Kathmandu. The 6th Nepal International Film Festival (NIF) is underway at QFX and Tourism Board. On Saturday, some important discussions were held regarding the development and casting practices of Nepali film audiences.
On the third day, there was an interaction between the filmmakers on the topic of ‘Where did you get from?’ Producer Ashok Sharma, director Sujit Bidari and actress Swastima Khadka were the speakers in the panel discussion held at the Tourism Board. There was a discussion about the thinking of the audience before and now in the film.
Producer Sharma said that the audience will expect from the star. ‘Earlier, only a few films were made. There were no stars at that time. Now many films are made and there are many stars. Therefore, perhaps the audience also expects from the star, he said.
Earlier, he was of the opinion that films should be played to show talent, but now platforms such as Tik Tok can be used. Stating that previously the audience and the star would meet only during the 51-day program of the film, Sharma said that now the audience would have been able to meet the star.
Sharma feels that a star should not be too lighthearted and should not be in direct contact with the audience. He said, “Even if a film like Jojo J was made yesterday, now we should aim to take our local stories to the global level.” Actress Khadka also thinks the same. She said that earlier there were fewer options for entertainment, but now that there are more options, it is not necessary to play a movie to express one’s point of view.
Stating that the same kind of films are being released recently, she said, ‘Nowadays, 300 movies are made in the same genre and in between, a different genre of film comes out. That is why it is difficult to get the audience used to it. However, the audience loves creative films,’ she said.
Stating that there is a large number of viewers of Nepali films, she said that efforts should be made to attract them to the theaters. I don’t believe that there are few viewers of Nepali films. Although less in the hall, there are a lot of viewers on YouTube. It seems that even the films that failed in the theaters have reached a million viewers. If there were no audience, this would not have happened’ she said.
Swastima believes that movie theaters were affordable earlier, but now they are expensive, so the audience has to wait for the YouTube release. “If we want to take our film to the world, we have to capture local stories,” she says.
Sujit Bidari, the director of ‘Aina Jhyalko Putli’, which was nominated for the Oscar award from Nepal this year, was also a speaker. He argues that the movie craze will never decrease, saying that mobiles, laptops and phones cannot provide enjoyment in the hall.
He says, ‘I think the film craze will never decrease. People have a craze because they can see different characters, life and society in front of their own eyes. It remains. And the craze of the cinema hall is not over. Because mobile phones and laptops cannot enjoy the hall.’
He says that there are a large number of Nepali viewers who watch fantasy. ‘Maybe there are Nepali viewers who watch fantasy. But they don’t shy away from seeing Deepika Padukone’s bikini scene, but they see Priyanka’s bikini as vulgar’, he says.
He suggested that filmmakers should decide their own path. They say, ‘Maker should make his own route. If you can’t make a route, you can’t get anywhere.’
NIF will continue till Monday.
News/Image Sources: Online Khabar
