Seven Years in Tibet (1997 film) still a boy, and becomes one of his tutors. During their time together, Heinrich becomes a close friend to the young spiritual leader. Harrer and Aufschnaiter stay in the country until the Chinese military campaign in 1950. In 1938, Austrian mountaineers Heinrich Harrer (Pitt) leaves behind his pregnant wife to join Peter Aufschnaiter (Thewlis) in a team attempting to summit Nanga Parbat in British India (present-day part of Pakistan). When World War II begins in 1939, they are arrested by British Indian authorities and imprisoned in a POW camp in Dehradun in the Himalayan foothills, in the present-day Indian state
Nanga Parbat Peak and Nanga Parbat summit, was reached. Heinrich Harrer, an expert alpinist, was a member of the SS Alpine unit. The unit practised on the Eiger mountain in Switzerland in 1938. When the group returned to Germany, Hitler met with them. In May 1939, Harrer was selected by the German Himalayan Foundation to take part in a new expedition to the Nanga Parbat, under the leadership of Peter Aufschnaiter. Their goal was to scout new ways to make the ascent of the North-western face. They explored the Diamir Face with the aim of finding an easier route. They concluded that