Modelling, choreographing, acting, and beyond

May 10, 2013 , by DREAMS, Leave your thoughts

Hema Shrestha wants to be known as a model, and in fact she is well known for her modelling. But she does have various shades of  talents.

“My body hurts,” says Hema Shrestha as she stands up to greet me at her clothing store, Curves Corture, in Pulchowk. “I’ve just been back from my gymnastic practise.”

Shrestha has recently taken up the retail business as her side project. She says she ventured into this business basically to keep herself busy.

But as it is, the 25-year-old’s schedule is packed – from her sports routine to film shooting, Shrestha is adding new credits to her curriculum vitae that already boasts a number of accomplishments.

Her first movie Hasiya is to be released this year. An action thriller, Shrestha plays the lead role – it’s something she always wanted to do.

“I always wanted to play the role of an action heroine,” she says. “I had been offered many films before but I wanted to do something different, something that would set me apart.”

And that’s pretty much what Shrestha has been doing – taking up professions that doesn’t necessarily fit everyone’s bill.

Take for instance choreography.

Recalling her first experience as a choreographer for a music video, she said it happened by fluke. While she was modelling for the music video “Sindhuli Gadhi,” she approached the director with her concept, what she could do. That ended up being her first video as a choreographer.

“The director had the vision, and I had an idea.” She says of how she landed her first project.

Since then she has choreographed about 10 music videos and has also taken up her latest movie project Sourya starring Saugat Malla in the lead.

Explaining the profession, she states that choreography isn’t just about coordinating the songs and dance sequences.

“It’s more about the composition,” she says. “It’s about how you make it presentable and make it appealing for the screen.”

But having an interest in dance, her modelling background has certainly helped her to pursue this career, she says

Shrestha started her modelling career as a Miss Nepal 2005 contestant and later went to represent Nepal in Miss Tourism Queen in 2008 in China. But with an avid interest in dance, especially contemporary dance, she always wanted to bring it to use. And music videos, for her, were a good chance to couple the two.

She has modelled for about a dozen music videos including hits like the remixes of “Chiya Barima,” her first video, followed by “Ban Ma Fulyo Ful” and “Maitighar.”

“I was really enjoying what I was doing,” she says.

However, she didn’t end up doing just that, and choreography she says was another step for her. According to her, a lot of young people don’t see this as a viable career option and reasserts that the movie industry is slowly realising the importance of good choreography.

“But it would be difficult to sustain myself just doing that,” she comments and advises that if one is really interested, they should take up choreography and also do something on the side.

“That way you can have control over the quality of your work too because you wouldn’t end up taking projects that you don’t necessarily want,” she says.

Shrestha opines that it’s really important for her to continue doing what she likes, even though that means juggling her multiple interests. From modeling, choreography and acting to running her own business and going for gymnastic practises, she finds them gratifying.

“I’m really happy that I have such eclectic interests,” she says. “They’re all different but they encapsulate me as a person.”