In this image alongside, Babu gets ready for action. For more pictures, click on Read More.
Tying the ropes. Safety!
Just about to fly.
Mission Possible!
In this image alongside, Babu gets ready for action. For more pictures, click on Read More.
Tying the ropes. Safety!
Just about to fly.
Mission Possible!
By Fidel Devkota
It is a well-known fact that the Nepali film industry is not great, but what we tend to forget is that it’s still going on, despite the fact that times are tougher. When survival was the call of the day, the film industry survived and that fact is very important to note. In crunch time, we have seen the collapse of more established film industries all over the globe.
I have been reading and hearing a lot of comments made Nepali cinema from both insiders and outsiders; insiders being those in the industry itself and outsiders being those who are consumers. But we tend to forget to applaud the aplomb of the filmmakers and technicians who have kept the industry functional for so long. I want insiders and outsiders both to have some insight before they criticize.
INSIDERS:
Those in the film industry complain that the lack of a proper budget, technical support and able manpower are the core reasons behind the slow demise of the industry. But the question is: it really true? Are those the reasons restraining filmmakers from making even one good film?
We know that we don’t have big budgets to go on spending sprees for lavish sets and costumes, like those in more established industries have. Our equipment is not up to the standards of modern cinema, proper homegrown technicians are hard to find and compromise is the only word in movie making, from pre to post production. But is this the real cause for the fall of Nepali cinema or just an excuse? It doesn’t matter that we don’t have the budget or the latest state of the art technology or even able technicians, we need to be making optimal use of whatever resources we do have. Sad but true is the fact that our cinema is not even able to use what we already have in abundance. It’s a shame that we had to wait for Eric Valli to discover the story of Mani Lal and Thinle. Aren’t we waiting with bated breath for a Nepali director to capture the breathtaking landscape and socio-cultural diversity in film? We have to learn to make use of what we have in the first place.
Cinema is the art of storytelling and when you are narrating with the help of sight and sound, you have to make sure you’re basics are right. This starts with the first phase of cinema: the pre-production phase, which is the Idea. Nepali filmmakers need to come up with fresh new ideas. Right now, either we are stuck in the past or we believe in borrowing. After watching a couple of foreign commercial films, an idea strikes the mind of a filmmaker, and that idea is passed to the screenwriter with the DVDs of those films, and the obvious result is as expected- a scene by scene, line by line ‘inspiration’.
The second phase of cinema pre-production is the story and scriptwriting and this is directly related to the idea conceived. With a stale idea, one can’t except much from the story or the script. Nepali filmmakers have to be original with their ideas. It is the only solution. Borrowed ideas and stories may click but they are not a permanent solution.
There are other different phases of production, but I want to focus on the most important part of filmmaking, which is the selection of the cast and crew. In the current Nepali context, the investor (falsely called the producer) chooses a story and a director and also its cast and crew; the director doesn’t have much say in the matter. Even if the director gets to choose the cast and crew, they are not given much choice because the so-called producer wants a star as their money back guarantee. Usually, the investors are heavily influential on cast and crew selection. This is wrong, if the director doesn’t get the freedom to work the way he wants, he cannot work well. For the betterment of cinema, this needs to change.
Selection of the proper format for filming is also vital concerning quality. How long can we go on using 16mm Arriflex cameras from the 1950’s with a foggy lens, and then blow up the image while screening? There are other alternative formats also available in the market, and filmmakers should seriously consider such alternatives. Film insiders always complain that Nepali film industry don’t have what it takes to rival international levels technically. It is true to some extent but I think technology is never a problem or ever will be. Think about those early masterpieces from D.W Griffith, Sergei Eisenstein, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin. These men used whatever they have had to the fullest and came up with one masterpiece after another. I don’t understand why we complain. We have technology that is miles ahead of what those luminary directors used in their prime. The reason we can’t be better than them is because those masters had originality and were innovative.
