CONGRATS YUDEN- TNA- STARRER 'AVARTAN'

Sikkimese child in big Bollywood league:

Yuden Zongtenpa starrer ‘Avartan’ to be screened at Goa international film festival


bY:BIJOY GURUNG

GANGTOK, November 28: Sikkimese child artiste Yuden Zongtenpa will be rubbing shoulders with the high and mighty of Bollywood during the screening of Amol Palekhar’s ‘Avartan’ at the 40th International Film Festival of India being held at Goa.

The film festival which commenced from November 23 had been inaugurated by veteran Bollywood actress Waheeda Rehman and will be running till December 3.
Often referred to as the ‘India’s Cannes’ for its mix of world and Indian cinema, the IFFI-2009 will offer nearly 300 films over ten days.

‘Avartan’, an English film directed by Amol Palekar is scheduled to be screened on November 29 and Yuden, an integral part of the film had been invited for the film festival along with the other cast of film including Rituparna Sengupta and Rajat Kapoor.

Yuden along with her mother Rebina Rai flew from Bagdogra to Kolkata yesterday from where they will catch a connecting flight to Goa.

Yuden, the talented seven year old standard II student from Tashi Namgyal Academy had bagged a role in Palekar’s film based on relationships with an emotional an intense story line. Some parts of the film were shot in South and West Districts where Yuden featured.

The film projected as Sikkim Tourism’s entry into the Bollywood sector is written by Palekar’s wife, Sandhya Gokhale.

Before flying to Kolkata, Yuden told SIKKIM EXPRESS at Bagdogra airport that she is looking forward more to the beaches of Goa than the film festival.
When asked about her favourite scene during the shooting of the film, Yuden deeply engrossed with a Tinkle comic book remembered the kite scene and a wheel barrow scene shot in West Sikkim.

Her mother, Rebina said that Yuden sported traditional dress in some scenes and modern wear in other scenes during the film shooting which was done in Jorethang and Geyzing earlier this year in the month of March.

Yuden informed that she is also excited to meet Rajat Kapoor, whom she fondly calls ‘Mojo Jojo’, a character in the cartoon series ‘The Powerpuff Girls’.
With the movie being an English one, Yuden did not have many problems in delivering dialogues and also during the dubbing done at Mumbai in April.

Palekar was very glad to have Yuden in the film and the whole team was amazed with the acting ability of Yuden, said her mother Rebina. The director used to tell her about the scene and she would do it right away, she said adding that Yuden was the toast of the whole crew during the shoot.

Yuden, who is enormously talented, was selected from a lot of other aspiring child artistes who had auditioned when Palekar and his wife were at Sikkim in February to spot local talents for the new production.

Yuden joined Tashi Namgyal Academy (TNA) from this academic session.

Daughter of Rebina Rai and father Tashi Namgyal Zongtenpa, Yuden had been living in United States till last year when her mother decided to come back to Sikkim.
Although a Sikkimese, Yuden was studying in Montevideo Elementary school in San Ramon, California in the United States till last year since her father Tashi Namgyal, an information technology professional and a computer engineer who is still working there