DHARAMSHALA, March 6: A premiere of a Tibetan film based on an opera script Drimey Kunden was held at the auditorium of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts on Wednesday, the religiously significant fifteenth day of the Tibetan New Year.
Norling Music, a Tibetan owned record company based in Bhutan, a Buddhist nation landlocked between India and Tibet, has produced the film on Prince Drimey Kunden, the philanthropist selfless prince of Tibet.
Penpa Tsering, the Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament, was the chief guest for the evening, which was marked by impressive works of cinematography and visual effects.
Directed by a famous Bhutanese actor/director Gyem Dorji, the film has a cast of both Bhutanese and Tibetan actors. Drimey Kunden is a film that has been shot separately in Bhutanese and Tibetan languages with leading characters being Tibetan for the Tibetan version and Bhutanese for the Bhutanese version.
The film that has won several awards in Bhutan is a collaborative project in moviemaking between Tibetan and Bhutanese peoples. All songs in the film have been sung by artistes of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, which also loaned two artistes to act in the film as lead characters. Tsering Paljor, a Tibetan based in Bhutan and who has acted in a few Bhutanese films, has played the protagonist.
Ngawang Tenzin, an artiste and a teacher at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts said it was a wonderful experience working with very talented people from the Bhutanese film fraternity. “Personally, I have learned a lot in the process of working for this film. And I think this film is not only about entertainment. It is also about learning a lot of virtues taught by our religion, which we seem to be forgetting. So I hope people will get to learn something as well as get entertained,” Ngawang told Phayul.
Speaker Penpa Tsering thanked Norling Music for their initiative in making the film and traveling around to screen it. “Norling Music has put in a lot of efforts into this film which has a lot to teach us, and is a part of Tibetan Opera too. So I request all Tibetans to watch this film.”
Thangthong Lugar, a school of Tibetan performing arts based here, arranged for the screening in Dharamshala.
