Chopel behind the camera

Gangtok, March 6: Director Ugyen Chopel has been conferred with Sarjak Samman by the Film Directors’ Guild of Nepal for his contribution to movies in that country.

K.P. Pathak, the chairman of the guild, has sent an invitation to Chopel, who hails from West Sikkim and has been engaged in the film industry for over a two-and-a-half decade, to attend the award giving ceremony to be held at Gayatri Hall in Kathmandu tomorrow.

The award is usually given by the guild to noted directors who have contributed towards promotion of films in Nepal.

Chopel has described the award as a great honour conferred on him by the “film fraternity of Nepal”.

“The joy is double as 2009 is the 20th anniversary of my first film Saino which has been regarded as one of the greatest Nepali hits of all times,” he said in a statement.

However, Chopel will not be able to attend the programme because of a death in his family. His representative will receive the award and deliver the gratitude address.

The film director, the nephew of Bollywood actor Danny Denzongpa, has several Nepali and Hindi hits to his credit.

His last Bollywood movie was Dil Jo Bhi Kahay starring Amitabh Bachchan, Revathy, Bhumika Chawla and Karan Sharma.

The film was produced by Romesh Sharma

His other Nepali hits include Trishna and Badal Paari. Chopel, who has several documentaries to his credit, had also directed Ajnabi, a serial which was telecast in Hindi and Bengali. The Bengali version was titled Bandhu.