Indian film director Shekhar Kapur has received advice on his new movie about Buddha from exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama.
The director of hit period film Elizabeth met the Dalai Lama at his home in Dharamsala, north India.
“His holiness was pleased to hear that there is a project to make a film on the life and teachings of Buddha,” said the Dalai Lama’s press secretary.
The film will be released next year in time for Buddha’s 2,550th birthday.
The film will centre on Buddha’s teachings and his personal route to enlightenment.
Kapur, who first came to attention with his 1994 film Bandit Queen, also consulted the Tibetan prime minister and Buddhist scholar Samdhong Rinpoche.
Royal reception
The director’s most recent Hollywood film, The Four Feathers, starring Heath Ledger, Kate Hudson and Wes Bentley, only received a lukewarm reception.
The exiled Tibetan government has been based in Dharamsala since 1959.
China invaded Tibet in 1950 and has been accused of trying to wipe out the Buddhist-based culture through political and religious repression.
It recently called on the Dalai to abandon his vision of ever achieving an autonomous Tibet.
The Dalai, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, met the Prince of Wales on a recent visit to the UK.
