KATHMANDU, Feb 24: A short clipping of a Nepali film featuring a serious conversation between a certain actor and actress was doing the rounds in the internet until recently. The yellowish tinge of the video, the very 90-ish actors, and the hilarious dialogues had everyone in stitches. It kept popping up every now and then, and people still couldn’t get enough of the English speaking actor. [break]
YouTube is a Mecca for all things entertainment and we love to laugh. The maze of videos provides us with endless hours of amusement and we love it for the various surprising gems it can pop up. Nepali youth have also been introduced to creating their own videos and earning laughs for their effort. YouTube is easy to work with, and is now a smart tool through which to harness creativity and tickle the funny bones of the masses.
The pretty Yeshi Dolma Lama is a chameleon. People know her as Yeshigaga in her YouTube videos where she costars with the very good sport Tenzin Tseley. The duo has acted together in short videos like ‘Sir and Student’ and ‘Dad ko Rajniti’, and the videos continue receiving many hits every week.
In the latter video, the normally fragile looking pretty girl effortlessly portrays a portly father, Nikhil’s (Tenzin Tseley) friend Hari and Nikhil’s younger brother. Her videos are popular because the essence of the comedy that her audiences derive from it is from parts of their own lives.
“People find something funny if it has some truth. My videos are not just an idea but they are actually the experiences that I have gone through while in Nepal. I think viewers loved my ‘Sir and Student’ video as they were able to relate to it. I am sure most of my Nepali friends have similar experiences. When I sit down to write a script, I just pick one of my memories and re-write them so it would not just be funny to me but also to others.” Her words have the essence of truth.
Totally involved in every step of the creative process, Yeshi’s dialogues are very neatly timed and funny. Who would fail to laugh at Nikhil saying ‘Jhandai ek minute bhayo’ after hurriedly hanging up on Hari?
It’s a difficult task to make people laugh. For Yeshi, one of the most difficult parts of the process in filming is “making Tseley remember his dialogue”. She laughs!
Sobering up, she continues to say that translating her thoughts into words is tasking, and that she hates writing scripts.
She has received an appreciation letter for her videos from Nepal Television in USA and her ‘Sir and Student’ video has been aired on National TV in Biratnagar. Along with her fans, she has discovered a new talent within herself. However, she’s not considering on turning a serious filmmaker anytime soon. Laughing, she says that she is happy with her 10 minute films and two crew members.
That nasal toned ‘Honey Bunny’ who sings to his Pumpkin was brought to our attention through the advertisement of Indian cellular company, Idea. Our television screens played it for all of some 30 seconds, and we sang along with the nasal toned man. On December last year, Paul Shah and a team from urstyletv.com in Kathmandu launched music video for the song. As a testimony to the fun blend of the quirkiness of the song and the cute actors the viewership has shot above 1.2 million within two months of its release.
Paul, 23, says that he knew the video would be popular, but he had underestimated the extent of it. “When Idea uploaded just the audio, there were thousands of hits in just a month, so I was sure that a video accompanying the audio would be popular,” he says.
Next, a film built around the song is on the works for the team.
Based in the United Kingdom, the five member team of Hawachex Entertainment was brought together by their collective interest in photography, acting, editing and directing. Ashik, Munesh, Dipak, Ajay and Raj began with ‘Nepali Spiderman’ in August last year. They worked on a silent film ‘Nepali Chopstick’ which is basically picked up from one of Mr Bean’s films.
On where the ideas come from, Raj credits it to imagination and good movies. While the comic element is predominant in most of their videos, the team is trying to include more social issues, cultural values and patriotism in their stories and believe that a touch of humor in their stories will pull down any barriers.
Humor is definitely an ice breaker, and as difficult as it is to make people laugh, it is very rewarding to find your work appreciated. As more and more young people start to explore uncharted territories of their personalities and skills, the world is united by their efforts.
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