In June 2073, director Naveen Subba wrote an article expressing his concern about Nepali films, titled 'Janjati heroines why rejected?'

"Even though artists like Dayahang are active because of the market, female artists from tribal backgrounds are still rejected and should be Khas-Arya to be heroines," says her article, "The main reason for this is the established beauty consciousness." The face of the heroines of Nepali films must be unintelligible, domestic, religious and satisavitri in nature. If the face is different from that, even if it is Khas-Arya, it is not acceptable to the Nepali beauty consciousness. In such a situation, a tribal woman with a different face and an independent image would not fit in a Nepali movie.'

But now the scene has changed. From making a strong presence on the international stage to 'screen sharing' with young stars in leading roles, the list of Janjaati actresses is growing. 

Until seven years ago, Thinley Lhamo was active only in Tibetan opera music. Apart from acting in some music videos, his main activity was in opera music. At that time, director Amit Shrestha was making a film on the story of illegal trade and gangsterism at the Tatopani border connecting Nepal and China - 'Naka'.  A Mongolian face was being scouted for the film

along with Vipin Karki as the female lead. That's when Thinley caught the eye of the director. Next year, she got another film 'Hari'. His role was short in this film where Vipin was the lead actor. However, after receiving praise for his work in both the films, Thinley was not offered a third film for a long time. She thought of making a career in acting, so she was not restless, but she did not give up. 

Finally, she got a job in the lead-role in 'Shambala' directed by Meen Bahadur Bham, which was released in Nepal from last Friday. This film, which tells the story of a Himalayan village, not only became the first Nepali film to be selected in the main competition of the prestigious Berlin Film Festival, Thinley also won the 'Boccalino Dior' award for best performance at the recently held prestigious Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. Thinley was the first actress not only in Nepal but also in South Asia to win this award, representing a tribal community that has been 'rejected' for leading roles by Nepali cinema for a long time. "Shambala" has also been selected for the Oscar award competition from Nepal.

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If you have seen the movie 'Gaon Inya Bato' released this year, you must have remembered 'Rai Miley'. In that role, Pashupati Rai, who made an introduction to Nepali theater as a good artist. Pashupati is one such actress, whose acting journey started with Vipin Karkis in Gurukul. The time was also like this, when Bipin appeared in the 'lead-role' of the play Pashupati, he was in a small role. 

Meanwhile, the hands of the clock turned like this, his contemporary Bipin became a busy actor in Nepali films today. However, Pashupati had to wait 18 years to get the lead role in the film. However, in Nepali cinema, which has been carrying the traditional standard of heroine for years, she confirmed herself in her debut. His lively performance has garnered praise from all over the world, along with reaching the famous international film festivals in the world including Toronto, Busan, Beijing and making Nepali cinema known to the world. 

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If you are a regular viewer of Nepali films, you will not know Miruna Magar. Recently, his leading role 'Gharzwai' celebrated 51 days of performance in Nepali theatres. Whether it was Rambabu Gurung's 'Kabaddi-4' or Upendra Subba's 'Jari', which was written in the list of highest grossing Nepali films, she was in the 'lead-role' there as well. In all these films, the male actor opposite her was Dayahang Rai. Currently, Daya and her pair are becoming huge hits in the Nepali film industry, along with the demand for Miruna for the leading role in the film is also increasing. 

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These three actresses are representative evidence of how tribal actresses are dominating Nepali cinema in recent times. Not only them, now many tribal actresses are appearing in leading roles in Nepali cinema. But till 10 years ago, where was the scene like this and in the

Rajesh Hamal era, tribal artists were like 'taboo' as heroines. However, now Jasita Gurungs are competing opposite the 'chocolate heroes' of Nepali films. Be it with Pradeep Khadka in 'Lilibili' or with Anmol KC in 'Farky-Farky', Jasita had 'screen-shared' in the 'lead-role'. In the film 'Kabaddi' series made on the story of the Thakali society, Rishma Gurung of tribal origin played a leading role. 

