Kathmandu. The corona pandemic has ruined world economies and taken a heavy toll on the Nepali economic sector. The lockdown imposed on March 24 led to the complete closure of all factories, businesses, industries and offices, halting the economy of the country.  The formal lockdown ended on July 22, till then it had already made a damage that was difficult to repair.

After the government eased the lockdown, businesses resumed their operations to some extent. Industries were also instructed to operate following health safety protocols. Public transportation and internal and international air services resumed. By the end of August, local governments had started practicing prohibitory orders in their respective areas as per need, but there was no complete lockdown. The beginning of October saw the reopening of almost all businesses…except the cinemas.

All other industries have begun operation one way or other by now but the Nepali film industry has not opened once, neither fully nor partially after March 24. It has been on a very long sleep.

Member of Film Development Board (FDB), Nepal, Narendra Mahrjan says that the Nepali film industry has received an irrecoverable loss. Talking to DCNepal he said, “The loss the Nepali film sector has incurred in the past eight months cannot be calculated. The film industry doesn’t get any grant from the government and the negative impact of corona pandemic on this sector has affected the producers, actors and all involved in the movie-production business.”

Although there had been talks about reopening the cinema halls, the increase of corona cases in Kathmandu have caused the delay, Maharjan states. He is hopeful that the film industry will come into operation before Tihar. “We shall follow the health protocols prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Nepal government and run the movie theaters as per the international practice, making the halls safe,” he said.

He added, ”We have prepared a report using the health standards implemented in India’s Bollywood industry and China as our guidelines and submitted to the COVID-19 Crisis management Center (CCMC).” Maharjan hoped that they would work over it and signal the film industry to operate before or immediately after the Tihar festival.

Birendra Sharma, member of the Association of Film Distributors (AFD) told that the government’s inconstant decisions have caused the static condition in the movie industry since nobody is sure as to when another injunction would be exercised. Moreover, new movies have not been produced, hence the distribution is out of question, except of the already produced ones.

The film producers, on the other hand, say that they are not very enthusiastic as they have not been able to collect returns from their old investments. They inform that the movies readied for shows in March are still in waiting, hence production of new movies is beyond thought at present.

Actor Awon Uprety tells that he has not been able to play a single movie after the lockdown. He shares his hope with DCNepal: “After the lockdown, the whole industry faced a shut down. Many involved in the film industry are going through hard times. Some have chosen the act in music videos for sustenance. Let’s hope all this ends soon and the film industry kicks off again, ending all our problems.”