravinol is a multi award-winning Irish born film director focusing on stories that cross boundaries and aim to connect us as humans at the deepest level. As a teenager in Dublin he wanted to be a stock broker, however life was to take him on a very different journey. After studying a degree in Psychology he spent most of his twenties as a full time Krishna monk living and traveling in Ireland, Africa, India and the U.K. It was in Africa in 1995 that he first developed a passion for capturing authentic stories on camera when working with street children and education. In 2009 after completing his MBA with a specialism in Venture Philanthropy he started the award winning production company Be Inspired Films. Road to Vrindavan is his debut feature documentary.
Ravin has worked as an actor and producer for over 25 years and is passionate about telling stories of human relationships and connecting characters across the divide. The phone call inviting Ravinol on this life-changing adventure that would begin with the Tuk-Tuk challenge came from Ravin and the rest as they say is history.
The documentary follows Ravinol on a life-changing journey across India. Ravinol had previously lived in India as a monk in his 20s where he adopted many questionable sexist views about women. He was “conditioned to believe that men were superior to women and the ideal wife should be gentle, submissive and subordinate to her husband...“. He carried these views into his marriage putting his wife Tina in an incredibly difficult position.
His new project Road to Vrindavan was a turning point for his marriage. Being called "a brave, beautiful and inspirational" film by Malala Yousafzai's father Ziauddin, this 4 years in the making feature-length documentary focuses on the challenge millions of girls in India face as a result of gender. One of the key takeaways includes the importance of educating boys differently if we want a safer, better world for women.
Ravinol says, "Making the film was like holding up a mirror to my relationship. Tina says the irony of me making this film has been the stereotyped gender roles in our own marriage. Putting myself in the shoes of these girls made me realise I needed to change my blueprint and take a really hard look at myself. I knew I wasn't being fair to Tina and I was also concerned about how my views would impact my boys."
Ravinol and Tina are determined that their children will have a very different upbringing and are committed to raising their boys as feminists.
“Road to Vrindavan by Be Inspired Films premiers on 31st March 2021. Watch it for free on the Show & Tell Films platform”
