Author Archives: Bill Bennett

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About Bill Bennett

I am an Australian based producer and director of feature films and documentaries, and author of several novels and non-fiction books.

Day 2 – Bombay

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Day 2 was another busy day, which started off for me at 6:30am.

I don’t believe in jetlag – except when it I cold cocks me on the back of the head when I least expect it.

Fortunately this morning it let me be.

While the light was still low and interesting, I got a cab to take me down to the Banganga Tank, which is a very old stone structure in south Bombay where people wash and swim and perform all kinds of religious rites.

Tank2

The tank was built in the 12th century – but according to legend it came into being 5000 years ago when the Hindu god Ram (from the epic Ramayana) asked his brother for some water. His brother, Laxman, shot an arrow into the ground, and up came a stream of water from the sacred Ganges – hence the name of the tank: Ganga (Ganges) + Baan (arrow).

Tank man

I did some filming there, the first filming of the show in fact – which I should have celebrated in some time honoured way – except that I forgot.

I was probably still asleep.

Jennifer had done the sensible thing and stayed in bed after the long and eventful day yesterday. After breakfast we then headed down to Churchgate – had an early lunch at the Bombay Tea Centre where a pot of First Flush Darjeeling costs $3.

Jennifer had chai in the traditional earthenware cup.

chai Jennifer The Tea Centre

We then headed uptown to Santa Cruz, to meet the head of the Bombay Yoga Institute – said to be the oldest yoga institution in the world.

Yoga Institute Yoda Institute

It was founded in 1918 by Shri Yogendraji –

Founder

and is now run by his son, Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra. I had a meeting with the doctor at 2pm, but when I arrived I was told that he was asleep, and could see me at 4pm. It had taken over an hour to drive there, and waiting till 4pm was not possible, so I insisted firmly that the appointment had been scheduled for 2pm.

Finally the doctor’s son Hrishi ushered me into an inner room, where I met the Dr.’s wife, and Director of the Institute, Mrs. Hansaji Jayadeva. The doctor was still asleep in the room where we met – yet he was also awake because he communicated with us when he needed to. His son told me that he was not connected to the material world anymore.

Mrs + Dr.

Mrs. Hansaji was an articulate and highly intelligent woman who spoke to me at length about the yogic concepts of intuition. And she agreed to be interviewed for the film on Monday.

Jennifer and I were then shown around the institute, which is housed on several acres amongst beautiful gardens. On any given days there are multiple classes teaching people from all around the world how yoga can heal and cure, and can also be the basis of a fully realised balanced life.

The doctor’s son Hrishi took me around the institute, including a small museum which details the history of the institute, and of yoga itself. Hrishi pointed out to me that the yoga poses, called asanas, which most people in the west know to be yoga are only one of eight strands of yogic practise. The asanas in fact only originated so that practitioners of yoga meditation could sit in a relaxed pose for the hours necessary to meditate deeply.

Rishi in Museum

The institute was a fascinating place, which doesn’t seek to make money from its work. There is a small payment for classes, but if someone can’t afford to pay, then they are admitted free. Their reason for being is to spread the word of yoga to the world.

We came back and rested – and now we’re about to go out to dinner with our billionaire friend again. He’s invited us to his house where his chef has been spending all day preparing a Rajasthan banquet for us.

It should be a fascinating evening.

By the way – people who’ve never been to India worry about personal security, theft etc. This morning I put some clothes in to be laundered. About half an hour later there was a knock on the door, and someone from the housekeeping staff handed me $250 in Australian notes, which I’d evidently left in my trouser pockets. It would have been so easy for them to steal that money – but they returned it. This kind of honesty has been demonstrated to me time and time again in India.

statue yogis by stairs

 

 

Day 1 – Bombay

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It’s been a long day.

It’s coming on midnight here in muggy post monsoon Mumbai, still known as Bombay by the locals.

My day started at Paddington in Sydney – such a long time now it seems – killing time until a 9:40pm flight, then a five hour layover in Kuala Lumpur, then a steamy arrival into Bombay about midday some twelve hours ago.

Bombay man by taxi

During that 12 hours I took a 1hr cab ride down to my hotel, situated in the fancy Malabar Hill region of sprawling Bombay. It’s an area I’m familiar with, and on this trip it’s handy, because the filming I need to do is close by. The film industry – both Bollywood and Hollywood – usually stays about 2hrs up the road at a hotel called the JW Marriott – the “JW” for short.

