Nepali Contemporary Cinema : Its
Influences and Strengths
By Prakash Sayami
When
Nepali cinema emerged as an art form, it had to contend with two challenges,
language and technicality. And both were influenced by Indian trends of
filmmaking. Mehboob Khan’s film, ‘Mother India’ was a significant influence on
Nepal's first film ‘Aama’ [1965]. Most of the actors in this film were Indian
rather than Nepalese and most of the technical work like editing, recording and
mixing were implemented in India. It was only after 18 years, that Nepalese
directors and producers established an organisation called Royal Nepal Film
Corporation [RNFC] and began creating their own cinema. The film, 'Maan Ko
Baadh’ was made soon after by the RNFC within Nepal, employing its own pre and
post-production technical facilities. Although not well received, RNFC
continued making films like ‘Kumari’, ‘Sindoor’ and ‘Jivan-Rekha’ creating a
much-required space for nurturing filmmaking in Nepal.
Beginning my career
in cinema as an assistant director in 1986, I embarked as an independent
filmmaker post 1993 with my first film ‘Prithivi’ which, released in 1994. was a commercial
success. My second film ‘Seemana’
eluding to the Maoist movement, was released in1996, and again, was also
commercially successful. Thereafter, I made films that were received with
critical acclaim like ‘Avatar’ or was a complete
commercial
disaster, like ‘Rani Khola’. And then I went on to making a Maithili film like
‘Hansa Chalai Pardes’ in 1995. The magic of cinema had sunk under my skin and
while not making films, I would keenly follow the trends in filmmaking, soaking
in the tentative yet vibrant energy of what was emerging as Nepali Cinema.
While the late 80's found RNFC very slow in making movies,
other ventures like ‘Basudev’, ‘Kusume Rumal’ and ‘Samjana’ brought a huge
change in the Nepalese movie market. ‘Basudev’ was based on the award-winning
Nepali novel ‘Kattel sir ko chotpatak’ by Dr. Dhruva Chandra Gautam and ‘Kusume
Rumal’ and ‘Samjhana’ were commercially successful, attracting new directors
and producers in the market. One learnt the importance of strong narratives and
precision of character-evolution through these films.
After
Nepal became a SAARC member, several films were made in collaboration with with
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. These films however, they did not take off
commercially and in the early 90s new filmmakers emerged, meeting challenges of
creating new plots with a wider creative vision, from which Ugyen Chopel's
‘Saino’, Tulsi Ghimire's Lahure, Prakash Thapa's Santaan could be considered as
significant creations.
In
‘Saino’, for instance, songs, music, location and casting were unique; the
story, influenced by Freudian psychology, gave a new dimension to the female
lead, rarely projected in Nepali society. This was the first Nepali film where
Freud's interpretive psychology was employed as a narrative tool. ‘Lahure’ was
about a Nepali man travelling overseas and to become a Gurkha, a plot that
reflected the reality and struggle of the migrant Nepali. ‘Santaan’, directed
by Nepal’s senior-most filmmaker Prakash Thapa, was a run-of-the-mill subject
but since the treatment was new, it was a
runaway success in the market.
By
the end of the late 90s, a new cluster of filmmakers introduced more
contemporary plots and concepts. Of
these, Rabi Baral, Kishor Rana, Ujjwal Ghimire, Tshering Ritar Sherpa and Nabin
Subba were prominent, addressing issues
on youth, socio-political or as musicals. Tshering Ritar’s film on superstition
and the serious issue of ‘witch’ killing was internationally recognised. Subash
Gajurel made a film based on the novel ‘Basai’, Gyanendra Deuja's ‘Moona Madan’
[adaption of poet Laxmi Prasad’s novel ‘Devkota’] Yadav Kharel's ‘Adi kabi
Bhanu bhakta’s. However, The these novel-based films were unable to do justice
to the novels due to budget constraints and lack of research on the popularity
of the subject.
Post
2000, a promising effort made by producers influenced the viewing preference of
the audience. The new shift in its approach for smaller productions with more
compact cameras like the Red Eye encouraged young filmmakers to work
efficiently on science fiction and war films that drew a young audience to the
theatres in droves.
Tulasi Ghimirey's
2001 film ‘Darpan Chhaya’ however, deviated from the new trend to create a
time-tested narrative of triangular love. Well cast, with a soothing music score, Ghimire’s deft
experience as a director is reflected in its mellow treatment, choice of exquisite
locations in Darjeeling, and a mature
handling of the narrative. As a filmmaker, I have admiration low-budget films
that can portray much with limited resources and Ghimirey excels in this area.
