By Mayank Chhaya

[Photo] Devotees including some foreigners look up for blessings from the Dalai Lama during the inauguration of a Tibetan opera festival in McLeodganj. The Dalai Lama is said to have many followers worldwide. (Photo: Mayank Chhaya)

McLeod Ganj--

Hollywood director Martin Scorsese is to make a biographical film on the Dalai Lama's life.

Scorsese and a team went location hunting all over this mountain village, which has been called "Little Lhasa" after Tibet's capital.

"I am on a pre-production visit here," Scorsese told India Abroad in a brief street conversation. "We are proposing to make a life story of His Holiness."

Scorsese and his team visited the Norbulingka Institute, which preserves Tibet's ancient cultural traditions, near Dharamsala, some 10 miles downhill from here. It met with the Dalai Lama at his official residence and watched the inauguration of Shoton, a festival of Lhamo or Tibetan opera.

Officials in the Dalai Lama's secretariat said the celluloid biography would be filmed in Dharamsala, Ladakh in neighboring Jammu and Kashmir state and some other locations. Ladakh, bordering Tibet, is situated on the same Tibetan plateau in the Himalayas and bears a close resemblance to the Dalai Lama's former home.

The officials said Scorsese visited primarily as a filmmaker and maintained they do not know if he has any personal interest in Buddhism or Tibet. The film will be called "Kundun," which is a Tibetan word for the Dalai Lama. It has been scripted by Malisa Ford, wife of Hollywood star Harrison Ford. The Fords are said to be supporters of Tibet's cause.

The Dalai Lama's aides said Scorsese and Malisa Ford had met the spiritual leader many times in order to make the movie "genuine and authentic." They said it had not been decided yet whether the Dalai Lama himself or a professional actor would play the central character. But the officials said Scorsese was planning to have a fully Tibetan cast to make the movie credible. The shooting is expected to begin sometime in June.