At a press conference held at Hotel de l’Annapurna last Sunday, the filmmaker disclosed that “Katha Karnaliko”, produced by Bishnukant Neupane, will tentatively be released in February 2010. Written and conceptualized by parliamentarian Naresh Bhandari, the movie will try to raise all the issues the inhabitants of Karnali are facing so far, thus revealed the makers at the press meet.
“People in Karnali don’t have access even to a packet of salt when the zone is rich with natural beauty, traditional and cultural entities,” said writer Bhandari. “Those who live there still haven’t got the opportunity to understand what New Nepal is all about. New Nepal has given nothing to them. I’ve seen people queuing up for drinking water and for fuels but had never seen people in line for just a packet of salt and some foods. It’s no big deal, however, for the people of the Karnali Zone.”
Bhandari further stressed on how he felt sorry to see people losing their lives because they don’t have access to vehicles and there are no health clinics to treat them in times of need. There are no secretaries in the government representing Karnali, nor higher police officials, and no LDOs (Local District Officers). These were the reasons, says he while explaining, what initiated him to write about Karnali and the problems it has in abundance.
Dialogue writer Nayanraj Pandey threw a satire, “The Nepal Government so far hasn’t been able to construct proper roads to Karnali, but it’s already been successful in sending beer and whiskey to the towns and villages. There must be hardly any stores in Karnali where you can’t find alcohol. Ironically, there are no shops and pharmacies where you can get simple medicines like cetamol and digene.”
Finally, director KP Pathak shared his experiences when he went to the Karnali Zone, and enunciated, “During my fifteen-day trip to Karnali, I could see a story for a feature film in every household. I realized how people living in Karnali have been searching for their self-existence in New Nepal. They have so much pain within them that I found almost everyone a writer and poet. They could make poetic lines and phrases instantly to share how they are living difficult lives.”
Pathak adds that this is not a documentary like many must be thinking. It is purely a commercial cinema, being made in celluloid format. And he is quite hopeful of driving Nepali filmmakers concerned to making different genres of Nepali movies with his upcoming venture, “Katha Karnaliko.”
“This movie will surely become an eye opener for many filmmakers and producers. We have to know that there’s more to filmmaking than just family dramas and romance,” Pathak added.
“I’m investing more than 10 million Rupees in this film,” claims producer Bishnukant Neupane.
Action director Rajendra Khadgi will be composing action sequences for the movie while Chetan Sapkota is composing music for it. The cast are yet to be selected. According to Pathak, theater artistes and locals of the zone are top priorities.
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