Nepa~laya Productions “Behind the Scenes”

Nepa~laya Productions was born out of a tale of two high school friends in passing. 

Dana Moyal Kolevzon and Kiran Krishna Shrestha. 

Kiran and his former colleagues at Kantipur Media Group, and Young Asia Television, first founded a company by the name of Event Nepalaya, they partnered with renowned singer Amrit Gurung of Nepal’s Nepathya Folklore band. One of Nepal’s most famous music bands. 

With Kiran’s background in Young Asia Television, and Dana’s background in foreign TV Production, the two established Nepa~laya Productions. The idea came about following the repeated need to have local support for foreign productions filming in Nepal. 

Nepa~laya Productions, one of the earliest local film production companies in Nepal, assists a wide range of clients from across the globe. The advantage is its offices in Kathmandu and New York City in the U.S. 

The Event Nepalaya team continues to focus on concerts and periodically produces local documentaries screened in International film festivals. 

Arpan Sharma, a member of Nepa~laya Productions, is our executive producer. Arpan recalled his very first project in Kathmandu assisting in a foreign sitcom filmed in Kathmandu and surrounding areas. At the time traffic was so light, that Nepa~laya Production staff were able to stop traffic and divert drivers so filming could take place quietly. A task that would be unimaginable in present-day Kathmandu. 

Our returning client BNN -VARA of the Netherlands, chose to film one of their many “Op Reiss” episodes in Nepal, in a challenging terrain. A portion of the shoot was in the Karnali Zone, an extremely remote region in the Himalayas, where foreign crew never step foot. 

The area lacked proper bathrooms and showers, and conditions were not ideal even though Nepa~laya Productions organized a 5-star camping company to take care of all sleeping and meals. Conditions forced us to work quickly and complete the shoot in a shorter time than initially anticipated. 

“Miss Adventures” Travelogue from Media Corps Singapore, focused their shoot in the Annapurna base region, our team faced technical challenges due to low nighttime temperatures. Equipment batteries failed to charge properly, so our team kept the batteries inside their jackets, the body heat did the trick and soon enough all batteries would fully charge for the next day's shoot. 

Nepa~laya Productions was lucky to work on a wonderful shoot for a New Zealand outerwear company called “Kathmandu Outerwear”. Their team was in search of snow in the Himalayas in a time when snow is not always present on the ground. We decided to mobilize and get the crew and models to a higher altitude where we knew there was snow. Langtang, Nepal. 

During the beautiful picturesque film shoot, a team member slipped on ice and as a result suffered a fracture. Quick on our feet, Nepa~laya Productions chartered a chopper back to Kathmandu for immediate medical care. 

These are only a few of the challenges fixers face shooting in rural and remote areas of Nepal. 

During our History Channel shoot of “Extreme Airports” in Lukla Airport, (ranked as the top 5 most dangerous airports in the world), we brought the airport to a complete halt, following the request of production to obtain a perfect shot. 

This was all so our client could get the right shot of choppers and planes coming in and out of the airport. We also requested pilots to fly away multiple times and land for us. 

During the shoot, our team visited the location of a recent crash. 

Executive Producer Arpan Sharma had sadly found a victim’s wristwatch that had stopped right at the time of the fatal accident. 

Our TV Globo “Honey Hunters” shoot for “Planeta Extremo” Brazil, was perhaps the most memorable one to date. 

As the team was driving to film a week-long shoot in a remote village of Honey Hunters, Nepal suffered one of its worst tragedies, the 2015 earthquake. 

Boulders almost hit the van traveling on the road risking the lives of the Brazilian and Nepali crew members. By the next day, the Brazilian team was repurposed to become the only foreign news coverage team on the ground in Nepal. 

After a while, the team returned to the original purpose of their trip to Nepal and went on with the Honey Hunters filming, winning awards for their outstanding original coverage of the ancient tradition.

Being a fixer in Nepal requires quick thinking and fast problem-solving. Not to mention good connections. Filming in this beautiful Himalayan region requires permitting in most areas,  especially in temples, national parks, and public areas. There are limitations with film permits and this requires deep knowledge of the bureaucratic process. We have an assigned member who knows the government offices inside out and navigates the system easily. 

Once Nepa~laya Productions takes on a project we become our clients ‘devotees, working non-stop to meet their demands. A smooth shoot is a happy shoot. Good vibes all around is always the goal.