UNI

New Delhi, Aug 8: A French film on Mata Amritanandmayi Devi, endearingly known as 'Amma' - The 'Hugging Saint, which got rave reviews after its screening in the Cannes film festival, is to be released in the US this month.

'Darshan - The Embrace', directed by award-winning France-based filmmaker Jan Kounen, explores the enigma surrounding Amma, who commands a larger than life persona.

It was officially selected for screening at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, 2005.

''The exact date for release of the film has not been fixed but it will be most probably in the second week of August,'' said an official of Amritapuri, the global headquarters of Amma's monsatery in Kerala's Kollam district.

Jan Kounen and his crew began shooting for the film in 2003 during Amma's 50th birthday celebrations in Kochi. Later, Kounen and his team travelled with Amma on her Indian and international tours in order to complete the film.

The film, with English subtitles, has used a lot of footage from her previous interviews.

During the making of the film, Kounen had said he would present the portrait of a woman who, as a young girl, had a vision that made people feel she was going crazy. ''I want to document the journey of that girl into her present avatar as 'Amma' .''

Himself an ardent devotee of the spiritual lady, whose list of followers encompasses several countries, including the US and Canada, Kounen said he was restless and plagued by severel dilemmas and ''Amma eased away all these and showed me the right path''.

Born in a poor fishing village in Parayakadavu in Kollam district, the 53-year-old spiritual lady has so far embraced around 30 million people during her 35 years of spiritual journey.

Her list of devotees includes former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, BJP leader L K Advani, several chief ministers, MPs and ministers.