Arun BHATTARAI
In a faraway country, Happiness Agents work for the Ministry of Gross National Happiness. They collect data for the Happiness Survey in order to create 5-year-happiness plans to increase the Happiness Index of society. It is hard to imagine that a country like this exists in our modern world, but in Bhutan, everything is about Happiness! The film follows two Happiness Agents, Amar and Gunaraj, who are an odd couple, the Bhutanese Laurel and Hardy. Through their journey, we encounter everyday people from different social classes who also become the subject of our inquiry into their personal stories of searching for happiness. While Gunaraj is a serious family man, Amar is a relentless romantic, who dreams about finding a wife. His job is to document happiness in the lives of others while he is in search of his own. Meanwhile, through the national TV we see GNH history from the kings¡¯ speeches or the often cheesy GNH songs and programs. This film is a heart-warming, multi-layered exploration of what happiness means to individuals, as opposed to what it means to a nation. It questions happiness rankings in general, but on a personal level it searches for happiness in the smallest of places.
Arun BHATTARAI