Monthly Archives: January 2007

New Baneshwor Street and Girls

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A journalist friend of mine (who works for a different newspaper) yesterday invited me for a Nepali movie screening for this afternoon. That wasn’t strange given the trend in Nepal that reporters covering movies in Kathmandu routinely work on behalf of film makers. They also help filmwallas with managing the press show and publicity. I shun the idea and I can’t even imagine me doing the same but can’t really say anything about others, can I? I happily accepted the invitation as I am trying to give more coverage of Nepali film industry these days in the newspaper I work for.

As I was about to go to the theater (again the same horrible Shivadarshan in New Baneshwor), Pawan Neupane of the Kathmandu Post came smiling.

“Wanna go for a movie?” I asked.
“Which?”
“A Nepali movie. It’s called Durga.”

Pawan frowned at me. Perhaps he wanted to punch on my face. What? Nepali film? His reply:

“Hyaa…janna ma Nepali film herna. [No, I will not go to see a Nepali film.]” Now Pawan, the darilwal Pawan Dev, started speaking about a few thousand things he had to do in the afternoon.

“Come on, jau na jau yar, may be you can write something out of it,” I insisted. After he realized I would not let him go Pawan was read to accompany me.

“But you have to sponsor my trip [to New Baneshwor and back to office],” he said as we got out of office in an ‘if-not-i-am-not-going’ tone.

“Okay,” I said. “We will leave the show in the middle and come back if the movie is too boring.”

As we were walking on the streets of New Baneshwor with BICC on our right, Pawan nearly stumbled upon a few girls several times. “Damn beautiful,” said my bearded partner. “Oh…yea,” I said. [Rest, when we return back from the theater!]

We saw a band jaba procession and Pawan commented: “Kati biha bhayeko ho!” Then we talked about the marriages of Rajaram Gautam in Kathmandu and Deepak Adhikari in Jhapa. “It’s the season of marriage.” But what we were seeing now was a strange “marriage” procession. The music was in full volume and some people were walking with the tune. They were not Jantis and there were no behula or behuli. They were carrying placards of the movie Durga that we were going to see. A new way of promoting the movie in town just before its release in Kathmandu!

We reached there and met the scribe who invited me. There was no sign that the screening would start on the given time. After a few hand shakes and exchange of smiles, we became increasingly bored. “Let’s enter the theater and see the movie for about 15 minutes,” I told Pawan. We waited for about another 15 minutes but saw no sign of the film being screened. “Lets go,” I said and we moved out.

“Wow,” Pawan’s eyes were not on the street but on a girl walking on the other side of the road. “So beautiful!”

“Where, where?” I asked.

“There. Not that beautiful but still…”

“Look at her,” I said pointing to another girl. “She is more beautiful.”

“Yes,” Pawan said.

“Too many beautiful girls around these days.”

“Exactly. Don’t know what has happened but I am also seeing too many beautiful girls. Look at her!”

Ha, ha. Enough with ‘beautifuls’. I was feeling dehydrated and wanted to drink sugarcane juice. “Want to have?” I asked. Why not?

We came back, safe and sound, to office. Job of writing stories was waiting for me.

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Hi Hi America, Hi Hi Hillary

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Hillary Clinton

So Hilary Clinton has decided to take part in the 2008 United States presidential race. What does that mean to us, the people in Nepal who are far away from the US? But hey how far can you be from America if you are living in this world? If life is a meal, America is the chatni (pickle) without which the food becomes tasteless. You get your daily dose of pickle in your life via countless mediums. Internet is America, TV is America, Film is America, Coca Cola is America. Heck, I am not typing Nepal is America and the world is America. Does that really matter? A small event in America is BIG for the world and makes it to our living room in an instant. Why go for other, take this (the Hilary Clinton announcement) as an example. Hillary has just disclosed her intention of entering into the presidential contest, she hasn’t even secured the nomination from her party (Democratic) yet. The election is months away and God only knows if she will win or not, first the Democratic nomination, then the United States presidency.

I can’t believe I wrote a blog in November 4, 2004 titled “Congratulations President Bush! Hillary, are you ready?” While congratulating George W. Bush for his reelection (“Though I endorsed Senator Kerry’s effort for the White House…,” I wrote) I had ended my blog with these lines:

“Let me end this blog with a hopeful note. I genuinely expect Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to run for the 2008 Presidency. That can be possible. She should be prepared for that race. The US needs a female president which will create history on its own. Hillary, are you ready?”

