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to film the Super Specialty Hospital, the university buildings, the students, and to report on his free, socially uplifting educational and health programs.
Filming during Summer School
We were to begin filming in May 1992, when Swami’s summer school sessions on Indian Culture and Spirituality were held at the Brindavan campus of his university, the Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, located outside of Bangalore.
Preparations
The preceding months were crammed with preparations. Philip began writing a script, which I reviewed to help him beer understand Swami’s life and message. Being useful in this manner heightened my feeling of participation and served to deepen my love for Swami even more.
It was exciting to see unlikely, unexpected situations open and to find myself actually playing a role. I could feel the hand of a grand director craing a play and handing out the parts. I was deeply struck with the miracle of it all when I went to Holland just before our May trip to India. I wanted to be sure that we were as prepared and coordinated as possible. Philip took me to an impressive filming studio where grand productions were filmed. I stood in an enormous area, perhaps the size of three or four football fields, where sets were constructed, and then in a large hall where hundreds of lights lined the ceiling. In this impressive seing I contemplated how, just a short while ago, I had wanted to work on a film about Swami but knew nothing on how to go about it or where to get the money. Now I was standing next to an accomplished documentary filmmaker, in a quality film studio, helping to actually carry out the project. How absolutely unbelievable and exciting that Swami had granted me this opportunity!
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