Shootings postponed, promotional activities halted, artistes losing work opportunities
Ayushmann Khurrana: Films that other artistes don't accept easi...
KATHMANDU, Nov 26: Everyone is feeling the pressure of the national crisis. Last Tuesday, celebrities and others from the entertainment industry staged a rally protesting against the blockade as well as the government’s lack of resolute action to stop violence in the Tarai regions. The rally began at Shanti Batika and moved to Shahid Gate, Basantapur, and Jamal.
Actor Kunjana Ghimire of the popular TV series ‘Meri Bassai’ was one of the many actors participating in the rally. Ghimire, who plays Suntali in the TV show, explains, “We also went to the Prime Minister’s office to talk about the issue, but all we were told was we cannot bow down to foreign pressure. This will not do. Our government has to reach a compromise with the protesters.”
“We had to show old episodes because we didn’t have fuel to commence shooting. We’re compromising in so many ways. Instead of going to different villages, we’ve taken to shooting in nearby places where we can find old houses. The viewership has gone down. Everyone is stressed. We don’t have any advertisements coming in for the show.”
Another actor in a similar quandary is Keki Adhikari. The popular actor says, “My work has been adversely affected. All my films have been postponed. The lack of fuel means we cannot commute to and fro for shooting, and there’s no cooking gas available for the kitchen department. We’ve had to reschedule so many times but it’s finally been decided that we will resume shooting only once the situation is under control.”
However, many filmmakers are still pressing ahead with their work because they cannot afford to wait for the crisis to smooth out.
Director Sudarshan Thapa is about to wrap up the last phase of the shooting of his film ‘Prem Geet.’ It’s been extremely hard trying to film under the present conditions, he says. “The shooting schedule has been erratic because of the fuel crisis to transport our cast and crew to different locations. The budget has obviously gone up as we’re paying almost triple the rate for fuel – and that’s when we manage to somehow find fuel. Otherwise, we have to stop filming and look around for diesel and petrol. We still have one day of shooting left to complete.”
Promotions are a big part of filmmaking. The right kind of marketing stirs up interest in the film which helps its business. However, the national unrest and economic crisis is impacting plans for promotions, too.
According to Thapa, the promotions for ‘Prem Geet’ include a nationwide tour with the cast. He says, “We can’t stop working and wait for the situation to get better. We’re starting with our music release tomorrow. As for the tour, I don’t know how we’re going to do that. I guess we’ll have to travel like the general public does with police escort when we head for eastern Nepal.”
It’s not just the shooting schedules that are going haywire. Artistes are also losing work opportunities because of the unrest. Actor Ghimire points out that though this is the time for fairs and fetes, this time around the invitations are extremely few. Once again, actor Keki Adhikari has suffered similar fate. She was supposed to start on the annual Ncell tour to eight cities after Tihar but the tour was canceled due to the unrest that’s seriously affecting some of the cities lined for the tour.
She says, “It’s frustrating, to say the least. But when I think about what other people are going through, my problems feel very small. I just hope our leaders start listening seriously to the demands of the people. It’s high time a solution for this crisis is found.”
