Hippie Masala
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Damaris Lüthi
| Hippie Masala | |
|---|---|
 Poster of the film | |
| Directed by | Ulrich Grossenbacher Damaris Lüthi |
| Written by | Damaris Lüthi |
| Cinematography | Ulrich Grossenbacher |
| Edited by | Maya Schmid |
| Music by | Matthias Gmünder Sahlil Shankar |
Production companies | Fair&Ugly Filmproduktion GmbH |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Languages | English, Swiss German |
Hippie Masala: Für immer in Indien (English: Hippie Masala: Forever in India) is a 2006 Swiss documentary film directed by Ulrich Grossenbacher and Damaris Lüthi. It examines Western expatriates living in India decades after the hippie movement of the late 1960s. The film was screened at festivals including Munich, Locarno, Woodstock, and Miami.[1]
The film follows hippies who left the West for Asia in the late 1960s and are shown living in India decades later. Among them are Cesare, an Italian who lives as a yogi in a remote cave, and Hanspeter from the Emmental, who has made a life for himself as a mountain farmer in northern India. The film portrays these expatriates and their ways of life in India.[1]
Production
Ulrich Grossenbacher had himself spent time in India in the late 1970s. The idea for the film arose from a later trip there and an encounter with a French couple who had settled in the country. Damaris Lüthi drew on her background in ethnology and her research experience in South India. For the research and shoot, the filmmakers spent more than six months in India and returned with around 120 hours of footage.[2]
Reception
Awards and nominations
In 2007, Hippie Masala was nominated for the Swiss Film Prize for Best Documentary Film.[3]
Critical response
Filmdienst wrote that the documentary presents several Westerners living in India, exploring both their personal motivations and the practical realities of their alternative way of life without pursuing a broader cultural-philosophical framework.[4] Filmbulletin described the film as a homage to the hippie generation that also raises questions about cultural barriers, and wrote that it depicts both dropout culture and Indian society with humour and nuance.[2]