SHARMILA Malla, the noted actress of Kollywood is not an unfamiliar name for Nepali movie-goers. However, in the recent years she rarely appears in the movies. And, many of her critics claim that she is not appearing because she is not getting any ‘offer’ from the producers. But she strongly rejects this speculation.

“I am not playing in films not because I do not get any offer but because I am not getting suitable roles as well as the talented directors,” she says.

Indeed, actress Malla points the lack of talented directors in the Nepali film industries.

“Nepali films are now being made by directors who completely lack direction knowledge. Because of these directors the image of the Nepali film sector is worsening,” Malla explains.

Low rate of remuneration is, according to Malla, another reason for her absence in the current films.

Sharmila’s latest film Kasto Samjhauta was made a year ago by Deepak Rayamajhi. Her first film Kanchi made in 1984 was directed by B. S. Thapa. Indeed it was Kanchi that made Sharmila Malla a noted actress of Nepali movie.

Despite being a film played by a new actress, Kanchi became one of the best Nepali films more than a decade ago when Nepali films’ market was very limited.

The success of Kanchi was a clear signal that teen-aged Sharmila possessed sufficient artistic talents. Malla was only 14 then.

“I did not feel any difficulty while playing in Kanchi because of the friendly treatment of B. S. Thapa, the director of Kanchi,” she says when asked to explain her feelings while playing in films for the first time.

In fact, before she played in Kanchi Sharmila Malla used to participate in Children’s Programme and Radio Drama broadcast by Radio Nepal.

“Though I was a student of Padmakanya High School, Dilli Bazar, I used to participate in the Bal Karyakram and Radio Drama. After school on Friday, I had to rush to Radio Nepal to participate in those programmes,” she tells. The model of the popular ads of Everest Toothpaste was none other than Sharmila Malla. The ads were made before she played in Kanchi.

Born as the youngest daughter of the two children of the second wife of late Hem Bikram Shah, Sharmila points at Sagar Shah, her brother to be the source of encouragement.

“Though my mother used to oppose my desire to participate in acting, my brother encourged me to play in dramas and films,” she says.

Her father died when she was only 12.

Sharmila Malla has played in about a dozen of films as a principal character. And most of her films became popular. Kanchi, Basudeva, Badal, Bijaya Parajaya, Sankalpa, Chelibeti, Mayapriti are some of her better films.

She married in 1985 with Chautara-born Krishna Malla who is also a film artiste. It was a love marriage.

“Our love affair was so powerful that we could not stay separate for long and married just after the completion of Basudeva in 1985,” she says (laughingly). “However I had seen him before playing in Basudeva,” she adds.

She expresses her satisfaction towards her married life.

“As my hubby is also an artiste, it has been easy for me to play in films after marriage, he encourages me to play in films,” she tells.

Her hubby Krishna Malla also seems to be following her path and is not appearing in recent films. When asked what her hubby is doing she says, “After Gothalo he recently played in Yestai Huncha Pirati.”

Among the films she played, she chooses Kanchi and Maya Priti to be her best films. However, she finds her appropriate and most powerful role in Sankalpa. “Indeed, it was in Sankalpa that I could expose my full artistic talents,” she boasted over her skills in Sankalapa.

She has played the role of a young widow in Sankalpa .

When asked if she is satisfied with her acting, she gives a philosophical answer.

“An artiste will never be satisfied with his/her acting, if he/she is satisfied, then he/she will no more remain as an artiste. Satisfaction will end an artiste’s career,” she replies.

Sharmila Malla thinks that the present Nepali film industry is making quantitative, not qualitative progress. As mentioned above she points the lack of talented directors for the present state of Nepali cinemas.

“The tendency to cheat the producers and exploit the artistes, especially actresses, rather than making better films is prevalent among the present film directors,” she says. She also agrees that directors exploit artistes.

“If the artistes are capable, no one can exploit them,” she adds

Sharmila points at Jala Shah when asked to select the best actress of the current Nepali films.

“I appreciate the roles of Jala, she is the only trained actress of Nepali film world,” she says.

At a time when there is a type of competition among the actresses to become a producer, Sharmila Malla is not an exception.

