Film on Chinese monk's visit to India hits screens next month

A Sino-Indian epic film featuring eminent Chinese monk Xuan Zang's 17-year journey to India to bring Buddhism to China will be released simultaneously in Chinese and Indian theatres on April 29, it was announced here today.
"Xuan Zang" tells the legendary story of the monk's arduous journey alone to India seeking Buddhist scriptures during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
The endeavour was eventually turned into the classic fiction "Journey to the West".
It took about one year to complete the filming and post- production is under way, official media here quoted one of its producers as saying.
The film is set in both China and India.

Part of the film was shot in Maharashtra and Nalanda in Bihar tracing the areas traversed by the monk in the seventh century.

Famed director Wong Kar Wai is an artistic director for the film, which is directed by Huo Jianqi.
Xuan studied in India for 17 years and brought back many Buddhist sutras and translated them into Chinese.
The film was made in Chinese and will be released simultaneously in both the countries, with the Hindi dubbed version in India and has Chinese film actor Huang Xiaoming playing the lead role of the famous monk.
The agreement for the co-production was signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China this year.

The other two India-China co-productions include "Kung Fu Yoga" by Hong Kong-based director Stanley Tong and comedy film "Lost in India".
They are also expected to be released this year.