Pan Nalin's debut takes us on an ambitious ride through many facets of man's life. I do not like to be spoon fed. The films visuals, its art direction, its costumes, its set decoration are really TOO MUCH. TOO PERFECT. They go beyond National Geografic, and end up near an ethnic VOGUE fashion shoot. The 'starring couple' are gorgeously repellent. The female lead is a local (?) answer to 'flavor of the decade' Angelina Jolie. The secondary characters are so expertly cast that you feel manipulated. This is a movie made for Americans. It is a Californian's daydream of exotic proportions. We are transported to something Disney would have loved to concoct, had he allowed sex to creep into his book-of-rules. what the film DOES succeed in, is in giving us a worthy 'finale'. A message which, after such a rally of clichés, comes as a welcome surprise. We hear a WOMAN's view-point! We learn a lesson. "You can and will find your spiritual path amidst people, in nature...just by LIVING." it is not necessary (or healthy) to retire to a temple, as a yogi, or a monk, in order to fulfill your spiritual aspirations. So, it comes as a pity that such a good message should be served up with cynical, glossy manipulation by the director. Bertolucci gave us a typically Italian visual overkill with 'Little Buddha', but Pan Nalin just couldn't resist giving the Indian Tourist Board a brisk business boost. All I felt is..."Oh God! More hordes of tourists will be squirming at home, desiring a slice of all that exotic, stylish Nepalese decor. More authentic plates, mirrors, instruments etc. will be sold off to N.Y. lawyers' wives for good $$$.... and , goodbye to what little is left of this wonderful corner of the planet.!" And Pan Nalin is , no doubt wondering how to pay his Mulholland Drive rent. His next film may give us the answer.