Did Hillary read my blog post and decide not to disappoint me? :)

Whatever is the case, I am sure the time has changed and there is a brand new competitor for Hillary: Senator Barack Obama. Ever since I learned about this guy, I have been thinking about the possibility of the United States with a black President. Obama is not just a black; he is indeed a talented fellow with a charismatic personality. This year too my support goes to the Democratic candidate (as if that mattered to the Democratic Party!) but who will be the lucky one (Hillary or Obama) is still not decided. [After all as a citizen of this world, I think I must have my say over the American politics, economy, culture and many other things because whatever happens there definitely affects us.] Both Hillary and Barack Obama will create history in the US if they become successful in their aspirations. So for the next few weeks, I will play neutral and, for now, extend my best wishes to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

>> Pics above, taken from Hillary Clinton web site, show phuchhi Hillary and Lady Hillary.

Nepali Music: Vibrant and Growing

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nepali folk music video shooting

From the shooting spot of a music video for a folk song Pic by Suraj Kunwar

One sector that flourished in Nepal even when the country was going through the political turmoil in the last decade was without doubt the Music. No matter what, we sang and listened to one new song after another that young and creative musicians offered us. Unlike Nepali film industry that is struggling to get quality audience, the reach of songs in Nepali society is vast: people from the street to the palace enjoy Nepali songs with equal enthusiasm. [Contrary to this, majority of Nepali film audience comes from lower middle class.] Rap, rock, pop, folk, hip hop, remix you name it and you can find songs in Nepali market composed by the young and innovative Nepali musicians. The folk songs have invaded urban area, previously dominated by the Hindi songs, and the new genres of music have kept Nepali youths hooked up. It wouldn’t be hype to say that music has transformed the urban youth culture. Very few iPods sell in Kathmandu markets but make no mistake people are listening to all kinds of songs. English songs are also popular among youths in urban Nepali society and yes Hindi songs (especially from Bollywood films) are there but they are facing tough competition from the quality songs and music videos offered by the Nepali music industry.

It’s definitely a small industry but it’s growing rapidly and an unknown boy or a girl can become a celebrity overnight. Nepali public has enjoyed their arrival one after another. Just yesterday there was an impressive award ceremony (Hits Music Award 2063) was organized in Kathmandu that recognized the contributions made by some of the musical stars in the past year.

As the private television stations came into existence in the later half of the last 10 years, the phenomena of music videos came with a bang. MTV hasn’t come in Nepal (and can’t be expected any time soon) but for Nepalese audience the music was no more a thing to be listened, it was something to be seen. For the growing music industry, music videos also turned out to be a great marketing tool to sell the audio cassettes and CDs. For singers, music videos were a magic means of being a celebrity: if you are appearing in the video, you are on your way to become a star.

As a reporter responsible for overseeing the Arts and Style section of Kantipur daily it is part of life for me to meet singers, actors and other celebrities of Nepali society. Two weeks ago I decided to invite three of the most happening singers in current Nepali musical scenario- Jabeek, Rajeev Lohani and Babu Bogati -to talk about their new life and stardom. One song was enough for Jabeek to be a star where as the Baleko Aago from his first album tune made Rajeev a popular singer. Babu’s first album that came to market five years ago was a flop but he learned some hard lessons and hit the TV screens last year with the music video of the song titled Sannani…lauri le thyakka thyakka and became popular even among children.

Here is the story that appeared on the front page of Kosilee, the weekly supplement of Kantipur, today. Here is the summary of the story in English.

Shilpa Shetty, British Raj, Indian Psyche and Nepali Case

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shilpa shetty big brother

Big Double Standard: Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty in British TV program Big Brother. Many Indians and the actress feel she was a victim of racism in the program. But do they know that given the opportunity Indians show big brotherly attitude to their small neighbors. BTW, if anyone feels I am anti-Indian after reading this blog, here is a pre-emptive clarification: I love Bollywood, I love Sachin Tendulkar, I love Hindi songs. [Guardian on Shilpa case]

This is more about WHO said what to whom then actually WHAT was said. The fact is that Indians were under British imperialism until 60 years ago. They fought hard for the freedom and they feel proud to have defeated the British raj. Even after six decades, freedom (ajadi) is one of the most talked about topic in Indian cultural, political and social scenario. Indians are never tired of comparing themselves with the growing Chinese economic rise and, as they are also having impressive economic growth, they are dreaming of being another engrej, at least in the region. They want to be in parallel with the English. Why do they rally behind the takeover bid of Laxmi Mittal? Because they see their own aspiration to be global in his efforts.

