Pawan Mainali

Sita Gurung is a former Nepali stage dancer and film actress. During the mid-1990s, she was actively involved in cultural and comedy programs organized by the legendary Maha Jodi and performed in Nepal as well as abroad, including Hong Kong. She was also a featured dance performer in the popular touring stage show Shikhar Sanjh, which traveled to various parts of the country and attracted large audiences.Building on her success as a stage performer, Sita Gurung later entered the Nepali film industry and appeared in movies such as Aaghat (1996) and Daiva Sanjog (1998). Although there is little evidence of her continued involvement in the entertainment industry today, her beauty, talent, and stage presence left a lasting impression on the Nepali artistic scene of her era.

Nisha Sharma is a veteran Nepali theatre actress with a career spanning over three decades, known for her powerful performances in more than fifty stage productions. A leading figure of Aarohan Gurukul and a celebrated interpreter of complex roles such as Nora in Putaliko Ghar, she became the first woman Chancellor of the Nepal Academy of Music and Drama in 2023, marking a historic milestone in Nepali performing arts.

Prem Bahadur Basnet is a Nepali film director known for his contribution to the early development of Nepali cinema and for directing the culturally important film Kumari.After completing his B.Ed., Basnet received scholarships to study abroad, including one from a university in Hawaii, USA, and another to study scriptwriting at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, India. While many students at the time were going to the United States for higher education, Basnet chose to pursue film studies in Pune because of his strong interest in cinema.He studied there for two years, going to Pune in 1962 and returning to Nepal in 1964. After returning, he worked at Nepal’s Information Department, where he became involved in cultural and media-related activities.Having studied filmmaking, Basnet was more interested in creating original and artistic films rather than purely commercial cinema. During this period, when Nepal was invited to represent the country in international film festivals, he decided to make a film based on the living goddess Kumari tradition of the Newar community in Kathmandu.This idea eventually led to the creation of Kumari, which became an important cultural film portraying Nepal’s traditions and social life. Through his work, Prem Bahadur Basnet helped introduce culturally rooted and artistic storytelling to Nepali cinema.