This is what the Nepali silver screen has been following for the last decade. Five “dhadam-dhudum” action scenes, four “ghintang-ghintang” dances and unlimited emotional dramas are “the supernatural elements” for Nepali filmmakers, and according to them, these are the components required to make any movie a blockbuster. Perhaps that is why Kollywood neither has been able to serve anything new to the audiences nor has it come out of the stereotype ideas of filmmaking.
In fact, the movies that were released two decades ago like “Chino”, “Kusume Rumal”, “Lahure” and “Saino” were way better in quality and almost all age groups loved watching them. Sadly, the producers of Nepali cinemas are still following the ancient notion – “Our targeted audiences are lower middle class people. When we can earn more while investing the minimum, why should we attempt to do something different?”So far, Nepali cinemas have overlooked the importance of screenplay, powerful script and characterization. But the scenario will not be the same, promise the new actors who have dared enter the vague world of Nepali cinema. With Quest Entertainment producing movies like “Kagbeni” and “Sano Sansar”, those from the young generation, who once turned their faces back even at the names of Nepali films, are now seeking opportunities in Kollywood.
One after the other, more educated youngsters are coming up to produce and direct movies, targeting those audiences from the urban locales who have hardly been to a movie theater for a Nepali flick.
Along with making movies and acting, documentaries have now come up as another charming genre where youngsters are flocking to en masse.
Whether the participation of these young bloods will bring any big difference to the monotonous Nepali silver screen is yet uncertain. However, with their initiatives, at least new hopes are born now.
SLAPPING THE CLIPBOARD
When director Alok Nembang was making “Sano Sansar”, he had no high ambitions from the movie. He just wanted to break the idea of making cinemas.
He says, “It is too early to say if the involvement of new people in the movie industry is going to make any huge impact. We can do nothing if our approach is wrong.”
Nembang says he has come across a lot of such young moviemakers who are still stuck to the traditional way of filming flicks. With Nepali films still following the Bollywood style of 1980s, Nembang is still doubtful of being experimental.
He observes that it’s time for Nepali filmmakers to work more on presentation. He excoriates the idea of loud acting and concurs, “Our film industry is highly dominated by distributors and actors. When we hardly have anything as stardom in the country, ironically we are dominated by them.
Amongst the new generation of directors, Sudarshan Thapa must be the youngest of all because his first movie venture “Mero Euta Saathi Chha” is still to release. According to him, “self-proclaimed” veteran filmmakers of Nepal have often compromised with contents, costumes and locations in films. He sees new directors focusing more on such overlooked issues that play vital roles in presenting movies in better ways.
“We are also focused on changing the soundtrack system of Nepali films. We are already outdated” he says.
Another young and promising VJ turned producer is Asif Shah who is concentrating more on promotion campaigns. He points out that there has been no progress because people associated with the film industry have not been able to promote movies systematically.
Shah enunciates, “Films like Kusume Rumal, Lahure and Saino made sense with the contexts of that period and quality but we can’t still follow the same trends.”
“A director’s job is to deliver a story. If s/he fails to do it, no matter how big a banner is, the movies make no sense,” bold and flamboyant Pooja Gurung, another upcoming filmmaker, adds. “Aren’t we sick and tired of listening to the same “dhyan-tan-tan” sounds in films? We’re young. Nobody’s going to pave a path for us. We have to break this monotony ourselves.”
She assures that she will focus more on characters while filming. “It’s high time we shifted from what we’ve been feeding the public so far,” she concludes.
At a time when even the young generation filmmakers are shaky about if they could change the Nepali movie industry or not, another new director, Nirak Poudel, is pretty hopeful and says he sees a better world for Nepali filmmakers and moviegoers in the next five years. Despite being one the youngest upcoming directors of the big screen, Poudel has risked casting new actors in his upcoming film, a sequel to “Kusume Rumal.”
His disappointment comes down to the lack of post-production facilities, skilled manpower and advanced equipments.
YOUNG DOCUMENTARY MAKERS
When a dozen youth are busy making new Nepali movies, some others are attracted to making documentaries. The involvement of INGOs and foreign funds has lured the young makers more in recent times.Prachanda Man Shrestha in his early 20s already has two popular documentaries – Return and Pack of Wolves – under his belt. He admits that INGO financial backing has attracted many youngsters to making documentaries.
