By Phurbu Thinley
Phayul Correspondent
A renowned Hong Kong based Chinese movie star is on a two-day visit to Dharamsala to seek spiritual insights for his upcoming serial movie project.
Dharamsala: 6 February: Max Mok Siu-Chung aka Max Mok has appeared in more than 85 movies to date (too many to name them), and is still going on strong and busy with his movie career. Max Mok has, at one point of time, even acted as companion Leung Foon along side Jet Li in a six series movie Wong-Fei-Hung (Hwang Fei Hung), (Once Upon a Time in China).
When asked about giving tough martial art skills with Jet Li; the movie star modestly acknowledges the much sort-after action hero, Li as his master.
Max began his movie career at the young age of 15 when he got a chance to play a role in an ancient Chinese dynasty film. “I was by then a very handsome young man” he laughs and asserts, “Remember, I said by then”.
Since then there has been no turning back in Max’s life. However, the star says he even dreamt of making a career in Chinese movie world even when he was still a kid.
From old-fashioned Chinese movies to furious nerve-breaking martial art action films, from romantic comedies to mellow dramas and stage acting, Max has done it all in a short span of time. Believe it or not, the star is also singing star in Korea. His appearances in movies include those of the Golden Harvest movie production also. Of lately, the star has also taken keen interest in making movies of his own.
Having excelled in glamour world Max Mok Sui Chung has secured for himself a place among the league of top movie stars in South East Asia movie world.Last Eunuch in China (1988), in which Max actually plays the role of the last eunuch, Liu Lai-Shi, remains his all time favourite role so far. The Historical Drama movie won him much fame and was selected among the one hundred best movies of Hong Kong chosen during the 100th birth centenary of the Island.
Then, what brings the dynamic and versatile star to the small hilly town of Dharamsala?
“It’s to seek more insights from the highly revered Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leaders for his upcoming project, a docu-drama- Qinghai” says the star’s manager, Ani Karma Choekyi Lodro Sangmo.
A near real-life transcending experience of the actor himself, Max has already traveled to Qinghai (Amdo) region in Tibet, the central location of the serial film from where he intends to move the story of his quest for inner peace ahead. “Now I am here in Dharamsala to see Tibetan Buddhist leaders to gain more insights into Buddhism, on which much of my serial film is going to revolve around,” says Max.
The star’s manager, Ani Karma Choekyi Lodro Sangmo, says that the upcoming film project is based on a self-realised spiritual awakening of the actor himself and will depict how the spiritual call actually helped ease the star’s own life in a far more meaningful way.
“Max calls Hong Kong, where he spends much of his busy life, a tall “Stone Forest”, says Ani Choekyi.
The movie will show how the star managed to break away from the materialistically obsessed usual city life to find spiritual solace in a remote place in Tibet. The star himself prefers to call the movie a journey for his spiritual pursuits.
Max today had had a personal audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and is scheduled to see Karmapa later. On his way back, the star will meet Bir-based Khyentse Rinpoche, the Director of the much acclaimed Tibetan movie, “The Cup”.
Upon completion, Max feels his serial movie Qinghai will have the potential to help remind people, sometime in their lives; of the spiritual values human beings are slowly getting dispossessed of but, without actually realizing it. He further hopes his movie will serve as an eye-opener for today’s youths whose lives are becoming too lop-sided due to too much focus on material needs and in a way the spiritual values are driven offshore.
“Qinghai” is a first movie of its kind by the actor-cum-movie maker. “It is going to be a 20-episode serial movie lasting for about 20 hours,” reveals Ani Karma who is helping Max to keep his current project going.
“Our one-sided materialistic hunt for inner happiness is in fact driving us only farther away from our ultimate desire,” asserts Ani Karma who herself became a Buddhist nun six years ago after having gone through similar life experiences in her long stressed career in Hong Kong movie world.
“Sometimes in our search for bizarre anti-anxiety medicine in an increasingly over stressed and depressed world, we fail to realize that it is spirituality that is actually getting distanced from our daily lives,” feels Ani Karma.
Having have had enough of busy and fast paced stressed life in entertainment world, the Chinese star feels that inner peace through spirituality is slowly fading away from our busy materialistic lives and admits that the actor himself has actually started to realise this of lately.
Dharamsala is the home to the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and, lately to Karmapa, who fled Tibet in recent time to pursue his spiritual practice more freely.