Insiders even blame the limited market for Nepali films for the stagnation of the industry. In this era of globalization, there is no such thing as a confined market. But filmmakers need to act locally first. If your product is not worthy, of course it won’t sell. The Nepali film market is so confined because its products are simply not up to the standards. Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese films have an international market because they meet the high standards of international cinema. With the current trend of filmmaking, Nepali film is being displaced even in its own ground by Bollywood and increasingly, Korean cinema.
People working in the film industry also need to be professional and treat each other with respect. Respect is a two-way street. People in the industry tend to forget that. Pride and dignity has to be restored to the industry. It’s time to introduce professional managers and smarter administrative and marketing people. There is a film development board but with the rise and fall in governments, its priorities often change. The film development board has always served its government masters, never cinema. The system of a political appointee being the head of the film board has never helped the industry. Not much can be expected from a board that serves the policies of its parent political party. And yet, the very survival of the industry is dependent on the policies and vision of the film development board.
Our industry is more than half a century old but it needs a fresh overhaul. We need to pump new blood into this aging industry of ours. This is only possible if we nurture and create a conducive environment for independent filmmaking. The government and the film board needs to finance, subsidize, promote and create a better environment for filmmakers. These are the only solutions to the betterment of cinema in Nepal.
Fidel Devkota is an independent filmmaker. Article originally published in ventzine.com
It is a well-known fact that the Nepali film industry is not great, but what we tend to forget is that it’s still going on, despite the fact that times are tougher. When survival was the call of the day, the film industry survived and that fact is very important to note. In crunch time, we have seen the collapse of more established film industries all over the globe.
I have been reading and hearing a lot of comments made Nepali cinema from both insiders and outsiders; insiders being those in the industry itself and outsiders being those who are consumers. But we tend to forget to applaud the aplomb of the filmmakers and technicians who have kept the industry functional for so long. I want insiders and outsiders both to have some insight before they criticize.
INSIDERS:
Those in the film industry complain that the lack of a proper budget, technical support and able manpower are the core reasons behind the slow demise of the industry. But the question is: it really true? Are those the reasons restraining filmmakers from making even one good film?
We know that we don’t have big budgets to go on spending sprees for lavish sets and costumes, like those in more established industries have. Our equipment is not up to the standards of modern cinema, proper homegrown technicians are hard to find and compromise is the only word in movie making, from pre to post production. But is this the real cause for the fall of Nepali cinema or just an excuse? It doesn’t matter that we don’t have the budget or the latest state of the art technology or even able technicians, we need to be making optimal use of whatever resources we do have. Sad but true is the fact that our cinema is not even able to use what we already have in abundance. It’s a shame that we had to wait for Eric Valli to discover the story of Mani Lal and Thinle. Aren’t we waiting with bated breath for a Nepali director to capture the breathtaking landscape and socio-cultural diversity in film? We have to learn to make use of what we have in the first place.
Cinema is the art of storytelling and when you are narrating with the help of sight and sound, you have to make sure you’re basics are right. This starts with the first phase of cinema: the pre-production phase, which is the Idea. Nepali filmmakers need to come up with fresh new ideas. Right now, either we are stuck in the past or we believe in borrowing. After watching a couple of foreign commercial films, an idea strikes the mind of a filmmaker, and that idea is passed to the screenwriter with the DVDs of those films, and the obvious result is as expected- a scene by scene, line by line ‘inspiration’.
The second phase of cinema pre-production is the story and scriptwriting and this is directly related to the idea conceived. With a stale idea, one can’t except much from the story or the script. Nepali filmmakers have to be original with their ideas. It is the only solution. Borrowed ideas and stories may click but they are not a permanent solution.
There are other different phases of production, but I want to focus on the most important part of filmmaking, which is the selection of the cast and crew. In the current Nepali context, the investor (falsely called the producer) chooses a story and a director and also its cast and crew; the director doesn’t have much say in the matter. Even if the director gets to choose the cast and crew, they are not given much choice because the so-called producer wants a star as their money back guarantee. Usually, the investors are heavily influential on cast and crew selection. This is wrong, if the director doesn’t get the freedom to work the way he wants, he cannot work well. For the betterment of cinema, this needs to change.
