Q. Could you tell us more about yourself and the movie?
A. I started off as a technician in cinema and have worked in
many productions in Bollywood and in Bangladesh. Some of the movies
that I have worked on include Tarzan, and Kanya. I lived in Bangladesh
and started as a spot boy.
Inspired by Muna Madan, I also named my daughter Muna. When I
started this project, a lot of people discouraged me saying that
an earlier movie was made already and that the public was not
prepared for another Muna Madan. But Muna Madan has everything
that a story needs. It was cross-cultural, covered various emotions,
had drama and so on.
| Muna
Madan
Producer: Naba Raj Dhakal
Madan: Deepak Tripathi
Muna: Kusar Paudal
Didi: Mithila Sharma
Sherpa: Vijay Lama
Ama: Subhadra Adhikari
Kurdina Sau- Junwal Nirshah
Director: Gyanendra Deoja
Music: Laxma Sesh
Camera: Gautam Shreshtra |
Only new actors performed in the movie so that people identify
the characters and not the actor (established actor) playing the
character. Due to this no distributor was willing to finance the
movie.
Q. What problems did you face?
A. As the distributors were not willing to finance the movie,
I had to take personal loans from the banks. The total expense
was 72 Lakhs on the movie. It was a lot of money and that was
always a big worry for me. Once the movie was complete, I did
a few charity shows and also am marketing the movies myself. My
motto throughout was: if it is a flop it will still be recognized
as a good
movie. I want NBA to leave a mark so that every movie coming from
this production will be seen and recognized as quality work. Just
like Mumbai’s (Bollywood) Rajshri Production.
Q. What did you think of the nomination from your country to
the Oscars?
A. Everyone’s ultimate dream is to reach the Oscars. It
brought me so much happiness as it is everyone’s dream esp.
in my maiden Nepalese venture.
Q. Where else will the movie be showing?
A. The movie will be going to the Palm Film Festival Show. It
will be coming back in May with the Midwest committee. The previews
have been great. It was shot in 17300 feet above Sea level —
Ganesh Himal and some secret shots were done in Lhasa.
Q. Do you have any plans to show it to the New Yorkers?
A. I had no such plans but I had wanted to see NY esp. after
the 9/11 episode. Further, It was declared on Jan 27th for the
Oscars. So I had to bring the Oscar print along. I felt that if
I could hold one or two shows then I could at least cover the
price for the aeroplane ticket. The DC Nepal
society show was held on Feb 15th and was very successful. So
I felt and knew it would be a success in NY.
I have put everything on the line for this movie and the expectations
have been high in the Nepal Samaj especially since all charity
shows were always houseful.
Q. What was the message that you wanted to bring through this
movie?
A. I wanted to make the new generation aware of old Nepalese
traditions and about historical and traditional facts about Nepal.
I did not want to make another spicy commercial Sasu Buari story
but rather a meaningful story. I did a lot of research for this
movie. I could have probably done my Ph. D. with the amount of
research that I did on Muna Madan. While the camera cannot replicate
the book exactly as the book, I have tried to use the camera to
depict it as accurately as I could.
Q. Could you tell us something about your next movie?
A. My next movie is called Nasu based on the book by Dr. Taranath
Sharma. I am still doing the research and working out the details.
