The journey of Nakim Uddin: from a merchant to movie mogul.

 

The movie-going experience has changed drastically over the past two decades with digital multiplexes mushrooming across the country. The success of this industry wouldn’t have been possible without the skillful entrepreneurship of some inspiring figures. Hailing from a traditional merchant family of Potey bazaar, Nakim Uddin started off young, but his steadfast nature and enterprising vision changed the landscape of cinema in Nepal entirely.

Could you tell us something about your early life?

I was born in Ututole-Indra chowk.  My ancestors migrated to Kathmandu during Ratna Malla’s period -- so we are one of the oldest inhabitants of Kathmandu. I did my schooling in Kathmandu at EPS and then AVM. My university education is from Taiwan. After that, I came back home to Nepal and went into business. My family had a shop in Potey Bazaar, which we still own, but I wasn’t too keen on involving in that business. So I decided to venture out to other sectors.

How did you get into the cinema business?

This dates back to the year 2000, the Maoist insurgency was at its peak, I was into trading and tourism business. I had a travel agency, but business was bad and I had to shut it down. After that, I was exploring my options, and one of my partners in the cinema business, Bhaskar Dhungana -- who is also my brother-in-law -- in one of our family gatherings, encouraged me to get into the cinema business with him. I was easily convinced because the cinemas have always been a subject of my interest, and movie-going is something that I have fond memories of growing up. My parents would always take me along with them to the movies whether I wanted to go or not.

So how did QFX Cinemas come into being?

Our story starts in 2001, Bhaskar, Rajesh, and myself formed a partnership and took over Jai Nepal.  We had a hard time securing a loan back then since no bank wanted to fund the cinemas. Initially, we planned on having one screen showcasing Hollywood films. But after some months the crowd dwindled, so we decided to show Hindi films as well. After that, we didn't have to look back. We then took over Kumari movie hall and we converted it into a duplex.

We had a lot of Nepali producers wanting us to screen their films, but we were catering to a segment of Nepali society that didn’t watch Nepali films because the content wasn’t as par as to what it is today. So people had a notion that we were against Nepali films. After studying the Nepali film industry we realized that to showcase Nepali films we had to bring in some change to the industry. In those days digital cinema was relatively new and expensive, so we participated in various digital cinema platforms abroad with the hope of understanding where the future of cinemas was heading. Later, a company called UFO cinemas brought in digital cinema that was affordable for the Nepali and Indian market, so we tied up with them and then we bought digital production set up here. We then produced two films Kagbeni and Sano Sansar—it was an attempt to bring more subjective films to the industry that will cater to a larger audience. Though we were unable to recover our costs, we were able to influence other producers to adopt production of digital cinemas.

In 2010 we realized that we needed a common brand name to identify all our theatres. Since Jai Nepal and Kumari were already landmarks, we couldn’t change the name, so after much brainstorming, we came up with a catchy name QFX Cinemas, and the brand was launched along with our theatre in Civil Mall.

Alongside we also opened a company called Digital Cinema Nepal which provides digital service to almost all the theatres in Nepal.

Now that QFX Cinemas is no longer restricted to the Kathmandu Valley, what are your future plans for the company?

A company like ours—in the Nepali context—may seem big from the outside, but internally we are a relatively small company. Once we take on a project it takes a long time to move to the next one. So to shorten this gap and to add more screens, we came up with the idea of giving our franchises to other theatres. At the moment we have four franchises outside Kathmandu Valley—Birtamode, Narayanghat, Nepalgunj and Pokhara. In between, we also built Labim Mall solely for the purpose of bringing cinema to Lalitpur. Currently, we’re working on adding more screens. We have a tie-up with Bhat-Bhateni Supermarket wherein every new Bhat-Bhateni store will have a QFX movie theatre. A few weeks back we opened a QFX at the Bhat-Bhateni in Bhaktapur, and we have also QFX Cinemas at the Bhat-Bhatenis in Butwal and Biratnagar as well. I’ve also formed a new company called Regal Cinemas Pvt. Ltd. where I invite my friends to invest in the cinema business, and it was with that money, I built these three multiplexes. Now that these projects are done, we are now starting works soon for movie theatres in Birgunj and Janakpur as well.

What is your take on Nepali cinema? How has it changed over the years?

It has definitely changed a lot over the decades. Back in 2000 Nepali films were being produced at the tune of 20-25 lakhs, but now, to produce a Nepali film, it’ll at least cost you two crores. And if it goes viral like Chakka Panja, it’ll do you a business of up to 20 crores. There is actually not enough multiplexes across the country to feature our films. And once there are multiplexes across the country and we raise the tickets rates up to 300 to 350 the business will bring favorable outcomes.

You have also been involved in the production. How has that experience been?

If you look at the Nepali film industry in layman’s point of view then we are producing almost hundred films in a year, so there’s already so much that there’s no point in producing any more. My reason for production was a bit different. We wanted to produce films targeting the international market, so we produced films shot in the English language. The Man from Kathmandu was released in March 2019 produced by a new company that I was a part of called Tri-City pictures. I invited my friend Pema Dhondup to direct the film. Our movie won a few awards internationally, and we have an agent in Los Angeles responsible for marketing our film all over the world. Currently, we’ve sold to three countries.

What do you find different about Nepali movies?

Nepali films feature our language, our culture, and our humor. Chakka Panja is working because of local humor and local stories that it showcases. The production value and quality may not be as good but it is improving gradually.

What else are you involved in besides work?

Though work takes up most of my time, I am also involved in the Himalayan Climate Initiative (HCI). HCI has played a key role in the banning of plastic bags, and currently, we have also started recycling plastic pet bottles.

In your opinion what qualities does a successful entrepreneur need to have?

Hard-work, dedication, and perseverance.