Varma's 'Ruhani & Dolma' premieres at Oscar qualifying Tasveer Festival
Chandni Varma's new film Ruhani & Dolma is making its debut at the 21st Tasveer Film Festival & Market in Seattle, the only Oscar-qualifying festival dedicated to South Asian stories.
The movie follows Dr. Ruhani Rolani, a quantum physicist caught between mind-bending science and her own life struggles, as part of the festival's Moonless Ghamelas lineup.
Koechlin, Das discuss 'Ruhani & Dolma'
Starring Kalki Koechlin and Namit Das, the film explores what happens when scientific curiosity collides with spiritual searching. As Ruhani transforms into Dolma, a Buddhist nun, the story sparks a thoughtful conversation between evidence and belief.
Director Varma wanted this blend to feel real. Koechlin says, "Ruhani & Dolma is a film about what happens when ego is replaced by curiosity, and about the delicate balance between proof and faith, knowledge and intuition, new discoveries and ancient practices. It is also a film about love and the nonlinear ways in which we can fall back into feeling deeply, without warning and with no regard for the passage of time." while Das praises how working with real monks made everything more authentic.