Swami Vivekananda Comes to American Public Television in May 2024
For the first time in American Television history, Public Television Stations across the US will show a new documentary film on Swami Vivekananda called “America’s First Guru," - and that too a first by an Indian-origin documentary filmmaker.
My new feature-length documentary film America’s First Guru will be broadcast on Public Television in May 2024 and tells the compelling story of how Yoga, Vedanta, and the highest ideals of Indian Wisdom first entered the popular American conversation in 1893 with the arrival of Swami Vivekananda at the first World’s Parliament of Religion in Chicago and how, in 6 short years he traveled across the country transforming American religion, culture, interfaith dialogue, and gender equality. He celebrated the universality and pluralism of all faiths. He changed the way the West saw India forever and, in doing so, became America’s First Guru.
Our presenting partner, WTTW Chicago, fell in love with the idea three years ago and offered to present it to the Public Television universe. We began production in the winter of 2022 with major funding and underwriting from The Dharma Endowment Foundation (Michael Singer), Sumir Chadha, Surja Bose, and others. Swamiji was brought to life by the amazing New York actor Samrat Chakrabarti, and the film includes appearances by Swami Sarvapriyananda, Swami Medhananda, Ruth Harris, AL Bardach, Jeffery Long, and Phil Goldberg.
In the buildup to our May broadcast, we will show the film at special preview screenings at Princeton University, Harvard University, NYC, LA, Chicago, and The Bay Area. After the broadcast, we will stream it through the PBS App and Prime Video. Then, off we go to show it to the World.
My journey with Swami Vivekananda began in childhood with my father who was devoted to Sri Ramakrishna and Swamiji. He was an engineer with the WHO building hospitals in Nigeria, where I was born, and he found great strength in his beliefs. He always told us about Vivekananda's great speech in America and how he encouraged young Indians to rise up and awaken to their true potential. I went on to study architecture in London and then came to America in 1998. When I moved to New York City in 1999, I studied closely with the renowned Ramakrishna Mission Monk, Swami Adiswarananda. Swami Vivekananda’s story has always inspired Indian engineers, scientists, immigrants, entrepreneurs, artists, and thinkers who made their way to America. But what is less known is his impact on Americans then and now, particularly religious thinkers, women, artists, academics, philanthropists, and even Nikola Tesla. I try to tell that story.
In 2007, we returned to India for 14 years to have our daughter, and there, I started my filmmaking career in earnest and was privileged to win the National Film Award in 2014 for my documentary, The Quantum Indians. We returned to America in 2021, and I now get to bring Swami Vivekananda to new audiences around the World. With America’s First Guru, I feel I have broken a glass ceiling for Indian storytellers on American Public Television. I hope this is the start of a wonderful adventure in telling the Indian-American story and how our Wisdom continues to shape and change the World.
To follow us, see a preview teaser, become a sponsor, organize a showing, or find out where to see this important film, visit www.americasfirstguru.com.
About the Author
Raja Choudhury is a National Film Award (India) winning filmmaker, architect, and speaker, who has created many acclaimed documentary films. He was born in Nigeria to a WHO family and educated as an architect at London’s Architectural Association. His most acclaimed films include The Modern Mystic on Sri M, The Quantum Indians on Saha, Bose, and Raman – awarded the National Film Award of 2014, and India and the MEA’s official film on Yoga for the first International Day of Yoga: Yoga Harmony with Nature. Raja is a popular spiritual teacher and guide on The Shift Network and YouTube. He lives in Princeton with his wife, daughter, and dog, Maximillian.
You can read about Raja at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Choudhury and write to him at raja@athousandsunsacademy.com
