Docudrama on Dalai Lama catches fancy of Tibetans

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, July 16

A first-of-its-kind docudrama on the escape of the Dalai Lama from Tibet in 1959 is being aired on Epic TV channel. The first part of the film was shown on July 15 and the remaining will be aired on July 22.

As the Hindi docudrama has many Tibetans living in Shimla and McLeodganj as actors, it has caught the fancy of the Tibetans-in-exile.

It has been filmed in the remote region of the Spiti valley. Tenzin Tsundue, a Tibetan activist who has also acted in the film, said the valley was chosen as it resembled the wind-swept hard topography of Tibet. “Though the entire shooting was completed in 15 days, the cast and crew worked day and night in excruciating weather conditions and high topography,” he said.

He said the film narrated the Dalai Lama’s life in Tibet and the treacherous journey he made at the age of 24, escaping the Chinese persecution and finally seeking asylum in India in 1959. This journey brought the Dalai Lama and one lakh Tibetans in India as refugees, now mostly living in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka.

The film was made by Rangrez films based in Mumbai. Nidhi Tulli and Ashraf of Rangrez Films have earlier made documentaries on Tibetan issues.

The cast includes Tibetans from Dharamsala, Shimla, Delhi and Odisha. Tenzin Dalha from Darjeeling, studying in Delhi University, plays the role of the young Dalai Lama. Dalha had earlier acted in Bollywood movie “Margarita with a straw”. Others acting in the film are amateur Tibetan actors.

“The role of the Dalai Lama’s bodyguard has been played by a businessman in McLeodganj and the one who enacted the Dalai Lama’s deity sells socks on a roadside in McLeodganj. The actor playing a minister is a local driver and another one is a farmer from Odisha. The key adviser, Phala, is a seasoned politician while the Khampa warrior chieftain is a well-known activist. Local Spiti population in Kaza, Kibber, Langza, Gomic and Delmu also took part in the film with great enthusiasm,” Tsundue said.