Dipendra Lama, a well-known director, and writer of the Nepali film industry was born on July 29 in Kathmandu. He grew up as an avid film lover and has given some award-winning stories for films such as ‘Gopi’. He is known for having a different perspective on how a film should be like and gave his reviews accordingly.
He enjoyed films and writing and started as one of the writers in ‘Kamana’ magazine. He developed his skills while he was still studying. His journey took him towards film direction and gave a hit film ‘Cha Maya Chapakkai’. Despite the efforts he gives, Lama believes that learning and growing is part of his growth. He wants his works to be enjoyed by the audiences and is not just about winning awards.
Lama grew up in Swoyambhu with his siblings and mother. He lived there until he was 12 years old and was studying in seventh grade and then moved to Patan.
In the era where watching films in video decks were common, it was also a common practice among people in the community to watch movies with TV owners. Lama and his friends used to collect 1 or 2 rupees to pay for the movies they watch. He enjoyed watching action movies and loved Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sylvester Stallon. He also enjoyed horror movies and one of the movies that had a big impact on his childhood brain was The Evil Dead.
Besides watching movies, he also enjoyed reading film magazines and used to collect every film magazine that he could find in the stores. Not only film magazines but he also read about films in newspapers and read comics. He used to hide the magazines inside his school books and pretend he was studying.
After all this, he started to get interested in writing. He joined Amrit Science College as a science student after school and was thinking of studying engineering. Unfortunately, his marks were not enough for admission. It was only after SLC he developed his skills in writing.
Lama was the oldest son, so he was like a guardian. He started working right after he finished his SLC. He used to teach tuition to students and also worked as a home tutor. Likewise, he used to give Nepali tuitions to foreigners who were living in Nepal. He used to charge a hundred rupees per hour.
He used to go to nearby stationery to read the newspaper where he met Chetan Karki, who he likes to refer to as a dear uncle. Karki usually came there and Lama used to socialize with him. They used to talk about films and Karki was someone who was not a fan of mainstream film stories. Lama used to get inspired and used to think that he should write about it.
One day, Nepal Samachar Patra announced a competition where participants had to write a 200 words article about how Nepali film industry needed in order to thrive. Lama sent his article and won the competition. The prize was 3 months free subscription to the newspaper. There was a magazine of the newspaper called ‘Kamana’ which caught the attention of Lama.
Achyut Koirala was a journalist of Kamana at that time. He suggested that Lama should keep writing articles and send them to Kamana. Then he started featuring his writings in the magazine and also started writing on topics related to films.
He was doing his bachelors and after the third year of bachelors, he started writing for Naya Sadak Daily. The news line was new and was seeking for someone who could write on the topic of entertainment. He applied and got the job. Because of his job, he also joined a 1-year internship for journalism.
Though his writing journey was because of interest in film and writing, he then started meeting other people who were into film making. He met Nabin Subba, Dipendra Gautam, Anup Baral, Suman Pokharel, and more. They let him know about different film festivals in Nepal. Then, Lama started watching movies other than just Nepali, Hindi, or English.
After watching more movies and knowing more about film festivals, he realized that he wanted to do something in film making. He used to take film making only as entertainment but learned that it is a serious job that includes a lot of efforts. He also realised that if he really wanted to write” about films, he should not only make it sound as a source of entertainment but also about the balance of everything a film has. He also ended up thinking that there should be a lot of discussion and reviews about films.
He started reviews many movies after that. One of his first reviews was ‘Ek number ko pakhe’ that he wrote. He has worked on other news companies as well where he gave reviews about movies. He worked on Spacetime Dainik, Nepal management, Naya Patrika Dainik, and Nagarik. He also had back and forth opportunities for the companies that he had already worked for.
Because of his perspectives on new films, he got to be known as a film critic rather than a reviewer. He also got a lot of haters and people used to talk negatively about him. But because he was on media, filmmakers would have to talk to him even if they did not like his work. Despite of all the disturbances in relationship, Lama did not have any enemies.
Lama was brave enough to discourage stories that were just a copy of foreign films. He disliked the idea and loved originality.
After taking filmmaking seriously, he started gaining interest in film direction. He learned about contemporary films and also had a closer look on the process of film making. Then, he started gravitation towards directing a film. He wrote a script and to direct a film. But he still felt like he was not capable enough. Lama waited about 12 years total before directing his first film.
Lama wrote ‘Nagbeli’ when he was working in Nagarik. One of his co-workers there was Govinda Rai who requested him to write a script for his film. ‘Nagbeli’ was his first ever written script and before writing, he was not serious about it. He wasn’t ready and also suggested some other writers but Rai wanted Lama to do the job.
After learning about his first script and the results, he leaned towards film direction. He worked on ‘Gopi’ after that.
Then, Lama wrote ‘Ghampani’ considering his weaknesses from the old work. Dayahang Rai was his good friend and agreed to work for the film. The results were good from film critics but he felt like he needed to improve more.
It was ‘Cha Maya Chapakkai’ that he got his breakthrough from. He worked with Deepak Raj Giri in the movie. They had decided to work together when Lama was working on ‘Gopi’.
Dipendra Lama was born in Swoyambhu, Kathmandu but his father was from Solukhumbu. He grew up with his siblings and his mother. His father expired when he was little and basically is like a guardian of the family as the eldest son.
He studied in ASCOL for high school and for his bachelor’s, he studied Geology at Tri-Chandra College. He started working as a newspaper writer and slowly got closer to Nepali film industry.
IMDb – Dipendra Lama
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