| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 29-Sep-00 03:01 PM
Hi everyone,
Anil Baral is a friend of mine.
He's presently pursuing an advanced program on Film Studies at the prestigious New York
University.
What follows is an URL address of his latest film. Please visit it, watch his film online, and send Anil your comments.
Let's help support the next generation of Nepali film-makers to be the best they can be.
oohi
ashu
--- Anil Baral wrote:
> Subject: Mud Boy
> Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 19:16:29 -0700
> MUD BOY a short film by Anil Baral
> http://pages.nyu.edu/~arb6116/mudboy.html
> Anil Baral
> GURKHA FILMS
> 335 W. 43rd St., Suite 5A
> New York, NY 10036
> 212.957.6513
> arb6116@nyu.edu
|
| Biswo |
Posted
on 29-Sep-00 06:39 PM
Hi Ashu:
Is Anil the same person who made one
critically acclaimed movie (Is it?) Chameli?
I haven't seen the movie.I have heard it was
about girl trafficking.
The Indian filmmakers have shaped Nepalese
mind to the extent that people want to see
irrational dances/romance in each film. The
dances/romances are integral part of the
life, but they shouldn't be so indispensable
to movies.
The thing worsened in our society when people
who are engaged in making parallel cinema
(Well,not in Nepal,but in India,our cultural
exporter) make cinema that were pathetically
rejected in box office.The challange in our
country is to drive ahead both kind of cinema
and to be able to show that parallel cinemas
can also do business.
With the advent of new business era, we can
no longer scorn market, and forge ahead with
nonsense movies, billing them as parallel
cinema. We need some people who can make
commercially successful but realistic cinema.
That will help change the taste of viewers,
and induce popular revulsion against cheap
imported Hindi movies.
I am surely not the one who can make cinema,
and probably not the one who can really
comment on cinema authoritatively.As a viewer
however I can demand the new genre of
directorship in our cinema.However, I like
some of existing movie directors in Nepal.To
mention a name, I like Tulsi Ghimire very
much. I was shocked to hear some parochial
views from cinema circle of KTM(The socalled
kollywood) that he shouldn't be accepted
because he is not Nepalese.Tulsi has really
been a great pride for us who wanted to see
at least some sensible movies in our own
language.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 29-Sep-00 10:58 PM
No, the director of "Chameli" is: Ravi Baral,
though Ravi and Anil are related to one another. Anil was born and raised in
the US, in California.
Chameli, by the way, in my opinion, and no offence to Ravi, is a so-so movie -- I wouldn't watch it again. The script makes
it a mediocre fare, a little better than
the likes of "Bhariya", "Laxman Rekha"
and the rest, but not that great.
Not to be comparing, but in the West,
talented screenplay writers spend a lot of time revising and revising their screenplays, and then selling them to studios or independent productions. But in Nepal, almost all Nepali movies fail
because their screenplays are 'ek damai' khattam and jhoor.
Without a solid good script that holds
together well, you can't really even begin
to start filming a movie. (BTW, my former
college classmate Matt Damon, who I didn't
know while at Harvard, and his friend Ben
Affleck spent five years writing and polishing the script of "Good Will Hunting".)
I harbor no hope that Nepali film industry
will be sustained well by the likes of Neer Shah and the rest. This field needs a revolution in terms of technology, financiing, creative and talented and experimental, bold film-makers and other
such fresh resources.
oohi
ashu
>Hi Ashu:
>
>Is Anil the same person who made one
>critically acclaimed movie (Is it?) Chameli?
>
>I haven't seen the movie.I have heard it was
>about girl trafficking.
>
>The Indian filmmakers have shaped Nepalese
>mind to the extent that people want to see
>irrational dances/romance in each film. The
>dances/romances are integral part of the
>life, but they shouldn't be so indispensable
>to movies.
>
>The thing worsened in our society when
>people
>who are engaged in making parallel cinema
>(Well,not in Nepal,but in India,our cultural
>exporter) make cinema that were pathetically
>rejected in box office.The challange in our
>country is to drive ahead both kind of
>cinema
>and to be able to show that parallel cinemas
>can also do business.
>
>With the advent of new business era, we can
>no longer scorn market, and forge ahead with
>nonsense movies, billing them as parallel
>cinema. We need some people who can make
>commercially successful but realistic cinema.
>
That will help change the taste of viewers,
>
>and induce popular revulsion against cheap
>imported Hindi movies.
