Would you be interested in watching a film on the Dalai Lama—not a spiritual fiction, but a historical actioner? Well, if that piques your interest, Shenpenn Khymsar’s 4 Rivers 6 Ranges: Chushi Gangdruk is one such strange and unexpected outing.The film follows the Chushi Gangdruk—a group of ordinary Tibetan men—farmers, traders and monks—who took up arms to protect their land, faith and the 14th Dalai Lama. Their mission included helping escort the young Dalai Lama through treacherous mountain terrain to safety in India in 1959.From refuge to responsibilityThe man behind this film… Khymsar’s childhood was marked by political and family turmoil, with the Gorkhaland movement creating considerable unrest in Darjeeling. The cinema hall offered an escape. “I could hop and skip to the only cinema in my town–Plaza. It became my escape from the commotion and from the chaos of the world at that time.” He moved to the US in his teens. After spending his twenties in New York and later living in Los Angeles, he returned to India.His fascination with cinema remained steady and eventually led him to filmmaking. Self-taught, Khymsar now sees cinema as a means to confront history. “We have never been able to tell the stories of resistance,” he says. “There have been many books written and many PhD theses, but nobody had made a film.”He felt the Chushi Gangdruk warriors deserved recognition. “It would be unfair if we do not honour and pay tribute to those warriors who made his escape possible,” he says. “I have come back to India to my roots—to give back to my birthplace Darjeeling and to the Tibetan cause through arts and creativity.”A Himalayan shoot against the oddsMaking the film was itself an extraordinary feat. Shot in Nepal at altitudes of 15,000 to 16,000 feet, with several first-time actors, a small budget and security scrutiny, it was shot with a crew of around 300. “We shot the entire film in a record time of 19 days,” Khymsar says. If time was one challenge, the weather provided another. On one crucial day, torrential rain threatened to cancel a shoot. Yet, Khymsar insisted on carrying on. He drove through the downpour with his cinematographer to the location—and says that the moment he stepped out of the vehicle, the rain stopped. “There are so many other stories like this also that happened. It was like those warriors were present in spirit, and helping the shoot!”As director, producer, composer, action director— not out of choice—but of necessity, he taught, each cast member to ride a horse. In fact, he shot almost the entire film on horseback.History with a contemporary resonanceKhymsar connects the Tibetan resistance with the formation of India’s Special Frontier Force and sees the film as relevant to contemporary geopolitics. “Tibet’s freedom is India’s security,” he says. Khymsar’s views on China are outspoken, but he says filmmaking is his chosen form of resistance. “I am not going to bomb the embassies, no Tibetan would,” he says. “But it doesn’t mean we are cowards. This is my way of fighting. My art and my creativity is my tool.”Richard Gere to the Dalai Lama, film finds supportOriginally shot in English, Khymsar says the Hindi version retains the emotional quality of the performances. Richard Gere, who has long supported the Tibetan cause, saw the film at a special screening. “He liked it and is supportive of it,” says Khymsar, who also had the opportunity to show a scene to the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. “He was very pleased and he was smiling,” Khymsar recalls. “And then he said, ‘Thank you.’”Khymsar sees 4 Rivers 6 Ranges as his “love letter and tribute to the warriors and to His Holiness the Dalai Lama”.The film hits cinemas on September 11.