New Spirit

THE ruling Nepali Congress was plagued by internal differences for several weeks in the recent past. As can be expected, dissent from within the party, had caused not only embarrassments for the party leadership, but also difficulties for the government. However, according to the long standing tradition of the Nepali Congress, the differences were settled when Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who is also the President of the party, held talks with senior leader and former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and defused the crisis. Now, things seems to have been settled once and for all with a crucial meeting of the Central Working Committee (CWC) of the party the other day, taking a decision to endorse the agreement reached between Prime Minister and Party President Koirala and Former Premier Bhattarai. Quite rightly, the party leaders have put behind the internal disagreements and now they look forward to the important General Convention which will take place in about six months’ time. One of the issues that had been raised recently, was in the fixing of the dates for the General Convention. The convention was slated to be held in November this year, but due to the demand put forward by former Premier Bhattarai, the dates have been rescheduled to January next year.

In the past ten years since the re-ushering in of democracy in the country, it is only the Nepali Congress which has been able to win a majority in the Parliament. No other party has been able to achieve such electoral successes in the three general elections held so far. This clearly indicates that the people have put their faith in this party, to lead the nation to peace and prosperity. However, the squabbling among the leaders within the NC, has not contributed in enhancing either its performance or image. Therefore, it is high time that all the leaders within the Nepali Congress forged unity and cooperated to make the policies and programmes of the government a success. In the present challenging times, when both inflation and insecurity are greatly troubling the people at large, the ruling party must focus its attention in meeting the challenges that are there before the nation. It should not be bogged down in its own problems. Prime Minister Koirala has rightly called on all CWC members of the party to now work with a new spirit together as per the understanding reached. It can be hoped both the government and the party will work together and fulfil the aspirations of the people.

Quality Movie

OVER the last decade, the number of Nepalese movies hitting the screen has recorded a big jump. The Nepalese movie industry at present is a far cry from a couple of decades back when one film in a few years used to be the norm. There is no denying that the Nepalese movie industry has grown. But by all accounts, this growth in the number has not matched quality. What one sees coming out of the Nepalese movie mills is basically clones of the movies from the Bombay filmdom. Nepalese movie-goers have grown watching Hindi movies, most of which are not much to talk about in terms of quality. Having been fed this staple and having internalised such movie standards, Nepalese movie producers and directors too, it seems, find it difficult to rise above the Bombay film producing formula. Granted that from the point of view of economic viability of their ventures, they cannot take too much liberty with the tested formulas lest viewers revolt. After all, they have to calculate returns too to stay viable in an already over-crowded film market. But it is a cheerless situation that most of the movie-makers opt for making sub-standard movies blindly. There appears to be this singular lack of imagination and creativity among most of the Nepalese movie-makers who are content to give one formulaic movie after another. It is a pity that while technically the Nepalese movies are getting better, the contents remain trite and wornout. It is good that movie-makers sometimes gather to discuss the issues confronting the film industry. Like they did the other day under the auspices of National Film Development Board. They talked about the need for production technology. They talked about the time that censors take in okaying a movie. But curiously, as far as the news report went, there was precious little debate on the quality of the movies being chumed out. The subject of how to develop Nepali films, as the discussions seemed to centre on, must invariably include the concerns regarding the quality. The Board, If it is to execute its responsibilities honestly, cannot remain blind to the quality of the movies. While it should do all it can to address the movie-makers’ complaints like, for instance, transparency in censoring, its focus must be on finding ways and means to encourage qualitative growth of the Nepalese film industry. That will be the yardstick by which the Board performance should be judged.