BBC Factual has commissioned Fremantle Media’s specialist factual indie Wildstar Films to produce Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges (working title).
The one-hour documentary special for BBC One and iPlayer explores the biggest gathering on Earth – the Maha Kumbh Mela Festival in Northern India.
Journalist and presenter Amol Rajan joins up to 500 million pilgrims from all over the globe who come together for the world’s largest religious festival. The festival, which takes place every 12 years, is the largest in human history. This year’s Kumbh is a once in a lifetime event, due to a special alignment of the planets in the solar system, which last occurred 144 years ago. Pilgrims numbering more than the combined populations of the US and UK gather in an area the size of Manhattan, at the confluence of three sacred rivers, to purify themselves in the waters and gain salvation for themselves and their families.
Amol Rajan, who was born in India to a practising Hindu family, “has struggled to come to terms with the death of his father three years ago and hopes that reconnecting with his birthplace, at one of Hinduism’s most important religious events, could help him process his grief.”
Along the way, he meets pilgrims spread out across 20 square miles of the temporary megacity and comes face to face with the tragic side of pilgrimage as a stampede leads to at least 30 dying and more injured. Amol must abandon his plans as surging crowds cause chaos and confusion. While the authorities race to keep the festival going safely, he must navigate his own feelings towards the tragedy and assess whether to make it to the river at all.
Amol Rajan said: “This journey is both a monumental privilege, and an invitation to understand one of the most beautiful, complex, and profound religions and civilisations our world has ever known. It also comes – as viewers will discover – at a vital moment for me. Truly, this is the most auspicious adventure I have ever been on. Me and 500 million fellow pilgrims, that is…”
Daisy Scalchi, BBC Head of Religion and Ethics for Television said: ”This pilgrimage is an immensely personal one for Amol and will bring another side of the presenter to audiences as he takes us inside one of the world’s most extraordinary religious events”
Anwar Mamon, Executive Producer and Director of Development at Wildstar Films added: “Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges (w/t) will immerse viewers in a spectacular assault on the senses provided by the most monumental human gathering in Earth’s history. Exploring both the sacred and the surreal, along with the feats of construction and organisation involved in building and running a temporary mega-city on a flood plain to house 500 million people, the film will also investigate why in an increasingly secular world the promise of spiritual salvation holds such sway.”
Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges (w/t) is a Wildstar Films production for BBC One and iPlayer. It is directed and produced by Brigid McFall, the editor is Dilesh Korya and the executive producer is Anwar Mamon. It was commissioned by Jack Bootle, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual and the Commissioning Editor is Daisy Scalchi, Head of Commissioning, Religion and Ethics.
Fremantle International is the worldwide distribution partner for the documentary, which is being sold under the working title Kumbh Mela: Earth’s Biggest Festival and is being launched to global buyers at the London Television Screenings 2025.
Staff Reporter
Share this story
