Introducing: Suresh Dhital

So, here's the skinny on Suresh Dhital:

He went to school with Nagendra Sharma. He tried to make a living in the Nepali film industry in Kathmandu, and in Dharan--where, sporadically, Nepali porn is filmed--and various other small towns. Finally, he headed to Mumbai to "struggle" in the film industry there. He has held many different jobs, and made it so far as the post of the assistant to the first assistant: in this capacity, he has supervised the total length of the various types of cables used on location and on set, and kept a tally of the total number of mineral-water bottles consumed everyday. 

These articles, if they can even be called that, are five, six years old. I hope Suresh Dhital doesn't mind my posting them here.

Here's his first post, which appeared on Nepalisite.com sometime during 2003.

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Suresh Dhital, Writer/Director

I am a novice artist in an unidentified city in India. I think of myself mostly as a writer, and hope eventually to hang outside my door a nameplate that reads--“Mr. Suresh Dhital, Writer/Director.” And celluloid ki kssam, I hope the nameplate will be in shiny brass. One office in Kathmandu, one office in this unidentified city in India. Multi-national filmmaker, writer/director. “Hello! I am Mr. Suresh Dhital, Writer/Director.” Morning in Kathmandu, evening in this unidentified city in India.

I wanted to struggle in Kathmandu. To become a big multi-national writer/director, I knew I had to struggle. So, I thought-why not struggle in Kathmandu? Living cost is lower than anywhere else. Lower than this unidentified city in India, at least--because I don’t speak Bengali or Telegu, and where else would I go to struggle? But struggling in Kathmandu lost its charm--the same routine everyday. There was no variety in struggle, so for superior struggle, I came to this unidentified city in India. Even for a struggling artist, I have common sense. So I went to the people who would give me job--The Lewd Producers.

Now, I make pictures for these gentlemen who sweat like pigs and spill generously out of their seats. These are difficult gentlemen because they insist that they will sit through every shoot. So, being a writer also, because, if you remember, I am “Mr. Suresh Dhital, Writer/Director,” I wrote this short piece:

“She is a little too plump”

(or, The Lewd Producers) 

the novice artist-- 

our writer/director-- 

stares at us in exasperation. 

he says 

of the heroine: 

“she is a little too plump, 

and perhaps, even a little too old 

to be playing 

a schoolgirl.” 

“No,” I grunt 

in disagreement, 

and my friends grunt with me. 

we will yet have her 

for a schoolgirl! 

You see--this is a poem about lewd film producers who want to make a movie just because they want to see an over-weight, over aged queen of their yesteryear dreams dress up for play.

Now, to finally come to the point--my name is Mr. Suresh Dhital, and I will be writing a regular column on how it is to struggle in a city like this unidentified city in India. Sometimes, when I am too busy, as it is likely I will be very busy now and then, if employment comes my way--sometimes when I am too busy I might simply copy from my diary on struggle in a town like Dharan, and diary on Evaluation of Best Positive Artistic Spirit in a Nepali City Artist Community Affairs. But the point is--My name is Mr. Suresh Dhital, Writer/Director, and you will hopefully be reading my column.

Here, I must also let you know that you may recognize my name from the end credits in many Nepali and Hindi movies. I have had the pleasure of struggling under various capacities in the industry--except stuntman, on account of a bad back--and under various legal names. I have been credited as Mr. S Dhital, SD, Mr. S Kumar, Ditty, Suresh, and until recently, Suresh Kumar, Assistant to First Assistant Director. I kept track of length of power cables, number of reflectors, bottles of mineral water. Then, for four months, I also carried his copy of film script. One day, the producer left four scripts with me--in a taxi on the way to an unnamed actor’s manager’s office. That is the most experience I have with direction, but I am writer/director in single breath. Not little little writer, but a lot more director, or little little director and a lot more writer.

So, my brothers and sisters spread around the surface of the world, you are living there, and I am living here. You are struggling there under that capacity, I am struggling here under this capacity. I am struggling under capacity of writer/director, in this unnamed Indian city. But to each of us our struggle, what do you say?

So, now I will welcome you to my room. I am a new age technology man, keeping up to date, digital-camera, palm pilot type, so I have a nice computer and internet also. Then my fellow struggling artist--he is supplier of dancers and daaru alike--he is also “digital artist” for a few picture websites he runs, and he does most of cutting and pasting job on my computer. That is how we mostly find our talented artists--in this unnamed city there are a lot of talented people but very few opportunities. Even to struggle under a particular capacity you have to further struggle. I have struggled long and hard to today come and struggle as writer/director. It is inspiring to put a top class, award-winning beauty-queen heroine’s head on a talented artist’s body, and take inspiration from it. But that is also the easiest way of finding our talented artists for the kinds of movies they are letting me make.

I want to make realistic film with fantastic element and the drama of just one dwarf neighbor, and a pair of animals--a dog and a monkey--performing to keep a sick family of owners alive. I have submitted this script to sixteen studios, but all rejected me. It will be about a poor father and a pair of un-identical twins. They are poor performers, and the mother died at childbirth, and so on. I thought a dog and a monkey performing together, under supervision of a “dwarf with giant heart” would be good enough to draw crowds. “Dwarf with Giant Heart” would be title punch line. My script has ethos, pathos, rejuvenation, redemption, preparation, proposition, restitution, prostitution, cosmopolitan, conspiracy, hypocrisy, hierarchy, anarchy, romance, tolerance and obligation, rebirth and the rule of law. I still don’t understand why they never return call to my mobile phone.

But now, my brothers and sisters flung wide and far on great surface of this earth, the point is that my name is Mr. Suresh Dhital, and after pleading to him repeatedly, because there are so many column writers--there is even C.K. Lal--and although I am only directing one film right now titled “Adventures of a Naughty Schoolgirl,” and incidentally--not titled by me, I wanted to write a column for my brothers and sisters on face of this earth.

And so, after pleading, the owner of this website has allowed my column. For now, I will leave you to make your introduction acquaintance with other fellow writers who have posted their articles here. If you will look, you will mostly see that Nagendra Sharma has previously published poems about me.