A 51-minute documentary ‘The Mountain Within’ has been released on Friday this week in six cities – Noida, Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, and Chandigarh, based on the life of Noida-based mountaineer Arjun Vajpai. “I climb the mountains outside to be able to climb the mountains within,” declares Vajpai in his documentary film.
The documentary film explores Arjun’s journey over almost a decade from 2010 to 2019. in 2010 Arjun became the youngest Indian to summit Mt Everest at the age of 16, now he attempts to ascend 14 of the world’s over-8000m peaks and six of these are already done.
“The film presents the journey of Arjun in 2010 to Arjun in 2018. After having scaled the Kanchenjunga, the stories that have never been told to people and footage that has never been shared before. The challenges, the obstacles and what exactly goes on in the head of an Indian mountaineer – it is all very beautifully captured in the documentary,” says the young mountaineer.
“The film is for the younger people of India and to inspire them to find their ‘Everest’ in life and climb it. For me, that Everest is the real Mt Everest,” says Vajpai.
Vajpai says that the documentary shows a real-life battle, unlike commercial films. “This documentary is a breather from all the made-up action we see in commercial films, as what you see here is real. No one is acting in the film and it is real – be it someone falling, getting hurt or dying. It is the real experience of being in the mountains and those who love nature and adventure will enjoy it,” he says.
Vajpai adds, “The footage has been gathered over the past 11 8,000-metre expeditions that we have done. After the idea to make the documentary was finalized, I was accompanied by an Italian cameraperson and photographer Alex D’emilia who specializes in filming in extreme conditions. It is a lot of effort and very challenging to film in such high altitudes in sub-zero temperatures.”
The documentary also features Vajpai’s parents Sanjiv and Priya Vajpai, his personal trainer, some of his close friends who are also mountaineers and his personal physical trainer.
“I feel that it is a film which also gives a boost to adventure tourism and sports as it is a big market in India today. Youngsters have the fire in them to go and explore, and I hope the film resonates with that thought,” he concludes.