Today’s filmmakers
Views on Jhola,
A recently made
film, Yadav Bhattarai’s ‘Jhola’ is based on Krishna Dharabasi's story of the
same name, which critiques the ancient Indian and Nepali tradition of Sati in
India and Nepal. While recounting a novel on film has its own risk factors,
director Yadav Bhattarai seems to have won the gamble!
Besides the
storytelling, its cinematography is of a high order with excellently composed
long shots and close-ups. A realistic depiction of location and costumes lent
authentication to the film along with an understated acting that marked the
mature handling of director Bhattarai.
Although the
subject of Sati and violence against women has been in discourse in earlier
films, never before has it been handled with the sensitivity and attention to
detail as it has been done by the entire crew of this film. Some debatable
situations prevail, for example, the opening and ending of the film. While the
shaking camera scenes in the opening are meant to reflect the unstable age of
the 50s, it did not impact viewers with its metaphor, but rather, left them confused. The treatment of
the ending is more like that of a documentary with a feminist-activist stance.
Thus, it has a docu-drama quality to it, rather than that of a feature film.
Another way to approach the film would be to situate it as a “historical
fiction film”. In that, yes, it has clearly secured a high position.
‘Loot’ a crime
story by by Nischal Basnet offers a new twist to filmmaking. A narrative with
six engaging characters keep you gripped until the end. The script is refreshingly
original and the actors selected from theatre are profficient, especially
Saugat and Dayahang. The high-voltage crime situations are comparable to those
made in Hollywood and Bollywood.
Technically pulled
off with aplomb, Nischal and his team have done justice to their learning at
cinema school. While the screenplay has been well-crafted, there are voids in
the evolution of the characters. Beside Saugat and Reecha, the other actors do
not emerge satisfactorily. We can say it is a trend-breaker amidst the plethora
of stereotypical films and stories.
‘Chapali Height’
Dipendra K. Khana, with all its efforts is just an average film with a limited
plot with actors like Binita Baral who lures you with her youthful confidence but
there is much left to be desired in the
music score, the unimaginative screenplay and the cutting edge pace required in
a thriller.
Change has visited
us sporadically. Political change determines much of the creative flow in the
arts but in Nepal, it is culture that dominates our society. Cinema has often
transgressed political limitations and generated instead, a climate of hope and
new beginnings in Nepali Cinema.
Prakash Sayami [b. 1965] is a
poet. writer, media guru and filmmaker. Graduating from Ratna Rajya Laxmi
Campus, he embarked as a film director since 1990. He writes in Hindi, Newari,
Nepali and English. and has published more than 10 books in Nepali and one in
English titled 'Ray: The Man of Cinema' in 1992. He lives and works in
Bhainsipati, Lalitpur.
Nepali Contemporary Cinema : Its
Influences and Strengths
By Prakash Sayami
When Nepali cinema was introduced, emerged as
an art form, there were it had to contend with two challenges, language
and technicality. While language was highly influenced
by Indian trends and at the same time the technicality was also totally dependent
on them. And both were influenced by Indian
trends of filmmaking. Mehboob Khan’s Hindi movie film, ‘Mother India’ was the main a significant source to influence on Nepal's first film ‘Aama’ [1965].
Most of the actors in this film were Indian
rather than Nepalese and most of the technical works
like editing, recording and mixing were carried out
implemented in India. It was only after 18 years, that Nepalese directors
and producers started creating movie in Nepal themselves established an organisation
called Royal Nepal Film Corporation [RNFC] and began
creating their own cinema. The RNFC team then
was able to make a movie called 'Maan Ko Baadh" depending on the
technicality of Nepal. The film, 'Maan Ko
Baadh’ was made soon after by the RNFC within Nepal, employing its own pre and
post-production technical facilities. This movie
was Although not well received, yet RNFC continued to make
movies making films like ‘Kumari’, followed by ‘Sindoor’ and ‘Jivan-Rekha’ creating the ambience for the private forms to inspire for making
movies. a much-required space for nurturing filmmaking
in Nepal.
I started my
cinema Beginning my career in cinema as an assistant director in since 1986, I started embarked as an
independent filmmaker after post 1993 with my first movie film ‘Prithivi’ which, released in September 6th, 1994.
