Man with 32 wives inspires Nepal film
By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANSFriday, August 13, 2010
KATHMANDU - An 86-year-old former soldier, who married 32 times, has inspired the current commercial hit “Kanyadan” in Nepal with his 31st wife’s son making it and acting in it as well.
Shovit Basnet, a veteran in the Nepali film industry with 20 films to his credit, is now basking in the curiosity value of “Kanyadan”, his latest directorial venture that is drawing crowds because of an unusual phenomenon.
For the first time in the Nepali film industry, the same actor plays seven different roles, an act eclipsed by Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra, whose 12 different roles in “What’s Your Raashee?” fetched her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
“Though the main story is a family drama in which a family runs into trouble after giving their daughter in marriage, I decided to incorporate in it elements from my personal life to add a fun element,” Basnet told IANS.
“My father Karna Man Singh, who worked in the Nepal Army, had 32 wives. Though he didn’t have as many children as expected from so many wives, my film conjectures what would have happened had he had a large brood.”
In the film, Basnet plays seven different characters who were fathered by the same man with different wives - a comic character, a pundit, a band master, a hunter, a goon, a foreign tourist and himself, Shovit Basnet, film director.
The 38-year-old says he was used to staying under the same roof with the different wives and their children and no one took it amiss.
“Bigamy became a crime recently,” he says. “But all those marriages happened in the past and no one turned a hair.”
He is in touch with three more siblings while the number of wives has come down to about four.
“Kanyadan”, released in 50 theatres across Nepal, will be released in the capital in two months. However, people are already curious about watching it, solely to see him play seven roles, Basnet said.
Was he inspired by Priyanka’s feat? He rejects the idea.
“‘What’s Your Raashee?’” was released quite recently,” he says. “However, my film was shot more than a year ago.”
(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)