When an Indian goes to an English television channel and receives insult from the formerly gora saheb, the Indian pride of being free from the imperialism gets injured deeply. Indians have this inferiority complex and that feeling gets infatuated even by remarks of a 20 something Engregi gori who was stripped of the beauty pageant crown she won. Coincidently, the crown was passed to her closest competitor in the Miss Great Britain pageant with an Indian name. The question is: Would the Indian reaction be same if the bullying had come from an Ethiopian or Nepali in the program [in Ethiopian or Nepali TV]? No. Why? Have you seen American public vandalizing properties in Washington D.C. or in New York just because someone in Nepal says he hates the USA? That is why I strongly feel it’s about WHO said rather than WHAT was said.

While creating hue and cry on alleged racist behavior faced by them (Shilpa is merely a representative of Indian psyche) from English, Indians easily forget that, given opportunity, they demonstrate their big brotherly attitude to citizens from small countries like Nepal. Nepal and Nepalis are presented in bad taste in Indian films and books which is not in any different than any racist remarks. Interestingly and unfortunately, the Nepali reaction to such Indian big brotherly attitude is just as same and immature as Indian reaction to English bullying. Oh… how seriously we take any statements, said or unsaid, of Indian actors or any Indians for that matter, about Nepal and don’t hesitate destroying our own national property and killing ourselves while protesting. Remember the unfortunate Hritik Roshan episode a few years ago in which we organized several days of bandas and crippled daily lives of Nepali urban area while protesting what the Bollywood actor allegedly said about Nepal? Later, after property worth billions of Rupees was destroyed and an innocent 9-year-old girl was killed, we discovered that the actor in question never made any such remarks (“I hate Nepal”). What the hell even if he says he hates us? But our inferiority complex infatuated and we went on rampage. Even the government reacted and banned Hritik Roshan movies in Nepal.

I want to end my remarks with these lines from today’s editorial in Times of India: “The racist remarks against actor Shilpa Shetty are repungant and a justifiable cause for outrage amongst the Indian community in Britain. However, there is absolutely no reason for the Indian government to be required to respond…The insults hurled at Shilpa may well reflect a larger problem of racism in British society but should be tackled at the level of public opinion. Social issues can be debated in media; essays can be written about the status of the Indian community in Britain; the film industry in India can express concern over the abuse of one of their won. The government, however, should have no role to play.”

The only thing, I feel, the paper forget to add is this: such remarks don’t even deserve attention from the Indian public and shouldn’t have been dignified by creating waves of protest.

British (And Other Foreign) Film Festival in Kathmandu

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Kathmandu sees many foreign language film festivals, not just Bollywood and Hollywood flicks.

One after another, it’s now time for British Film Festival in Kathmandu. The sixth edition of the yearly event was inaugurated by the British Ambassador Andrew Hall yesterday evening in Gopi Krishna Cinema Hall. Over the past several years, we have seen many language-based film festivals that are organized either by the foreign embassies in Kathmandu or non governmental organizations that have gotten some kind of assistance from those missions. Those festivals are primarily targeted to the learners of the related language. “Our main target audiences are young learners, students and young professionals along with a wide range of senior officials,” states a press release issued by the British Council, the organizer of the British film festival in Nepal. The festival will go to Pokhara at the end of this month.

I was talking about the waves of foreign film festivals in Nepal. I recently attended French film festival and, before that, Spanish film festival. Kathmandu also sees Chinese film festival. The market here in Nepal is overwhelmingly dominated by Bollywood (Hindi) and Hollywood films. Films from these two groups are so much popular that people stand in queue to get tickets for the shows. With that craze in background, some people might think Nepal doesn’t see Indian film festival and American film festival. That would be wrong. Even Indian embassy and American mission do organize Indian film festival and American Film festival. We can see alternate films from those big industries. Indian embassy organized a traveling film festival last year, I think, screening old films while American Center organized a month-long screening of many rarely heard American films several months ago in Kathmandu. Theaters in Kathmandu.

These festivals are definitely useful for the young crowd in Kathmandu who will get opportunity to explore into different cinematic worlds that are not available in mainstream film market in Nepal. For instance, I couldn’t have seen a film like Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noël, photo) in any theater in Kathmandu if there was no British film festival organized. I enjoyed the oscar nominated anti-war moive on the inauguration day of the festival yesterday as I was there to report the event. The British Council press release further states, “We feel that film festival is an extremely effective way of enabling large numbers of predominantly young, educated people to widen their views of the world and, in this case, provide them with vivid impressions of modern Britain.”

If anyone is reading this and is interested in attending the festival (which is free of cost), feel free to visit the Council reception in Lainchaur to collect the ticket. Because I am a reporter, I already got a few from the Council.