Actress Gaumaya Gurung, who comes from a tribal community, has also succeeded in reaching the international stage. Recently, she acted in the film 'Pooja, Sir', which was selected at the world-famous Venice Film Festival, and was also selected as a talent by Berlin last February. She was chosen among 3,832 contestants who applied from 131 countries in the actor category in the talent under the world famous Berlin Film Festival. She has acted in films like 'Kabaddi-4', 'Phoolbari', '1915: Legend of Gurkhaz'. 

Actress Prishma Limbu, who made her debut with the film 'Pujar Sarki', which was released this year and is considered to be a commercial success, is now spreading the news that she has recently signed a contract with 'Hostel-3'. She was in supporting roles in 'Jari' and 'Chakkapanja'. Similarly, in director Naresh KC's 'Dying Candle', Srijana Subba not only got the 'lead-role', she also won the best actress award on the international stage with her excellent performance. Rupa Rana, Chulthim Gurung, Shanti Waiba, Mala Limbu, Pooja Lama, Purnima Lama, Ayusha Rai and others are also proving themselves in the campaign.

Director Naveen Subba sees three main reasons behind the acceptance of tribal actresses in leading roles in Nepali films recently. The impact of the identity movement, the diversity seen in Nepali film narratives and the growing market for films based on tribal narratives. When the identity movement started, after that tribals/tribals started finding their faces in Nepali cinema as well. That has also brought about a change," says director Subba, "Filmmakers/directors of tribal origins have increased. They started making films on tribal stories. Films started coming out as stories of Magar, Gurung, Rai, Sherpa, Tamang. After making films on tribal stories, tribal actresses have become mandatory in leading roles.'

His analysis is that after films based on tribal stories started doing good business in the country and abroad, the entry of tribal actors increased. "In the meantime, many tribals/tribes went abroad, reached countries like America, UK, Hong Kong," says Subba, "This also increased the market for tribal films. The story started like that. Before, he used to be a hero, but he didn't know who he was, where he was, what he was. The background itself was not clear. Subba has cast tribal actresses in leading roles in all three of his famous feature films. Anupama Subba in 'Numaphung', Malvika Subba in 'Goodbye Kathmandu' and Pashupati Rai in 'Gaon Aya Bato'. 

film analysts argue that Nepali cinema is also undergoing a process of social reformation. According to the analysis of film director Manoj Pandit, Nepali cinema has also started to assimilate the concept of political and social inclusion in Nepal after the changes of 2062/063.

'After that, Nepali cinema also started to catch the alternative view of the society,' Pandit says, 'Filmmakers started working on new and new approaches. The main characters started to make the tribe, the Dalits. Stories of different communities began to be told. As before, the basis of the story is not only Brahmin-Kshetri.' 

This change initially helped establish male actors of tribal origin, be it Dayahang Rai or Saugat Malla. After that, along with men, the role of female characters also started to increase. Pandit feels that this is the reason why tribal actresses are also getting to work in leading roles.

'This means that Nepali movies try to assimilate the essence of the constitution and political change,' he says, 'Filmmakers with political awareness who play a role for political change have played a role in it. As the search and entry of other communities started in every sector of the society, the cinema also got its influence.'

'Shambala' actress Thinley thinks that the path of change taken by Nepali cinema is destroying the traditional standard of heroine. "There is a change in Nepali cinema right now, from the story, the style of narration to the use of technology," he said, "The mentality that the heroine should be like this is now disappearing. It is believed that tribal actresses have started getting to work in leading roles as this stereotype is disappearing. Now many new artists can openly come to this field, thinking that Mongolian faces can also be seen in the lead-role.' 

Miruna, who was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Britain, never thought that she would be able to act in a leading role on the screen of Nepali cinema. However, as soon as the audience started liking him on screen, his life took a turn. Now she has thought of a career in acting. He believes that the story of the tribe and the audience may have seen him fit in it after getting the lead role in the film 'Back to Back' and being liked by the audience.