It was an out to out was a commercial success. movie and it was succeed. My second film ‘Seemana’ eluding to the Maoist movement, it was released on February 2nd,
was released in1996, It and again, was also commercially very successful. in history of
Nepali movie, when it was started that time Maoist movement was just in ray and
this movie has got shadow version of that movement. Thereafter, I made films that were received with
critical acclaim like ‘Avatar’ or was a complete
commercial
disaster, like ‘Rani Khola’. And then I went on to making a Maithili film like
‘Hansa Chalai Pardes’ in 1995. The magic of cinema had sunk under my skin and
while not making films, I would keenly follow the trends in filmmaking, soaking
in the tentative yet vibrant energy of what was emerging as Nepali Cinema.
While the late 80's found RNFC very slow in making movies, other new firms were being introduced. Then these new firms were
able to make movies ventures like ‘Basudev’, ‘Kusume Rumal’ and ‘Samjana’
which brought a huge change in the Nepalese
movie market. ‘Basudev’ was based on the award-winning Nepali novel ‘Kattel sir
ko chotpatak’ by Dr. Dhruva Chandra Gautam and ‘Kusume Rumal’ and ‘Samjhana’
were able to be commercially successful,
attracting new directors and producers in the market. One learnt the importance
of strong narratives and precision of character-evolution through these films.
After Nepal became the member of the a
SAARC member, Nepal
made lots of movies several films were
made in collaboration with collaboration with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
These movies films
however, they did not take off commercially and in the did
not appear to be like the original movie but it appeared like dubbed movie.
Panchavati which was made in collaboration with India directed by Basu
Bhattacharya was a nice movie but was not released commercially as it was based
on the novel by Kusum Ansal which depicted the story of sister-in-law and
brother-in-law being in a relationship which could have made a bad impact on
the Nepali movie market. Nepali artists were equally involved in this movie and
could have gained a lot of advantage from this but since it did not release, it
was a huge loss for the industry. After that, no movie has been made in
collaboration with India. In early 90s new filmmakers emerged, meeting challenges
of creating accepted and that is why industry seek for
new plots with a wider creative vision, from which Ugyen Chopel's ‘Saino’,
Tulsi Ghimire's Lahure, Prakash Thapa's Santaan could be considered as significant
creations.
In ‘Saino’, for instance, songs,
music, location and casting were unique; the story, influenced by Freudian psychology,
gave a new dimension to the female lead, rarely projected in Nepali society. This
was the first Nepali film where Freud's interpretive psychology was employed as
a narrative tool. ‘Lahure’ was about a Nepali man
travelling overseas and to become a Gurkha, a plot that reflected the reality
and struggle of the migrant Nepali. ‘Santaan’, directed by Nepal’s
senior-most filmmaker Prakash Thapa, was a run-of-the-mill subject but since
the treatment was new and as the taste of the Nepali,
it was a runaway success in the market.
By the end of the late 90s, a new
cluster of filmmakers introduced more contemporary plots and concepts. Of these, Rabi Baral, Kishor Rana, Ujjwal
Ghimire, Tshering Ritar Sherpa and Nabin Subba were prominent, addressing issues on youth, socio-political or
as musicals. Tshering Ritar’s film on superstition and the serious issue of
‘witch’ killing was internationally recognised. Subash Gajurel made a film
based on the novel ‘Basai’, Gyanendra Deuja's ‘Moona Madan’ [adaption of poet
Laxmi Prasad’s novel ‘Devkota’] Yadav Kharel's ‘Adi kabi Bhanu bhakta’s. However,
The these novel-based films were unable to do justice to the novels due to budget
constraints and lack of research on the popularity of the subject.
Post 2000, a promising effort
made by producers influenced the viewing preference of the audience. The new
shift in its approach for smaller productions with more compact cameras like
the Red Eye encouraged young filmmakers to work efficiently on science fiction
and war films that drew a young audience to the theatres in droves.
Today’s
filmmakers
Views on
Jhola,
A recently
made film, Yadav Bhattarai’s ‘Jhola’ is may
not be the perfect film to be but a worth watching and an example
movie to its genre not just by its story but with whole lots of endeavors by
the director as well. It is strongly based on Literate Krishna Dharabasi's story of the same
name, which is positioned in the ground critiques the ancient
Indian and Nepali tradition of Sati in India and Nepal. 'Sati Tradition' of ancient Nepal. While recounting a novel on film has
its own risk factors, director Yadav Bhattarai seems to have wn the gamble! Most of the time making cinema out of from
the book or popular story has the sides in both, risk and benefit and the final
is it's a gamble. In short, Yadav K Bhattarai has won the gamble.