The JW achieved recent infamy for being one the hotels the terrorists strafed. Ever since security has been up the wazoo. But security in Bombay lately has been very stringent. There’s now the constant threat of another terrorist attack hanging like a bad smell over this place.

security guard

So Jennifer and I checked into our hotel, I made some phone calls to line up interviews and sequences for the filming in the next few days – then we went for a walk to clear the jet-lagged cobwebs.

hindustan tyres Tailor

The walk was glorious – it turned into 10kms around the back alleys and busy thoroughfares of southern Bombay. It rained on and off but not heavy – just enough to have the trees dripping with moisture.

By the end of the walk we were starting to faulter – the long flight was starting to kick in – but then we’d barely returned to the room and I got a message from an Indian billionaire friend that he wanted to go see a movie with me.

outside cinema

The Indian billionaire is just that – a billionaire who lives in India. He is a one third owner of a group of companies that hold or control most of the prime real-estate in downtown Bombay – which surprisingly is one of the most expensive cities on the planet. More expensive that Paris or Tokyo.

I pressed him on his current company assets – and he wasn’t sure but thought it was somewhere around 25-30 billion. And that’s not rupees, that’s US$ thank you very much.

So Jennifer and I went and saw a movie with this fellow – accompanied by his wife. It was a bizarre evening on several fronts. For a start, we had to go through four full body searches before entering the cinema. And during the film we were served a meal called “Mexican Potato” – basically a roasted potato with some salsa and cream and other spicy stuff covering it.

I didn’t want the potato – quite frankly it looked disgusting – but my billionaire mate had bought it for me and he was sitting beside me watching me take every mouthful.

The thing I’ve noticed about billionaires – and I’ve had dealings with a few – is they watch every penny. They are incredibly careful about money. He had paid for the potato and he wanted to make sure I damn well ate it.

The film was an a-typical Bollywood film – no breakout singing and dancing numbers – no wind machines blowing back the hair of the buffed star-crossed lovers. This was a boxing film more in the vein of MILLION DOLLAR BABY – tough and gritty. A good movie, even though it was in Hindi without subtitles.

We then went back to the billionaire’s apartment – which had water views from three sides. Difficult to get in Bombay. All marble floors and a staff of eight, including a live-in full time chef and three drivers. An apartment in this part of Bombay is more expensive than on the Champs Elysee.

The chef cooked beautiful Chinese vegetarian while I admired some huge paintings on the walls – depictions of scenes from the ancient scriptures and the Bhagavad Gita.

Painting on wall1

My billionaire friend is helping me line up some heavy hitters in the field of intuitive study and research. He’s a renown astrologer himself, and has made his key business decisions based on astrology and intuition.

Vishnu

Tomorrow I’m visiting the Yoga Institute – the oldest yoga organisation in the world – and meeting up with my billionaire mate again for some more talking about cosmic rays and astral bodies. This bloke is a lawyer by the way. But he lives and breathes other worldly ideals.

 

Texts with our gorgeous Caterina

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For those of you who walked the Camino Portuguese Tour in April, you’ll remember Catarina with enormous affection.

Beautiful, wild, crazy, generous, funny – did I say beautiful? – she drove our van and attended our petty needs and made the tour very special for all of us.

When we said goodbye to her in Santiago, we all felt very sad – as though we were saying goodbye to a dear friend. Which is what she’d become to us.

Catarina is a qualified lawyer, studying with the long term aim to become a judge. She’s a smart cookie.

The highlight of our tour with her was when we got to Santiago and she parked the Mercedes van in “…the best spot, Bill. You would not believe what a great parking spot I found. I couldn’t believe my luck!”

The following morning I was sitting in a coffee shop having breakfast with Jennifer and I casually looked out the front window and noticed that several police cars were in the square nearby, supervising a large tow truck that was, yes, towing our van.

Yep Catarina, that was the best parking spot!!

I hadn’t heard from Catarina for a while because she’s had her head down studying, but I woke up to find a delightful text from her. So we exchanged SMSs, which became very silly…

Here is Catarina:

Caterina4 And here are the texts:

 

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Julian Lord – The Loneliness of the Long Distance Pilgrim

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The Aragónes Way
This year was my first time on this section of the Camino, and there are still not many pilgrims who walk to Santiago on this Way.

I’m writing this having been on the Francès for a week (hooray !!!), and so perhaps these words will be a comparison rather than an impression.

From the Somport down to Jaca, the Camino is physically pretty much a continuation of the road from Oloron to Somport — picture a river valley, flanked by tall mountain ridges on either side, a main road, and the Camino weaving in and out of these up or down towards small mountain villages, and you’ll have a good picture of those miles.

One part is in France and the other in Spain, and the other major difference is that the Pilgrim’s hostels on the French side are more often Catholic, and those on the Aragón side more business-like.

