"Kalapani” and “Dasgaja"

This new year, we are going to see two new movies based on border dispute. Well known Nepali directors, Uddhav Abidit and Dayaram Dahal, have based the plot of their film on the border clashes between Nepal and its southern neighbour India. The movies names as “Kalapani” and “Dasgaja” are based on the actual conditions of the Nepali inhabitants living in these two regions and their views and thoughts on the same.

Both the directors have carried on a field survey by visiting these places and recording the opinions of the local residents. The films focus on the tribulation and insecurity faced by Nepalis living in what is now the “no man’s land” after the boundary between the two countries was affected by rivers changing their courses.

Kalapani is an area located in Nepal’s eastern Darchula district, on the borders of India, Nepal and China. Since the India-China war of 1962, Indian troops have been occupying Kalapani. The film title as same as the name of the region Kalapani is going to be released this summer tells the real-life story of the Nepalis living in constant fear of death and eviction. They are like refugee in their own country, states Uddhav Abidit, director of this movie.

Social filmmaker, Dayaram Dahal has also has a new film in offer on the border war named “Dasgaja”. This film is based on the village by the same name in far west Nepal’s remote and under-privileged Kailali district, where poverty and famine drive hundreds of able-bodied men and women in search of work to India across the border.