Selection of the proper format for filming is also vital concerning quality. How long can we go on using 16mm Arriflex cameras from the 1950’s with a foggy lens, and then blow up the image while screening? There are other alternative formats also available in the market, and filmmakers should seriously consider such alternatives. Film insiders always complain that Nepali film industry don’t have what it takes to rival international levels technically. It is true to some extent but I think technology is never a problem or ever will be. Think about those early masterpieces from D.W Griffith, Sergei Eisenstein, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin. These men used whatever they have had to the fullest and came up with one masterpiece after another. I don’t understand why we complain. We have technology that is miles ahead of what those luminary directors used in their prime. The reason we can’t be better than them is because those masters had originality and were innovative.
Insiders even blame the limited market for Nepali films for the stagnation of the industry. In this era of globalization, there is no such thing as a confined market. But filmmakers need to act locally first. If your product is not worthy, of course it won’t sell. The Nepali film market is so confined because its products are simply not up to the standards. Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese films have an international market because they meet the high standards of international cinema. With the current trend of filmmaking, Nepali film is being displaced even in its own ground by Bollywood and increasingly, Korean cinema.
People working in the film industry also need to be professional and treat each other with respect. Respect is a two-way street. People in the industry tend to forget that. Pride and dignity has to be restored to the industry. It’s time to introduce professional managers and smarter administrative and marketing people. There is a film development board but with the rise and fall in governments, its priorities often change. The film development board has always served its government masters, never cinema. The system of a political appointee being the head of the film board has never helped the industry. Not much can be expected from a board that serves the policies of its parent political party. And yet, the very survival of the industry is dependent on the policies and vision of the film development board.
Our industry is more than half a century old but it needs a fresh overhaul. We need to pump new blood into this aging industry of ours. This is only possible if we nurture and create a conducive environment for independent filmmaking. The government and the film board needs to finance, subsidize, promote and create a better environment for filmmakers. These are the only solutions to the betterment of cinema in Nepal.
Fidel Devkota is an independent filmmaker. Article originally published in ventzine.com
The Wired Magazine has an interesting article about Google vs Facebook in this month's issue. While Google reigns on top, Facebook's growth is staggering. When I checked on Alexa, Facebook had a higher average time that users spent on the site. Also, crucial to this is the fact that almost everything on Facebook is shielded away from Google, whose aim is to organize and categorize everything on the web. The article does a good job of pointing out that Facebook could be a threat to Google if it's user base keeps on growing at the current rate, and it finds a good business model.
To read more, Click here.
To read more, Click here.
Two days ago, as many as 94 Nepali film artistes, directors, producers and technicians joined the UCPN-Maoist. Party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal formally accepted their membership during a function in Kathmandu.Addressing a function, Prachanda said the entry of number of artistes into the party was sort of miracle. “This is the beginning of the fight to safeguard our national interest,” he said. Stating that people from several sectors were seeking membership of his party, he claimed that a party was planning merger with the UCPN-Maoist within the next two weeks. “This has made me feel that I am still the Prime Minister,” he said, adding that it was time foreign powers realised that the Maoists were a power to reckon with.
Senior film artiste Neer Shah drew a parallel between the Nepali film industry and the UCPN-Maoist. He said both were fighting against the mafias that have been trying to undermine their strength and influence. “Together we can create a beautiful canvas. I believe that the Maoists alone can build a new Nepal,” he said. Shah said more people would join the UCPN-Maoist in the days to come as the future belonged to it.
Film producer and director Yubaraj Lama and KP Pathak, fight directors Rajendra Khadgi and N B Maharjan, senior recordist and musician Dip Ratna Tuladhar, producer and actress Mausami Malla, directors Suvash Gajurel, Shiva Regmi, Jayananda Lama, Dipak Shrestha and Ramji Lamichhane, singers Anju Panta and Puja Sunuwar, and senior technician Jyoti Lal Rana formally joined the UCPN-Maoist today.
