In November 2006, Lhakpa Tsering, the-then president of the Tibetan Youth Congress’ Bengaluru Chapter, found himself in front of Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace. Hu Jintao, who was the Chinese president at the time, was in town. The Tibetan student — who fled his homeland at the age of nine — had made his way to Mumbai with a band of protesters, but couldn’t do much from their designated protest spot at August Kranti Maidan. “Thousands have died under Hu Jintao’s rule in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). I wanted to show the world his real face,” recalls Tsering, who self-immolated himself. “I didn’t have any other option,” he tells us simply over a call from Delhi, echoing the essence of the path of non-violence that thousands of Tibetans have marched on in the face of extreme oppression.

Moments from the production