The first ever Nepali film award, the National Box Office Film Fare Award 2017 is only a week away from taking place in the UK. The award ceremony will be attended by Keki Adhikari, Bhuwan KC, Karishma Manandhar, Barsha Siwakoti, Pradeep Khadka, Salon Basnet and many more. With performances still a secret and nominations slowly being announced, I caught up with Ojesh Singh from The Third Eye Team, the UK organisers to talk about what to expect from the big night on the 1st of July!
STAY UPDATED WITH THE FILM FARE AWARD
VENUE: THE EMPIRE, ALDERSHOT, GU11 1DJ
DATE: SAT, JULY 1, 2017
TIME: 6PM ONWARDS
Tickets for the National Box Office Film Fare Award is now on sale.
VIP TICKETS £50 / STANDARD TICKETS £25
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LEX: We’re so close to the National Box Office Film Fare Award, the first ever Nepali Film Award event in the UK, can you tell readers what your role is in The Third Eye Team?
OJESH: With the The Third Eye Team, I am the System Expert so what I do is, I create the system, writing proposals, taking up roles of communication and coordinating the media people in the UK. So talking to figures such as yourself and Rushi Shrestha.
LEX: An event of that scale must definitely require a lot of collaborations and bridges between different groups, how is the preparation going so far?
OJESH: It’s going very well! We have received ticket bookings already and people from Nepal are confirmed to come. There are still a few negotiations happening as we speak. We’re trying our best to fulfil the different expectations and we definitely want the big stars to be here. It looks like it will come along nicely.
LEX: Organising such an event where you are liasing with people in the UK and Nepal is bound to come with challenges, what are some of the challenges you have faced till date?
OJESH: Getting confirmation from people and solving misunderstanding as well as managing peoples expectations. Managing people’s expectation has been the biggest challenge for us now as there are so many different artists and different interests towards different actors from people.
LEX: In terms of managing expectations, what can the audience expect from the event itself on the 1st of July?
OJESH: 100% hardwork that we have put in will be shown and seen in the event itself. The most amazing selection of artists will be there at the event, their performances and also the elite actors who have made huge contribution towards Nepali cinema will all be present and it will be an opportunity to see them in reality and we will also try our best to gather as many young people and Nepali film enthusiasts as possible.
LEX: In terms of performances, do you know of any confirmed performances that we can expect to be enthralled by in the evening?
OJESH: We will be discussing the event performances soon as there are a number of performances we are keeping confidential for now. We are working towards having Nepali artists from Nepal perform at the award ceremony as well as creative individuals from the UK. There are many names, confirmed and maybes. There will definitely be a few surprises in store!
LEX: You mentioned that this is an opportunity for people to see their favourite Nepali stars, is there anyone in particular that you are looking forward to seeing?
OJESH: For myself, being able to see Bhuwan KC will be great. I have seen his many films over a number of years and it will be great to see someone who is such an icon to Nepali cinema.
LEX: Definitely! His films are definitely a classic. In terms of the organising team from the UK, can you tell us about the fellow organisers and what experience they bring with them for this event?
OJESH: Bikash Devkota is our main coordinator and he has also been involved in doing similar events in the past, namely, Picnic in London where over a dozen musicians performed in one venue. He has the ability to coordinate many artists and manage events. Another member we have is Jeevan Sen who is already very active in community events and organisations. He boasts a number of contacts and I myself, have experience of managing and conducting various events in the community over the past decade. A new enthusiastic member we have is Karan Tamang who is from Hong Kong. His forte is organising events in HK and this will be his first in the UK and I believe he’ll bring his skills and abilities in full force on the day.
LEX: It looks like you are surrounded with team members who have years of experience in doing events for very different types of people. How important do you think it is that we bring more attention to events that promote Nepali cinema, especially at a time when young Nepalese are moving further away from Nepali films?
OJESH: It’s very important for us to know our roots. If you think about it, there are many actors from India doing very well outside of India too. While this may be a first for the UK, events such as this can bridge links to production houses and casting agencies in the UK in the future and this could in turn provide international opportunities for Nepal based actors or for UK based Nepali actors to get in touch and network with Nepal based production houses. Looking at how far Nepali cinema has come in the past decade is fantastic. From direction to tackling different stories, new genres to actors, things are constantly improving and it’s definitely inspiring for young Nepalese to observe this journey and maybe they can identify any gaps and if they feel they are capable then they can play a role in the betterment of Nepali cinema.
LEX: About the stars and industry related professionals attending the National Box Office Film Fare Award in Aldershot, when will they arrive in the UK?
OJESH: We have divided the number of people coming to the UK so they will be looked after by different team members from The Third Eye Team, so they will be located in different areas. Apart from the award ceremony, they will be given a brief tour of London. The team will arrive on 29th June and we will have a rehearsal on 30th June. 1st of July will be our main event and after that we will have some time for them to sight see and then they will be departing on the 3rd of July.
LEX: Apart from the visit to London and the award itself, will the celebrities be part of any other events during their brief stay in the UK?
OJESH: We will have a press conference on June 30th at The Empire, the venue of the award ceremony. We will also have a rehearsal run-through on the same day. Other than that, the team will possibly be visiting the Embassy of Nepal on June 2nd but that is pretty much it.
LEX: Before I leave you, is there anything you would like to add?
OJESH: Most importantly, I would like to say that this is the first time we are doing a Nepali film award in the UK. With the amount of people we have here, number of organisations and event companies, to not have a Nepali film award till date is surprising. We have never had an opportunity to do this and this is the first time so I hope many Nepali film enthusiasts to those who have been involved in film screenings come together to make this first event a very memorable and significant one.
