Rajesh Hamal has revealed that he received a salary of Rs 20,000 for his first film 'Yug Dehi Yug Samm', out of which he received only Rs 15,000.
What you should know
The issue of artistes' remuneration in the Nepali film industry is being discussed from time to time. Recently, it has been discussed in the film industry that famous faces are receiving remuneration of more than 5 million rupees per film.
But how much was the salary of Nepali actors three decades ago? Actor Rajesh Hamal has revealed about the salary he received while working on his debut film ‘Yug Dehi Yug Samm’ in his recently released book ‘Yug Dehi Yug Samm: Jeevan, Cinema and Society’.
In an interview with author Yagyash, he said that his salary for his first film was 20 thousand. ‘My first salary for Yug Dehi Yug Samm was 20 thousand rupees. Out of that, I got 15 thousand rupees. I didn’t care about the remaining 5 thousand,’ he said. (The Long Road to Professionalism, Gen 82).
The film ‘Yug Dehi Yug Samm’ was a hit at the time. ‘After it was successful, the salary in the film increased, right?’ Hamal answered Yagyash’s question frankly. According to Hamal, he had asked for a little more remuneration for the second film 'Adhikar'. But the film's director Prakash Thapa did not agree to give more.
Thapa expressed his dissatisfaction saying that such a remuneration should be given to an actor in a Nepali film.? Instead, he insisted that he should be paid more and should be paid 5 thousand more than the previous film. In the second film, his remuneration was 25 thousand. But even that was two thousand less.
Rajesh then felt that his labor was being exploited. After that, he started working only for full remuneration.
