Biographical films haven’t been much of a cup of tea of Nepali filmmakers, even though their Hollywood and Bollywood counterparts have been making such film since decades. But looks like the scene is slowly changing in Nepal as well, as some young filmmakers have now started to experiment, and make films on subjects that haven’t been explored much in Nepali cinema — the ‘biopic’ genre being one such less travelled path.
But as we said, the scene is slowly changing; quite a number of biopics — including ‘Tandro’ that is based on maoist cadre Ganga Bahadur Lama, Shristi KC biopic ‘Blind Rocks’, and a film on Dipendra Shah titled ‘Dipendra Sarkar’ — have been recently made or are under development, which will be releasing in upcoming months. Now, making an entry to the list of anticipated biopics is ‘Rudane’.
The first look of the film has been recently released through two impressive posters. The film is based on Rupchandra Bista, the influential political change maker who founded the Thaha movement to spread social consciousness in various rural areas including Palung, Tistung and Makwanpur.
Bista advocated that the public had the right to access information and they must be well informed about what is going on in the country.
In this poster; the lead actor Divya Dev who plays Rupchandra Bista, is seen holding a megaphone and adressing the people against the backdrop of a village. He is wearing a hat that has ‘Thaha’ (to know) written on it.
In another brilliant poster, Bista is seen enlightening the villagers who are blinfolded — with blindfold of ignorance — that he is trying to remove.
Designed by Ananda Maharjan, these are hands down some of the most creative and impressive Nepali film posters so far.
Divya Dev, a noted theatre actor, will be seen playing Bista in the film.
After Divya was roped in to play the role, he went on and took months to research about Bista and to know him better. “Doing a biopic is a huge challenge for any actor because it asks for precision more than the imagination. Initially, I went through anxiety and serious nervousness because I didn’t know where and how to start from”, he told NeoStuffs.
“I was taking on the most challenging role of my acting carrier. The journey started with a handful of articles, few recordings of his speeches, a book of his poetry and some pamphlets. It took me nearly four months to just start understanding this very complex man”, he added.
“During this phase of intensive research, I spent hours talking to people associated with his life and listening to his recorded speeches over and over again until I started living the character. Playing this charcater has changed my understanding of acting on so many levels, and I feel more matured not only as an actor but as a person as well.”
Model-turned-actor Namrata Shrestha who had debuted with ‘Gaatho’ last year will be playing the female lead in the film.
Talking with NeoStuffs, Namrata said, “Portraying a real-life character was a tough job. This being a biopic of such a strong an infleuntial person, I knew this was going to be a challenging project. I feel fortunate that I had an opportunity to work with such an amazing team of hard working professionals.”
“It was challenging and I tried my best to do justice to the character I play. This role and the film will always remain close to my heart”, she further added.
The film that also stars Ravi Giri, Subash Gajurel and Amber Subedi; is jointly written and directed by Amit Kishor Subedi and Bikash Dhakal. Produced by Jagrat Rayamajhi, Shantha Rao Ippili is the cinematographer and Nimesh Shrestha is the editor of the film. Jason Kunwar has composed the music and background score for the film.
The film will release in the first quarter of 2018.