Travelling through the Pyrenees on the Somport route can take several days, unlike at SJPP, which is easily accessed from various different non-mountain locations, and the Pyrenees crossed in a single day. After Jaca, the Camino follows the Rio Aragón valley westwards, and the surroundings become a magnificent vista of stunning natural beauty. The valley is broad, the Rio flows in its natural river bed, and one’s view of the land often stretches for miles, encompassing farmlands, blue mountains in the distance, woodlands and hills, roads and rivers, resembling the landscapes of a fantasy novel.

Three different Caminos have joined at Jaca, and now you will start to meet small numbers of other pilgrims, as you make your way towards Puente La Reina and the Francès. The original route of the Aragónes is, sadly, submerged under a man-made lake, and so the modern pilgrim climbs up towards Ruesta, and through some arduous sunburnt hills further south, until finally returning to the historical Way at the villages found just a few short kilometres from Eunate and Puente La Reina — although Sanguësa, the first large town of Navarra that one comes to, already has much of the feel of the Francès.

Eunate !!! A sheer delight of peace, elegance, and beauty — and I think the loveliest small church I have ever visited. It is hard to think of the Camino Aragónes ending at Puente La Reina — when in fact, depending on one’s being a cyclist or walker, and on whichever variant route one follows, one can join the Francès in several locations — whereas it feels clear to me that Eunate is truly the symbolic end of that Way, located as it is at only a stone´s throw from the Francès, and particularly as it is common for Pilgrims of the Francès to make the detour to Eunate.

It is a quiet Way, and so more suited to those seeking perhaps a more peaceful Camino far from the hustle and bustle of the social life of the jam-packed Refugios of the Francès, with the disadvantage that it also somewhat more costly to travel the Aragónes than the Francès.

I am glad to have walked that path, though I personally doubt that I would repeat the journey — I seem to have had my fill of the lonely and solitary Way of Saint James in 2005, and seem to need the presence of others on the Camino and in the evenings.

Joining the Francès was a greater joy than I anticipated, not so strong perhaps as my 2005 arrivals in Lourdes and SJPP, as I did not imagine that simply joining the road already travelled would feel so powerful. In hindsight, I think I was in greater need of the familiarity of the Francès than I imagined …

KODAK Digital Still Camera

Another adventure begins – redux…

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Today another adventure begins –

Jennifer and I leave Mudgee and head down to Sydney where on Thursday we fly out to Bombay.

There we begin work on my intuition film.

From Bombay we head to Delhi, then up to the holy town of Rishikesh on the Ganges. And downstream to the major pilgrimage city of Haridwar.

Then we head north to Amristar in Punjab, and the famed Golden Temple. From there we then head up into the base of the Himalayas, to the Dalai Lama’s residence-in-exile at Dharamsala.

We then fly to Rome, to seek the Church’s views on intuition.

While in Italy we’ll also do a scout of the Assisi tour, which we’re mounting next year.

I’m very excited to be finally shooting this film, which has been gestating now for fifteen years, ever since an intuitive “voice” saved my life very early one morning in New Orleans.

Thank you to those who’ve come on board as investors to help me realise this amazing film. And to those who might be interested in supporting this project, please let me know and I’ll send you some information.

I approach any new film with a degree of trepidation. I know what a huge undertaking it is, and what a huge responsibility.

But it’s also an incredible privilege – because I’m in the fortunate position where I can disseminate ideas to a world audience. It’s taken me nearly forty years of honing my craft to have this privilege, and consequently I want each film I now make to matter.

I believe this next film will matter.

I’ll be blogging daily and posting photos – so stay tuned here for regular updates.

Whenever I travel, I always carry a St. Christopher’s medallion with me. St. Christopher is the patron saint of travellers. I do this because in 1982 I made a film about a lone sailor whose yacht sank in a storm in the middle of the Pacific. The sailor was a remarkable man, aged 70, and he survived for 32 days adrift in a life raft.

He put his survival down to a St Christopher medal he had with him.

Ever since making that film – my second independent film, and one that I’m particularly proud of – I’ve carried a medallion with me in my wallet whenever I travel. I got it from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. I also have one on my car key ring.

I’m not Catholic, and I’m not religious, but still these medallions are important to me. I’d feel very uncomfortable traveling without one.

And on this journey I’ll also carry a little Ganesha with me – the Hindu Elephant God that clears away all obstacles.

So I’m well armed.

Wish me luck!

Bill

imageGanesha 2

 

Contact info –

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It seems like the gremlins at Word Press have denied us a Comments box again.

