‘Why I Am A Hindu,’ author and politician Shashi Tharoor’s 17th book, is set to come out as a web series next year. Tharoor took to Twitter to make the announcement, and in the process, also shared a 100-second promo of the series.
The book was written by Tharoor with the intention of tracing the history of the religion and breaking down its traditions and practices – in an age when it is being appropriated by the practitioners of the Hindutva philosophy.
The promo begins with a wide shot of a boat floating on water at dusk; this then dissolves into a close up of the same boat, probably mirroring Tharoor’s intentions to take a closer look at his religion.
Following the launch of the book, Tharoor had said in an interview that “Hinduism was almost like an ideal faith for the twenty-first century world” since it leaves room for doubt and is liberal enough to allow questions about the creator. The same sentiments were echoed in Tharoor’s voice-over from the promo where he says Hinduism was a religion of acceptance and flexibility.
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While stating that he himself had struggled to answer the question ‘Why I Am A Hindu?’ he denounced the groups that have been chipping away at the inclusive nature of Hinduism and “colouring it in hatred and intolerance.”
The promo comes to a close with Tharoor asking the viewers to join him in his quest to seek an answer. It ends with Sonu Nigaam’s rendering of ‘Raghupati Raghava’ as the title appears on screen with the word ‘Hindu’ coloured in saffron. Tharoor will also anchor the narration for the show, which is scheduled to release in the first quarter of 2019.
The show has been produced by Sheetal Vinod Talwar, the woman behind movies like Mausam, Rakta Charitra and Dharam as well as Hollywood projects like Heidi, The Eichmann Show and Broken.