Click to play videoUniversity of Maryland: Ever thought what the famous Gabbar Singh scene from Sholay might sound in Sanskrit?
A group of Sanskrit fans at the University of Maryland did the translation, put a short performance together and their audience - a small group of college students - loved it.
The response encouraged Srilatha Kuntumala and a small group of other Sanskrit lovers to launch a group called UMD-Sanskritam to encourage fellow students to try out the language in daily use.
Kuntumala, a member of UMD-Sanskritam, says throwing Bollywood in the mix makes the language more appealing.
"We realised why not take it to the next level like why not translate scenes from Sholay like what you've just seen. We also translated the song aati kya khandalain Sanskrit," says Kuntumalla.
"And believe it or not it was really a great hit and so many other students who watched it came up to us and said we didn't realise Sanskrit could be so much fun. The experiment was such a success that group members now talk to each other and even write emails in Sanskrit," she adds.
Another member of UMD-Sanskritam, Naresh Cuntoor, says, "Our aim is to promote this kind of learning where you don't emphasise grammar but the conversational aspect of Sanskrit. People don't realise, whichever language you take - Hindi or Kannada - conversation is the most important."
With the launch of a new website called speaksanskrit.org, UMD-Sanskritam has attracted 600 members from around the world.
And now, by conducting weekend workshops and camps, a small army of local volunteers are taking Sanskrit right to the nation's capitol in neighbouring Washington DC.
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