Lausanne World Pulse – Dayasagar and the Life of Christ in India

September 2006

By John Gilman

Five thousand Hindu villagers sit on the ground watching a movie on the life of Christ. They see an Indian Barrabas, just released from prison, running toward Calvary with outstretched arms. Barrabas cries in Hindi, “Babu! Babu! You have died in my place!”

The concept of substitution plants itself indelibly in the audience’s mind. The powerful visual seed begins to germinate in answer to the question that so many scream out during the movie: “Why are they killing this innocent man?”

The movie is Dayasagar, which means Oceans of Mercy. The villagers watch over two hours of unforgettable scenes—the beheading of John the Baptist, the healing of the blind man, the forgiving of the adulterous woman, the healing of the lepers—with nearly fifteen minutes devoted to a brutal portrayal of the crucifixion followed by a glorious resurrection.

All the dramatic, action-packed, entertaining and emotional events of Jesus’ life, from birth to ascension, are portrayed by their own people, in their own spoken dialect, with the very music and sound effects that stir their Indian hearts. The film team showing this movie is also Indian—people who were formerly just like the villagers but now are dedicated to spreading the good news. Thousands of local pastors and film team members have said, “Dayasagar is the most powerful tool we have for sharing the love of Jesus with our people.”

History of Dayasagar and Evangelism
While in a movie theater in Haiti in 1970 I first got the idea for such a film. My wife and I had used money we had saved for a down payment on our first home for this mission to Haiti. To our horror we watched, along with a crowd of several thousand of the world’s poorest people, an American movie that was filled with gratuitous evil. My heart sank as I thought of how the so-called “greatest Christian nation on earth” could export something like this to such needy and hungry people. I vowed that that someday I would bring the gospel to movie screens in developing nations around the world. In 1978 we sold our home and I took our savings and went to India to produce a movie on the life of Jesus, to be acted with Indian actors. The movie I had in mind had a biblically accurate script, beautiful music and state-of-the-art camera work and special effects.

When I arrived in India, I was astounded to see that a new movie on the life of Christ was just released in theaters and was showing in the very town where I was! It was starring a popular Indian actor. That evening I went to the movie. The script was overly melodramatic for my American taste, and the Indian music sounded raucous to my American ears. However, the audience was enthralled. They cheered when Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple and wept softly as he healed the lepers, the lame and the blind. They cried “Why are they killing this innocent man?” as he was brutally nailed to the cross. At Jesus’ resurrection, a great cheer and applause went up.

It was then that I knew I was not called to make a movie with my talents and my taste; instead, I was called to take this culturally relevant movie into every village of India. My movie would have had Indian actors and language, but this movie had all the other nuances embedded in the Indian culture. We purchased the world rights and went to an Indian tailor who made a huge movie screen out of eight bed sheets. My Indian friends worked hard to sink bamboo poles into the ground and hoist the screen as curious crowds began to gather.

That first night, under threatening monsoon rain clouds, more than two thousand people watched the story of Jesus for the very first time, and several hundred gave their hearts to Christ. We baptized them the next day in a nearby canal. Isaiah’s prophecy was coming to pass: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2).

John Gilman is founder and president of Dayspring International. He has over thirty-five years experience in television and film production, programming and distribution. He is an author, speaker, board member and an ordained Baptist minister.