“Stealing money from my father’s jacket wasn’t very difficult as my father was absent minded and never counted his money properly,” he says simply. “As soon as he changed his clothes after coming home, I took a bill out of his coat which would fully fuel me for the next day.”
Giri claims to have been a naughty child.
“I went to school five days a month,” he says, recalling his student days. “The rest of the month, I went to cinemas to watch movies. I’ve watched a particular movie 30 times,” he says.
Yet he managed to pass in every subject except mathematics. “I failed twice in the SLC examinations in the same subject,” he says, laughing.
Giri thinks the movies of those days were worth every paisa he filched from his unwary father’s loaded pockets.
“But these days, Nepali movies aren’t made for entertainment but to make people sleep,” he says in his usual satirical tone, mentioning some exceptions at the same time. But ironically, he himself dreams of making movies. “I’ll make a comedy movie full of social satire, and lessons to be learnt as well,” he says.
He also owns up that he had a girlfriend during his teenage days. “She was my neighbor and I liked everything she did,” he says.
He still remembers the love letter he wrote to the girl next door. After he sent the letter to her through his friend, she got mad at him. But one fine day during the time of Fagu, some guys were showering her with water-filled balloons.
“I acted like a hero, fought against the guys and saved her,” he says, admitting how the impact of action movies had influenced him. After that, she started getting attracted to him. “But it was because of caste discrimination we couldn’t get married,” he says. “My parents tried their best but failed, and she wasn’t ready to elope with me.”
Giri was 17 when he got married to his wife. “After that, I was responsible and worked in an office,” he says. “Then we had children and I got into cinema which made me busy. I actually miss my teenage days.”
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