Marking the 150th Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo on 15th August 2022, Sri Aurobindo Society, Puducherry and Kolkata Sukriti Foundation have prepared a documentary film on Sri Aurobindo. It portrays this pioneering leader of the Freedom Movement and revolves around the period 1908 to 1909 when Sri Aurobindo was in jail in Alipore in Kolkata.  Entitled ‘THE TRANSFORMATION’ in English and ‘NAYA JANMA’ in Hindi, the film is about 54 minutes long. The film has also been dubbed in Tamil titled ‘PUTHIYA PIRAVI’ which was released on 21st June, 2023 and in Bengali titled ‘RUPANTAR’ released on 19th September 2023.

This documentary film highlights landmark events that took place during this period. The film has shots of the actual locations of Muzaffarpur where the bomb blast took place and for which Khudiram Bose was hanged. It covers the Railway station where Prafulla Chaki shot himself before being caught and the hill where Barindra Ghose and his associates tested the bomb. The film also includes shots of the Alipore Jail where Sri Aurobindo was kept in solitary confinement and the Uttarpara Jaykrishna Public Library, where Sri Aurobindo for the first time revealed publicly of his Yoga and his spiritual experiences. Rare newspapers from the British Library and the National Library with actual writings from Sri Aurobindo form the basis of this film. 

‘The Transformation’ is produced by the Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry and by the Kolkata Sukriti Foundation. Shot with multiple cameras it is Edited by Satyendra Mohanty, with Sound design by Anup Mukherjee, and Music by Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majamdar. The Pandavani song has been rendered by ‘Chota Teejan’ Sima Ghosh and a 1910 relevant song has been recreated by Sohini Roy Chowdhury. In the court room enactments, Cyrus Madan plays the prosecuting council, Norton’s role. Pradip Mitra is Judge Beachcroft and Ashoke Viswanathan appears as C R Das. 

The director of the film, Abhijit Dasgupta, is a recipient of over 30 national and international documentary film awards. 

“THE TRANSFORMATION” has been recognised as the Best Documentary Feature Film in 6 International Film Festivals.