Nepal fails to do justice to Manisha Koirala

Manisha Koirala, Bollywood's reigning diva in the 1990s, returns to her roots in Nepal after more than two decades Friday with the release of her much-awaited new Nepali film "Dharmaa", but it has failed to do justice to her formidable acting skills.

Ironically, Kumari, one of Kathmandu's best cinemas where action flick "Dharmaa" released along with over 60 other theatres nationwide, is also showing Hindi film "Guzaarish", starring former Miss World Aishwarya Rai and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Bhansali's maiden film was the poignant "Khamoshi", in which Manisha played a daughter to deaf parents and won the Filmfare and Star awards for best actress for her performance.

"Dharmaa" has to be the worst career choice ever made by Manisha, who has acted in such acclaimed Hindi films as "Bombay", "Mann" and "Company". She plays third fiddle to Nepal's reigning superstar Rajesh Hamal and action hero Nikhil Upreti and her role as the wife of an honest forest officer who is killed by a corrupt police officer in cahoots with the poaching mafia, has no substance.

The plot is juvenile, the characters ridiculous and the sets tacky. The poaching don's den, for instance, can easily be identified as the corridor of Kathmandu's World Trade Centre, a shopping mall.

Manisha, who comes from one of the best-known political families of Nepal - her grandfather Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala was the first elected prime minister of Nepal, has actually been used as a stepping stone by former minister and politician, Durga Pokhrel, who is also the producer of the movie, to launch her own son Sanjog.

In the film, directed by Dipendra K. Khanal, Sanjog plays the pampered younger brother of the slain officer who is transformed into an avenging angel.

The debutant, however, held no attraction for the crowds and the cameras who milled around Manisha, proving she was the real star and crowd puller despite the shabby treatment meted out to her in the film.

"I am very excited," Manisha told gallantly. "I hope it is well received."

She also said it was wonderful to return to the Nepali film industry, which she had left after her first film "Pheri Bhetaula", to act in Subhash Ghai's "Saudagar" and become the fresh face of Bollywood in 1991.

Though she still wants to continue working in Bollywood, Manisha says she will now be spending longer periods of time in Kathmandu to be with her family.

She married Nepali entrepreneur Samrat Dahal in June and is still struggling to come to terms with Kathmandu's temperatures, substantially colder than sunny Mumbai's, where she had been based. In most of the scenes in "Dharmaa" she is seen wearing socks, even to bed.

Manisha is trying to make her stay in Nepal more fruitful professionally by planning her own film.

"I want to write my own script and direct it," she said. "It is a human interest story with a political subtext."

Though to be shot in Nepal, she intends her film to be for the international market.

After two decades in the film industry, Manisha is weary of the routine song-and-dance sequences and wants to focus on realistic cinema.

"I want to engage more in realistic cinema," she says. "Nepali cinema should not keep copying Bollywood. Only when it is realistic can it uplift society."

Yet her new Nepali film contains one totally superfluous sequence where she sings and dances with her onscreen husband Rajesh Hamal.

"Oh that!" she laughs. "I did it because I was so glad to return to Nepal."

Manisha denies divorce news

Bollywood diva Manisha Koirala, who triggered a storm of gossip about an impending divorce following a hasty online comment, says things were blown out of proportion and she is still happily married to her Nepali entrepreneur husband.

The 40-year-old acclaimed actor, who is attending the International Film Festival of India that kicked off in Goa Monday, found herself in the eye of a storm both at home and in India after she posted a comment on her Facebook account last week, saying she was mulling divorce after only four months of marriage.

The remark, made after what she says was a minor spat, made the social network grapevine go into a tizzy, fuelling speculation that the actor was already ruing her marriage to Samrat Dahal, a Nepali entrepreneur five years younger and a non-entity till she tied the knot with him in a three-day wedding extravaganza in Kathmandu in June.

Before leaving for Goa, Manisha, who is said to be planning to make a film in Nepal with her fellow actors in Bollywood, Jackie Shroff, Danny Denzongpa and Gulshan Grover, told the Kantipur daily that she had temporarily shifted to her parents' residence in Kathmandu because she was unwell and not due to any marital estrangement.

