An Early Morning Show of a Nepali Movie

The mother of the actress wanted her daughter to be a professor in real life.

One thing that you can predict easily about a reporter’s daily routine is this: it’s unpredictable. You never know how a reporter’s day starts and ends. Forget about you, I am a reporter and I myself don’t know how my day starts and ends. A new assignment can call me anytime. For instance, I was invited to see a Nepali move early in the morning (I am talking about Thursday, 20 December): 8:30 at Kumari. I woke up at 6:30, a record in itself, and reached at the venue on time. But then it’s Nepali time for the organizers: the screening of “Huri Batas” (err, actually it’s “Aandhi Tufaan”, I keep on forgetting name of this movie) would start only at 9. Two girls were standing at the entrance of the theater apparently waiting for invitees. I learned from them that they were the actresses of the film. One was Richa Ghimrie and the other was… I forget her name at this moment.

I found a way to kill the time and wait for the screening. I interviewed Richa and her mother while people started coming in. It was especially interesting to her from the actress’s mother about her daughter. “I wanted her to be a professor,” said the mother. “Well, I am happy for her that she pursued her interest.” I want to trust the lady but somehow felt the she wasn’t very much happy about what her daughter was doing (acting in movies that is.) The lady, nevertheless, praised her daughter for the latter’s boldness and the skills of facing the crowd and daring to face the challenges in the film industry. The fifty-year-old said it was almost unimaginable for her to enter the film industry when she was young because, she said, people didn’t give much respect to actresses at that time. “Even now not all people take us seriously,” said Richa. “That makes me little bit sad but it’s changing. I love acting. That’s the thing that I love the most actually. I am happiest at the sets of a movie.”

I also briefly talked to the other lady and called Bikas Rauniar, a veteran photojournalist with Kantipur daily and invited him to come for the show. I also wanted photos of Richa and her mother for the story that I am yet to write. Thanks to his presence, I attended the full screening of the movie. It was tolerable compared to my previous sessions with Nepali movies because, first, it was in Kumari, a nice theater. Second, the movie was shot in digital format which means the screen was not blurred, it was clear. And the film was relatively shorter (about two hours).

So I was thinking of writing the story in the afternoon, probably in the late afternoon. That was my plan and plans don’t get always implemented on time for the schedule of a reporter, as I mentioned in the beginning, is so unpredictable that you never know how the day ends. I was in Nagarkot in the evening.