'I, the Song': Hypnotic Doppelgänger Drama Spotlights Bhutan

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Dechen Roder’s spellbinding film blends mystery, myth, music, and identity as a schoolteacher hunts her double from a viral sex video—emerging as Bhutan’s boldest cinematic leap yet.

By TRH News Feature

Mumbai, November 24, 2025 — Bhutan’s cinema has rarely travelled far beyond its mountain valleys, but director Dechen Roder’s latest feature, I, the Song, has changed that. The film, which premiered at the Tallinn Black Nights Festival and won the Critics’ Picks Best Director Award, is now Bhutan’s official submission to the Oscars—an achievement drawing global attention to a fascinating, hypnotic, and culturally rich drama.

Critic Chris Knipp captures the film’s allure with precision: “A beautiful, hypnotic, exotic little film full of the clothes, music, tea drinking, and Himalayan scenery of its setting… a leap forward for the cinema of Bhutan.”

A Viral Video, a Ruined Reputation, and the Search for a Double

At the heart of the film is Nima, a schoolteacher played with sphinx-like mystery by Tandin Bidha, who is fired after a viral sex video spreads through the small Himalayan nation. She insists the woman in the clip isn’t her. No one believes her—not even her boyfriend.

In a country of just seven hundred thousand people, the shame spreads like wildfire.

Determined to reclaim her name, Nima embarks on a journey to find the woman in the video—her eerily identical double, Meto, also played by Bidha. A small mole is the only physical distinction. Everything else blends into a haunting uncertainty.

A Buddhist Thriller Rooted in Illusion

A wise elder in the film tells Nima: “Whether dreams or reality, it’s all illusion.”

This Buddhist idea becomes the film’s philosophical centre. Is Nima chasing Meto—or chasing a suppressed part of herself? Roder leaves the boundary between identities intentionally blurred, rendering the pursuit dreamlike and disorienting.

A Journey Through Bhutan’s Soul

Nima’s journey takes her from Thimphu, the quiet capital, to Gelephu, a humid border town near India. Bhutan’s landscapes—lush forests, tea houses, neon bars—are rendered with painterly beauty by cinematographer Rangoli Agarwal.

In Gelephu, everyone mistakes Nima for Meto. Her search leads her to the Moon Bar, where she encounters Meto’s ex-lover, Tandin—a brooding singer played by Jimmie Wangyal. His smoky performances and wounded charisma form some of the film’s most memorable moments.

One standout flashback shows Tandin improvising wild guitar riffs to intimidate Meto during an audition—only to be disarmed by her courage and grace. The scene glows with raw chemistry and artistic tension.

A Stolen Song, a Stolen Intimacy

The film gains emotional depth when Nima meets Meto’s family in a remote village. Meto’s frail grandmother begs her to “return the stolen sacred song”—a parallel to Meto’s stolen intimate video, filmed without her knowledge.

Director Roder draws a sharp line between:

cultural theft,
digital exploitation, and
the fragility of identity in a connected world.

A Film of Beauty, Mystery, and Haunting Gaps

Variety notes that I, the Song is visually sophisticated, sometimes more so than its narrative. Parts of the editing feel discontinuous, adding to the film’s dreamlike dislocation. For some viewers, the mystique is deliberate; for others, it may feel frustrating.

Still, its atmosphere—quiet, musical, painful, poetic—remains singular.

The Verdict: A Landmark for Bhutanese Cinema

With its dual performance by Tandin Bidha, its hypnotic visuals, and its fusion of modern anxieties with Buddhist philosophy, I, the Song feels like a watershed moment for Bhutan.

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