Netflix is an ocean of movies and series; but yet, there are hardly (well, almost none) Nepali content on the streaming platform. And that is why it was a pretty big deal when Nirmal Purja Nimsdai’s documentary “14 Peaks – Nothing is Impossible” didn’t only land there but was loved around the world, even getting a shout-out from “Superman” Henry Cavill.
The only “Nepali” film that’s available on the platform is Priyanka Chopra-produced Nepali language Sikkimese film “Pahuna”. Apart from that, there’s an 2015 earthquake documentary; and a couple of other films and documentaries that were partly filmed in Nepal. That’s about it.
Someday, may be, someday (when we actually start making quality cinema!)
Anyway, for now, the best we can do is look for the films with Nepali actors in them. Nope, not talking about Manisha Koirala films, or Mary Kom, or Barfi. You are all aware of them already. But you might not have come across this Hong Kong film yet, which too, stars a Nepali talent.
The film’s called “Hand Rolled Cigarette” and it stars Bipin Karma in one of the lead roles, alongside Gordon Lam. The neo-noir film directed by Chan Kin-Long was screened at multiple film festivals in 2020, before it got widely released in June of 2021. The film was nominated for seven Golden Horse awards.
Talking about our hero, Bipin was born in Hong Kong and then was raised in Nepal until he was eight years old. He then moved back to HK; and was taking his BSc in Digital Entertainment when he was called to audition for the role. Prior to that, he had done a short film called Bench that he had written himself. He recently made another short, ‘Melting Point’.
Bipin’s latest film was ‘Look Up’, an anthology of four stories, that was released last year in 2022. He played the character of a Nepali boy in ‘Under the Lion Pole’, one of the film’s four stories.
Our boy surely is making some moves in Hong Kong cinema. So how about you go right now and stream ‘Hand Rolled Cigarette’ on Netflix. It’s not available in English, only Cantonese; but don’t we watch almost all the content with English subtitles anyway! And you know what, just watch, no “chilling” ‘cos you got to concentrate on the film only.
