Mumbai, April 5::The entertainment-obsessed present day media has no space for real life heroes, noted Bollywood filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt said.

"The real world has no say in the media and the dream world has taken it over completely. Real life heroes matter little," Bhatt told a press conference to unveil his 24-minute documentary 'Torchbearer' on the life of 90-year-old philanthropist Haji Ajmal Ali, who heads a modern hospital in one of the most backward and remotest parts of Assam.

The documentary is conceptualised and anchored by Bhatt and has been directed by noted documentary filmmaker Ajay Kanchan, with whom Bhatt has made documentary films on the aftermath of super cyclone in Orissa, insurgency in Nagaland and communal riots in the wake of Godhra train carnage in Gujarat.

Films are illusion manufacturing products while documentaries enable me to capture the reality, he said.

"Both are two different idioms of film-making craft and are equally important for me. I make documentaries to remind myself of the grim Indian reality that some parts of the country are still out of development and progress. Documentaries keep me connected with the real world," the filmmaker said.

Bhatt described Ajmal as a real life hero, who stirred by the anguish of pregnant women dying due to labour pain in his native village, set up a charitable hospital from his hard earned money which caters to the medical needs of poor in rural Assam and other North-Eastern states.

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