You are most probably already aware about the Aktor-Actor controversy as you must have read about it or might have seen some of the #justiceforaktor posts from the industry people.

In case you’ve been living under a rock; here’s what happened. Quite an anticipated film called ‘Aktor Take 1’ was to release today on Jan 29th. Instead of the more common Friday release trend, the film was going for a weekday release to benefit from the two-day holiday — Martyrs Day on Wednesday and Sonam Lhochhar on Thursday. Dude, having a release day like this is pretty much a dream for film people. That has to be a release day pretty much as good as a Dashain or Tihar release, considering the kind of competition films face in Dashain Tihar (like we saw with Chhakka Panja 5, Barah Gaun and Jwai Saab) vs this one, as it was straight up getting a solo release, with not only no competition from any other Nepali film, but also no other Bollywood or Hollywood release alongside. See, a dream release, right? What could go wrong? Everything. Man, don’t even talk about it. Oh shoot, we are actually talking about it, that’s the whole point of this blogpost.

The twist came a day before the film’s release when the District Court of Kathmandu ordered to hold the release. Wait, where did the court come from into the scene? Here, watch this trailer first.

Yep, you got it. Earlier this month, on Jan 17th, a film called ‘Actor’ came out (and kinda disappeared within first two days of its release). As per Online Khabar, the film made like 28k during its theatrical run. Which simply means, in Rajatpat Uncle’s words, “film le paani ko paa pani mangana payena” or “film le poster taseko gum ko paisa samet uthauna sakena“.

So these brilliant minds behind this masterpiece were like, “Yo, somebody has copied the title of our magnus opus and they are trying to recreate this phenomenon; we gotta stop them”, and then filed a case. I am not saying what they did wsa wrong; I know this intellectual property thing and all that stuff. I am not informed and knowledgeable enough to comment on an ongoing court case, but as a well-wisher of Nepali cinema, who is always rooting for the scene, it’s heartbreaking to see a capable film not getting a chance to show its worth. I mean, every film has to get approved from the film development board before they go on floor; wasn’t it their responsibility to be like, “Your bad, there’s already another film registered with this name; you go change your name and then come back” or something like that? I mean, after all these efforts, hard work and of course, spending so much money; they tell you that you can’t release your work, that seems unfair.

Also to the makers of ‘Actor’, guys, the industry has a long way to go. Less than 10% of the films in a year are able to recover the investment and when a single film does well, it’s the win for the entire industry. Getting the audiences to watch a Nepali film in theaters is a big win for everybody. I feel bad for you that your film couldn’t do well. I am sure you must have worked hard on the project and it was disappointing to see it fail; and nobody else knows it better than you right now how it feels when a dream project of yours isn’t able to get the love from the audiences. But your film, at least, got to see the light of day. Please give that chance to ‘Aktor’ as well. We don’t know if it’s gonna do well or not but it deserves to have that chance to at least try. I know watching your film struggle was painful. But don’t turn that pain into another filmmaker’s nightmare. A win for ‘Aktor’ could be a win for the industry as a whole. Let’s not hold each other back — let’s build each other up.

Now about the film, Aktor Take 1; directed by Rajan Bhusal, stars Pradeep Khadka and Anna Sharma. The film that will mark the debut of Divya Rayamajhi has Raj Ballav Koirala making a comeback after around a decade. The film’s also got Divya Dev, Sushil Sitaula and Usha Rajak — a pretty solid cast, I must say. I really hope the case gets over and the film gets a release date really soon.