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In the semifinals, we have got England as a rival. The winner of 1966, England, is now seen in a lot of rhythm. Many soccer fans around the world are rooting for England to win the game. Surely England is the name established in World Football.

However, we are not weak in the ongoing World Cup. In the group stage, we had confirmed the place by winning three games. 

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Sunkesari, a horror movie starring Reecha Sharma, which she is also producing, is being released on May 25. Sharma, who debuted as a supporting actress in the movie ‘First Love’ in 2012, is now one of the coun­try’s most popular and versatile actresses. She started her career as a model for various music videos, which earned her roles in TV serials. But it was the movie Loot—a highly successful crime thriller released in 2012—that marked a turning point in her career. Sharma was also a top-ten finalist in Miss Nepal 2007.

In your experience, how has the Nepali film industry evolved over time?

In some ways, it has developed a lot, but in other ways it has regressed too. Techni­cally we have evolved a lot. We may not be on a par with international standards, but we have started making wonderful movies. We’ve been successful in bringing back some of the audiences we lost. Also, our cinemas are no longer limited to Nepal because of the growing Nepali diaspora.

But, at the same time, unlike European countries where people visit movie theaters whenever they have free time, we haven’t developed a cinema-going culture. Many Nepalis still prefer Bollywood and Holly­wood movies, and they are unreasonably critical of Nepali movies, which has had a negative impact on our film industry.

Talking about the evolution of Nepali films, horror, traditionally, isn’t a suc­cessful genre in Nepal. What motivated you to make Sunkesari?

In the past five years or so, genres like comedy, romance and drama have flour­ished, which is a significant achievement. But, how long can we expect the audience to be drawn to these limited genres? The idea of establishing a new genre encouraged me. It was while watching ‘The Conjuring’ in a packed theater that I felt I wanted to try a horror movie.

Yes, there are various risks associated with this genre. I think the reason why the horror genre has not been successful so far is because we have not been imaginative. We cannot expect a movie to be successful just by having a ghost dressed up in a white sari wandering from one place to another while carrying a candle in her hand. (Laughs)

In Sunkesari, we have put in a lot of effort and have not compromised with quality. With the money we have invested in this movie, we could have made an extravagant film of another genre. I think this movie has various reasons to succeed but an equal number of reasons to fail. I sincerely hope it works, because if it does not, then it will be a long time before someone else attempts another horror flick.

Despite the relatively small size of the Nepali film industry, there are complaints that it lacks harmony. You were yourself recently involved in a bad spat. Why do you suppose that is the case?

It’s not that there is no harmony at all. Harmony does exist, but only among professionals who have dedi­cated their life to filmmaking. There are people—with lots of free time—who spread rumor just to create misunderstand­ing at a very personal level. It is a competitive industry and it is okay to dislike people but it is not okay to disrespect them.

Recently when I expressed my opin­ion about something I disliked, many people ganged up against me. They seemed to have forgotten that I am also a viewer and have opin­ions. In a public plat­form, compliments and criticisms are normal and one should not always expect compliments.

Finally, what purpose do you think movies serve? Is it just entertainment or should they also convey some social message?

Movies should always be made with a view to provide entertain­ment, because people take out time from their busy schedule to go to the theaters. But having said that, did mov­ies like 3 Idiots, Taare Zameen Par, etc only provide entertainment? They car­ried a powerful message too. When peo­ple left the theater, they had something to think about. That is what a cinema should ideally be: a mixture of entertainment and information. I would like to make a movie like that someday. But that is not what I have tried with Sunkesari. This one is all entertainment.

Turkish Airlines flies to 301 cities in 121 countries around the world. The Star Alliance Member started flying to Nepal in September 2013 and has been continuously ferrying people, to and fro, between Nepal and multiple global destinations. The airlines currently has five flights a week from Nepal, and is planning a daily flight starting this September.

Abdullah Tuncer KECECI, General Manager of Turkish Airlines Nepal office, talks to APEX about the presence of Turkish Airlines in Nepal, and about its future plans and possibilities.

As a representative of one of the biggest international carriers in the world, what do you make of the state of the Tribhuvan International Airport?

We are positive about the airport extending its opening hours from 18 to 21. And we hope it will be open for 24 hours soon. But at present, we would like the airport to open earlier.

Right now it opens at 6 am. Our flights are scheduled at 6:20 am, which creates many problems. We want the airport to open at around 4 am. That will also motivate other European carriers to come and will also decrease peak load. It will help everyone.

Also, there is too much traffic for a single-runway airport. There are upcoming airport projects all around Nepal and we are hopeful that they will increase the productivity in aviation sector. But as of now, air traffic in Kathmandu airport is a problem. It is not a good prac­tice to hold planes on air for 40-50 minutes. I hope the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal resolves this issue and help Nepal reach its vision of tourism development.

Turkish Airlines is known for promoting the countries it flies to. What is it doing to promote Nepal abroad?

