Author: Raunak

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Movie Review – Bato Muni Ko Phool – deserving movie made a victim

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Full movie is posted here

Nepali feature film Bato Muni Ko Phul was released on 29 November 2010 all over Nepal. Bato Muni Ko Phul features Nepali singers Yash Kumar and Babu Bogati along with actresses Rekha Thapa and Nandita KC. bato-muni-ko-phul (9)

In this movie, Yash Kumar has attempted to show the problem faced by the lower caste people in our society. The movie had done the justice in all aspects. Although, this movie is not hundred percent perfect and a lot of negative aspects can be found in this movie, the presentation and the story of the movie are very good. In the context to Nepali film industry and Nepali society, the movie is can be considered a to have a good impact in the society.

As usual, after watching Bato Muni Ko Phul, I went through all the reviews published on daily newspapers, websites, and other Medias. Most of the reviews are positive and everyone had appreciated the movie.

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Bryan Adams concert in Nepal – security nightmare and high ticket price

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Next month, a Canadian rock star, Bryan Adams, is having his concert in Kathmandu. The concert is mainly targeted to promote the Nepal Tourism Year, 2011. Everyone, especially the youth, is waiting for February 19, the concert day. On that day, Bryan Adams will perform for two hours at Dasrath Stadium in Kathmandu. Adams is known for his husky, soulful voice and is popular for hits like ‘Everything I do; I do it for you’, ’18 till I Die’, and ‘Have Your Ever Really Loved a Woman’ among others.

Concert Background

The Bryan Adams concert is being organized by JPR Events and is supported by ODC Network. The organizers have told that Adams’ agent Roi Lamb was here to evaluate the venue for the event, the hotel where the singer will stay, and the security situation.

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Keki Adhikari – ‘you won’t see me in valueless movies’

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Newcomer actress, Keki Adhikari, is considered an actress with a lot of potential in the Nepali movie industry. Although, none of her movies are released till date, she has managed to gain a considerable amount of publicity in the media. She made news when she announced of not acting in movies till Swor is released. Her accident in Phewa lake during the shooting of I am Sorry also made headlines in the entertainment segments in newspapers. Our friend Raunak had a brief conversation with the actress about her upcoming movie Swor.

Q. How would you you introduce Swor?

A. Swor is a movie consisting of a totally new taste in the Nepali film industry. It’s a musical movie about the friends of college who forms a band and the movie is about the band and their dreams.

Q. Tell us about your character in the movie.

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Raj Ballav Koirala – Swor will rule with its simplicity, music, characters and presentation

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A radio host, model, and actor Raj Ballav Koirala started his acting career with the movie Parkhi Basen in 2008. The movie was very successful and won him Best Debut Actor in KTV film Awards.

Raunak had a brief conversation with the actor in which, Raj talks about his upcoming movie Swor.

Q. How would you introduce the movie Swor? What is on it?

A. Swor is a musical movie. It is a movie about rising and falling of a dream. Enthusiastically presented and crafted movies full of life and colors that tells a life about a youth and his friends on how they follow their dream as musicians.

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Rajesh Hamal – the yes-man superstar

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The success story

Rajesh Hamal, also known as Mahanayak of Nepali film industry, started his career with the movie, Yug Dekhi Yug Samma, and till now he is ruling the industry, continuously. During that period, many talented actors and actresses raised to fame and everyone expected the newcomers to replace Rajesh Hamal. But, none of them could show their magic. Their fame was short lived and couldn’t sustain for long in the top position. For example: Sushil Chettri, Ramesh Upreti, Nikhil Upreti, and Saroj Khanal were considered to be candidate for the next superstar in Nepali film industry. But, their craze dwindled after a short time. At the same time, craze of Rajesh Hamal is still as huge as ever in Nepali movie industry.

It’s not that there were no downs in his career.

A few reason for his successful career are:

  • Great acting (I am a great fan of his acting.)
  • Looks and physique
  • Versatile acting – good in all types of roles like action, romance, comedy and dancing.

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What can we expect when Bhuwan KC becomes a Prime Minister?

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Bhuwan KC made news when he joined a political party, Nepal Communist Party United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML). Almost every media had their own reasoning on the this political gamble of Bhuwan KC. As Bhuwan has a track record of doing something controversial before the release of his movies, many assumed it to be a promotion tool for his upcoming Saathi Ma Timro. But, when asked, he denied the allegation.

