Kundun - A visual tale of Dalai Lama

The movie is a biography of 14^th Dalai Lama – starting from how he was born, how he became Dalai Lama and how and why he left Tibet for India

Plot:

The movie starts with a women narrating a story to her kid on ‘how he was born’. The next day while eating, the mother remembers another event which happened during the kid’s birth. She saw two crows flying over the house (This is a sign that the kid might be next Dalai Lama because the crows are always bound to safeguard Dalai Lamas which is explained in a latter part of the story)

The kid is later found by a Regent (a person who searches for new Dalai Lama on the death of present Dalai Lama). The kid is tested and he passes it and he becomes the Dalai Lama. Then he is taken to the monastery where every Dalai Lama lives.

From then, it is about how Dalai Lama learns, grows and teaches back. Just when he is about to reach 18, Chinese attacks Tibet claiming it’s an integral part of China. They capture Tibet by fooling the world and UN by saying “We are freeing the Tibet from the barbaric Dalai lama and to protect the country” Dalai Lama couldn’t do anything and visits China to speak to Mao and convince him, but in vain. After some years, there was a revolt and while suppressing it, the Chinese plan to kill Dalai Lama. So, the people of Tibet convinces Dalai Lama to leave Tibet for India. He leaves and the movie ends with 14^th Dalai Lama seeing the mountains of the Tibet with a telescope from Dharmasala, Arunachal Pradesh.

Some Interesting facts:

1)      The Tibetians put kodi as we Tamilians put during death.

2)      They even make a sound similar to Oppaari we make during death.

3)      And another one thing: they don’t cremate or bury the body. Instead, they cut the body into pieces and feed them to birds.

4)      They too have the ritual of “Saamiyaaduthal” like we have here in Tamilnadu

5)      They touch their heads as we hug to exchange joy and sorrow

About Dalai Lama:

1)      As a kid, he doesn’t want anyone to be harmed. For the first time during childhood, when he sees a herd of sheep, he asks his father to buy them for him so that they will be saved from butchering. Again, somewhere in middle of the movie, he does the same.S

2)      He frees all the prisoners from the prison

3)      He hates the custom of people falling to his feet (We Tamil people must make a good note of this)

Some scenes to watch out for:

1)      In a scene, the following conversation summarizes the entire world situation:

Dalai Lama: Non-violence takes a long time

Soldier: Do we have the time, Holiness?

Dalai Lama: I have never known

2)      And when Dalai Lama describes about a Chinese General whom he meets,

“I thought he would be some kind of monster, even with horns growing out of his head. But he is only a man, just an ordinary human being, like myself.”

3)      And another dialogue in a scene: “Non-violence means cooperation when it is possible and resistance when it is not”

4)      The scene where the monks plead him not to leave Tibet shows the kindness, confidence and trust they have with Dalai Lama

5)      And another scene, where a women when asked ‘Are you happy?’ by Dalai Lama replies ‘I am very happy and prosperous under the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman Mao Tse Tung’ which she says out of fear and she cries while finishing the sentence. This scene depicts how Chinese had forcefully took control over Tibet by fooling the world with prosperous rule.

6)      And the epic scene, where he visualizes himself at the center of many dead monks during a dream

The Chinese Communism shown here:

The Chinese and its government are shown as Communists which is a visibly true but not a fact. It’s because ‘The Chinese were Communists when the uprising started in China to free themselves from Imperialists. But when they won, Mao became a dictator and did whatever he wanted and the Communist Spirit got washed away.’

A real Communist will never hurt oppressed people. A real Communist always sees a fellow man as a Brother/Sister. They don’t care about your religions or your castes or any other thing. (Not applicable to most of the self-proclaimed Communists from the past till now. Some people to whom it may be applicable are Karl Marx, Thozhar Jeeva) All they want is Equality in everything to everyone so that everyone sleeps well at night without an empty stomach. But, the Chinese government under Mao never did that. So, it’s not right to say that Communists took forceful control of Tibet

Music:

The cuteness of child blended with the mesmerizing BGM melody (in the starting phase of the movie) will get your brains down and feel like ‘Can I just die now with this feeling? I don’t want anything anymore’

Direction:

Martin Scorsese, seriously? I thought him as a man of streets and its voices. I never expected a movie like this from him. No violence. No words of Fucks and Shits. But, still getting down to the minute detailing of the environment, characters and the culture. And all the characters have acted very well, particularly the kid version of Dalai Lama. He steals our heart with that single word ‘Mine’. This is definitely a Cinema of Martin Scorsese overlooked by us. But, still a Master Piece no way lower than any of his other films

Finally

We never know whether Buddha existed (same goes with every single God created by us Humans) or whether Tibet is an integral part of China. But, what we can know for sure is that ‘It’s bad to be intolerant – across castes, across Religions, across States across Countries and maybe in the future, across planets. It feels like a long movie at first but once you are absorbed into the movie you never want it to end dreaming to see the 14^th Dalai Lama enter a free Tibet. That’s the powerful magic of Martin Scorsese.

NOTE: The sad thing was ‘Even the Dalai Lama had to carry a gun’ (which happens while he escapes from Tibet for India)