January 2, 2025
KATHMANDU – For Nepali film industry, 2024 was an encouraging year, both on the mainstream and arthouse fronts. Some films led by actors who were previously limited to supporting roles became runaway hits while a few arthouse-oriented films made an impressive presence in world cinema.
Perhaps the highlight of Nepal’s year in cinema is ‘Purna Bahadur Ko Sarangi’. Directed by Saroj Poudel, the film told the story of a Dalit father, a travelling minstrel by profession, who goes to great lengths to secure a bright future for his son.
Though the film might have come across as a tad too melodramatic for some, it was a tearjerker for many. It brought to screens the vanishing profession of travelling minstrels, and the poverty and caste discrimination that they grapple with. The film became the highest grossing Nepali film ever, raking in a whopping Rs492.5 million at the box office.
In 2024, not only did the films encourage many to frequent cinemas, but some also pulled people into the theatre for the first time, says Tripti Giri, general manager of QFX Cinemas, the country’s largest cinema chain.
“Many people from different places visited theatres for the first time this past year,” Giri says. “It suggests the popularity of Nepali films is increasing.” The success of ‘12 Gaun’, whose screening coincided with that of ‘Purna Bahadur’ would also evince that.
While there were a few notable mainstream films earlier in the year, like the raw and powerful ‘Boksi Ko Ghar’ by Sulakshan Bharati, and the subdued tale of a family dealing with the ramifications of modernity, Nabin Subba’s ‘Gaun Aayeko Bato’, which was selected at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, the industry gained momentum on the second half.
“At a time when the popularity of cinema halls appears to be dwindling in the rest of the world, the trend appears to be just the reverse in Nepal,” says Prachanda Man Shrestha, a distributor and filmmaker. “This is surely exciting.”
For long, it was thought that big stars were key for a Nepali film to achieve blockbuster status. What made the year special was that the films that were least expected to succeed stole the spotlight.
“2024 was a great year considering the success of mainstream films—‘Purna Bahadur Ko Sarangi’ and ‘Boksi Ko Ghar’ became the dark horses,” says Rajan Kathet, a filmmaker selected as one of the 2024 Berlinale Talents.
Having predominantly played supporting roles to actors like Dayahang Rai and Khagendra Lamichhane in films like ‘Kabaddi Kabaddi’, ‘Jaari’, and ‘Dimaag Kharab’, among others, Bijay Baral took the mantle of the lead actor in ‘Purna Bahadurko Sarangi’. His heartfelt performance as the eponymous character resonated with millions of Nepalis, and the risk the producers took paid off.
In 2024, Nepali audiences were also treated with a notable few films led by female actors. Keki Adhikari played the eponymous character in ‘Boksi ko Ghar’, while Swastima Khadka’s role as a woman in her late 20s struggling to find love in ‘Behuli from Meghauli’ earned plaudits. Meanwhile, Thinley Lhamo’s performance in Min Bahadur Bham’s ‘Shambhala’ was acclaimed in several international film festivals.
Whether these female actors’ star-making turns would change the portrayal of women in Nepali films remains to be seen. Indeed, a 2021 report by Docskool showed that women’s portrayal in Nepali films is often reduced to three templates: As providers of sexual pleasure (lovers), warmth (mothers) and gatekeepers of morality and culture (wives).
Over the years, Nepali female actors have delivered numerous unforgettable performances, in films like ‘Bulbul’, and ‘Aama’, to name the recent few. Yet, they are seldom offered substantial roles, as creators still don’t trust women to guarantee success.
“Since women are rarely given central roles, or even any role once they reach a certain age in our industry, they have no choice but to create roles for themselves,” says Abhimanyu Dixit, a filmmaker and film educator, referring to the fact that ‘Boksi Ko Ghar’ was produced by Adhikari herself and Khadka co-produced ‘Behuli from Meghauli’.
Meanwhile, the international visibility of Nepali films is also on the rise. Alongside ‘Gaun Aayeko Bato’, numerous other Nepali films were screened in prominent film festivals around the world.
The year began with the release of ‘The Red Suitcase’, directed by Fidel Devkota, which premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival’s Horizons strand. Through the story of Dhane, the film brought to screen the tragic story of Nepali migrant workers who have died in Qatar since 2010 and the consequences their families and communities live with.
Director Bham’s ‘Shambhala’ stood out as the first Nepali feature to enter the Berlinale competition and became the first South Asian film to do so in three decades.
The film follows Pema (played by Lhamo), a woman in a polyandrous relationship in Upper Dolpa, as she searches for her husband, who hasn’t returned from a trading trip, and in the process, discovers herself. For her exceptional portrayal of Pema, Lhamo won the Boccalino d’Oro Prize at the 77th Locarno Film Festival.
‘No Winter Holidays’ (Dhorpatan), a documentary about two co-wives negotiating the terms of engagement in a landscape that demands companionship for survival, had its world premiere at the Sheffield Documentary Festival 2023. Directed by Rajan Kathet and Sunir Pandey, the film also won the AlterNativa Film Awards 2023. The fact that the documentary had a month-long cinema run last year indicates a promising future for Nepali documentaries.
“Earlier, Nepali audiences were hesitant to visit cinemas for films labelled as ‘art’, but this mindset is gradually changing,” says Yangesh, a writer, critic and former president of the Film Critics’ Society of Nepal.
A positive conversation around mainstream Nepali films that surfaced in the past year has been the focus on representation.
Filmmakers are creating films that address issues such as women’s rights, caste discrimination, and more, to which viewers are responding positively. However, much of the representation is still deeply rooted in stereotypes.
Analysing the successes and failures of the films the past year, one thing became clear: A compelling film with only a poster and trailer isn’t sufficient—people need to know why they want to invest in it.
“It is important to let people know about what you are offering. Films that did well the past year have done this. We will certainly see more Nepali films be creative in marketing and promotion in future,” says Kathet.
Despite being admired and praised by those who watched it, ‘Sano Sansaar’, directed by Siddhartha Pudasaini, couldn’t attract as many people because of the lack of this critical element. Further, the timing of the release was also disadvantageous to its commercial success as it was released during the time of fatal floods in the Valley.
As we look back, one cannot forget Prakash’s journey to his roots in the Youtube channel Herne Katha’s episode ‘The Lost Years’, which went viral and made everybody teary-eyed. Herne Katha’s films, which are simple yet full of empathy and depth, have made documentaries accessible to common Nepalis regarding both platform and content.
One takeaway from the past year was that, although experimental films are emerging in the mainstream, Nepali audiences are still drawn mainly towards movies with simple stories that reflect the realities of our society.
Given what films in 2024 brought to the Nepali film industry, it will be interesting to see what the upcoming years have in store.
Audiences will be looking forward to the release of films like Deepak Rauniyar’s ‘Pooja, Sir’, which was selected in the 81st Venice International Film Festival under the ‘Orizzonti section’; ‘Ek Mutthi Badal’ (My Share of Sky) by Sahara Sharma, which won the 2024 Hubert Bals Fund for post-production; and Subina Shrestha’s ‘Devi’, which premiered at the 2024 Hot Docs and won the Doc Edge Award.
Kathet, the filmmaker, says that the success of films like ‘Purna Bahadur Ko Sarangi’ and ‘Boksi Ko Ghar’ proved that films do not always require a hefty budget and big star cast to do well. “As a result, many filmmakers are now inspired to give a shot in the industry,” he says.