Here's the video.
Last time when Prachanda backed down from the post of the Prime Minister after President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav reinstated Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Rookmangud Katuwal against the government’s decision, Nepali Congress (NC) and Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) raised their eyebrows. India, which had been dealing with the protests of the Indian hegemony of more than 60,000 hectare land in 21 bordering districts, became alarmed. The man who hadn’t even won from his constituencies in the April 2008 CA elections surfaced as the new PM with the support of 22 parties, including the NC. One whole month has gone by and it seems all our “MAKUNE” has done is form a cabinet number of times, trying to accommodate all parties. Still, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Sadbhavna Party (SP) seem disgruntled.Maoists then took off to the streets and added “Indian hegemony along the border” to their list of agendas along with the issue of Maoists combatants among others. The House proceedings that were boycotted by other parties in the Maoist government are now disturbed by Maoists themselves. Their main concern- address Dr. Yadav’s unconstitutional move of May 3rd. The house session hasn’t resumed for almost three months now. MAKUNE doesn’t make any bold move to resume the house session or order his ministers to start working immediately to stop violence, bandas, beef up security along the Indian border, work on other important issues, but just criticizes Maoists of trying to topple the new government. Constitution writing along with other important programs and policies, including the new budget are being delayed. The constitutional assembly chairman that was occupied by MAKUNE himself before his prime ministership is vacant at the moment. Maoist senior leader Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai seems a good choice for this post, but still NC wants to seize the seat.
UML and NC now have a challenge to coax the Maoists to join the government. The Indian pressure to the government to coax the Maoists can’t be ignored. What did you expect Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told MAKUNE in his recent visit? New Delhi doesn’t want Maoists to go violent as they could coalesce with the Indian Maoists, that India just declared terrorists, and create another havoc. But the issue of Indian hegemony along Susta and other parts of Terai that has been voiced by the Maoists poses a great challenge to India. India wants something right off the bat. Menon also agreed to help Nepal to import power by setting up transmission lines. What a timing?
No matter how our MAKUNE speaks, he is timid to go along with the Maoists’ demands. What if he irks NC? NC doesn’t want the issue of CoAS to be discussed anymore. Most of the ministerial positions have been allocated and oaths have been taken. However, question remains if MAKUNE can’t move forward without amalgamating the Maoists in the mainstream, what ministerial portfolios would have to be given to the Maoists? Then there are demands of the Madhesi parties over “One Madhes, One Province.” The Madhesi parties joined the current government under the condition that the agreement of the United Democratic Madhesi Front in February of 2008 would be implemented. MAKUNE would definitely have a hard time just as he said in a recent impromptu speech in his hometown, “I am keeping my butt on the PM seat, which is no less severe than thorns.”
Frequent strikes, blockades, transportation strikes in different parts of the nation declared by different factions, including the Maoists themselves, are creating mayhem for the general public. Entrepreneurs and businessmen are peeved by these haunting obstructions. Effective measures to end impunity, control inflation and growing incidences of killings, abductions and extortion are expected from the new government. No doubt, former King Gyanendra wants to address the nation taking stock of the current situation on his upcoming birthday. Nepal’s and MAKUNE’s crisis is more severe than any time before. I can’t say the country is plunged into crisis again, well it always was. It’s that the crisis just got deeper.
Laxmi Prasad Devkota published the poem Pagal in 1953. A few months ago, Prashant Sharma translated this poem in English. Click here to read the original poem, along with a brief anecdote of Devkota's love of the Nepali language.
Oh yes, friend! I'm crazy-
that's just the way I am.
2.
I see sounds,
I hear sights,
I taste smells,
I touch not heaven but things from the underworld,
things people do not believe exist,
whose shapes the world does not suspect.
