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Sharad Chandra Pyakurel EMBA Fall 2012 Article 2

Nepali Film Issues and Opportunities


Nepalese film industry is the only industry of Nepal which always compared with the world largest and second largest film industries Hollywood and Bollywood respectively in the prospective of quality. We should be happy with the progress and technological advancement in Nepalese film sector because it is competing with the worlds best movies. The history of Nepalese film development is not so long and we have no more experience in film sector but our industry is becoming matured. Until some years back, Nepalese movie sector had lots of uncertainties and inconsistency, this sector was not professionalized. Producers and directors used to make the movies just to fulfill their interests and hobbies but they had no sustainable professional thoughts. Same case applies to film actors, actress and other artists. They were uninformed regarding their carrier in this sector and were very difficult to secure carrier in this profession. People used to act just for acting. This industry was operating as a rumor; there were no proper system, function and regulation. The whole industry was in the hand of limited persons who had spear money or some seeking to convert their black money into the legal. Any dedicated actors or actress, whose film was released always used to be in confusion or uncertainty about his/her next field will come or not as the result they had to consider film sector as their part time work. Those who were financially able to invest for film had no idea on management, requirements, promotion and other knowledge of the movie and even they were unaware of the existing market(How many theaters in Kathmandu, Pokhara, etc?, is there any film hall in Jumla?, How much revenue would collect from each hall and how much collected?). There were no proper mechanism of managing investment and revenue, limited people always used to be benefited from that unmanaged environment. The Nepalese film industry of initial phase was seeking a leader able to lead the industry for its improvement like Mr. Rajesh Hamal. According to Mr. Rajesh Hamal, when he entered into the industry, he also was uncertain about his future in this field. But he realized this could be managed and can be established as a sustainable business sector. Then he tried to bring innovation in the system and tried to guide and suggest other movie workers for improving system. Now the Nepalese film sector has become financially beneficial and lots of professional and educated peoples are working for its improvement. If the trend continues and Nepali cinema is able to expand its market, the film industry can be very attractive for more investment. In fact,

Sharad Chandra Pyakurel EMBA Fall 2012 Article 2

after democracy, the Nepali film industry witnessed a kind of flood of investors. However, most of these people turned out to be heavy-pocketed but without much idea about film-making. Reluctantly, the industry became over crowded with people with very average knowledge of film-making - directors who lacked any kind of formal training and technicians with mediocre skills. As a consequence, Nepali films grew by way of number but the number of cinema goers actually subsided. One of the contributory factors was that while newest of Hindi as well as English films was easily accessible to the Nepali viewers, people are getting more choices for entertainment. Because of lots of financial and technical constraint, Nepali films were not able to be developed to the standard of Hindi and English movies but people always compare Nepalese film with these two biggest movie industries, so to achieve standard films as Bollywood and Hollywood is another major challenge for Nepali film sector. Mr. Hamal emphasized on producing film in Nepalese context, it should represent the peoples present perception and should try to address their feelings. The subject matter and concept of cinema before and after democracy is not quite the same. While films prior to 1990 (2046 BS) seem to have been inspired by some broader social objectives, the later products have been made solely with a business motive. Film and its context that were very suitable in five years back may not be suitable for the present context and society and the context suitable for present may not be acceptable for the future societal demand. Nepalese film 'Darpan Chaya' was the biggest hit film in the history of Nepalese film industry has celebrated the 100days in several theaters all over the country; it was made in an average budget of Rs. 30 lakh later earned around two crores all over making it the biggest collector of all time in Nepalese film history. Till then it was the longest running film in theater - earlier was the 'Balidan'-an exceptional story told in Nepalese film history. These films were released at very suitable time and these were very successful to address peoples feeling of that time, film story and presentations were appropriate for that time. These same movie and story if were released today it might not have successful because as time changed peoples perception and taste has also been changed. People are interested on that subject only if it is able to address their present problems or issues; people remember and put interest on only that story which they can relate with their practical life. Film developers must understand that the social importance of cinema is immense. Cinemas today are actually orienting towards young people to become much more globally savvy, but also much more

Sharad Chandra Pyakurel EMBA Fall 2012 Article 2

materialistic at the same time. Many people think that Nepalese film is losing its audiences. Actually this is not true, the truth is Nepalese audience are waiting for quality movie to come so that it could worth their time and payment for the movie. At present time, the environment of film-making is becoming quite open. And if another decade is to see this kind of openness and investors continue getting a return on their investment, the Nepali cinema industry, and with it Nepali films, will really move ahead, view industry watchers. If movies are produced focusing on present social context and people's behavior, there is good future of Nepalese film sector.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Nepal
http://bossnepal.com/history-of-nepali-film-industry/ http://campaign.bravegirlmovie.com/category/nepali-culture/

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