10 Best Movies from Nepal to Watch First

10 Essential Films from Nepal

Ranked native cinema in Nepal’s own creative voice.

1. 

   1. Je Bho Ramrai Bho

   जे भो राम्रै भो · 2003

   Falsely accused of murder and torn from the woman he loves, a man is ground down by Nepal's political turmoil, economic hardship, and social barriers as he struggles to clear his name. A social melodrama.

2. 

   2. Jhola

   झोला: 'सती' एक कु - प्रथा · 2013

   In old Nepal, a young widow faces the brutal custom of sati, which demands that she be burned alongside her dead husband, while her small son desperately tries to save her. A wrenching historical drama about a cruel tradition.

3. 

   3. Pashupati Prasad

   पशुपति प्रसाद · 2016

   A young man from the countryside comes to Kathmandu to pay off his late father's debts, but his stay is beset by a scheming local tough and his gang, forcing him to navigate the city's hard underside. A gritty, popular Nepali drama.

4. 

   4. Shambala

   शम्भाला · 2024

   In a remote Himalayan village where a woman has three husbands, a newly married, pregnant Pema sets out across the mountains with her monk brother-in-law to find her first husband, who has vanished on the trade route to Lhasa. A luminous, high-altitude epic.

5. 

   5. Kabaddi Kabaddi

   2015

   A lovestruck young man's plans to marry the village girl he adores are thrown into chaos when a returning rival sets his sights on her too. A charming, popular Nepali romantic comedy.

6. 

   6. Basanti

   वसन्ती · 2000

   This historical romance, set during the reign of Nepal's first Rana prime minister, follows a young woman named Basanti caught up in the passions and intrigues of the 19th-century court. Adapted from a beloved novel.

7. 

   7. Loot

   लुट · 2012

   Five small-time crooks in Kathmandu, desperate for a shortcut to money and a better life, band together to pull off a big heist, in a place where crime is on the rise. A slick, influential Nepali crime caper.

8. 

   8. Sano Sansar

   सानो संसार · 2008

   A young man who helps a drunk stranger get home safely is stunned to discover she is the same person he has been falling for in their online chats, and the two must sort out love in the real world. A breezy Nepali romantic drama.

9. 

   9. White Sun

   सेतो सूर्य · 2016

   When a man returns to his mountain village for his father's funeral, old wounds from Nepal's civil war reopen between him, his royalist brother, and the community, as a young girl hopes he may be her father. A sharply observed political drama.

10. 

    10. Chhakka Panja 2

    2017

    A man and a woman who barely know each other consider a marriage of convenience to serve their own separate ambitions, with comic complications. A popular Nepali comedy.