The faces of the film crew gathered in the Norvic Hospital compound were sad. With tears welling up in their eyes, film director Tulsi Ghimire was telling his friends, "Yesterday, I was just laughing and talking, but today I'm going to cry."

Actor Wilson Vikram Rai was unable to handle the difficult moment of losing a person he had immense faith and love for. He was fainting every now and then. Saroj Khanal, Shiva Shrestha, and Jitu Nepal were silent. Actor Sunil Thapa, who established the villain character in the Nepali film industry in a grand manner, breathed his last at Norvic Hospital on Saturday morning at the age of 68. 

He was taken to Norvic in the morning after fainting in his own apartment in Shankhamul. Sunil passed away during treatment at Norvic. Michael Chand, who is directing 'Ram Naam Satya', is still thinking, 'This is not a dream at all!' 

The last scene of the film was to be shot on Friday evening. In that scene, Sunil was to be burned on a pyre. Sunil had told Michael, 'This scene is good, let's do it tomorrow morning.' The shooting was packed up at 10 pm. Sunil went home with a plan to shoot at 7 am. 

‘The alarm goes off at 7 am for the person living with my brother, I asked him to wake him up, we were waiting for the pyre scene, the alarm went off, but my brother didn’t wake up,’ said Michael.

‘The alarm goes off at 7 am for the person living with my brother, I asked him to wake him up, we were waiting for the pyre scene, the alarm went off, but my brother didn’t wake up,’ said Michael. Michael is bothered by the decision to change his mind on Friday. ‘The only thing left was the burning scene, didn’t we sin by postponing it to tomorrow!’ He expresses his guilt, ‘The scene that was left, today is the same real incident..!’  

Sunil was fine throughout the shooting. He was addicted to cigarettes. He would cough violently from time to time. ‘I was scared just by coughing, it felt like my eyes were going to pop out,’ Michael recalls. 

Sunil called Michael, who was taking a dance class in Mumbai, 13 years ago, saying, ‘Hey Michael, you’ve been staying here for too long, now come to Nepal.’ He came to Nepal and started living with Sunil in Kathmandu. ‘I had a family relationship with him. I was thinking that I would only talk about these things after the release of the movie, but today the situation has become such that I could not stay silent,’ Michael said with a sigh.

About three and a half decades ago, a terrible villain appeared in the movie ‘Chino’, whom the audience was afraid of seeing on screen. He was – Ratekainla. This character of Sunil is still praised equally. As much as Ratekainla created fear in the hearts of the audience, Sunil Thapa created an equal ‘palace’ of love. ‘As much as he was scary in the movie character, in reality he was like a child. He would cry even at the smallest things, he was emotional,’ says Tulsi. Despite being established in Ratekainla, Sunil's first Nepali film was 'Masal'. 

To remember Sunil, we have to go back to 1981. He was recognized in Bollywood cinema with his iconic avatar. He was seen as a cruel character in the film 'Ek Dujeke Liye' at that time. This was also the first Hindi film played by actor Kamal Haasan. Similarly, 'Manav Hatia', 'Aaj Ki Awaz', 'Manu The Grey', 'Albela', be it 'Nasibwala'.

He remained in the Hindi cinema screen. His acting was also being praised well in the Bollywood film circle at that time. Sunil also acted strongly in the third series of the series 'The Family Man', starring Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpayee in the lead role. In it, he played the role of David Khuzou, a respected local leader and MCA chief of Nagaland. In the 2014 film ‘Mary Kom’, he was the boxing coach of the character played by actress Priyanka Chopra. 

At that time, when ‘Prime Time’ was running in Bollywood, Tulsi had proposed Sunil for a Nepali film. They were good friends from Mumbai. One day, Tulsi said, ‘Hey Sunil, come to Nepal to do a Nepali film. But I won’t send you a ticket.’ How is the script? What is the character? How much money? Sunil didn’t ask anything, he just came to Nepal. When he heard the script, he was surprised and said, ‘I had fun.’ While the shooting of the film ‘Chino’ was going on, Sunil’s first son was born. 

He happily asked Tulsi – ‘What should we name him?’

A beautiful name flashed in Tulsi’s mind. She suggested – Anmol. The son’s name remained Anmol. Sunil’s daughter was born again. He asked Tulsi, ‘What should we name her?’ Tulsi said, ‘Precious’, the English meaning of Anmol. The daughter’s name was Precious. Tulsi and Sunil were friends who shared joys and sorrows in the film along with collaborating. What happens when your closest friend goes the farthest? Tulsi is experiencing the same thing now. ‘I am trying to decide whether I am or not,’ Tulsi still considers it an inevitability.

The new generation is also following the acting footsteps left by Sunil in Nepali films. He worked in dozens of Nepali films including Ranko, Sapana, Paripha, Gorkha Paltan, Sikari, Sikari-2, Papi Manche, Papi Manche-2, Alzhechh Kyare Pachhauri, Dewar Babu, Karma Yodha, Captain.

The new generation is also following the acting footsteps left by Sunil in Nepali films. He also worked in the Nepali comedy TV series ‘Meri Bassai’. Sunil was also in the recent film ‘Eklo’. Sunil Thapa played the role of the chief in Tulsi's comeback film 'Pahad'. Tulsi still remembers the shooting of 'Pahad'. They used to remember the journey from 'Chino' to 'Pahad'. And they would say, 'How much we have changed, Tulsi.' 

While remembering those days, Tulsi is still unable to accept that Sunil is no more. 'I was not going to say anything about Sunil so quickly,' he laments, 'We used to advise each other, we used to joke, we used to tease each other about how many people they would hire when the film was released, and people who cry when they are hired.'

Tulsi wanted Sunil to work in the new film too. They said, ‘You have to do it, it’s a very difficult character.’ Someone would ask Sunil in a chat, ‘Is your best character Ratekainlo?’ He would shake his head and say, ‘No, the best is yet to come.’ Sunil, who was always looking for the ‘best’, was the ‘best’ of many people. Cinematographer Gauri Shankar Dhunju is deeply saddened. ‘They were very close, friends who kept fighting,’ says Tulsi. Gauri Shankar’s wife passed away in 2078. Sunil called Gauri, who was going through a difficult time, ‘Why are you sad at home? Come on, let’s live together.’

‘Whenever I would go to meet her, Sunil would shout, “Oh Gauri,” at small things. They would fight passionately. But now there was another void in Gauri Shankar’s life,’ says Tulsi. Tulsi will miss Sunil’s good manners in friendships and work. Remembering their warm relationships, Tulsi also wants to remind the new generation, ‘Follow this culture, children, otherwise we will be alone later.’

Actor Neer Shah is also being deranged by the pain of losing a friend. ‘I am not able to think or speak anything,’ he says with a heavy heart, ‘My very close friend. So I lost a very good friend.’ Sunil was talking about Neer Shah until a few days ago. Sunil was shooting at the time. ‘He had promised to meet me, but he could not fulfill his promise,’ said Neer.