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| Biswo |
Posted
on 15-Mar-04 10:24 PM
In 1993, Bernardo Bertolucci went to Nepal to shoot his 'Little Buddha'. It should have been a moment to celebrate for all of us: after all, Bertolucci was the director whose admirers include great directors like Coppola and Scorcese, (Coppola even asked brought his The Conformist cinematographer to work for his Godfather), and whose bibliography include movies like Last Tango In Paris and The Last Emperor. In stead, KTM was abuzz with negative propaganda about the director's use of naked women in the movie sets.Some monks and some MPs aligned with the UML protested, and the director met with them. The director concurred with their demand that name of the 'Little Buddha' be changed to 'Little Lama' and somehow wrapped up the shootings.
The following year, the movie was released as Little Buddha and it bombed. The director Bertolucci who fought against the government of Italy and USA in the aftermath of controversy over The Last Tango In Paris wasn't going to bow down to some delusional group of people in Nepal and change his movie's name, but I guess our MPs didn't know about that. Our UML MP's also had probably no idea that Bertolucci was a member of Italian Communist Party, a fiercely independent thinker of his own, an immensly respected artist of our era who single handedly made, at least the western hemisphere, reexamine its taboo about sex.And to think that 'Little Buddha' , a reference to a boy incarnate, was meant to belittle the Siddharth was just ridiculous. Bertolucci was not some rightwing Christian bent on belittling other religions. If anything, he is probably an admirer of what Buddha preached.
Well, we live in a separate world in Nepal anyway. Or else, how can one explain Prachanda's ravings about starting the era of revolution in the world by unfurling Communist flag atop the Mt Everest? And how can one explain the mind of the man who smilingly accepts the address of being the king of 'more than a billion Hindus' in a staged felicitation? In the streets of Kathmandu, it is also easy to find self-proclaimed intellectuals who claim they were 'Man of The Year', actors who thinks whatever they are doing is for Nepal and so they should be appreciated by state, the low calibre writers who think the state owes to them something just because they scribbles some lousy poems, the sluggish athletes who in stead of improving their performance blame the state for not feeding them adequately,and the list goes on.
To go back to Bertolucci, it seems he hasn't forgotten Nepal. His recent 'The Dreamers' includes a relatively irrelevant scene in which Theo was accosted by his friend who clad in Nepali dress says she brought a souvenir sweet from Nepal. I just couldn't stop appreciating Bertolucci after watching that scene. The director went to Nepal to shoot a movie in the past, the director keeps reference to Nepal in his next movie: doesn't that mean he probably loves Nepal?
On the other hand, isn't it time for us to think what is wrong with us? Bollywood's great actors/directors have come to Nepal to shoot their movies, but haven't repeated their trip. Hollywood's great director has come to Nepal, but hasn't repeated the trip. In fact, it is likely that they probably didn't recommend it to their colleagues either.In fact, I often see some low class 'film journalists' taking swipe at Eric Vialli who made Caravan for no reason. It is obvious after what happened to Madhuri, Salman, and Bertolucci that we love to make enemies in the world where we should be making more friends in stead.Only by making friends all over the world can we become part of the world.
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| kingkong |
Posted
on 16-Mar-04 09:34 AM
great commentry biswo
i was caught off gaurd during that scene in dreamers and it felt nice to see a reference to our own country
and about those morons in the streets, i cant agree with you more
hey did u hear about eric vali being accused of being a cia operative...which i wouldnt mind even if he is
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 16-Mar-04 05:38 PM
Kingkong,
It is easy to be offguard during that scene in The dreamers. It is during one of those student demonstrations, and the dialogue is in French, with subtitle shown in English.
Re Eric Vialli: I haven't heard of anyone saying he was CIA operative. But some filmi journalists often take potshots at him. For example, one journalist while praising Numafung started his paragraph as 'Eric Vialliko Caravan herera makhkha parne kehi Nepali harulaai...gatilo jawaaf..'. It was so completely unwarranted. You don't have to badmouth Eric while praising Nabin. In fact, our students of Film can benefit by learning both of these great giants. Also it is wrong to think Eric earned 'a lot' of money so he owes anything to us. I would remember him as a very courageous young man, who worked really hard to make a movie, and who also provided some kind of opportunities to Nepalese in Dolpo who were otherwise insignificant for us.It is also important to remember his work about famous 'honey hunters' of Nepal.
The movie plot of Caravan in itself was not a 'great' in my opinion. New Yorker review said the story reminds John Wayne superhit Red River Valley. Having seen both movies, I partially concur with that comment. But Caravan deserves praise for everything else other than its script.I also think it probably missed Oscar because of that weak and corny story. In any case, Eric was a superb portrayer of Dolpo life, and I think we should help him if he desires to come back to Nepal and add something to his professional life.
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| kingkong |
Posted
on 16-Mar-04 06:12 PM
to be honest
i felt like watching a travel documentry watching the caravan and it was comepeting against all about my mother, which is real human story and i wasnt really surprised when caravan lost to it but there is no doubt what valli has done is beyond any shadow of doubt a great film making and an oscar nod was well deserved.
actually i havent watched that other movie called numafung, do u know how i can get hold of that movie here in usa. i will be so thankful.
and by the way i will be in nepal making movies in no time
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 16-Mar-04 07:08 PM
kingkong:
I don't know where you can find Numafung. Soham Dhakal(of Suskera.com) in Kansas City had a print, but I don't have any updated information about that.
I wish you good luck in making movies in Nepal. I think movie making is a great art, just like literature. Good movies will survive ,probably, forever.
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