In a small Himalayan kingdom that famously values “Gross National Happiness” over GDP, Agent of Happiness sets out on a deceptively simple mission: two civil servants travel door-to-door, asking 148 questions designed to quantify well-being. But as the film unfolds, what begins as reportage becomes something more intimate and unsettling — a meditation on what happiness means when the number, the measure, and the survey itself become part of the story.

Movie Title	Agent of Happiness
Country	Bhutan
Year	2024
Genre	Documentary
Runtime	94 min
Directors	Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó
Main Subjects	Amber Kumar Gurung, Guna Raj Kuikel

Directors Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó quietly create a film that bridges the bureaucratic and the personal. Amber, the “happiness agent” whose job is to measure others’ contentment, finds himself grappling with his own loneliness and identity. In alternating landscapes of lush green valleys and isolated mountain homes, the film asks: what happens when you try to put a number on living?

Visually, the film is a study in contrast: sweeping ariel shots of Bhutan’s remote villages meet close‐up portraits of everyday lives. The cinematography lingers on the moments that often escape statistics — a farmer’s grin, a daughter’s worry, a conversation in hushed tones. The survey forms become symbols of control and expectation; the natural world around them becomes witness to both joy and despair.

What makes Agent of Happiness compelling is its refusal to judge, yet its insistence on asking the question. The survey can count goats, mobile phones, chickens — but it cannot tally laughter, dreams, or the pressure of citizenship barriers. A man who must rate his happiness out of ten finds himself restricted not only by numbers but by identity. The irony adds depth: here is a country that measures happiness, yet the tools it uses reveal more complication than clarity.

The film has been recognized in the festival circuit: it premiered in the World Cinema Documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024. It also won the Best Non-Fiction Film Award at the 2nd Eikhoigi Imphal International Film Festival in 2025. These honours underline how a seemingly local story — of Bhutan’s agents and their survey — resonates with global questions about measurement, identity, and belonging.

Agent of Happiness is not a film that offers neat answers. It doesn’t simplify its characters into winners or victims; instead, it holds space for the ambiguities of being alive while being counted. It asks the viewer to pause, listen, and reconsider what a “score” really represents. In a world obsessed with metrics, this film reminds us that happiness may be less about numbers and more about presence, complexity, and the human behind the form.