In The Chosen One, Aribam Syam Sharma has taken a subject that is somewhat exotic even for Indian audiences. At the same time, the emotional situations are universal. A young wife is suddenly possessed by a benign spirit. She talks to flowers, sings strange songs, turns moody, and then begins to have violent fits and hysterics. She has been "chosen" by the gods to join the Meibi religious group. Her husband, her daughter, her mother, and the rest of her rural community are left behind as she finds the Meibi guru mother and begins a new lifestyle. The film is haunting, and the dance rites and songs of the Meibis (taken from the actual sacred tales) are hypnotic and relate perfectly to the story. The acting is subtle and convincing, the background of village life firmly delineated, and it is evident that (following on his first film, in 1981) Sharma's way with light and shadow is still strong.-David Overbey, Toronto Festival