Stones I see as flowers
lying water-smoothed by the water's edge,
rocks of tender forms
in the moonlight
when the heavenly sorceress smiles at me,
putting out leaves, softening, glistening,
throbbing, they rise up like mute maniacs,
like flowers, a kind of moon-bird's flowers.
I talk to them the way they talk to me,
a language, friend,
that can't be written or printed or spoken,
can't be understood, can't be heard.
Their language comes in ripples to the moonlit Ganges banks,
ripple by ripple-
oh yes, friend! I'm crazy-
that's just the way I am.
3.
You're clever, quick with words,
your exact equations are right forever and ever.
But in my arithmetic, take one from one-
and there's still one left.
You get along with five senses,
I with a sixth.
You have a brain, friend,
I have a heart.
A rose is just a rose to you-
to me it's Helen and Padmini.
You are forceful prose
I liquid verse.
When you freeze I melt,
When you're clear I get muddled
and then it works the other way around.
Your world is solid,
mine vapor,
yours coarse, mine subtle.
You think a stone reality;
harsh cruelty is real for you.
I try to catch a dream,
the way you grasp the rounded truth of cold, sweet coin.
I have the sharpness of the thorn,
you of gold and diamonds.
You think the hills are mute-
I call them eloquent.
Oh yes, friend!
I'm free in my inebriation-
that's just the way I am.
4.
In the cold of the month of Magh
I sat
warming to the first white heat of the star.
the world called me drifty.
When they saw me staring blankly for seven days
after I came back from the burning ghats
they said I was a spook.
When I saw the first marks of the snows of time
in a beautiful woman's hair
I wept for three days.
When the Buddha touched my soul
they said I was raving.
They called me a lunatic because I danced
when I heard the first spring cuckoo.
One dead-quite moon night
breathless I leapt to my feet,
filled with the pain of destruction.
On that occasion the fools
put me in the stocks,
One day I sang with the storm-
the wise men
sent me off to Ranchi.
Realizing that same day I myself would die
I stretched out on my bed.
A friend came along and pinched me hard
and said, Hey, madman,
your flesh isn't dead yet!
For years these things went on.
I'm crazy, friend-
that's just the way I am.
5.
I called the Navab's wine blood,
the painted whore a corpse,
and the king a pauper.
I attacked Alexander with insults,
and denounced the so-called great souls.
The lowly I have raised on the bridge of praise
to the seventh heaven.
Your learned pandit is my great fool,
your heaven my hell,
your gold my iron,
friend! Your piety my sin.
Where you see yourself as brilliant
I find you a dolt.
Your rise, friend-my decline.
That's the way our values are mixed up,
friend!
Your whole world is a hair to me.
Oh yes, friend, I'm moonstruck through and through-
moonstruck!
That's just the way I am.
6.
I see the blind man as the people's guide,
the ascetic in his cave a deserter;
those who act in the theater of lies
I see as dark buffoons.
Those who fail I find successful,
and progress only backsliding.
am I squint-eyed,
Or just crazy?
Friend, I'm crazy.
Look at the withered tongues of shameless leaders,
The dance of the whores
At breaking the backbone on the people's rights.
When the sparrow-headed newsprint spreads its black lies
In a web of falsehood
To challenge Reason-the hero in myself-
My cheeks turn red, friend,
red as molten coal.
When simple people drink dark poison with their ears
Thinking it nectar-
and right before my eyes, friend! -
then every hair on my body stands up stiff
as the Gorgon's serpent hair-
every hair on me maddened!
When I see the tiger daring to eat the deer, friend,
or the big fish the little,
then into my rotten bones there comes
the terrible strength of the soul of Dadhichi
and tries to speak, friend,
like the stormy day crashing down from heaven with the lightning.
When man regards a man
as not a man, friend,
then my teeth grind together, all thirty-two,
top and bottom jaws,
like the teeth if Bhimasena.
And then
red with rage my eyeballs rool
round and round, with one sweep
like a lashing flame
taking in this inhuman human world.
