Bollywood to spice up Nepal film festivals

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s fascination for Bollywood — showcased by Indian starlets and songs heralding the New Year in the country — is all set to spill into its film festivals.

When the British Film Festival opens here on Monday, former Miss World Aishwarya Rai’s foray abroad — The Mistress of Spices — will feature among the five films on show. Another Aishwarya starrer, Guru, directed by Mani Ratnam, is already playing in Nepal’s theatres.

Directed by Paul Berges, husband of Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha, The Mistress was released in India last year. But the film had not found its way to Nepal commercially.

However, with the British Council hosting its sixth film festival, the movie is among the handpicked exhibits. A dark Bollywood film is being picked for the ‘Children in the Shadow,’ another film festival coming up in Nepal. Organised by Swiss NGO Terre Des Hommes Nepal, the eight-day festival is about “some of the world’s most courageous children.”

Featuring children born in brothels, working in mines and forced to go underground, the festival will include Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay — the story of a sex worker seen through the eyes of a child.

Bollywood already holds sway over Nepal’s television. Even Chinese TV channels, which can be viewed in Nepal, screen an occasional Bollywood movie dubbed in Chinese.