Apoorwa Singh creates a niche of his own in Nepali stand-up scene
Search for “Nepali stand-up comedy” on Youtube and you will be flooded with suggestions of various channels and comedians. One of them will invariably be Apoorwa Kshitiz Singh. Apoorwa’s mini superstardom in the stand-up comedy scene is rising, thanks to the ever increasing hits on the Youtube of his satirical take on KP Oli government’s porn ban and of his self-mimicry of ‘Being a Madhesi’.
“What we are doing is urban stand-up comedy, which is performed in limited space, for limited audience, and with the use of slang words and adult content,” explains Apoorwa Kshitiz Singh, 25. “This makes it different to the traditional stand-up comedy performed by the likes of Madan Krishna Shrestha, Hari Bansha Acharya, Jitu Nepal and Daman Rupakheti.” Urban youths do not feel offended by slang and strong language, he says.
Apoorwa was initially inspired by the growing popularity of stand-up comedy in Delhi during his student years. He realized he too could use stand-up to increase awareness on social issues back home, while he also entertained young audiences. Apoorwa has been in this “creative indulgence” since June 2018.
With the help of his stand-up comedian friend Dipesh Dahal, Apoorwa managed to land a comedy gig with Comedy Circle, and soon became popular for his unabashed wit. He has also performed stage shows for audiences in Pokhara and Bhairahawa.
“I am happy with the way Nepali stand-up comedy is gaining momentum and youth support. Compared to past years, comedy is getting better with more creative approach, youth-centric agenda and more innovative use of words,” says Apoorwa.
Born in a village near Gaur, Rautahat, the stand-up comic spent most of his childhood in Sarlahi district. He was always inclined to entertain his friends, teachers and relatives by sharing jokes.
The majority of his audiences fall under the age-group 16- 30, and come from various walks of life
For Apoorwa stand-up comedy offers a sense of relaxation and helps him escape the daily absurdities of life. The majority of his audiences fall under the age-group 16-30, and come from various walks of life. “If we can mix satire and social message, it is sure to be effective,” says Apoorwa.
In his experience, modern stand-up comedy is getting its due recognition, but “our comedians are still wary of talking about politics, communities, religions, celebrities and feminism”. Yet he is also delighted to see more women participate in the stand-up comedy scene in Nepal.
“The comedy scene has changed drastically. The advent of social media and seamless video streaming on platforms like Youtube is a boon for the current generation of stand-up comedians,” says Apoorwa.
Asked if stand-up comedians in Nepal face censorship, Apoorwa replies: “There has been a paradigm shift in comedy with regards to audiences, contents, platforms and issues. Today, there is no censorship. Few years ago, comedians used to be arrested for their satire of the state and those in authority.”
Apoorwa hopes Nepali stand-up comedy will further improve with bigger audiences, more interactions between the comics and their audiences, and more income for the performers.
The march of Nepali films
In the five years I have spent in the Nepali film industry, it has progressed on many fronts. Due to growing professionalism and educated people taking acting as a career choice, there is new respect for actors. The graph of our Nepali movie industry looks like a wave. When I entered this industry, it was progressing, probably due to the release of “Loot”, which was a landmark film. Then, the graph fell again. I think the problem with the industry is that when a movie does well, others want to make similar films. They do not want to take risk in the fear of commercial failure.
Thankfully, I can see Nepali filmmakers focusing on good content now. With our audience getting smarter and more aware, there is a focus on investing in good scripts. Movies are playing a huge role in delivering social messages and raising issues through visual arts, as you see with movies like “Gopi” and “Bulbul”. Even though most still want to make comedy films, as our audience seem to prefer this genre currently, there is still progress on creating creative content. There are many talented people in the field of literature and I think these people need to attempt writing scripts for films as well.
To carry out these scripts, the industry has some really good actors. In my opinion, many current films are successful due to these actors. Before, anyone without experience or expertise could be an actor but now due to many people entering acting, there is a healthy competition. The industry is also welcoming theater actors like Dayahang Rai and Karma Shakya. And with the field becoming more professional, actors do feel the pressure to get better at what they do. As this profession gains respect, even highly educated people are choosing acting as a career, so the industry is more liberal and progressive.
