National 10 (Spotlight Weekly)

Picture Of Illness

After enjoying a boom in recent years, Nepal's film industry is in the doldrums again

By A CORRESSPONDENT

The bubble in Nepal's film industry has burst. Responding to the general economic decline of recent months, many producers have shelved new projects. If the current spate of violence and instability continues, the film industry can expect deeper trouble in the days ahead.

More than 40 films were released last year. If present trends are any indication, there will be fewer than two dozen releases this year. According to the Nepal Film Producers Association, more than half a dozen producers have withdrawn their proposals. With fewer Nepalese films coming out, many movie theaters are witnessing slack business.

A cinema theater : Where have the crowds gone?

With more than 1.3 million people, Kathmandu valley has 20 cinema theaters, including a dozen modern facilities. Contrast this with the situation until a decade and a half ago, when there were six theaters —some in a highly dilapidated state —which screened old Hindi movies for months on.

There was a time when Kathmanduites could watch the latest Hindi movies the same day they were released in India. Following the "Hrithik Roshan episode" of December 2000 —when Kathmandu's streets erupted in an orgy of violence over anti-Nepal remarks attributed to the Bollywood heartthrob which he denied ever making —theater owners largely avoided screening Hindi films.

"After the Hrithik Roshan episode, the import of Hindi films declined substantially," says an exhibitor. "Theaters owners are not prepared psychologically, especially when they realize that bands of radical youths could come out in the street on the basis of rumor. In fact, we get frightened every time we see a crowd close to our theater."

Although Hindi films still occupy more than 50 percent of the Nepalese market, that share is on the decline. The increase in Nepalese productions, which are cheaper to produce and, hence, to exhibit, helped to bridge the gap. A careful mix of private-sector enterpreneurship, artistic and technical creativity and government incentives helped the industry to acquire what looked like a self-sustaining momentum.

With the imposition of the state of emergency and an upsurge in Maoist terrorism, however, audiences have thinned drastically. "Now we are losing money showing Nepali films as well," says a theater owner.

As the fallout from the slump in the Nepalese film industry looms large, most theaters owners acknowledge they are in no position to import expensive new Hindi films the midst of declining audiences. "Even if normalcy were to return to the country soon, it would take many more years to build confidence in the film sector," says an exhibitor.

Agrees Royal Nepal Academy Nir Bikram Shaha, a leading actor and director: "Unless normalcy returns, there would be no sense in investing in the film industry. Tranquillity is required to sustain the industry."

Even as the production of Nepalese films and import of Hindi films continue to decline, many Kathmanduites hope movie theaters would be able to retain their traditional appeal. "I hope we would be in a position to watch the latest Bollywood films in Kathmandu very soon," says a moviegoer.

"As soon as normalcy returns, we will start importing Hindi movies," says the owner of one of the bigger theaters in the city. But that would hardly address the problem of the domestic film industry, which may have to rebuild itself all over again.