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The Pioneer
Rimal is the pioneer of singing and theatre acting in Nepal
By THAKUR AMGAI
Born in 1925 in Kathmandu , Rimal showed an inclination towards drama and music since his early childhood. At the time when he was born there was no system of recorded music. And there were few songs in Nepali.
However, even with a few Hindi songs available on gramophone record, Rimal easily got attracted to them. He recalls that he would spend hours looking at theatres staged occasionally by a team of Indian actors.
On noticing his avid interest towards music, his father send him to an Ustad (music teacher) from India to learn classical music. Some hindi songs were played from a gramophone record in those days and friends and relatives would request little Rimal to sing those songs for them.
Rimal got his education from a private tutor, but was admitted to Durbar High School for drama. “Earlier there was no system of showing theatre for publics. Once when Juddha Shumsher visited Durbar High School , he was very impressed by the welcome song they sang for him,” recollects Rimal. “He decreed that extra curricular activities be started in the school and Bal Krishna Sama took the initiative to train the students for theatres.’
A Nepali theatre ‘Mukunda Indira’ by playwright Bal Krishna Sama, was staged at Durbar High School . Rimal was not acting, but was singing during the change of scenes. “Juddha Shumsher was so impressed by my singing that he gave me a cash prize immediately,” he says.
In 1938, Rimal acted for the first time on stage in the play ‘Pralhad’. The trend of staging the plays could not continue for long as the movement against the Rana regime was getting momentum.
In 1941, after the extra-curricular activities were discontinued at Durbar High School , Rimal formed a theatre group called ‘Gaurishankar Natya Samuha’ with his friends. This theatre group would perform dramas at various locations in Kathmandu . In fact, this was the first theatre group in Nepal and the first Nepali theatre shown to the public were these. Before these the theatres shown at Durbar High School or inside the Rana Mansions would be only for the Aristocratic family members of Ranas. This trend continued for about ten years and after the downfall of the Rana regime, the members of this group dispersed. Rimal got a job at Radio Nepal as a singer and started being more inclined to singing.
Hari Prasad Rimal entered the studio of Radio Nepal and sang the song ‘Mero Dil Tukra Banera Ekdin Ankhako Bato Bahanechha’ penned by Shankar Lamichhane and composed by himself. This is the first song aired from Radio Nepal and so, Rimal is the first singer at Radio Nepal . Unfortunately, this song was not recorded.
His job at Radio Nepal was to sing different songs live often playing the harmonium himself. “There were very few people at Radio Nepal then,” recalls Rimal. “And there used to be times when only two of us had to perform continuously for the one hour program day after day.”
Ironically, the singer who has sung hundreds of songs live from the studio of Radio Nepal over and over again for years has only about half a dozen songs to his credit saved so far. The apathy of the cultural wing of the government on protecting the historical events and honoring such personalities is clear.
Many people know Rimal by his song ‘Fagat Ek Najarma Kasaile Liyo Man, Jati Birsun Bhanchhu Tyati Samjhine Jhhan’. He sang this song for the first time at Radio Nepal about fifty years ago and recorded it in India after almost a decade.
In 1965, he was offered to act the character artiste in the first feature film made in Nepal ‘Ama’. Two years later, he acted for ‘Hijo Aja Bholi’, another venture of the Information Ministry of the government. He continued his acting career when private sector ventured into film making. ‘Maitighar’, ‘Santan’, ‘Pirati’, and ‘Sindoor’, among others, are some of the films he acted for later.
At the first National Film Festival organized recently, Rimal bagged the ‘Critiques Award’ for his acting in the film ‘Manko Bandh’
At Radio Nepal , he was involved in making Radio Plays. He has made about 600 Radio plays. He has also made a lot of street dramas. After a long service for more than four decades he retired from Radio Nepal in 1994.
He has won countless honors and awards. Last year the government had awarded him the National Talent Award 2004 in drama and music and Lunkaran Das-Ganga Devi Chaudhary Sahitya Kalamandir had awarded ‘Saraswati Samman’. Likewise, he is also the winner of the awards like Indra Rajya Laxmi Pragya Puraskar and Bhupal Man Singh Puraskar in addition to a host of other national awards.
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