INDIAN LAUNCHES FORMER NEPAL PREMIER'S SON IN FILMS
By Sudeshna Sarkar. (10 March 2004)

An Indian help has seen the launch of the son of a former prime minister of Nepal on the silver screen. Bhupen Chand, son of former Nepalese prime minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand, made his debut as an actor this week in the Nepalese film "Dui Kinara", directed by veteran director Tulsi Ghimire, who hails from Kalimpong in West Bengal. The love story pits Bhupen against Neeruta Singh, who is one of the leading ladies of Nepal's film industry but hails from Chhota Kakrajhor in Darjeeling.

Produced by Shrawan Ghimire, Tulsi Ghimire's brother, "Dui Kinara" has already been released in Kalimpong and will be shown in Gangtok within the fortnight. After that, Ghimire plans a release in Siliguri in India where a sizeable Nepalese population lives.

Though the film premiered in Kathmandu on Sunday, it will be nearly two months before it is released in the Himalayan kingdom. Coincidentally, a second Nepalese scion, Manisha Koirala, who is the granddaughter of another former prime minister, the late Bishweshwor Prasad Koirala, is playing the lead in a current Bollywood release in Nepal, "Tum".

Though it is unlikely that her uncle Girija Prasad Koirala, another former prime minister and strong man of the opposition Nepali Congress party, went to the theatre to watch Manisha's controversial film, Lokendra Bahadur Chand was very much present, accompanied by gun-toting bodyguards, at the premiere of his son.

Chand, also known to be a poet like Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has not been very active in politics since his resignation last year and is said to be working on a collection of short stories. Asked if he minded Bhupen not following in his footsteps, his unperturbed reply was: "I have two more sons."

Chand, whose tenure was noted for bringing about a truce with the Maoist insurgents and reopening peace talks with them, said he was satisfied with the performance of his son. Bhupen plays the role of a young and simple boatman who loses his love due to the machinations of her stepmother and then is reunited with her when both of them have crossed middle age. "His performance was up to the mark," Chand said with a touch of parental pride.

Tulsi Ghimire, who had also launched Neeruta Singh in his 1990s film "Dakshina", had the satisfaction of seeing her win the Dabur Anmol-Nepal One film award for the best actress in Kollywood recently. Can he do the same for Bhupen? Only time and Nepalese viewers can determine that.