KATHMANDU, Dec 9: For Suraj Malla, Black Box Theater was new and intriguing when he first saw a play in Gurukul. Growing up as a movie buff—imitating movie stars and watching plays in Gurukul triggered Malla to indulge in the theatre realm. Malla, 30, is a professional theatre artist. He wanted to enhance his career as a theatre artist and was in search of a drama institution. He finally got enrolled at the Actor’s Studio, Jhamsikhel, in the 13th batch.
However, picking up theatre as a career was challenging. He already was working as a teacher in several schools. He did this for a living then. So it was hard for him to manage time between school and theatre. But, he preferred passion to a profession and finally bid teaching a goodbye. “Teaching was the bread-winner for me at that time. And theatre and acting, my passion. But, as I was a full-time employee at the school, I barely could manage time for acting. So, I took a big decision to quit working and opted for acting. I did this without my parent’s concern. We didn’t talk for a year,” Malla said.
“Post the decision, I could fully concentrate on acting. I credit my younger brother. His unconditional love was my pillar. He had been supporting me since the start. Financially, he was my backbone throughout the struggling phases after I quit my job. Gradually, my parents also accepted me as they saw my name and pictures on the newspapers,” he added.
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He commenced his journey through ‘Kathadesh 2.5’, produced by students of the 13th batch at Actor’s Studio in 2014. He played several small characters. He also featured in the chorus of several plays. After his initial struggles, he worked under the mentorship of excellent theater artists like Anup Baral and Diya Maskey. He never felt low throughout the struggling phases. “Anup sir and Diya didi (sister) helped me with everything.”
Anup Baral’s directorial play ’30 Days in September’ was a landmark in Malla’s career. He garnered loads of appreciation from theater-goers and critics through the play. He worked as a lead character for the first time and was paired opposite to Diya Maskey. This opened the doors of possibilities. He featured in many plays of different genres.
Last, year, he played the lead as Phapre ‘The Conference of the Bird’, which was admirable. Currently, he is busy in theatres. This time the role is a different role. He debuted as a director with the play ‘Sakuntala Ko Aauthi’. The play is being staged in Shilpee Theatre from November 25. He also plays the lead character in the play. “Direction is quite challenging. I’ve been working with these guys for a long time,” he shared his experience as a director.
Apart from theatre, Malla has also featured in films. He played the role of as a music director in ‘Tandav.’ Recently, he has also featured in ‘Dokh’, a feature film which is set to release next year.
According to Anup Baral, actor, director and writer, Malla was creative and enthusiastic from the very beginning. “Acting is not about delivering the dialogues. It is more of understanding what the dialogues mean; Suraj has a clear head on this. He always thinks out of a box,” Baral said.