"I was born in Biratnagar (a sunny town near the Indian border) and lived in Mumbai, " Manisha said. "So I find it cold in Kathmandu."

Manisha, who said she was suffering from cold, opted to stay with her parents for a few days as her husband was also out of town, the report said.

Manisha's family Tuesday also denied the rumours that her marriage was on the rocks.

Her father and former minister Prakash Koirala told the local media that a lovers' tiff had been blown out of proportion.

"The news is baseless, " the former politician said. "Manisha has always been in the public eye and people are interested in her life. Previously, there were speculations about her marriage; now, it is her divorce."

Manisha, who deleted the controversial post soon afterwards, added a clarification, saying she was "super happy" with her husband.

"I was angry when I wrote that post, " she said. "Sometimes I just react and write silly things."

Besides her marriage, Manisha is now also working on resuming her career in Nepal's film industry, shelved almost two decades ago when she left Nepal after just one film to start an illustrious innings in Bollywood with Subhash Ghai's blockbuster film "Saudagar".

Her comeback Nepali film "Dharma", where she plays wife to Nepal's reigning star Rajesh Hamal, is set to be released this winter.

The film has been preceded by her re-entry in the ad world where she began promoting Home TV, a direct to home satellite channel service.

Dream Honeymoon

For Manisha Koirala, who's heading off on her honeymoon (she reveals some of her plans), loving her guy's family comes quite easy.

PS: The actress says she doesn't feel "tied down". Will continue to act in films

Newly married actress Manisha Dahal (nee Koirala) says her marriage was like a dream. She's off on a dream honeymoon to Europe for a month.

The actress says, "I feel different now that I'm married. It's as though I've found my bearings in life. There's a new sense of belonging, as though there's someone constantly there to support me, to hold me when I fall. I've never felt this way before."

Love all
Manisha says she fell in love with not just her husband but also his family. "Our families have been close friends for years. I know Samrat's family since before our marriage. So it's not really an arranged match, in the true sense.

I've never felt so happy. Marriage is supposed be a restriction. It's supposed to tie you down to another person's feelings and family. But I've never felt so free before."

Dream honeymoon
On Tuesday morning she was busy packing her own and her husband's clothes for the month-long honeymoon. "I've planned a dream honeymoon for us. I've been to the European destinations before as a single woman. This time it's different."

One of the major cities on her honeymooning map is Paris. Incidentally, Manya has always dreamed of owning a home in the French capital.

About the slim B-Town attendance at her wedding Manisha says, "I didn't invite too many people from the film industry, only those friends who've been with me for as many as twenty years." As far as her continued B- Town inning goes, Manya said yes to a film where she plays a politician.

Contrary to reports, she signed this film before her marriage. "I said yes, mainly because a dear friend, cinematographer Ashok Mehta was involved with the film. I'll be doing selected films after marriage; certainly not decorative roles."

And no, she is not planning to leave Mumbai. "This city and my work will always be very important to me. But yes, I do have to be in Nepal more frequently now. I've two sets of families down there now."

Courtesy: Mid-Day.com

Manisha Koirala is set to marry Samrat Dahal

Manisha Koirala is all set to marry Samrat Dahal on June 19, 2010 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The news of Manisha Koirala marriage is set to be revealed by Nepali film director Dipendra Khanal with whom the actress is working on a Nepali movie. Samrat Dahal is a businessman in leather industry and hails from Nepal only. Manisha Koirala has also been brand ambassador of UNICEF. she is also known for being grand daughter of first Prime Minister of Nepal. She actively supported last King of Nepal Gyanendra. Her father Prakash Koirala was also a minister in King’s cabinet. Most of her family members in Nepal are active in politics with Nepali Congress.

“Yes, our families know one another for some years now. So there was a comfort level between me and Samrat for a very long time. Gradually the bonding grew from friendship to love. And when Samrat asked me to marry him, I agreed,” she said.

