The first iteration of Moviemandu’s Movie Person of the  Year has been awarded to director Dpendra K Khanal for the movie Pashupati Prasad at a felicitation programme held in the Capital on Wednesday.

The award was presented to Khanal at the event by Yangesh, the president of the Nepal Movie Critics Society. Speaking at the ceremony Yangesh said,  “Credit is due to Pashupati Prasad for creating an engaging cinematic experience for Nepali movie goers. Even though the movie employs small characters and stories, it tackles issues that cut across the modern society. All that without making the plot too overbearing.”

One of the biggest hits of 2072, Pashupati Prasad starred Khagendra Lamichanne in the lead role. Director Khanal, who received the award on behalf of the cast and crew, spoke of how the Nepali movie industry has been gathering steam in the past few years. He also expressed the desire to learn from this year’s shortcomings to create even better movies in the next year.

Moviemandu Movie Person of the Year will be awarded annually to persons, characters or events that have made positive contributions to the Nepali movie industry. For this year’s iteration, director Khanal piped actors Lamichanne and Anmol KC, Director Min Bhav and musician Kali Prasad Banskota to bag the award.