On the contrary, prominent documentary maker Dil Bhusan Pathak differs from those who tag every short film as a documentary.
He counters, “Such short videos that are made for INGOs like the UN and UNDP can’t be called documentaries. I’m surprised how young boys have misunderstood the whole idea of making documentaries. You don’t become a director of a documentary by just syncing some footage, shot by a cameraperson. And you can’t call a video report a documentary.”
Though many from the young generation now are making documentaries, Pathak says only a handful of them have dared making individual documentaries.
“I don’t think making documentaries is an alluring genre for youth. If you make an independent documentary, with no foreign funds involved in it, you hardly get the money in return.
This sector of filming is more for self satisfaction,” he adds and elaborates, “But yes, youth are now seen interested in this field because documentaries are very expressive. Our society has never responded to the problems faced by youths. Now, they have found the medium to express their feelings to the world. And with INGOs, they are also making handsome money.”
Recently, amateur documentary maker Tsering Choden made Nepal proud by bagging the first position in the Democracy Video Challenge, a competition where documentaries from various parts of the world were submitted for competition.
FLIPPING THE SCRIPTS
One promising scriptwriter, quite new to showbiz, is Pravin Adhikary who is blunt with his idea. He straightforwardly says there is going to be no major changes in Nepali films, no matter whoever takes the initiatives.
“Come on, let’s not be hypocrites. Coming to ground reality, no one wants to read a good script here. Our vision goes unseen. I’m young and I have better ideas. But if I come up with a brilliant story, who is ultimately going to fund that?” he questions. “Industry people have hijacked certain mechanisms. To be true, we make movies for those who love to watch Nepali cinemas, and they want the same old thing. Logically speaking, why would anyone invest handsomely if nobody buys the tickets? There’s no forum for us. And that’s why I haven’t sold any of my original stories so far.”
Adding to that, Prachanda Man Shrestha, who also writes scripts, says, “We can never run out of new stories. But ultimately who is going to appreciate the hard work? A handful of appreciation can do nothing good. From screenplay to projection, the audiences still want the same. It is sad but true, even the Film Development Board doesn’t have a record book of Nepali films. I fear our attempt may go wasted.”
THE FIRST FEW STEPS
For those who are sick and tired of looking at the stunts of Rajesh Hamal, Nikhil Uprety, Bhuwan KC and Rekha Thapa, the Nepali film industry is all geared up to show new faces to the audiences and it looks hopeful now that these actors will break the monotony.
Young bachelor Raj Ballav Koirala has already done ten films in less than two years of his career in Nepali movies. However, he is disappointed to see the movie fraternity still dominated by the senior actors who, according him, are not willing to give space to the newcomers. He makes it blunt that almost all actors in the industry are undergraduates, and this has limited them to a boundary which is not appealing.
But on the role of new actors in the industry, he says the film industry has opened multiple wings to the new generation people. It has offered business ventures and brings easy name and fame for the youngsters.
For actor Karma of Sano Sansar fame, he is still uncertain whether he is ready to accept movies as his prime career. In his own words, he will not give up acting for theater, but he still has to decide whether he wants to show up for a commercial cinema or not. Actress Namrata Shrestha will not do films if the producer does not meet her financial quote. A producer has to pay at least Rs 300,000 to get her to play in a feature film.
“We are young, talented and educated. But that does not mean our involvement will bring to the film business a drastic change overnight. At the same time, we certainly can change a lot of things,” she says.
Other young actors like Aryan Sigdel and Nisha Adhikary also believe that the time has come for Nepali audience to see something new in movies that they wanted to see but did not get the chance. All the new actors together enjoin that their first priority is checking the scripts because they have understood the importance of character artistes. They believe it’s not one’s name alone that sells a film, it’s the characters that earn popularity. Another interesting thing about these young heroes is almost all have fixed their rates.
This is new in the industry. When many actors do Nepali films even for Rs 10,000, Raj Ballav Koirala wants no less than Rs 250,000 while Aryan Sigdel is doing a movie for Rs 300,000, and Nisha Adhikary rejects offers if the cheque is below Rs 200,000.
avash@myrepublica.com
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