My organs leap out of theirs frames-
uproar! Uproar!
my breathing becomes a storm,
my face distorted, my brain on fire, friend!
with a fire like those that burn beneath the sea,
like the fire that devours the forests,
frenzied, friend!
as one who would swallow the wide world raw.
Oh yes, my friend,
the beautiful chakora am I,
destroyer of the ugly,
both tender and cruel,
the bird that steals the heaven's fire,
child of the tempest,
spew of the insane volcano,
terror incarnate.
Oh yes, friend,
my brain is whirling, whirling-
that's just the way I am.
--Laxmi Prasad Devkota (Published 1953)
Oh yes, friend! I'm crazy-
that's just the way I am.
2.
I see sounds,
I hear sights,
I taste smells,
I touch not heaven but things from the underworld,
things people do not believe exist,
whose shapes the world does not suspect.
Stones I see as flowers
lying water-smoothed by the water's edge,
rocks of tender forms
in the moonlight
when the heavenly sorceress smiles at me,
putting out leaves, softening, glistening,
throbbing, they rise up like mute maniacs,
like flowers, a kind of moon-bird's flowers.
I talk to them the way they talk to me,
a language, friend,
that can't be written or printed or spoken,
can't be understood, can't be heard.
Their language comes in ripples to the moonlit Ganges banks,
ripple by ripple-
oh yes, friend! I'm crazy-
that's just the way I am.
3.
You're clever, quick with words,
your exact equations are right forever and ever.
But in my arithmetic, take one from one-
and there's still one left.
You get along with five senses,
I with a sixth.
You have a brain, friend,
I have a heart.
A rose is just a rose to you-
to me it's Helen and Padmini.
You are forceful prose
I liquid verse.
When you freeze I melt,
When you're clear I get muddled
and then it works the other way around.
Your world is solid,
mine vapor,
yours coarse, mine subtle.
You think a stone reality;
harsh cruelty is real for you.
I try to catch a dream,
the way you grasp the rounded truth of cold, sweet coin.
I have the sharpness of the thorn,
you of gold and diamonds.
You think the hills are mute-
I call them eloquent.
Oh yes, friend!
I'm free in my inebriation-
that's just the way I am.
4.
In the cold of the month of Magh
I sat
warming to the first white heat of the star.
the world called me drifty.
When they saw me staring blankly for seven days
after I came back from the burning ghats
they said I was a spook.
When I saw the first marks of the snows of time
in a beautiful woman's hair
I wept for three days.
When the Buddha touched my soul
they said I was raving.
They called me a lunatic because I danced
when I heard the first spring cuckoo.
One dead-quite moon night
breathless I leapt to my feet,
filled with the pain of destruction.
On that occasion the fools
put me in the stocks,
One day I sang with the storm-
the wise men
sent me off to Ranchi.
Realizing that same day I myself would die
I stretched out on my bed.
A friend came along and pinched me hard
and said, Hey, madman,
your flesh isn't dead yet!
For years these things went on.
I'm crazy, friend-
that's just the way I am.
5.
I called the Navab's wine blood,
the painted whore a corpse,
and the king a pauper.
I attacked Alexander with insults,
and denounced the so-called great souls.
The lowly I have raised on the bridge of praise
to the seventh heaven.
Your learned pandit is my great fool,
your heaven my hell,
your gold my iron,
friend! Your piety my sin.
Where you see yourself as brilliant
I find you a dolt.
Your rise, friend-my decline.
That's the way our values are mixed up,
friend!
Your whole world is a hair to me.
Oh yes, friend, I'm moonstruck through and through-
moonstruck!
That's just the way I am.
6.
I see the blind man as the people's guide,
the ascetic in his cave a deserter;
those who act in the theater of lies
I see as dark buffoons.
Those who fail I find successful,
and progress only backsliding.
am I squint-eyed,
Or just crazy?
Friend, I'm crazy.