>
>I am surely not the one who can make cinema,
>and probably not the one who can really
>comment on cinema authoritatively.As a
>viewer
>however I can demand the new genre of
>directorship in our cinema.However, I like
>some of existing movie directors in Nepal.To
>mention a name, I like Tulsi Ghimire very
>much. I was shocked to hear some parochial
>views from cinema circle of KTM(The socalled
>kollywood) that he shouldn't be accepted
>because he is not Nepalese.Tulsi has really
>been a great pride for us who wanted to see
>at least some sensible movies in our own
>language.
|
| Biswo |
Posted
on 30-Sep-00 12:58 AM
Hi ashu:
I won't be surprised if Chameli is just
another mediocre movie.Except few,our other
film critics are writing whatever they
think is good,without predicating their
analysis on informed standards.For some, the
movie that doesn't run well in cinema is
parallel, for some the one that displays the
sorrow of poverty is parallel,for some the
movie that doesn't include song is parallel
and so on.Some people had the audacity to
suggest that Prem Pinda should be sent to
Oscar, some thought the same about, what
else, Basudev.
I totally agree with you that movies need
the best screenplay to start with.The
condition of literature is also pathetic in
Nepal,thought I don't say that there are all
worthless writers.I think there are really
capable writers,but they are constrained by
several reasons.Mainly few literature
magazines, and few disinterested
philanthropists.Very few rooms are left for
the practitioners of new styles, and ideas.
Ideological tolerance is in such a low that
NC, while in govt, appoints its own pointsman
in Gorkhapatra Sasthan who will make sure
that no left leaning story published in
Madhupark.Garima,however,has been great in
its tolerance since Panchayat era.It
published articles of all those congressi,
communist writers even in Panchayat days.
The fostering of rebellious ideas are
essential for generating new trends. Our
past is proof that we tried to stifle them
in our country.That is probably one of the
main reasons for the poor state of literature
in our country.Film and literature are
actually interwoven, and gradually becoming
complementary to each other.Films can
stimulate an author's thought by providing
a visual vista to him, while an author can
provide streams of feelings to materialize in
the movies.
changing subject, I want to write you about
one incident that happened probably a decade
ago.I think it was of around 2048 Nepalese
year.I had prepared an article about the
sex slaves of Korea,Phillipines and China
who were forcefully employed by Japanese
aggressors in second world war.A friend of
mine suggested me to send the article to
one vehemetnly dogmatic article called
Chhalphal because the editor was also from
the eastern Chitwan.They published it in
their second page,(It was more than half of
the second page), but when I asked them for
remuneration,they never thought it was
necessary to pay.This was the creed of
that paper.I don't know whether that paper
still exists or not.It was such a pathetic
and damn dogmatic paper, Dristi was actually
better than that.I have similar experience
with Bimarsha.(However it was not about
money).So,that is why, I never liked the
weeklies.One of the UML politician I love to
hate , Pradip Nepal, had once written that he
never got the money he demanded for giving an
interview to a " respected " Nepalese weekly.
Weeklies are pathetic,I just can't believe
people really believe them.
Finally, I went to see if there are any movie
of Padro in premiere/blockbuster.sadly,
I couldn't find any.Today is weekend, I was
wondering if I should be watching some really
nice movies.I found "the story of Qiu Ju", I
got to repeat that movie.That is a beautiful
movie to watch.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 30-Sep-00 03:00 PM
Biswo,
As far as the quality of Nepali or Nepali-made or Nepal-made movies go,
I am not as pessimistic as you seem
to be. Sure, almost all of the
movies are absolutely khattam and jhoor
and depressingly third-class . . . but
It takes time for the likes of Neer Shah
to retire and make way for bold,
experimental and creative young Nepali directors.
Tsering Ritar Sherpa is one young Nepali director who seems to be working hard on mastering the craft of film-making. His
short film "The Spirit Doesn't Come Any More" won a few international awards a few years ago.
Sherpa has just come out with "Mukundo" --
a feature film (without the song and dance routines) that is quite watchable. The
scenes of Patan ko gullies in Mukundo, for example, are really well-done!!
Likewise, young, talented screenwriters
such as writer Kesang Tseten are coming up too.
Kesang wrote the screenplay for Mukundo,
and his script (first written in English,
and then translated to Nepali by poet Manjul) displays fewer errors than there would be
in most other Nepali films.
Deependra Gauchan is another talented film-maker whose claim to fame was "Ujeli",
the documentary against child marriage.
Though Gauchan has yet to make a full-length
feature film, he runs oversubscribed classes for aspiring screen-writers and film-makers in Kathmandu.
In Nepal, much of the movie industry
is really bad. But one lives and hopes for
the better . . .
oohi
ashu
|
| Biswo |
Posted
on 30-Sep-00 11:05 PM
Actually, it is not only Nir Shah who makes
me depressed, but it is when the likes of
Maha and even Pratap Subba(I really believe
that Paralko Aago was a great adoption of
the story, and really really a nice movie)also
come up with fleapits-darling"Filim" "Lovi papi" "rako" etc
type of (taking your words) khattam, jhoor
and third class movie that makes me feel
depressed.
Your news sounds impressive.The challenge is
these new directors need to make such movies
that people can be weaned away from addictive
Hindi movies and prodded to our new style of
our own movies.
Finally, to make business running and economy
vibrant, we need commercially successful movies.A poor government can't always support
luxury of making of movies,anyway.
|
