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By Harsha Man Maharjan Kathmandu Translation is a difficult task. Once I tried to translate George Orwell’s essay English Language and Politics for Mulyankan magazine. I had even informed this to the then editor of the magazine. I translated few paragraphs but it was not satisfactory. At last I quit that job. So I am aware of difficulties of translators. On 21 September 2008 I participated in a meeting organized by Translator’s Society. Translation is alluring job. Who wants not to be a translator, when the rate of translation is Rs. 500 per page? And there is demand of translation. International Non Government Organizations, the UN bodies need translators. Federal set-up will demand more translation. That means it has future too. At Yala Maya Kendra, there were people known for translation like Basanta Thapa, Manjushree Thapa and other. Many issues came during the meeting. I have noted some of them: Translator’s Society should be legal entity. This society should update list of transl...

By Harsha Man Maharjan Kathmandu Big Brother is Watching You George Orwell, 1984 Orwell wrote the novel 1984 in 1948. He was writing about future. It is a negative utopia. The big brother of the novel watches every activity of its people. And everyone has this knowledge. There is no hope for dissidence. I think Nepali government is also trying to resurrect this big brother. It wants to monitor cyber café and is searching ways to stop access with pornography in internet. Adult has right to access pornography. Yes, government must bring out the measure to curb access to pornography by children. It might corrupt children’s mind. Nepali government strongly believes that pornography abets violence on women. But there is no concrete study to prove this. Oh yes, Himal Khabarpatrika reported that many actors have unknowingly act on Nepali blue films. And some of them were only for private purpose. So government must work out on the policy related to x-rated film and material. The Government is...

By Harsha Man Maharjan Documentaries are thriving in Nepal. Moviegoers in festivals prove this. Yet documentaries get lest priority in Nepali television channels. What is the problem? It has to do with imagery we have about documentaries. They were boring and lifeless. It used to be on a festival or a place or a person. Nepali Television created this imagery. Before NTV, Film division under Department of Information produced newsreels, documentaries and film. These newsreels and documentaries are about Panchayat politics, royal personalities or development. These were publicity materials. In 1971 Royal Nepal Motion Picture Corporation came into existence and did same job including others. Kantipur Television added creativity -different camera angles and presentation through Vikalpa, a collection of documentaries. Our imagery of documentary is changing due to film festivals and other international television channels. Film festivals provided exposure and access to different kinds of doc...

By Harsha Man Maharjan Irani films Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry, The Wind will Carry Us Majid Majidi’s Color of Paradise, Children of Heaven Boman Ghobadi’s A Time of Drunken Horse, Turtles can Fly Nepali Ama(Mother) Janayudha(People’s War) Balidan(Sacrifice) Sano Sansar(Small World) Basudev Taxi Driver These are some names of Irani and Nepali films. What we see during comparison is that Irani film’s names are fresh and poetic. Their cinematography is poetic too. They are full of color. Among six Irani films I have named here, I have seen all, except Ghobadi’s A Time of Drunken Horse. So what I am writing here is applicable to five films. How miniscule is the plot of Taste of Cherry? It is story of a man, Mr. Bardi who is searching for a man who can bury him after he commits suicide. The director gives no importance to reasons of suicide. At last a taxidermist agrees to do what Mr. Badi ordered to do but we have inkling that Mr. Badi will regret to commit suicide. Actually the...

By Harsha Man Maharjan Can Turtles fly ? If we ask this question to others. There answer will be no. Never. But Iranian film maker, Boman Ghobadi thinks opposite to what others think. For him, turles can fly. I have read a story of friendship between a turtle and two cranes. Here too the turtle travels in air. Two cranes help it. During a drought, the turtle makes a plan to move to another pond. According to the plan it will clutch a stick with its teeth and two cranes will carry the stick by their beaks. Everything was going well when, I think…a crow…gives credit to cranes for making this plan. The stupid turtle could not listen to praises and opens its mouth to tell truth. It falls and dies. But Ghobadi shows how turtles can fly without others help in his film, Turtles can Fly. Turtles are only symbol here. This film is more about children then turtles. It is not about children if we say childhood is the happiest moment of life. We think children have no burden, no responsibility. T...