Female actors are also becoming safer within the fraternity. Five years back, I used to hear stories of women being victims of casting couch. Thankfully, I never faced it. And now, these horror stories have decreased significantly, thanks to the #MeToo campaign. I had struggles of my own, such as having to deal with low pay.
I would again say this field has become more professional in the past 3-4 years. And this is not just with actors but with the whole film fraternity, from concept development to screening of the films.
Additionally, due to technological progress, visual effects and camera work in Nepali films are getting better. The use of high-quality cameras has boosted creativity. Even though this has led to increased budgets, it has certainly improved the quality of the films being produced.
The demand for Nepali films is increasing globally. But even now Nepali films don’t do well in India, even as they are gaining in popularity in Sikkim and Darjeeling. International filmmakers are also searching for Nepali movies and watching them. This means new audiences for Nepali films. In Nepal, what I see is, the audience that watches one Nepali film is the same audience that watches another Nepali movie, whatever the genre. And we have not been able to tap into new Nepali audience. We are progressing though and just one movie can change this trend for the better.
Surakshya Panta is a Nepali actor who has appeared in movies like Gopi, Changa Chet and Dhanapati
19 things teachers can do in 2019
Dear teachers, The new year 2019 does not align perfectly with our academic year. But we can still make a few new year resolutions on how to improve our teaching. Because, what better time than now!
In this article series, we’ll be sharing teaching tips and ideas that we’ve been implementing in our own classes. We’ve borrowed these ideas from books, articles, YouTube videos, conversations, and many trials and errors in our classes and workshops we conduct. Please reflect on them and come up with your own theories on how to implement or adapt them to suit your needs.
Give space to try, fail and rise
We’ve all heard this Nepali proverb “Hidne maanchhe ladchha”. Perhaps, we can put this proverb in practice, and let our learners “fall” and learn from their “falls”.
We know making a mistake and consciously reflecting on the mistake is an extremely effective way to learn. Such learning also endures for years.
Teachers can help students embrace mistakes by explaining the subtle but important difference between ‘failure’ and ‘failing’. Failing sounds like it has hope attached to it. Failure sounds like you are doomed.
But simply telling students, “Hey, make mistakes and learn from your mistakes” is not enough. Telling usually doesn’t work. What might work is developing a positive learning culture where students receive non-judgmental feedback on their learning process rather than on the outcome. A culture where students not just hear about but internalize the usefulness of failing is an integral part of learning.
Also, wouldn’t it be amazing if students could see the teachers themselves trying, failing, and learning in front of their students!
Check out A.J. Juliani’s excellent article entitled “The Big Difference between Fail-ing and Fail-ure” available online.
Give meaningful feedback
John Hattie, the author of Visible Learning, says effective feedback has to answer three questions.
a. What is the goal?
b. What is the progress made toward the goal?
c. What actions need to be taken to make better progress?
Therefore, when students are trying and failing, we need to remind them of their goal, how they are doing, and what they can do better to achieve it.
For instance, if a student is struggling to write better, more persuasive essays, you could give them a list of things they’ve done wrong, and tell them to correct them all. Or, you could focus on one aspect of the essay (e.g. lacks proper evidence to back their points), and guide him on how to look for such evidence and incorporate it into their essay.
Remember, generalized feedback usually doesn’t help. Saying “Good job” or “Terrible work” or “Nice” doesn’t help students get to their goals.
For more, read this phenomenal research article.
Hattie, J. & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research. Vol. 77. 1.
Don’t give 4
If you haven’t watched this Ted Talk “The Clues to a Great Story” by Andrew Stanton, the main guy from Pixar, an American computer animation film studio, watch it first. Because, he unpacks some intriguing clues to great teaching.
He says great stories get the audience involved in the storytelling process. How? Here we paraphrase Stanton.
Don’t give everything to the audience easily.
Challenge them to predict.
Don’t give them “4” right away.
Make them work for it.
Give them “2” first, and then allow them to imagine their own “2”.
He calls this the “Unifying Theory of 2+2”. It’s a very powerful idea from a pedagogical perspective.