Look at the withered tongues of shameless leaders,
The dance of the whores
At breaking the backbone on the people's rights.
When the sparrow-headed newsprint spreads its black lies
In a web of falsehood
To challenge Reason-the hero in myself-
My cheeks turn red, friend,
red as molten coal.
When simple people drink dark poison with their ears
Thinking it nectar-
and right before my eyes, friend! -
then every hair on my body stands up stiff
as the Gorgon's serpent hair-
every hair on me maddened!
When I see the tiger daring to eat the deer, friend,
or the big fish the little,
then into my rotten bones there comes
the terrible strength of the soul of Dadhichi
and tries to speak, friend,
like the stormy day crashing down from heaven with the lightning.
When man regards a man
as not a man, friend,
then my teeth grind together, all thirty-two,
top and bottom jaws,
like the teeth if Bhimasena.
And then
red with rage my eyeballs rool
round and round, with one sweep
like a lashing flame
taking in this inhuman human world.
My organs leap out of theirs frames-
uproar! Uproar!
my breathing becomes a storm,
my face distorted, my brain on fire, friend!
with a fire like those that burn beneath the sea,
like the fire that devours the forests,
frenzied, friend!
as one who would swallow the wide world raw.
Oh yes, my friend,
the beautiful chakora am I,
destroyer of the ugly,
both tender and cruel,
the bird that steals the heaven's fire,
child of the tempest,
spew of the insane volcano,
terror incarnate.
Oh yes, friend,
my brain is whirling, whirling-
that's just the way I am.
--Laxmi Prasad Devkota (Published 1953)
Himalaya, Where the Wind Dwells is a 2009 Korean film, a considerable part of which has been filmed in Nepal. The film was released in June of 2009 and is available in Korean, English and Nepali languages.Synopsis: A Nepali worker ‘Dorje’ who works illegally in a Korean company gets killed in an accident in South Korea. A businessman Choi (Choi Min-sik), the brother of the company’s owner, is going through a lot of problems- middle agedness and loneliness. He decides to set off to take the ashes of the man to his family in Nepal in order to escape from his life, albeit for a while. However, he is ill-prepared for the long trek up to village Shirkot (Mugu), in the Himalayas and the accompanying altitude sickness. As Choi sees Nepal, he soon gets lost in the beauty of the Himalayas and the wind. He befriends Dorje’s son, plays, tends the family’s sheep with him, but is not courageous enough to tell the news of the death to the man’s wife and the family. He tells them that he is here for a vacation. The hospitality of the family melts Choi and he comes to have a fascination towards Dorje’s wife. Soon, they find it out and Choi returns to Korea.
With panoramic scenes of the Himalayas, the Korean film made by director Soo-il Jeon is doing a good business in Seoul. Beautifully cinematographed Himalayas and the shots of rural Nepal have served in the success of movies like Everest (1998), Caravan (1999) and Kagbeni (2008). This movie is no different. Director and screenwriter Jeon and his cinematographer have captured natural scenes and the grandeur of the Nepali beauty along with the melody of the wind.
The movie premiered last fall at the 12th Pusan (Busan) International Film Festival in South Korea and is slated to compete at the 44th Karlovivary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic in July this year.
Nepal’s film industry has just started to leave the traditional storylines, which are genuinely “inspired” from the Bollywood movies. In spite of the foreign competition and lack of big audience, films like Basanti and Prem Pinda have emerged spectacularly. Caravan, also known as Himalaya, was nominated for the best foreign film category in Academy Awards in 2000. Mukundo, Muna Madan and Basain were submitted in the same category in 2001, 2004 and 2007.
Meanwhile, foreign films like Everest, an IMAX documentary on the struggles in climbing Mt. Everest, and The Little Buddha are some of the remarkable films filmed in Nepal. Some other outstanding Nepali films that have gained some international fame are The Spirit Doesn't Come Anymore by Tsering Rhitar Sherpa, Navin Subba's Numafung and Kesang Tseten's We Homes Chaps.
