New Aspects
According to the director, the story of Dendup was inspired by Izu No Odoriko (The Dancing Girl of Izu), a story by Yasunari Kawabata about a group of travellers and an infatuation between a dancing girl and a schoolboy. The story of Tashi was inspired by a Buddhist fable about two brothers, one of whom aspires to become a magician.
In making this film, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, an internationally-renowned Buddhist lama, sets the standard for the nascent Bhutanese film industry. The film depicts traditional Bhutanese folklore, and storytelling techniques. Travellers and Magicians is a profoundly Bhutanese film, with a theme and vocabulary that reflects the culture of Bhutan.
The storytelling technique employed in the film is the one of a story within a story, as the monk narrates the story of Tashi within the film. The nesting of worlds go three levels deep, as Tashi hallucinates/dreams after consuming chhang. Traditional, as well as fusion music is used in the movie, with Western rock and Western-influenced music being heard via Dondup's music system, and traditional music from the dramyin of the monk and as ambient music. The noted chant music advocate David Hykes also contributed music to the film at the invitation of the director. A soundtrack of the movie has been commercially released.
Since only a quarter of the people of Bhutan have a mother tongue of Dzongkha, one of the cast members - Sonam Kinga, acted as dialog coach to the cast.
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