Within a week after its release, Rekha Films’ “Himmat” earned five million Rupees from the Kathmandu Valley alone. Likewise, “Hamro Milan Kaile Hunchha?” has registered a business of over two million Rupees in the capital alone, and Jharana Thapa’s “Takdir”, which was released last week, is running houseful all over Nepal, according to Film Development Board (FDB).
With Nepali films doing superb business lately, it looks like the entire Nepali film fraternity is back to boom time again, like it did during the time when films like “Darpan Chhaya,” “Lahana” and “Ta Ta Sarainai Bigrisni Badri” were released.
Due to ongoing rifts about the distribution of shares between film distributors and producers with multiplex owners in India, Bollywood hasn’t been able to release any of their big banner films. But Nepali films seem to be making hay while the sun shines.
In just two months, Nepali film market has come up remarkably, says Yuvaraj Lama, filmmaker and FDB member.
“Nepali films have really been successful in earning its investment during the initial days of the screening. After “Himmat,” “Takdir” is doing great, and as per our sources, “Silsila” has earned more than ten million Rupees from cinema halls outside the Kathmandu Valley. Three to four “muhurat-s” take place every week,” Lama adds.
To be sure, with no latest Bollywood films in Nepali theaters, Nepali films don’t have any competition. If there is any, it’s only among themselves. And audiences are left with no other options than to either watch old Hindi movies that are still being screened, or watching Nepali movies.
According to Mohan Saraf, owner of Bishwa Jyoti Cinema Hall in Kathmandu, the ratio of audiences in his cinema hall has increased by 20% in the last two months. However, the uptrend hasn’t made any big difference to Bishwa Jyoti. Why?
Because “We don’t screen international films. So it’s all the same to us. Yes, I’ve heard that some other multiplexes in town are making handsome money by screening as many Nepali films as they can. And Nepali film producers are quite happy with the fact that there are no new international films in the country for quite sometime now,” Saraf adds.
On the contrary, Uddhab Poudel, chairman of Gopi Krishna Movies, is very disappointed. Because there are no new releases of Bollywood films, he’s finding it really hard to keep his seven screens lit up everyday.
“I have seven theaters in my complex, which means I need seven different movies every week to run my business. For the last two months there have been no new releases. I’m going through hefty losses,” he says, and adds, “The scenario is worsening as I must keep my curtains open even if there are only five people to watch a film, and still I must pay the taxes and VAT as per government rules. And, please, this has nothing to with Nepali films booming. “Himmat” was a nice film and it did well, “Takdir” hasn’t been able to earn ¼th of its investment.”
Poudel makes it clear that audiences of international films and Nepali films are completely different.
“How can people be so stupid? How can they say the numbers of Nepali filmgoers have grown up because there are no new Hindi releases? No, it’s completely wrong. Will people go and watch Bhojpuri and Maithili films because there are no Hindi films to watch?” he questions and concludes, “It’s a free trade market. If you can, then come up with good Nepali cinemas rather than living in illusions.”
Like other multiplexes, Quest Entertainment has also been forced to rerun old movies, and it’s still running “Gajhini” and its own production “Sano Sansar.”
Bhaskar Dhungana, a director at Quest, says, “I don’t believe that viewers of Bollywood films have switched to Nepali films. Regarding Quest, it’s obvious that we’re suffering greatly. There are fewer people to watch repeat runs. Let’s just hope that things will be sorted out soon.”
Producer Chhabi Ojha has his own argument regarding the commercialization in Nepali films. He highlights, “We don’t need more than fifteen films a year in Kathmandu. But more than 50 have already been produced and are in the pipeline. There’s no need to be happy at this moment. We must understand that it’s only for a short period before India will soon release new films, and we’ll go back to the same wacky position. Let’s just concentrate on making good movies.”
But Yuvaraj Lama differs and elaborates that this is an “eye opener” period for producers. They must learn that Nepali films can do as well as international movies. And he adds, it’s high time for Nepal’s artistes to come together and make plans to regulate international films systematically so as to promote more Nepali films.
Will or will not Nepal’s film industry come above average standards is yet to be seen. For now, it’s high time for both directors and producers to start thinking of making movies which are worth seeing.
Create your own visitor map!