As teachers, we give it all away rather soon. We assume, “Our job is to give the correct answers. That’s what teachers are supposed to do, right?”
Partly yes, but mostly no.
A teacher’s job, apparently, is to make students work to get that answer.
Let us re-write that again.
A teacher’s job is to make students care about what they do, engage them in the process, and then guide them just enough so that they are able to figure out answers their own way.
Don’t give them 4. Give them 2+2.
We’ll share more in our next piece. We want to leave you with a quote from our friend Ulma-maija Seppanen: “Every feedback is a gift.” We too expect feedback from you.
Umes Shrestha
Udgum Khadka
(Both writers work at King’s College and conduct workshops for teachers through Empowerment Academy.)
Art and soul
The term “art” is vague, perhaps as vague as the idea of God. Most of us believe there is a supreme power that runs the universe, which/who we call “God” but we don’t know if the God is a he or a she.Art (here, visual art) can mean different things to different people. Perfect art for a five-year-old could mean painting a pretty flower. For an abstract expressionist, perhaps it would mean creating a painting that is wild, unbound by motifs and thoughts. For a figurative painter like me, nothing satisfies us more than painting figures. And yet for conceptual artists, they worry more about the concepts than anything else.
At the risk of sound a little clichéd, our country has always been rich in the visual arts. We live with majestic sculptures all around. We take these for granted but we need to realize that it might be difficult for us to compete against the rest of the world in the sciences or technology, but we can outshine a lot of countries when it comes to our ancient arts. We live with the majestic mandalas, the beautiful art forms that balance us emotionally, spiritually and physically.
To be living in a country as artistically, culturally and spiritually rich as Nepal, it is important for us to realize the significance of the arts. But for that it makes sense to find the artist in us. Art comes naturally as a child. As a kid, we all love to draw and paint without any formal education. But to learn to read and write, we need to go to a school. As Picasso aptly puts it, “Every child is an artist. The problem is, how to remain one once we grow up.”
There is this example I give in all the talks I give in schools and colleges when I teach art appreciation. If a few of us looked at an apple on the table and painted it, each one of our apples would look different. If we got the world’s greatest artist (if we could find the world’s greatest artist), his apple would still be the apple he created on the canvas, and it wouldn’t be edible. So, the entire genre of modern art talks about creation and not replication, as replication is never possible. Each one of has this ability to create our own apples, our own art, in our own ways. This makes each one of us an artist. But the realization is important.
That said, each artist has a particular perspective to art. And this changes from time to time. So a billion things are happening in the arts as you read this. This is the joy of the arts. The differences in thoughts and approaches, differences in choices of motifs and mediums.
For me the most joyful movement in painting was Impressionism in the 19th century. Monet had his beautiful colors, light and shades, Van Gogh had his power strokes, Cezanne had his robust forms and Seurat created his works in tiny dots which he called “Pointillism”. This beautiful movement, I believe, explains what art should be all about. The Impressionists were observing and absorbing nature and creating art works in the impressions. For me art should be first about feelings and emotions, everything else, including intellect, comes later. But if you differ, it is perfectly alright, I told you art is different things to different people.
So how can we enjoy and appreciate all forms of art? For that we need to understand the artist’s perspective to creativity. There are artists who believe in realism and super-realism. That is their joy and strength. An abstract expressionist believes in creating art works that are not bound by forms and sometimes even motifs. We need to enjoy the liberty they seek, the textures created, the sense of colors maybe! Traditional painters who create our rich Thangkas paint beautiful mudras and asanas in fascinating, intricate ways. Conceptual artists create art works that give voice to what they have to say about the society, or perhaps about themselves! And yet we have artists who seek and find equal pleasure in painting beautiful landscapes.
It is impossible to compare the different art forms, as it is to compare different artists. But having painted for more than 25 years now, and with over 25 solo exhibitions, I have come to realize, being an artist is a lifestyle: a perspective to life. Today I see and experience everything the way an artist does. And this is something I can’t explain or write about.
What is the purpose of the arts, you may ask? What good is art? But can you imagine life without music, without poetry, without paintings?
Art keeps your soul alive.
Chirag Bangdel is a Visual Artist, Writer, RadioPresenter/Producer
