I wrote an article last year – 7 NRN Actresses in Nepali movies, Shristi Shrestha to Meruna Magar. Now, when I go back and read the article, I realize that I had failed to define what NRN actually mean. That is a very crucial factor to determine who is NRN and who is not.
Who is a Non Resident Nepali (NRN) actress?
The term Non Resident Nepali (NRN) is very loosely used in practice. Nepali citizen who go temporarily to foreign countries to work or study are often referred as NRN. If that were the case a lot of Nepali actresses can be termed NRN because, actress Priyanka Karki, Nisha Adhikari, Ashishma Nakarmi etc. had studied in the USA and had lived there for a while. Reecha Sharma had also gone to a foreign country for a training. A lot of other actresses have gone to India for training or work. We have a lot of Indian actresses in Nepali film industry. We don’t consider actresses like Niruta Singh, Tripti Naadkar, or Sushmita KC as foreign or NRN actresses, although they have their parental home in India and might be carrying an Indian passport.
Then, there are a lot of Nepali actresses who are permanently living in different countries in the world – for example a lot of actresses including Kristi Mainali, Jal Shah, Pooja Chand, Arunima Lamsal, Usha Poudel are living in the USA, Garima Panta is living in Belgium and so on. These actresses are truly NRN but as they have stopped appearing in movies, I think, we can exclude them from the list of NRN actresses.
Now, there are other actresses who had lived in foreign countries for a long time. Some had also taken the residency status in their respective countries and have returned back to Nepal. Examples of such actresses are Karishma Manandhar (has US Green Card), Gauri Malla (lived in Japan for a long time and then lived in the USA for years). Now, both Karishma and Gauri are back to Nepal and are active in the film industry. Are they NRN?
I think Karishma and Gauri can be considered NRN actresses because they were in the USA with an intention to live there for a long time. Karishma had obtained the Green Card and there is always a possibility that she return back to the USA to live the rest of her life. Karishma’s daughter Kabita Manandhar is still in the USA. Gauri Malla was also planning to live for a long-term in the USA. According to the rumours, she returned back to Nepal because she couldn’t get the Green Card. As she has intended, there is a possibility that Gauri might attempt to get the residency status in the USA. As, she is well known person with a lot of credentials, there is a possibility that the US government offer her a Green Card – like that to Arunima Lamsal and Dilip Rayamajhi. In the case of Priyanka, Nisha Adhikari, and Ashishma – they were in the USA to gain knowledge. A lot of Nepali people have gone to the foreign countries for study and have returned back.
After this analysis, I consider Karishma Manandhar and Gauri Malla NRN actresses; in addition to the 7 actresses I had talked previously.
We have one more NRN actress enter the film industry in this time. One of the new actresses in ‘Darpan Chhaya 2’ Sahara Karki lives with her parents in the USA.
NRN Actress list
Here is the new list of 10 NRN actresses in the Nepali film industry:
- Sahara Karki (Darpan Chhaya 2 debut)
- Sara (Rudra debut)
- Miruna Magar (Lalpurja debut)
- Suchitra Acharya (Junga Bahadur ko Coat debut)
- Deeya Pun (Bir Bikram debut)
- Ashika Tamang (Sushri debut)
- Shristi Shrestha (Gajalu debut)
- Prapti Ghimire (Kathmandu debut)
- Karishma Manandhar
- Gauri Malla
For argument’s sake, some can argue that Karishma Manandhar and Gauri Malla were not NRN when they debuted in the film industry while all other actresses were already NRN when they debuted in the film industry.
Watch the debut movies of Ashika, Shristi and Prapti Ghimire:
- Watch ‘Sushri’ here
- Watch ‘Gajalu’ here
- Watch ‘Kathmandu’ here
The details of the 7 NRN actresses I had prepared previously:
Photos of the NRN Actresses:
Prapti Ghimire
Shristi Shrestha
Ashika Tamang
Deeya Pun
Meruna Magar
Sara:
Sahara Karki:
Gauri Malla
Karishma Manandhar
Suchitra Acharya