After peace establishment in 2006, slowly Nepali Cinema was coming back to its senses. Producers who were afraid to invest, once again started investing in multi-million ruppees cinema without any hesitation. After 2006, standard of actors also raised with higher pay scale. Introduction of digital HD Cinema, animation studios within the country lifted the technical quality of the cinema. Stardom reigned once again in Nepali Cinema.New generation movie makers geared up to make sensible cinema with entertainment rather than Bollywood inspired socio-actions. Kagbeni, Sano Sansar, Mero Euta Saathi Cha, First Love, Kohi Mero, Dasdhunga, Bhanubhakta, Angulimala, etc are some of the fine example of quality cinema in terms of presentation, performance, story and technical superiority.
Kagbeni is a 2008 Nepali movie, loosely based on the W. W. Jacobs’ 1902 horror short story The Monkey’s Paw. The filmmakers brought high-definition digital cameras from Silken Imaging, an American company that was just trying out. The cast and crew set off to Jomsom in October 2006 and shot for thirty days non-stop in Kagbeni, Jomsom, Marpha and Shyang.
The film received mostly glowing reviews from critics.
The Himalayan Times hailed it “a benchmark for Nepali films.”
While Kunda Dixit of Nepali Times called it “superbly crafted, seductively acted, meticulously directed,” adding, “No longer will we have to be embarrassed about Nepali movies.”
The Himalayan Times hailed it “a benchmark for Nepali films.”
While Kunda Dixit of Nepali Times called it “superbly crafted, seductively acted, meticulously directed,” adding, “No longer will we have to be embarrassed about Nepali movies.”
Bishnu Gautam of The Rising Nepal joining in the choir, wrote,
It is not easy to bring out an impressive film with new faces, but Bhusan did it brilliantly. All the three protagonists, Saugat Malla (Ramesh), Deeya Maskey (Tara) and Nima Rumba (Krishna) are new faces but nowhere in Kagbeni are they seen as novices… It provides you with the taste of western films including the love scenes, which are free from vulgarities.
Sano Sansar rom-com followed Kagbeni with youthful urban story. Directed by Alok Nembang, second HD movie after Kagbeni, Sano Sansar starred Namrata Shrestha, Karma along with Neer Shah in lead roles. The movie received mix-reviews but mostly positive ones. Kathmandu Post gave very good ratings calling it
a great relief from the all time dhisum dhisum fight scenes and ghintang ghintang rhythmic songs of Nepali films.
Box Office wise too the movie did much better business than Kagbeni as it got much wider release than Kagbeni. Gen ‘Y’ started loving Nepali cinema once again. According to the Home Video sales records released nearly after a year of the film release, the movie has surpassed all previous Nepali Movies records.
Filmmakers started brining in fresh, youthful faces in their cinema Aryan Sigdel, Jeevan Luitel, Namrata, Nisha, etcrather than veterans like Rajesh Hamal, Bhuvan, Shiva in order to connect with urban youth.
It was during these period Nepali makers started showcasing their movies in international arena like USA, Australia, UK for Nepali Diaspora. Bhuvan K.C’s ‘Ma Timi Bina Marihalchu’made more money by premiering the movie in 16 states in USA than in Nepal. He made USA, UK and Australia tour with his cinema and returned with handful of cash.
It was during these period Nepali makers started showcasing their movies in international arena like USA, Australia, UK for Nepali Diaspora. Bhuvan K.C’s ‘Ma Timi Bina Marihalchu’made more money by premiering the movie in 16 states in USA than in Nepal. He made USA, UK and Australia tour with his cinema and returned with handful of cash.
During the same period, traditional filmmakers were still busy churning out action with slapstick comedies in their own way. Using excessive glamorous actress, rain songs, indecent scenes and too much violence continued. Despite strong panning by media critics, some of the low budgeted movie made pretty good return serving niche audience in the rurals.
Apart from Namrata Shrestha, Rekha Thapa is one actress which remained in limelight from 2006 till date. Producer cum actress, Rekha had it all. She was like a complete package with glam, daring action stunt, sleazy outfit, dance and typical rural village girl look. She made in news with various controversies; dancing along with Maoist Supremo Prachanda, making money more than industrialist, paying hefty taxes, instant link-ups and break-up with new generation actors, etc. Apart from being in news for all wrong reasons, her film fared pretty well outside the valley as well as within the Valley. She was even called Golden Girl of Nepali Cinema, as whatever she produces it at least gets Hit Status.
Considering the huge influence of Korean Cinema and Hollyood Classics over Nepali Youth, filmmakers started adapting popular rom-coms from overseas.
Mero Euta Saathi Cha(Korean: Millionares First Love), First Love (Hollywood: The Last American Virgin), Kohi Mero (Bollywood: Sajaan, Sangam, etc) are some examples of youth oriented romantic cinema. The success of Sano Sansar prompted filmmakers to invest into these kind of cinema. Well, the producers of Mero Euta Saathi Cha, First Love were smiling from ears to ears. With few weeks of its release the movie got the status of ‘Blockbuster’, the word which had been lost before mid 90s.
Mero Euta Saathi Cha(Korean: Millionares First Love), First Love (Hollywood: The Last American Virgin), Kohi Mero (Bollywood: Sajaan, Sangam, etc) are some examples of youth oriented romantic cinema. The success of Sano Sansar prompted filmmakers to invest into these kind of cinema. Well, the producers of Mero Euta Saathi Cha, First Love were smiling from ears to ears. With few weeks of its release the movie got the status of ‘Blockbuster’, the word which had been lost before mid 90s.
Apart from commercial cinema, there were attempts by new directors taking upon hard hitting realistic cinema like ‘Maina‘, story of a young teenage girl tortured and killed during so called Maoist Revolution. Dashdhunga, which is currently running in the cinemas is directors take upon leading UML politician Madan Bhandari’s accident/murder conspiracy theory. Cinema based upon historic icons, arts and literature were also made; like Bhanu Bhakta, Angulimala (Buddhist Mythology), Muna Madan (literature) were also made between 2006 - 2010 but were not as successful as others.
As writing of this fourth episode of History of Nepali Cinema, many more good movies are in the pipeline waiting for screens. If all the theater owners start showcasing good Nepali Cinema connecting today’s Nepali audience then we might soon displace Bollywood or Hollywood cinemas from the theaters and limit them to street DVD stalls.