Tradition in Transition

Indian Express

02-07-2025

National award-winning director Vinod Mankara's Ayurveda: The Double Helix of Life is a 90-minute documentary that seeks to reposition Ayurveda as an evolving, holistic form of medical science, rather than just an ancient form of medicine.
The film traverses from Germany's clinical wards to Kerala's healing centres, attempting to capture the convergence of Ayurveda with the modern biomedical framework. It begins in Evangelical Hospital Hattingen in Germany, with patients of Parkinson's disease turning to Ayurvedic treatment for relief. From then on, Mankara takes into account multiple voices to establish the narrative – doctors, researchers, scientists, patients, and institutional heads – 52 experts– who are exploring how Ayurveda is finding relevance in managing chronic diseases like diabetes, epilepsy, infertility, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's, and cancer recovery.
'It had long been the vision of my producer, Dr AV Anoop — who has been involved in the Ayurveda industry for many years — to create a comprehensive documentary on the subject,' says Mankara, who jumped on-board due to his long-term personal interest in Ayurveda and the opportunity to explore the modern relevance of the subject. 'Taking on the role of script writer and director for this project was not just a professional choice but a personal calling,' he said.
Mankara's connection to the project runs deep; which is why Mankara immersed himself in research, poring over ancient texts, contemporary studies and research papers. He also scoured online sources, visited libraries and institutions, and engaged in debates with scientists and doctors. 'Only after immersing myself deeply in the subject did I begin writing the script,' he says.
In the film, Mankara also introduces key figures like Antonio Morandi, founder and director of Ayurvedic Point in Milan, Italy, vaidya KG Raveendran of the Akami Ayurveda Hospital and Research Centre in Angamaly, Kerala and Reshma Girish Mhaske of AVP Research Foundation in Coimbatore, who are working to integrate Ayurveda with the mainstream medicine while retaining its unique identity. In the film, Morandi says, it is all about 'finding commonalities for pathways of communication'.
There are also references to emerging clinical research, such as 'Pilot study evaluating the effectiveness of Ayurvedic psychotherapy (Sattvavajaya Chikitsa) for Major Depressive Disorder', 'Pilot study on the effects of a polyherbal formulation cream on diabetic foot ulcers', published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, among others. The film also talks about funding challenges and regulatory gaps that prevent Ayurveda from getting popular on global platforms. Mankara also acknowledges that many practitioners of Ayurveda tend to keep their knowledge closely guarded. 'While Ayurveda and allopathic systems have their unique methodologies, meaningful dialogue between them has been elusive. This disconnect troubled me,' he says.
Even though the film aims at informing the audience on the positives of Ayurveda, opening up a vital platform for talk on pluralistic healthcare, the heavy use of Ayurvedic jargon and the lack of subtitles throughout the film make it difficult to understand complex ideas and the thick Australian accent of the narrator explaining Ayurvedic terms, respectively, pulls it back.