Esoteric world of Sikkim monasteries at IFFI

Panaji, Dec 2 (UNI) Film lovers at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), watching a documentary on the lama dances of Sikkim, felt as if they were transported to the esoteric world of the state's Buddhist monasteries.

Shot around beautiful hilltop monasteries, ''Lama Dances of Sikkim'' is an hour-long movie which captures the essence of Buddhist masked dances of the state.

The film takes the viewer from the ancient history of Sikkim to the origins of these dances through a stunning series of landscapes.

Directed by filmmaker Manash Bhowmick it covers range of three main dances--Pong Lhabsol, Gutor and Guru Thamar dance.

The film shows how monks pray for vanquishing evil forces turning them into protectors of the peaceful essence of Buddhism.

The prayers conducted inside the monasteries are shown in the form of dances.

The extremely colourful dances have elaborate dress and movement code.

Besides the Buddhist dances the film also encompasses the life of Lamas, how the children coming from some of the arstrocatic families of Sikkim, lead an ascetic life, learn play, have their food in a group.

The film produced by Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Kolkata, is based on the research of Sujit Chakraborty.

Mr Chakraborty had got the opportunity to delve into Sikkimese Buddhist culture and history of Sikkim while working as an editor of a newspaper there for five years.

''Unfortunately, documentaries cannot be that long, and we cannot go on for two or three hours, but there was so much left to show.

We have a total of 13 hours of footage and we had to fit it in just 60 minutes,'' Manas Bhowmick, director of the film said.

Talking about the experience of making the film, he said, ''Each shoot was back-breaking work but at the end of the day the pain was worth it.'' Photographer of the film Rishi Barua said hardly anything was known about the subject.

Shot for the first time in side the monasteries, the documentary captures the religious life of peaceful lamas and the spirit of universal deliverance.

The documentary, in a way, is an exposition of the Mahayana Buddhism, which centres around the philosophy that human life is precious because humans are the only beings that are blessed with the divine responsibility of leading all beings into deliverance from the cycle of birth and pain.

UNI NAZ SK DS 1245