Views of various insiders of the Nepali movie industry were also published in the media. Many of those think politics is out of the scope for the artists. Movie artists should serve the country by being a politically neutral person. Few others say that in a democratic country, artists are free to choose whether they join political parties or not. In our neighboring movie industry, Bollywood, and Hollywood there are many examples of actors taking top posts after winning elections.

I called Bhuwan KC to know his version of the story on what caused him to join that particular party.

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Movie Reviews – How do Nepali reviewers review movies?

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Note: This article follows the previous article – Movie review – How is it done? in which Raunak has talked about how a good review is written. In this article, Raunak is analyzing some Nepali movie reviews.

At the time when Hindi movie Ravaan featuring Avisekh Bacchan and Aiswarya Rai was released (June 18, 2010), Nepali daily Kantipur published a review of the movie after a few days of the release. The review mentioned that the movie also featured Manisha Koirala and Govinda. The article appreciated their role even if they appeared briefly in the movie. I had watched the movie on June 19 (before the review was published) so I had to ask a friend for the DVD of the movie to confirm the error in the film review. There was no mention of Manisha in casting and she never appeared in the movie.

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Movie Review – how is it done?

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I am not much sure about the Nepali viewers but, in India and Hollywood, viewers first read the reviews of newly released movies in newspapers or websites before going to theaters. The movie with good rating and reviews help in its promotion. That is one of the reasons review writers enjoy huge respect in the film industry. Many of the movie promos and advertisements also feature ratings and newspaper reviews. A review serves the viewers to spend their time and money wisely in the movie they prefer to watch.

Review writing is not an easy task. Before writing a review, the reviewer needs to know some basics of movies. Although, there aren’t any standards, rules or formula for review writing, some of the basic concepts. I once had a chance to chat with an Indian review writer, Taran Adarsh, of India Fm. I am indebted to Taran for the short and sweet tips on review writing.

I asked, “What are the necessary things to write movie review? And, what do you try to find on the movie when you go to watch?”

Taran replied, via email:

  • The first thing, the reviewer should have contacts with the film makers to ask how they have made the movie. They would give the information about how they are doing the publicity of the movie. The reviewers will also know the expectations of the film makers from their viewers. Knowing the history of the crew members might be unnecessary as the reviewer should be writing about the movie not about the crew members.
  • The second thing, the reviewer should watch the movie. While watching, the reviewer should judge if the movie fulfills its theme or not. The movie should have all those stuffs as said by promos and the crew members like directors.

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Flashback 2010 – Nepali movies, behind the scene

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Articles in the Flashback 2010 series.

Nepali Film Directors

Simosh Sunuwar’s First Love was one of the most successful  in 2010. Although, the work of Alok Nembang on the movie Kohi Mero was appreciated by film critics and audience, the movie couldn’t do a good business. New director, Narayan Raymajhi and Sabir Shrestha were also appreciated by film critics and media for their works in Gorkha Paltan and Kasle Choryo Mero Mann respectively. Suraj Subba Nalbo’s work in the movie Bato Muni Ko Phul was also appreciated by the viewers and media. 

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Flashback 2010 – Nepali celebrities – Actors

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Nepali Actors in 2010

This year, chocolaty actor Aryan Sigdel and action hero Biraj Bhatta ruled the movies. Aryan was common in most of the digital format movies released this year. Those were the movies targeted to young generation. In most of the action movies, Biraj Bhatta was featured. This year, Rajesh Hamal was mostly featured in supporting actor role. Another super hit actor, Nikhil Upreti, was mostly talked about his affair with actress Sanchita Luitel rather than the roles he played in movies.

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Flashback 2010 – Nepali celebrities – Actresses

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After the analysis of the movies released in 2010 (in Part 1 and Part 2), let’s look back to 2010 and analyze the works of actors and directors to see who were successful and who were unsuccessful in the Nepali film industry.

Nepali Actresses

With two hits movies and an appreciable performance on Bato Muni Ko Phul, Rekha Thapa is the front runner in the list of successful persons in Nepali movie industry in the year 2010. Rekha’s role in Hifajat, Kasle Choryo Mero Mann and Bato Muni Ko Phul were appreciated by the viewers. Her glamorous role in other movies couldn’t leave a long lasting impression in the viewers.


