Pokhara, 21 July: The month of Asar proved to be less than encouraging for the Nepali film industry, with only one new Nepali film released. Currently, 14 films are being screened across cinemas nationwide, with a striking 12 of them being foreign productions. Among the two Nepali films still in theaters, ‘Unko Sweater’ and ‘Yo Man Ta Mero Nepali Ho’, are receiving significantly fewer showtimes compared to their foreign counterparts.
‘Unko Sweater’, a hit film released on Baisakh 26, was allotted three shows on Monday, Shrawan 5. Remarkably, this film has managed to stay in theaters for 74 days, indicating its commercial success. In contrast, ‘Yo Man Ta Mero Nepali Ho’, which premiered on Asar 27, has struggled at the box office. After just 11 days, its show count has been reduced to only three, mirroring the number of shows for ‘Unko Sweater’. This means that collectively, these two Nepali films have exactly half the number of shows compared to the foreign films currently running in Nepali cinemas.
The limited release of Nepali films in Asar, coupled with their poor box office performance, has led to a noticeable dominance by foreign films. As of Shrawan 2, the first Friday of the current month, ‘Unko Sweater’ remains the only commercially successful Nepali film released this year. While new films were released almost every week in Baisakh and Jestha, all five films released in Jestha and the sole Asar release, ‘Yo Man Ta Mero Nepali Ho’, flopped commercially. The next fresh Nepali film, ‘Real Ringgit’, is not scheduled for release until Shrawan 16, the third Friday of the month, meaning audiences will have to wait another 12 days for a new local production. Given their current limited showtimes, it appears challenging for ‘Unko Sweater’ and ‘Yo Man Ta Mero Nepali Ho’ to remain in theaters until Shrawan 16. Should this happen, it would leave Nepali cinemas almost entirely dominated by foreign films.