“I am going to produce Lagan Gantho with the joint investment of Biju Ranjit, the producer of Gothalo and Chunauti ,” she discloses her plan.

We may have to wait for Sharmila’s Lagan Gantho to see whether she is also good in producing films.

Kathmandu, Feb. 17: Nepal Printers’ Association is to organise the four-day 2nd South Asia congress and exhibition in Bhrikuti Mandap, Kathmandu, beginning March 1. The event is a sequence to the first South Asia Print Congress (SAPC) held in 1996 in India’s New Delhi.

The object of this event is to acquaint the print professionals with the new trends and technologies in print industry and to provide them an opportunity to promote their business, SAPC organising committee’s president Suresh B. Malla told a press conference here this afternoon.

Primarily meant for the benefit of the South Asian print professionals, the event aims at bringing experts and manufactures form all around the world with a view to develop strategies to improve print products.

Expected to be participated in by around 100 firms and over 500 delegates from around the world, the event will feature presentations by about 30 experts from various countries, Malla said.

The event with a theme ‘Print of Tomorrow: Concern of Today’ will also feature talks and interactions on recent trends and technologies in print industry.

Malla said that the event is expected to be visited by about 50,000 Nepalese and about 10,000 foreigners.

Nepal’s Mount Everest Brewery and India’s Scitex/Heidelberg are the main sponsors of the event.

Kathmandu, Feb. 17: Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party will hold its meeting early next week (February 21) to discuss the problems that arose following the move yesterday by ruling party lawmakers to pressure for change in the leadership.

“All Congress legislators are requested to attend the meeting that day at the Parliamentary Party office to discuss and decide on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai,” NC Parliamentary Party Secretary Benupraj Prasain said in a statement. The meeting will take place at eight o’clock in the morning.

Fifty-eight NC MPs from the House of Representatives on Wednesday registered the motion saying they did not have confidence on their Parliamentary Party leader, Bhattarai.

“The NC Parliamentary Party’s meeting has been called to discuss and decide on the no-trust motion against the Prime Minister registered in accordance with NC Parliamentary Party statute’s article 19 (6) by the NC parliamentary members,” Prasai said in the statement.

According to NC’s parliamentary statute, the removal of the head of the parliamentary party is possible only when the two-third majority of the 113 NC MPs at the House of Representatives and 24 at National Assembley back the no trust-motion.

Reports today said the NC MPs, who have moved the motion, said that the Prime Minister had disregarded the agreement he made with Party President Girija Prasad Koirala late last year when the two sat together to avert a similar crisis in December.

Bhattarai took over as the Prime Ministers in June last year when Nepali Congress obtained majority in the last general elections.

By Nepal News Correspondent

Kathmandu, Feb 17:

Nepali Congress parliamentary Party is to meet on February 21 to decide the fate of Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai. Secretary of the NC Parliamentary Party executive committee Benup Raj Prasai called the meeting of the Parliamentary Party to discuss the no confidence motion registered in the party by some 58 lawmakers against Prime Minister Bhattarai.

In a press statement issued by the NC parliamentary party secretariat, it is said that the meeting of the parliamentary party was called as per the constitution of the Nepali Congress. According to the constitution of the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party, if 25 per cent members demand in writing, the meeting has to be called within 15 days of such demand.

Fifty-eight lawmakers of the ruling Nepali Congress registered the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Bhattarai in the parliamentary party secretariat Wednesday. Lawmakers accused the Prime Minister and his government of failing to give proper direction to the country and perform well. According to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, the King has to appoint leader of the parliamentary party of the majority party of the country.

King Birendra appointed Bhattarai Prime Minister some nine months ago when he was elected leader of the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party. Nepali Congress commands majority in the House of Representatives (Lower House of Parliament) that elects the Prime Minister. If Bhattarai loses his battle in the meeting of the parliamentary board of his party, he would be automatically relieved of premiership.

Nepali Congress command comfortable majority in the 205- member Lower House with 114 members.

Sources close to the Prime Minister Bhattarai have said that he was willing to face the motion in the parliamentary party and he would not step down under pressure.

Kathmandu, Feb. 13: Chairman of the Raj Parishad Standing Committee Dr. Kesharjung Rayamajhi declared open the second day seminar on the fourth international congress on alternative medicines and non-formal education, here today.

