'Kundun': Projecting Tibet

Kundun depicts the early life of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and the events leading up to his escape from Chinese-occupied Tibet. It was shot in Morocco by Martin Scorsese with an all-Tibetan cast. Scriptwriter Melissa Mathison and the Dalai Lama had several 'script meetings', going to extraordinary lengths to ensure events, settings and customs were to be portrayed accurately and in great detail. Mathison first interviewed the Dalai Lama in 1991, and then in April 1992 she travelled to India to discuss the first draft of the script with His Holiness. Published here are excerpts of their conversation on that first draft of Kundun.