But the highlight of the night was meeting Deki Yangzom, who was introduced to me with the words ‘MAG, this is Deki. You’ve probably seen her back.’ It took a moment to realise that Deki played a character of the same name in Travellers and Magicians. The poor girl told me that her back seems to be the only part of her that men know.
She hasn’t let international stardom get to her and though she says it hasn’t hit her yet, I doubt it ever will. More reserved than most Bhutanese women, she is willing to get involved in anything (including a video to help market Bhutan in Australia which she signed up for last night) but has no obvious ego.
Deki told us that she’s not considered particularly beautiful by Bhutanese standards, even with her relatively fair skin, because her face isn’t round enough and her eyes are too straight. She was chosen for her appeal to the western audience and even then had to have her skin darkened with foundation. The difference is so marked that I’d never have picked her without the unusual introduction and having seen the film again only last week. ‘I was fatter then’ she said, though I think fat is the wrong word. Womanly then and gaunt now, I’d say, but still beautiful enough to make me forget if she mentioned what her job is now.
That scene with the back is clear in her memory. It was a closed set with just her, the director, the key grip and two girls there to make her more comfortable. She makes it sound as though the original shot was more revealing. She was naked beneath the kira and bared everything to the girls as she handed them the koma clips, letting the kira fall to the ground. The movie may not have been to Bhutanese taste, but the men remember that scene almost as well as Deki herself.