KATHMANDU — Its title may suggest a story about ghosts, but ‘Shree Bijjo Bhoot’ is far from a conventional supernatural play. Rooted in the social and cultural realities of Sudurpaschim, the play brings together love, separation, migration, humour, satire and pain against the backdrop of rural Nepal.
Presented by Mandala Theatre in collaboration with the young artists’ group Suvakasha, the play draws on the local belief and cultural tradition surrounding Shree Bijjo Bhoot in Dadeldhura’s Ningla area. Rather than using the belief merely as a source of fear, the production incorporates it into a larger story about people, their relationships and the society in which they live.
A daughter waiting for her father
At the heart of the story is Gauri, a young woman who has spent years waiting for her father, who left for India in search of work and never returned.
Growing up without her father’s presence, Gauri remains hopeful whenever someone arrives in the village claiming to have seen him in India. Her innocence and longing make her vulnerable to believing even uncertain accounts about her father.
At the same time, Gauri has been waiting for the man she loves, who has also been away for years. As her wait continues, village gossip begins to surround her. Relatives start bringing marriage proposals, adding further pressure to a young woman already living with uncertainty and emotional longing.
Her life takes a dramatic turn when Hari, a man who has returned from Mumbai, approaches her. Gauri sees him as an elder-brother figure, but Hari has a different intention. He persuades her that he can take her to India and help her find her father.
For Gauri, the journey is driven by one simple hope — to finally meet her father.
She eventually decides to leave home without telling her family and travel with Hari. What begins as a seemingly simple search for her missing father gradually opens into a much wider story of trust, vulnerability, migration and the dangers faced by women who travelled towards India from the far-western villages of Nepal.
A journey through Sudurpaschim
The play unfolds through Gauri’s journey, during which she encounters different people and stories. The characters she meets along the way bring humour and entertainment, but also reveal the hardship and contradictions of rural society.
The setting belongs to a period roughly two decades ago, when migration to India was deeply embedded in the lives of many families in Sudurpaschim. For many villages, the idea of a city was associated with places such as Tanakpur, while travelling from a remote village to the city could take several days.
The production recreates that period through its characters, language, costumes and cultural references. Characters returning from Mumbai reflect the fashion and popular culture of the time, including the influence of Bollywood and the style associated with the era of Amitabh Bachchan. References to films popular around the period, including Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, further establish the play’s temporal setting.
Humour carrying deeper pain
One of the production’s notable features is the way it combines serious social issues with comedy and satire.
The audience is invited to laugh at the situations and personalities of village life, but beneath that humour are stories of families separated by migration, women waiting for loved ones, social pressure surrounding marriage, unfulfilled love and the uncertainty faced by those searching for missing family members.
The result is a story that moves between laughter and sadness without losing its human character.
More than a ghost story
The Bijjo Bhoot tradition provides the cultural foundation for the production. The play draws from the belief surrounding the local deity or spirit and the traditional worship associated with the community.
According to the production’s background note, the Bijjo Bhoot tradition is connected with the cultural life of the Ningla area of Dadeldhura. The annual worship also becomes a time when people who have left their villages for work return home.
Through this cultural setting, the production explores the relationship between folk belief and everyday life. The title therefore serves not simply as a reference to a supernatural figure, but as an entry point into the collective memory, traditions and social life of Sudurpaschim.
Bringing a local story to Kathmandu
Writer Dibas Nath describes the play as more than a theatrical story, presenting it as an attempt to document the soil, lifestyle, language, art, culture and folk traditions of his community.
The production team has worked with local communities and incorporated experiences, stories, language and cultural practices encountered during the creative process.
Director Akash Nepali, who comes from Doti, has also drawn on his connection with Sudurpaschim while bringing the region’s stories to the stage. The production seeks to present a local experience to Kathmandu audiences while retaining its regional identity.
The play is written by Dibas Nath, with direction by Buddhi Tamang and Akash Nepali. The cast includes Aditya Mishra, Sushmita Kunwar, Bhupi Lohar, Umesh Sunam, Ajan Shree Bishwakarma, Samriddhi Nepal, Sneha Joshi, Sushila Lohar, Dibas Nath, Biraj Paneru and Barsha Bhandari, among others.
With its combination of folk tradition, regional language, humour, love and social realism, ‘Shree Bijjo Bhoot’ presents Sudurpaschim not merely as a geographical setting but as a living character in the story — a place shaped by migration, waiting, tradition, relationships and the enduring hope of those who leave home and those who wait for them to return.