Counter-Hegemonic currents in SeemaRekha

Abstract

This research tries to explore how Kishor Rana Magar's 1997 Nepali feature film SeemaRekha projects counter-hegemonic currents on the notion of shilanyas of Nepali nation- state beginning with Dravya Shah's conquest of Liglig. It further examines how the employment of cinematographic rhetoric serves for the SeemaRekha’s politics of drawing the border line of the Magar chiefdom Liglig in the rise of the House of Gorkha. It also shows this film does not picturize the state-sponsored line of ideology which records the history from aristocracy to get consent from the Magar nationality for approval of Dravya Shah's of victory over Liglig without shedding a single drop of blood from winning Liglig race competition. By taking theoretical sights on motion picture photography by James Monaco and Jon Lewis and Gramscian approach of hegemony and idea of representation by Stuart Hall, the present research concludes that the movie projects counter-hegemonic currents featuring the people of Liglig including their chief Dalasur Ghale Magar in the silver screen from behind the black curtain of history of hegemony to represent, speak out for, and testify to the sufferings of the Magar indigenous group. Keywords: counter-hegemony, representation, identity, discourse of nationality, foundational narrative