Speaking at a special function organized at the Nepal Tourism Board hall in Kathmandu on Saturday, actor Haribansh Acharya said that pleasing critics is the most difficult task.

After receiving the Best Actor award for the film ‘Bhutan’ at the ‘Critics Film Awards’ given by the Film Critics Society, Nepal (Fiction) based on the evaluation of films released in the years 2081 and 2082, Acharya said that it was a matter of great pride to receive the award from the critics. ‘This is an award given by people who show fault for not doing this or that in the film,’ jokingly added actor Acharya, ‘I feel like my wife has given me the award today, because pleasing both my wife and the critics is the most difficult task in the world.’

Senior actor Madan Krishna Shrestha, officials of the Tourism Board and prominent figures in the film industry handed over the award to the winner at the program. Actor Shrestha said that the film critics have done justice to films that were not commercially successful but were artistically and technically excellent.

‘It is not said that all good films achieve commercial success, some excellent films may be overlooked due to lack of publicity or various other reasons,’ giving the example of the film ‘Sano Sansar’, he said, ‘There is no need to give up just because the film did not run, today ‘Sano Sansar’ has received the award as proof of that.’

‘Shambala’ and ‘Wool Sweeter’ win the Fiction Award

‘Wool Sweeter’ has won the Fiction Award for Best Film among the Nepali films released in public last year. From this film, Naveen Chauhan jointly won two awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay with Suraj Katuwal. The fourth award for ‘Wool Sweeter’ went to Kovid Bajra for the background music. The critics' society, which had already announced the names of the best in the genre, honored the awardees by presenting the awards on Saturday. Similarly, while Haribansha Acharya won the Best Actor award for the year 2082 for 'Bhutan', the Best Actress award went to Aana Sharma for the film 'Ramita Ko Pirati'. Sushan Prajapati won the Best Cinematography award for 'Bhutan' and Anjay Khadka won the Best Editing award.

The film 'Shambala' has won four awards, including Best Film, for the year 2081 for the Fiction Awards. Min Bahadur Bham, who was declared Best Director for the same film, and Thinley Lhamo, who was awarded Best Actress, received the Fiction Award. Similarly, Dayahang Rai won the Best Actor award for the film 'Gaun Vaa Bato', while Kishore Acharya won the Best Sound Design award for the same film.

Sarishma Khatri and Siddharth Pudasaini won the award for best screenplay/writing for the film ‘Sano Sansar’, while Alok Shukla won the award for best cinematography for the film ‘Aankha’. J. Him Lee and Alex Gurvits won the award for best editing for the film ‘Rajaganj’, while ‘Special Mention’ was given to child artist Supala Sapkota of the film ‘Boksi Ko Ghar’ and art director Roshan Deewana of ‘Purna Bahadur Ko Sarangi’ in the acting category.

Samiksha Samaj president Samipyaraj Timalsena admitted that there is a ‘love and hate’ relationship between filmmakers and critics and opined that reviews should not be understood as an attack on creation. ‘We have a tendency to view critics as enemies of commercial films, but the relationship between critics and creators is not one of competition, but of companionship,’ Timalsena added, ‘Healthy reviews play the role of honest dialogue to make Nepali films even better and more competitive at the international level.’ At the