Besides the
storytelling, its Especially the
treatment of cinematography is of a high order
with excellently composed long shots and close-ups. A realistic depiction of
location and costumes lent authentication to the film along with an understated
acting that marked the mature handling of director Bhattarai. dark scenes and costumes made the cinema
more realistic. Bhattarai has worked for the technicalities of the show offs and
hide outs of the location. The locals of that time and their utilities have
become properties of Jhola. Efforts can be seen in acting.
Although the
subject of Sati and violence against women has been in discourse in earlier
films, never before has it been handled with the sensitivity and attention to
detail as it has been done by the entire crew of this film. Some debatable situations
prevail, for example, the opening and ending of the film. While the shaking
camera scenes in the opening are meant to reflect the unstable age of the 50s, it
did not impact viewers with its metaphor, but rather, left them confused. The treatment of
the ending is more like that of a documentary with a feminist-activist stance. Thus,
it has a docu-drama quality to it, rather than that of a feature film. Another
way to approach the film would be to situate it as a “historical fiction film”.
In that, yes, it has clearly secured a high position.
On Loot;
‘Loot’ a
crime story by by Nischal Basnet offers a new twist to filmmaking. A narrative
with six engaging characters keep you gripped until the end. The script is
refreshingly original and the actors selected from theatre are profficient,
especially Saugat and Dayahang. The high-voltage crime situations are
comparable to those made in Hollywood and Bollywood.
Technically
pulled off with aplomb, Nischal and his team have done justice to their
learning at cinema school. While the screenplay has been well-crafted, there are
voids in the evolution of the characters. Beside Saugat and Reecha, the other
actors do not emerge satisfactorily. We can say it is a trend-breaker amidst the
plethora of stereotypical films and stories.
Chapali
Height
Chapali
Height, with all its efforts is just an average film with a limited plot and
characters like who are some good examples for movie makers willing to make it
as easy going. This film has done it for its goodness. You cannot find the
management meticulous.
The sense of
the thriller after the second half of the movie, the show-offs of actor Binita
Baral and her confidence to do it, the youthfulness in characters are some
factors that lure you for a while. There are flaws in score music; they don't
pull you to the edge of thrill and suspense as the story needs. Binita keeps
hauling and make the both other actors put away from. Actors' professionalism
lacks many times all over the film. The screenplay can be improved.
On Tulasi
Ghimirey's Darpan Chhaya
The movie
based on love triangle and it has soothing music. And well cast . Experience director
has perfectly treated it very well. And as a filmmaker I always admire Tulasi
Ghimire's low budged kind of filmmaking and more rehearsal on script, that’s
why he can give his 99 percent.
And this
movie has beautiful locations of Darjeeling after long time.
Change has
visited us sporadically. Political change determines much of the creative flow in
the arts but in Nepal, it is culture that dominates our society. Cinema has often
transgressed political limitations and generated instead, a climate of hope and
new beginnings in Nepali Cinema.
Prakash Sayami [b. 1965] is a
poet. writer, media guru and filmmaker. Graduating from Ratna Rajya Laxmi
Campus, he embarked as a film director since 1990. He writes in Hindi, Newari,
Nepali and English. and has published more than 10 books in Nepali and one in
English titled 'Ray: The Man of Cinema ' in 1992. He lives and works in Bhainsipati,
Lalitpur.
The cinemas which are to be
produced now should be as depth as one's life and more importantly, it should
be well researched before starting any work and the image of Nepal should be
well replicated. Cinemas that could be created in this manner should be able to
reflect the life and the lifestyle of the Nepalese.
***
1147
When Nepali cinema was
introduced, there were two challenges, language and technicality. Language was
highly influenced by Indian trends and at the same time the technicality was
also totally dependent on them. Mehboob Khan's Hindi movie "Mother India" was the main
source to influence Nepal's first film 'Aama" (1965). In this movie, most
of the actors were Indian rather than Nepalese and most of the technical works
like editing, recording and mixing were carried out in India. Only after 18
years, Nepalese director and producer started creating movie in Nepal
themselves establishing an organization called Royal Nepal Film Corporation
(RNFC) . RNFC team then was able to make a movie called 'Maan Ko Baadh"
depending on the technicality of Nepal. This movie was not well received yet
RNFC continued to make movies like "Kumari" followed by
"Sindoor" "Jivan-Rekha" creating the ambience for the
private forms to inspire for making movies.