I’m about to leave for Sydney, so I’ll wrap my head around this tonight. In the meantime, if you want to contact me, or send me your comments, then do so on:

billpgsblog@gmail.com

And I’ll get back to you, or post your comment once this is sorted.

Once again I apologise on behalf of those pesky Word Press gremlins.

Gremlin

Another adventure begins…

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Today another adventure begins –

Jennifer and I leave Mudgee and head down to Sydney where on Thursday we fly out to Bombay.

There we begin work on my intuition film.

From Bombay we head to Delhi, then up to the holy town of Rishikesh on the Ganges. And downstream to the major pilgrimage city of Haridwar.

Then we head north to Amristar in Punjab, and the famed Golden Temple. From there we then head up into the base of the Himalayas, to the Dalai Lama’s residence-in-exile at Dharamsala.

We then fly to Rome, to seek the Church’s views on intuition.

While in Italy we’ll also do a scout of the Assisi tour, which we’re mounting next year.

I’m very excited to be finally shooting this film, which has been gestating now for fifteen years, ever since an intuitive “voice” saved my life very early one morning in New Orleans.

Thank you to those who’ve come on board as investors to help me realise this amazing film. And to those who might be interested in supporting this project, please let me know and I’ll send you some information.

I approach any new film with a degree of trepidation. I know what a huge undertaking it is, and what a huge responsibility.

But it’s also an incredible privilege – because I’m in the fortunate position where I can disseminate ideas to a world audience. It’s taken me nearly forty years of honing my craft to have this privilege, and consequently I want each film I now make to matter.

I believe this next film will matter.

I’ll be blogging daily and posting photos – so stay tuned here for regular updates.

Whenever I travel, I always carry a St. Christopher’s medallion with me. St. Christopher is the patron saint of travellers. I do this because in 1982 I made a film about a lone sailor whose yacht sank in a storm in the middle of the Pacific. The sailor was a remarkable man, aged 70, and he survived for 32 days adrift in a life raft.

He put his survival down to a St Christopher medal he had with him.

Ever since making that film – my second independent film, and one that I’m particularly proud of – I’ve carried a medallion with me in my wallet whenever I travel. I got it from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. I also have one on my car key ring.

I’m not Catholic, and I’m not religious, but still these medallions are important to me. I’d feel very uncomfortable traveling without one.

And on this journey I’ll also carry a little Ganesha with me – the Hindu Elephant God that clears away all obstacles.

So I’m well armed.

Wish me luck!

Bill

imageGanesha 2

 

Word Press issues?

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I’ve just received an email from someone saying that they can’t comment on the blog –

Weird.

I haven’t changed any settings, but sometimes Word Press goes psycho, and changes things without me realising.

So I’ll go in and see what’s what – but if you want to contact me, or leave a comment that I can later post, then email me on: billpgsblog@gmail.com

In the meantime I’ll go into Word Press admin and see if I can figure out what’s wrong.

Wish me luck!

Bill

NIGER-10004

 

Jennifer post: What can you take with you when you die? Redux

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I was walking down the corridor at home trying to figure out where I’d left something. A book. I was very frustrated, and I went from room to room, searching everywhere for this book.

But I couldn’t find it. I was getting very grumpy with myself. And then an idea popped into my head: What can I take with me when I die? I can’t take this book I’m looking for, so why am I getting so frustrated and grumpy?

And then I thought to myself: Not only can I not take this book with me, but I can’t take any of the physical things around me, things that often preoccupy my thoughts. Like all the junk in the garage. Or the side curtains that are starting to fade. Or the mattress in the spare bedroom that needs replacing. Or the plants that need repotting.

These things that really don’t matter, yet I think about them. And other things too.

And I thought: I can’t take a clean garage with me when I die. I can’t take new curtains, or a new mattress or plants in bigger pots. Or the sundry other things that I think about from time to time.

So what can I take with me when I die?

When I’m quite happy to take my last breath, when I’m about to move on to my next adventure, I would like to take with me the things that matter to me – like the joy and love that I’ve experienced during my life; the love I’ve shared with my husband and my children. And the beauty of nature, and art.

The beauty of a field of wild flowers.
The beauty of beauty.
And the deliciousness of fresh and exciting ideas.
And of discoveries.
And mysteries.

What I don’t want to take with me is anger and frustration and greed and a desperate need for more and more things. 

So many of us spend our lives working hard at acquiring things that we’re going to leave behind: a big house. A nice car. Beautiful clothes, and expensive nick-hacks.

Things. 

Some of us work hard at leaving behind a legacy, which is generous. But sometimes the cost of that legacy can be ill-health, or acrimonious relationships, or anger. Or disappointment when things don’t work out the way you’d hoped.

