Trapped between Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan, the mountainous Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim, which only officially became part of India in 2003, is not known for the number of Bollywood actors it producers – but it may have found a star of the future in seven-year-old Yuden Zongtempa.
Yuden steals the movie in Avartan, currently being screened at the International Film Festival of India in Goa. Yuden, who is being raised in California where her father is an IT professional, had no problems with the dialogue as the film was shot in English. The movie’s title refers to the natural cycle of beats in North Indian music and in the movie this is reflected in the intense relationships between three people. The movie also stars living screen legend Rituparna Sengupta and Rajat Kapoor. The film was shot entirely in Sikkim and is worth seeing for the extraordinary natural images alone.
Yuden was looking forward to the beaches of Goa and is keen on the Powerpuff Girls and Twinkle comic. Rajat Kapoor, meanwhile, one of the most intriguing actors in Bollywood, has been receiving plaudits for his innovative comic interpretation of Hamlet – a theatre production called Hamlet – The Clown Prince.
