Tulsi Ghimire is a kind of legend; when I was in Nepal, his movies were one of the few movies that I used to go to watch regularly. More than that, I like the fact that he was so unassuming, so soft spoken, and yet so talented.
I recently read somewhere that he is still an Indian citizen. (He is from Darjeeling). I know that lots of people in KTM like Tulsi, and the govt also had appointed him as an honorary member of art promotion or something like that council. But why not immediately give him a citizenship? I personally think any talented artist from across the border should be immediately given citizenship. Tulsi Ghimirelai ta question pani nagari die hunchha.
I have heard there were some in movie fraternity who wanted to sideline him because of his nationality, and they always kept on calling him "Indian". All I want to say is that they will regret if what I have heard is true.
Some other people told me that reason why Tulsi is not given citizenship is because once we do that, we also need to give citizenship to Maithili actors/creators. But I don't see why that should be a problem. Giving 100 extra citizenship a year is hardly something we should worry about. The people we are talking about are not some junkies; they are people who will be remembered for eternity. Plus, if we attract a lot of Maithili actors to live in Nepal, we are going to have a control over 6 crore Maithili population ko market. Already, we know that our radio stations in Janakpur has a huge following in India and they draw revenue from advertising from across the border too.
So, I say let's welcome top notch people from everywhere; but being a nepali majority country, for people like Tulsi Ghimire, Nepal is the first destination, and given how much he has contributed to our kala, sahitya, it is time for due recognition.
