Kathmandu. Paulo Coelho, one of the world’s most widely read and best selling authors, has lauded the work of a Nepali film director.

Coelho has taken his Twitter handle on November 27 to say that he liked the Nepali movie “Seto Surya”. He has not ended his message with his praise for the movie but also has asked writer Buddhi Sagar of the “Karnali Blues” fame to congratulate the director of the film on his behalf.

“Seto Surya” is a 2016 drama war film directed by Deepak Rauniyar. The film is based on the conflict between the royalists and Maoists  during the  Nepali Civil War and depicts the social challenges after the war. It was selected as the Nepali entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Award.

@buddhisagar Yesterday I watched a great Nepalese movie, Seto Surya (of course I had to use P2P, there is no other way. Please congratulate the director if you ever meet him

— Paulo Coelho (@paulocoelho) November 27, 2020

The appreciation from an international author of Coelho’s stature shows that Nepali directors are able to influence foreign intellectual audience too.

Brazilian author Coelho has 30 books to his credit that have sold over 320 million copies. His novel “The Alchemist” has sold more than 65 million copies in 67 different languages and holds the Guinness World Record for the most translated book by a living author.