I finally found the book, at last. It was where I’d put it. Lost things are always where you put them.

And then I thought: I’m just going to forgive myself now for getting into this state of anger and frustration, and I’m going to look at everything around me quite differently.

I then shifted into a place of peace and equanimity, because I realised that none of it was important. What’s important is relaxation, and happiness, and joy and love.

These are the only really important things you can take with you when you take your last breath.

Jennifer –

Jennifer Cluff pic 2 copy

Be the change you want to be… redux

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What does that actually mean?

Be the change you want to be…

It means that if you want change in your life, adopt that change and change will come. Don’t wait for change to happen, contingent on something else. Be the change.

An example: I’ll like that person when they stop being rude to me. Like them anyway, embrace them literally and figuratively, and you know what? they might just stop being rude to you.

Another one: I’ll be happy once I get a better job, or I have more money. Try being happy right now in your miserable job, start adopting the mantle of being free of money worries, and the money will come, the better job will come, or your current job will become a happier place.

It’s amazing how it works.

This isn’t about the Spiritual Laws of Attraction, because for that to work it requires a belief that there’s separation between you and what you want. This is saying there’s no separation.

You are what you want.
You are the change you want to be.

Here now is a personal example: I’ve been frustrated for a while because I’ve been waiting for two of my movies to kick in – the thriller to be shot in India, a $7m movie called DEFIANT starring Toni Collette, and my film on intuition.

Not many people realise that independent filmmaking requires enormous patience. Movies usually take between 5-7 years to happen, sometimes longer if, like DEFIANT, the subject matter is tough.

DEFIANT is based on a true story of two young lovers hunted down by their families in an honour killing. I read this story in the Times of India while I was in Bombay about 5 years ago, and I’ve been determined to make the film ever since.

The gestation for the intuition film has been much longer – now coming on 15 years since a “voice” saved my life in New Orleans. But it’s needed that time to coalesce – for me to grasp the full implications of the film I need to make. For me to truly understand what I need to make.

DEFIANT is now getting close to being funded – the script is in terrific shape, Toni is an extraordinary actress, and I’m working with a wonderful Indian producer who feels as passionately about the film as I do. He was born in “honour killing” country in India.

But the reason this funding is now starting to materialise is because two months ago I went to the US for 5 weeks where I spoke with financiers, and that energy I put out there fanned embers that are now becoming flames.

As an aside, one of the reasons DEFIANT is taking this length of time to go into production is because it’s battling age-old and entrenched energy that doesn’t want the film to be made – that wants these horrific practices to continue, because it’s not actually about so-called “honour” at all, it’s really about power and wealth.

With my intuition film, Jennifer and I depart in less than a week to begin filming in India. After having a meaningful dream, and waking up at 4:44am one morning, I decided to get on with it.

I decided to be the change I wanted to be.

And because of that personal commitment, investment is now flowing in; others see that the film is commencing, and they want to support me and be a part of a very exciting (and hopefully profitable) venture. It’s starting to snowball. The film I’ve been working on and dreaming about for so long is now about to start production.

This wouldn’t have happened if I’d waited for something to trigger my commencement.

I was that trigger.

When I look back on the fifteen movies I’ve produced and directed, and all the documentaries too, they’ve happened because I took the first step. Without realising it, I’d adopted the practice of being the change I wanted to be.

So many people in my industry sit in coffee shops and talk about the movies they’re going to make and how great they’ll be – better than any movie made by such-and-such or so-and-so.

And three years later they’re still sitting in those same coffee shops and they’re still talking about the great movie they’re going to make, perhaps with a little more bitterness because they believe their extraordinary talents aren’t being properly recognised, and they view the world as being grossly unfair, and limiting.

The world isn’t being unfair or limiting – the world is the world. It’s their actions – their karma – that’s limiting them.

They’re waiting for change – they’re waiting for funding from a Government agency, or validation from independent assessors, to tell them their material is terrific, and that they’re hugely talented, and that the movie should be made.

It’s like waiting for that rude person to stop being rude to you. You’re waiting for that rude person to smile at you. But the rude person won’t smile at you, not until you do something to make them smile.

Here’s an exercise – ask yourself this question: what would you be doing right now if money weren’t an issue. If you were so wealthy you didn’t need to work another day in your life.

Then do it.

That’s the really scary thing, right?
Doing it.
Embracing the rude person.

Because if you begin doing what you want to do, rather than what you need to do, then what you want to do becomes your change. It becomes your life, your reality.

You will begin to be the change you want to be.

Start small, and watch it snowball.
Put energy out there.
The universe loves energy.
The universe will smile at you.
if you embrace it…

Sadhu