The seminar had begun yesterday under the joint auspices of the Lama Gangchen World Peace foundation and the himalayan healing centre in connection with the United Nation’s declaration of the Year 2000 a.d. as international year of peace.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Rayamajhi said peace is an essential thing for human welfare.

The messages of Lord buddha form a practical system of education to lead human life along the path of peace and good deeds, he said, adding that peace is essential for mankind for their freedom, equality and awareness.

Dr. Rayamajhi further said that non-formal education is necessary in a country  like Nepal which is poor and backward and added that the conclusions drawn by the conference will be useful for world peace and unity.

At the seminar presided over by the founder of the Lama Ganchen World Peace Foundation Lama Ganchen Rimpoche, various other speakers including Prof. Charles Mercieca, president of the Sabson, Mrs. Geeta Rana and various other distinguished persons had presented working papers on various topics.

Chautara, Feb. 13: Member of Parliament Mohan Bahadur Basnet and Subash Karmarcharya jointly inaugurated the eighth district council meeting of Sindhupalchowk district here today.

Speaking on the occasion mp basnet said development following restoration of democracy in the country has not met aspirations and expectations of the people.

mp karmacharya said the movement waged by the Maoists is wrong, this will not be in the interest of the nation and will ultimately lead to the end of the Maoists themselves.

President of ciwin gauri Pradhan said people’s representatives should carry out development as per the wishes of the people.

District council president and ddc chairman Saresh nepal Presented a proposed budget of Rs. 301,310,557. For f/y 2000/2001.

Kathmandu, Feb. 13: Director and artist b.s. rana has been named the winner of this year’s Sarbanam Award.

Instituted in 2038, Sarbanam Award carrying a purse of Rs 10,000 is given to any artist or organisation making important contributions in the field of Nepalese stage (drama).

Rana, whose career in stagecraft spans four decades, has worked and directed in over three dozen plays.

He is also renowned in India and the United Kingdom for his acting, more recently for his direction of the plays ‘Siddhartha’ and ‘Basanti.’

Seventeen persons have already received the prize so far.

The award will be presented to him on the occasion of the nineteenth annual function of Sarbanam on March 31.

Kathmandu, Feb. 13: Chancellor of the Nepal Bhasha Academy Satya Mohan Joshi recently released a book “Mahachin Yatra,” a travelogue on China authored by Mangal Man Shakya.

On the occasion, vice-chancellor of the Academy Bhikshu Sudarshan Mahasthavir released a volume of literary criticism “Kucha Kuchagu Kipa Dune” edited by Indra Mali.

Likewise, script expert Pandit Hemraj Shakya made public the Panchadan Bauddha cultural and religious book authored by Dr. Ranjana Bajracharya and the audio cassette of songs of Prem Dhoj Pradhan. Lalitpur Mayor Buddhiraj Bajracharya presided over the function organised by Shakya Jah.

Siddharthanagar, Feb. 13: A meeting of the teachers and social activists held at local Bhairahawa Campus has decided to change the name of the campus to Siddhartha Campus.

Speaking on the occasion, founder cum principal of the campus Dr. Harkha Bahadur Budhamagar said that the change was deemed necessary as the name of Bhairahava town had been changed to Siddharthanagar.

Various speakers including former campus chief Balkrishna Bhattarai referred to the contributions made by Dr. Budhamagar in the establishment of the campus and congratulated him for the honour bestowed on him with Prabal Gorakha Dakshinbahu by His Majesty the King.

Likewise, Nepal Magar Association Bhairahawa and public high school recently felicitated Dr. Budhamagar. At the function, Raj Parishad member Kaviraj Pun noted that the person making contributions to the nation and the people are always honoured.

Dhangadhi, Feb. 13: The whip of the Nepali  Congress (nc) Parliamentary Party, Tek Bahadur Chokhal, inaugurated the newly built three-room office building of Saraswati High School at Geta of Kailali district.

The three-room building having a science laboratory, library and computer room has been built at a total cost of Rs 584,808 including Rs 170,000 provided by jica, rs 200,000 by ddc Kailali while rest of the amount was met through the cooperation of the local people.