“He is well-educated and comes from a family with an excellent background. I like him and I respect her decision,” said Manisha’s politician father Prakash Koirala.According to family sources, the day for the marriage was finalized today itself. Priests have proposed June 17 for the Swayambar, 18 for Mehendi and 19 for the marriage ceremony.

Will Manisha Koirala regain her glory?

Today's generation may not really be aware of the talent called Manisha Koirala that had once made the entire industry stand up and notice her.

The gorgeous woman who is on the verge of getting married was once a pretty girl who was launched with much fanfare by showman Subhash Ghai in 'Saudagar' (1991).

This terrific kick start was followed by a spree of indifferent films that Manisha did. Except for 'Yalgaar', there was nothing much to show for Manisha who saw a dip in her career despite working with Rishi Kapoor (Anmol), Ajay Devgn (Dhanwan) and Jackie Shroff (Milan).

However, a terrific run followed soon after with Manisha Koirala hitting back in a big way with three notable performance oriented roles in successive years - '1942 - A Love Story' (1994), 'Bombay' (1995) and 'Khamoshi - The Musical' (2006).

While each of these three films directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Mani Ratnam and Sanjay Leela Bhansali are much talked about till date, what surprisingly fails to find mention in the same breath is a film called 'Agnisakshi' (1996) which was not just critically but also commercially acclaimed.

"No wonder, it made sense for both Manisha and director of 'Agnisakshi' - Partho Ghosh - to come together with 'Ek Second... Jo Zindagi Badal De?', comments a trade observer, "The film was pronto launched in early 2008 though not with much fanfare way back. Rachna Sunil Singh and Agastyaa Singh were the producers for whom this was their first film making assignment."

To ensure that the film reaches out to current generation as well, the makers also roped in ex-Miss India Nikita Anand in an important role.

To give the film a wider appeal in the sub continent, Pakistani actor Moammar Rana too was summoned. This is not all. There was a dash of glamour quotient incorporated as well with Rozza Catalano, ex- girlfriend of Saif Ali Khan, adding further weight to the cast.

"The intentions were all right and though the film wasn't much in news during it's making, it seemed that much hoopla would be made once the film was ready for release", continues the observer, "However, an entire year passed by since the announcement and there was not much known about the film's progress.

2009 began as well and while Manisha Koirala went without a release for an entire year, there was no sign yet of 'Ek Second... Jo Zindagi Badal De?'."

Naturally, it seems that the film has been lost in oblivion and now even as it is getting ready for June release, it is getting the kind of treatment which is meted out on stuck projects this season. One wonders whether the film's heads -on collision with 'Raajneeti' on 4th June indeed makes sense and if Manisha Koirala would eventually manage to regain her glory?

Very supporting Manisha Koirala

Manisha Koirala had acted in the female lead roles in blockbuster films 'Bombay' and 'Mudhalvan'. Lastly, she was spotted performing female lead opposite Superstar Rajnikanth in 'Baba' and later avoided acting in Tamil films as she concentrated in Hindi films.

After a long gap she is back in Tamil film through 'Mappillai', which is a remake of yesteryear super hit film with the same title.

Manish Koirala is donning the role of Dhanush's mother-in-law in this film. When asked he whether she was disappointed donning the role of an elderly mother-in-law role, she said, ” I always feel that I am an actress first.

Earlier I had acted as mother of two children in the film Bombay. I was 22 years old then. Now I am not disappointed doing the role of mother-in-law. It is most pleasurable experience acting in Mappillai.

Dhanush is a talented actor. He works very hard. I have not seen the whole film of Rajni starrer Mappillai. I had seen only some few scenes. I don't want to reflect the character precisely. I am doing this role in my own style.

Adding more, she uttered, “I am happy that I am back in Tamil films. I met my old friend Aravindsamy. I relished the Chettinad food dishes. I went to Tirupathi temple.

I had bought lot of clothes. There was a lot of gap in Tamil films after Baba. I did not act in Tamil films because I did not get good stories. I have got a meatier role in Mappillai. I have also been signed for a Malayalam film.”