After 1984, private forums
started becoming aggressive for the Nepali cinema. The first movie introduced
by Sujata Films was "Jooni", Hem's Experimental movie was
"Adarsha Naari" and Om Production's "kaanchi". Some were
highly dependent on Indian technicality whislt some were totally independent on
Indian. Movies then could not succeed commercially despite highly being good in
technical fields attracting more of the private parties to make movies. In
"Jooni", Indian director- Sarad Paleker, Indian Musician Suresh Kumar
were involved, so was in the writing and singing department which then were not
able to justify Nepalis creativity. Likewise, "Kanchi" which was made
at the same time, Mumbai based filmmaker B.S. Thapa directed the movie and
acclaimed a success in the market because they had put high effort on writing
and also most of the artists for the movie were Nepali which proved the
potentiality of Nepalese artists. "Adarsha Naari" did not get success
in the market and the director did not make any movies after that. Nationality
was the main issues of these movies not entertainment.
By late 80's RNFC was very slow
in making movies but other new firms were being introduced. Then these new
firms were able to make movies like Basudev, Kusume rumal, and Samjana which
brought a huge change in the Nepalese movie market. Basudev was based on the
award winning nepali novel "Kattel sir ko chotpatak" by Dr. Dhruva
Chandra Gautam. Kusume Rumal and Samjhana were able to be commercially
successful attracting new directors and producers in the market.
Though the story was cliché the
treatment done for the film was very new as the shooting was done out of the
valley like in Darljiling and Kalimpong and high effort was also put on musical
section. The new lessons taught by these cinemas were that the script should be
very bold enough and characters are to be very precise and need more
rehearsing. Mashal- sponsored by Sikkim Government, RFNC's "Ke Ghar Ke
Dera " were again failure in the market. The main lessons understood from
their failure were that story should be the main strength and the characters
should be totally aware of Nepali taste. And by that time they also realized
that Nepali has also got the talent in technical fields and artists were also
capable of doing things by themselves despite the help of Indian background.
After Nepal became the member of
the SAARC, Nepal made lots of movies with collaboration with Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh and Pakistan. These movies did not appear to be like the original
movie but it appeared like dubbed movie. Panchavati which was made in
collaboration with India directed by Basu Bhattacharya was a nice movie but was
not released commercially as it was based on the novel by Kusum Ansal which
depicted the story of sister-in-law and brother-in-law being in a relationship
which could have made a bad impact on the Nepali movie market. Nepali artists were
equally involved in this movie and could have gained a lot of advantage from
this but since it did not release, it was a huge loss for the industry. After
that, no movie has been made in collaboration with India. In early 90's new
challenges were accepted and that is why industry seek for new plots and story,
new film makers with the wide creative visions arrived out of which Ugyen
Chopel's ‘Saino’, Tulsi Ghimire's Lahure, Prakash Thapa's Santaan could be
taken as examples.
In
Saino, songs, music, location and casting were very unique comparing with other
movies. The story was highly influenced by Freudian's Psychology because of
which the heroine had a new image in the Nepali society and other characters
had good interrelation with each other. This was the first Nepali movie where
Freud's dreams psychology was used as an example. Lahure movie was totally
based on Nepali origin where a man goes overseas and becomes a Gurkha.
Santaan which was directed the
senior most film maker Prakash Thapa where subject was the run of the mill but
since the treatment was new and as the taste of the Nepali, was a success in
the market.
By the end of late 90's, many new
makers were introduced and they all tried to form new plots and subjects out of
which Rabi Baral, Kishor Rana, Ujjwal Ghimire, Tshering Ritar Sherpa, Nabin
Subba were the prominent people. All the film concepts were more on the youth's
issues, then the childhood marriage and music related. Tshering Ritar made a
movie plotting on our superstitution of killing the witch which was
internationally recognized. Young directors on the same era made a movie based
on literature background. Subash Gajurel made a movie based on the novel
"Basai", Gyanendra Deuja's Moona madan ( adapted from the poet Laxmi
Prasad Devkota) Yadav Kharel's " adi kabi Bhanu bhakta". The
drawbacks of these movies based on the novels were not able to justify the
novels and the main reasons were budget problem and lack of research on the
popularity of the subject.
The movies after 00's, the technicalities
were all new so were the film producers. These producers attempted a lot to
change the preference of the customers. Industry was able to take the movie
atleast to the cinema hall.
In between all these, Nepali
cinemas actually were supposed to go for big cameras but they all shifted to
smaller cameras instead like Red Eye because of which youth involvement in the
movies direction was highly increased. They started working on the new subjects
like science fiction, war movies. All these movies were able to give a new
vision to Nepali audiences but this is not the only strength.
The cinemas which are to be
produced now should be as depth as one's life and more importantly, it should
be well researched before starting any work and the image of Nepal should be
well replicated. Cinemas that could be created in this manner should be able to
reflect the life and the lifestyle of the Nepalese.
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