Celebrities maintain their lavish lifestyle because of the enormous support of the public. They also exert excessive influence over people, especially young ones. Most people look up to celebrities, so the public expects them to maintain a dignified image in the public regardless of what they are like in private. A certain or small controversy is enough to make them fall from grace — that’s how sensitive their fame is in this world.

It’s not uncommon for a celebrity to fall into controversy, share controversial opinions in interviews or on social media. But the rapid digitalization of Nepal has sped up the cancel culture. 

Here is the list of controversies of Nepali celebrities in the year 2020.


1. Samragyee RL Shah and Bhuwan KC


If we rank the controversies of Nepali celebrities in 2020, this one definitely takes the cake. It all started when the actress Shah posted a video on her Instagram handle detailing the emotional and sexual harassment she faced whilst shooting her movie “Dream” without naming the name of the perpetrator in her video. This made the veteran actor and producer Bhuwan KC who produced the movie “Dreams” use his social media to attack Shah and later even file a defamation case against Shah, accusing her of defaming him by posting a video to stain his name.



2. Barsha Raut


2020 for Nepali people won’t feel like 2020 if one doesn’t talk about border issues with India and issuing a new map of Nepal. Amidst this border issue, in an interview, Barsha Raut, a Nepali actress when asked about the current border issue, said:

“This has to be solved together through table talk between our government and their government. But journalists of the two countries are picking a fight. How will I face my Indian friends? How will Indian friends face me? This is the situation right now.”

“.

Raut’s comments in that interview fueled the anger of many Nepali people who were already furious about the border issues and many took on social media to cancel her, which forced the actress to issue a statement expressing her love and respect for her country.


3. Astha Raut


Celebrated singer Astha Raut was another Nepali celebrity to stir controversy in early 2020. In an incident that occurred in TIA (Tribhuvan International Airport), a videotape shows that the singer was told to take off her jacket by the policewoman. Initially, Raut becomes reluctant to take off her jacket and meanwhile keeps verbally abusing the policewoman and shoved her in the terminal of TIA. Even though the footage shows the above-explained incident, Raut initially claimed being harassed by an on-duty policewoman at TIA.

The policewoman lodges a complaint against the singer and the singer gets arrested only to be released on Rs 4000 bail and later issues an apology.



4. Deepashree Niraula


The household name for every Nepali Deepa Shree Niraula got herself involved in controversy when in an interview she said Rajesh Hamal isn’t the “Mahanayak (Superstar)”. She insisted the interviewer himself had made him one but said that Hamal is one pillar of the Nepali film Industry. Niraula’s comments on the Mahanayak caused a huge backlash against her when many Nepali netizens took to social media to cancel her. Later, Niraula herself issued an apology, and even Mr. Rajesh Hamal urged people to forgive her by posting a video on his social media handle. Niraula later made a surprise exit from the popular Mundre ko Comedy club. It is not known if it was related to the Rajesh Hamal incident. 



5. Sydney Gurung and Paramita Rana


Sydney Gurung, a young Instagram influencer and model with almost 70k followers, stirred a controversy when she posted a video on her Instagram story and used racial slurs to Newari people who were dancing and apparently disturbing her. This made her deactivate her Instagram account and also issue an apology.


Another Nepali celebrity to get herself involved in controversy was the actress Paramita Rana when she replied to a comment on her TikTok handle when a commenter asked what she would wear if she was going to be in a car where a drunk driver kills an innocent person? To which she replied that she would wear a Versace coat, which the commenter can never afford. Her reply to that comment stirred many backlashes in social media by Nepali netizens and after several days she apologized on her social media handle.


6. Pooja Sharma and Prakash Subedi


In an interview, Pooja Sharma, a Nepali actress, when asked by the entertainment journalist Prakash Subedi about the political situation and administrative region of Nepal she seemed to be very clueless and also replied Nepal having 14 districts. This interview on YouTube reached the trending page. Later, Sharma lodged a complaint file against Subedi for repeatedly asking questions intentionally to vilify her. Prakash Subedi later issued an apology in a video.



7. Aanchal Sharma

The incident surrounding Aanchal Sharma is more of a fun or a meme than any of the controversial moments as described above. In a video, she praised girls for their creativity in making TikTok videos whilst making fun of boys who aren’t as creative as the girls and always played PUBG on their smartphone. Her video quickly circulated as a meme video in many meme pages of Nepal with many meme pages satirically implying Nepali PUBG players have made Nepal famous by winning many worldwide PUBG tournaments.

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Kathmandu Tribune Staff

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