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Nepali Movies, Looking Back to 2010 (Part 2)

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Continued from the First Part – Nepali Movies, Looking Back to 2010 (Part 1)

After two years in release queue, Didi Bhai of Sunil Manadhar was finally released this year. A family drama and action movie was liked by a lot of viewers. Fans of Rajesh Hamal, his dialogue delivery, and action have appreciated this movie.

The musical blockbuster movie Nai Nabhannu La, directed by Bikash Acharya, also did a good business inside and outside of Kathmandu valley.

After a long absence from Nepali movie arena, director Naresh Paudyal released Deepsikha. This movie was more focused on the fact that actress Arunima Lamsal was the scriptwriter in the promotion that making it a better movie. The only thing that was successful about ‘Deepsikha’ was the promotional song of this movie. The movie failed big time.

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Nepali Movies, Looking Back to 2010 (Part 1)

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As usual, a lot of Nepali movies were released this year. But, none of them could do excellent business either within or out of Kathmandu. Last year, there were some really good movies like Kaha Bhetiyela by Shree Krishna Shrestha and Shiva Regmi. Kaha Bhetiyala did an excellent business all over Nepal. But this year, Nepali film industry didn’t see such blockbuster movie. We expected a few movies to leave their impression. But, all of them didn’t live up-to the expectation.

In the starting of the year, viewers and film makers were hopeful on the movies made by experienced directors and the media was also full of movie news. In the media, in contrast to the usual trend, Nepali movies got more coverage than Nepali music, this year. Some of the things that the viewers look forward to were the comeback of Manisha Koirala and MaHa -duo after a long absence from the Nepali movie industry. This year also saw the comeback of Jharana Bajracharya.

In the Nepali new year (2010, April), Rekha Thapa released her movie Hifajat featuring Aryan Sigdel. The movie did a good business. Glamour and exposure of Rekha Thapa had worked for this movie and was successful in attracting the youth to the theatre. In addition to that, good music, story and Gyanendra Deuja’s direction can be attributed to the success of the movie. Some Hidu extremists tried to create a controversy on to a dress Rekha Thapa wore in the movie. Rekha promotion tactics coupled with the controversy helped the movie in positive ways. A poster of Hifajat, a direct copy form a Hollywood movie was also much talked about during the time.

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Thanks Piracy, Yash Kumar might quit movie sector

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Maile Choyeko Pani Chaldaina…

Yash Kumar is popularly known for the sweet song in which he expressed his frustration on the traditional Nepali society in which certain ‘lower cast’ can’t touch the water used by ‘higher cast’ people. And, now he has felt as if the distributors are indirectly telling him not to touch the ‘movie sector’.

Yash, a renowned singer, entered to the film industry with his self-produced movie Bato Muni Ko Phul in which, he is also the lead actor. At the time before its release, I asked him, “Why are you entering the film industry? Are you attracted towards the name and fame of an actor?”

Yash replied with a smile, “I am no less than an actor in terms of name and fame. I don’t need that. I want to contribute the industry with a better movie and address the present social scenario.”
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DCN and Movie piracy – is it a conspiracy?

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Nepali film industry is really amazing industry in the world. I think our film industry should submit name in Guinness World Record. Reasons? Here you go…

  • Only around 4% of the total population of Nepal watches Nepali film. It is natural for people to like their own movies but, Nepali watch more Hindi and English movies than Nepali movies.
  • At least 2-3 movies are released every week.
  • Only 2-3 movies become successful (hits) per year and other 2-3 movies get their investment back from the market. And rest of the movies are flops.
  • But, all the producers says that their movie were super hit.

Those were only a few of the amazing and interesting things in our movie industry. A recent similar incident was equally shocking to film makers and medias: Piracy of Nepali movies.

Movies distributed by Digital Cinema Nepal (DCN) were pirated at the eastern part of Nepal. That has caused a wave of worries among  producers who had entrusted DCN to distribute their movies. The producers whose movies were pirated are asking compensation from DCN for their negligence.

Two of the victims of piracy were producers Yash Kumar and Krisha Chaulagain. Yash Kumar’s movie Bato Muni Ko Phul and Krisha Chaulagain’s movie Kasam Hajurko were told to be pirated and were found in the DVD shops of eastern Nepal. Bato Muni Ko Phul, produced and presented by Yash Kumar, was released for only a month and was still running in many theatres in the eastern part of Nepal. And, Kasam Hajurko by Krisha Chaulagain, was released a bit earlier and had also done a good business.

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