We have a few plans to promote Nepal. We fly to global tourist des­tinations like London, Berlin, Stutt­gart, Helsinki, Moscow, Paris and Lisbon, to name a few, and our mis­sion has been to promote Nepal in all those destinations.

Nepalis are spending more on outbound travel than what the country is earning from tourism. As an international carrier, how do you evaluate the Nepali tour­ism market?

Nepal has a lot more capacity on tourism than what it is currently utilizing. You don’t have the sea but you have everything besides the sea, like mountains, rivers, cul­tural heritages, historic cities and natural beauty. Unfortunately, the country is being promoted in seasons like March/April and September/October.

What about people not interested in hiking to the mountains? Moun­tains were a strong theme for Nepal but then they became the weakest link at some point. We can’t afford to have only seasonal tourists coming here. So we have to promote Nepal for its people and places besides the mountains, and create an all-season tourist flow.

Also, the spending on outbound travel is not only because more peo­ple are travelling. It is also because of the labor flow.

How does Turkish Airlines con­nect with the people of Nepal? Why should Nepalis travelling abroad choose your airlines?

Most international flights started in Nepal to cater to the labor mar­ket here. But for us, from the day we started, we have been treating Nepal as one of the popular tourist destinations in the world. We even encourage other carriers to do that, and believe this well get a positive response from the people of Nepal.

We are trying to reach every peo­ple, not only who can travel. Our main target is to build a cultural bridge between Turkey and Nepal, and between Nepal and other coun­tries. For that reason we support other areas like sports, women empowerment, youth and children. If it was in our hands, we would support all those who want to do something for the country.

We want to make this earth­quake-affected Kathmandu city lively through our events. When the city is alive, people have more reason to come to Nepal. This in turn will empower Nepalis and create an intelligent movement of people. We’re also trying to build trade ties between Turkey and Nepal, which has increased significantly since we started operations.

The Turkish Airlines World Gold Tournament was held in Nepal this year. How was the response?

We did it for the first time in Nepal and got a warm response. Turkish Airlines has been hosting international golfing events in other countries over the past six years, mostly in golf destinations. This year we decided to increase the num­ber of destinations and included Nepal too.

We had a chance to host one leg of the tournament here in May. With this, Nepal is now in the golf net­work, which covers 64 countries around the world and more than 100 flight destinations. All in all, we are promoting Nepal as a golf desti­nation as well.

Besides that, we are planning to host other events in Nepal. Around our upcoming fifth anniversary in Nepal, we’re planning more events including a Turkish food festival.

Running in its third year, Arogin Healthcare & Research Centre (P) Ltd is a team of highly qualified medical professionals who without hesitation call themselves the present and future of quality medical services in Nepal. Biplob Prasai of APEX interviewed Roshan Pandey, its Managing Director. Excerpts.

 What is Arogin Healthcare & Research Centre?

To be precise, Arogin Health Care and research Center is a group of companies. We have five companies associated with us, with our name. Arogin is a dream project of the team of 11 doctors from the All India Insti­tute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (AIIMS). Doctors like physiatrist Dr Pawan Sharma, orthopedic surgeon Dr Sushil Paudel and Dr Ramesh Kadel, the only doctor in the field of geriatrics in Nepal.

What are the services provided by Arogin?

Out of many, I’ll discuss a few. In the field of physiatry, we have a product for stress management, which is the need of the hour. And in case of Dyslexia—a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols—we have doctors who are super specialized. We are associated with many school and Montessori and we run special clinics for children.

When it comes to orthopedic problems, people think pain is cured only by surgery. But there are other solutions. We have ‘Arogin Pain Man­agement Center’, and our own Phys­iotherapy center where we focus on curing pain via a combination of medicine and therapy.

And lastly, Dr Ramesh Kadel had a thought to establish a care home for elderly people in Nepal while doing his Doctor of Medicine (MD). His thoughts met our vision. As opposed to an old-age home, we established ‘Arogin Care Home & Home Nursing Service’ in Budanilkantha.

It’s a bungalow, and we designed the interior in order to hide medi­cal equipment as much as possible. We provide proper diet, nutrition and care to elderly people with love and affection. The concept of old-age home has been sullied a bit in Nepal. We hope to improve its image.

What are your objectives?

We hope to be the second opinion in Nepal. Here, people are misguided and confused about treatment. Doubts leads them to fly abroad.

People generally go to India or Singapore for treatment. But 30 per­cent of total doctors in Singapore are from AIIMS. Arogin provides the same doctors right here in Nepal. Moreover, highly specialized doctors are added cherry on top. In the field of dentistry, our doctor are attempt­ing something called maxillofacial surgery, which will be the first for Nepal. We are also starting primary dental services with three doctors, all of whom have Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) from AIIMS.

The gap between Nepal and other countries when it comes to treat­ment options is decreasing. We hope to start medical tourism in Nepal, which is easier said than done. But, in the case of hair transplant, this is already true, with our clients coming from as far afield as India, broader Asia and Europe.