Cinema
Aama
Hira Singh Khatri · 1964
Synopsis
In Nepal, Harka Bahadur drinks and beats his wife. Threatened with losing his house over debts, he swears never to touch alcohol again, but comes home drunk that very evening, attacks her and dies struck by lightning. Their son Man Bahadur leaves to enlist. When he returns home after years spent in a foreign army, he looks in vain for his mother and learns that she is dead. Only one source describes the plot; the others speak of a film about homeland and duty, the country figured as a mother.
Context
The film was produced by the government's Information department, on the king's initiative, in a country with no film infrastructure: shot in Nepal, it was edited, dubbed and developed in Calcutta. For lack of professional actors, the leading role went to the singer Shiva Shankar Manandhar, opposite Bhuwan Chand; Hari Prasad Rimal is part of the cast. The music is by B. Balsara. The Nepali-language film that had preceded it, Satya Harishchandra, in 1951, had been made entirely in India.
Who it is for
A film in Nepali and in black and white, which the Nepali film office has digitised and put online in open access.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the first film produced in Nepal, it was a success; its release date fixes National Film Day, and a stamp celebrated it in 2025.
Sources for this page 5
The pages consulted to check this page.