I came to be an artist rather than a heroine. But I didn't come to Nepal just to play a film," she says, "I used to travel around Nepal from before. When I came to Nepal in 2016, I went to Anup Baral to learn acting to make good use of my free time. Even at that time, I did not think that I would act in films. When I did a play from Anup sir's actors studio, I was impressed by it and the team of 'Lalpurja' film called me for an audition. I got selected. My acting journey that started from there has reached here.

Looking back at Nepali film history, Chaitya Devi was an actress of tribal origin in Nepal's first film 'Ama' made in Nepal in 2021. Although she was a supporting role in 'Aama' from the Newar community, she later got a lead role in 'Kumari' which was made in 2034. This film, inspired by the book Kumari Shobha written by Vijay Bahadur Malla, is the first color Nepali film in Nepal. This film, which was funded by the Royal Nepali Film Institute at the time, carried the story of the living goddess Kumari, who was in vogue in the Newar community of Kathmandu. 

It is a strange coincidence that in Nepali cinema, while actresses of tribal origin were generally rejected for leading roles, actresses from the Newar community who belong to the tribe were accepted. Gauri Malla, Saranga Shrestha, Melina Manandhar, Namrata Shrestha, Ashishma Nakarmi, Malina Joshi, Menuka Pradhan, Navina Shrestha, Shilpa Maske, Srishti Shrestha, Karisma Shrestha and many other Newar community actresses got a chance to work in leading roles in the cinema. 

"In the Nepali films made during the Panchayat period, those who came from cultures or communities other than the established aesthetic culture were not given opportunities as actors," says director Subba, "However, some actresses from the Newar community were accepted." It seems that Nepali cinema has accepted Khas-Arya faces or mixed faces. For a long time, most of the filmmakers

As they belong to the Khas-Arya community, they used to hire the leading actors from the Khas-Arya community. The tribal artists were male villains like Yuvraj Lama or female furnace workers or 'item dancers'. 

director Subba credits the impact of Hindi movies on Nepali cinema and the Hindu beauty concept behind the tribal actress' being barred from leading roles for so long.

'Hindi movie's narrative structure, characterisation, value system, acting laws, etc. are based on Bharata's dramaturgy,' he argues, 'it follows the Hindu aesthetic concept. There is an idea here that the hero should be brave like Rama, endowed with all virtues, physically strong, and the heroine should be modest like Sita, fair-skinned, and satisavitri. Therefore, the faces of the heroines of Nepali films were necessarily unintelligible, domestic, religious and satisavitri in nature. This concept was compatible with the society that the then state system wanted to build.' In such a situation, tribal women with a different face and independent image could not be included in Nepali movies. That's why female actors are seen less than tribal men in movies,' Subba thinks.  It is not that Pashupati does not have the same desire to work in films as he is constantly getting opportunities in leading roles in

dramas. However, she is also self-aware that she had to wait 18 years to get work in a 'lead-role' due to the traditional standards of heroines. "Films are still not viewed far from entertainment," says Pashupati, "I would not stick to the standards that a heroine should be like in the market. That's why I didn't get a job in a lead role. One is that even now women's stories are very less compared to men's, even if they are, there are more stories under 25 years of age. When the stories of women from different communities and age groups come, then we think that actors like us will get a chance to work in the lead role.' Even when Dayahang Rai started to shine in the lead role, he was not fascinated to work in tribal/tribal community stories. However, the situation was not easy. 'I am victimized in many films,' Rai said in an interview with this writer eight years ago, 'If I talk about my community, the producer/director will turn his nose up saying that it brings out caste.' He says that Nepali cinema has not been inclusive for a long time due to thought. "There was a very unified thinking," he says, "The heroine was seen through the eyes of the hero. The heroine was finalized based on how the hero of the film was. A male-dominated mentality prevailed. Heroine was sought as a suitable heroine. Women's beauty was given priority. Brahminism was more dominant. There was a mentality that Khas-Arya should be chosen as the hero-heroine.'