Suntali’s life story and her inspiration

Kathmandu / Feb 18: Kunjana Ghimire, aka Suntali, is a Nepali comedian, actor and social worker. She is one of the main characters of Nepali TV series ‘Meri Basai’. Republica’s Prasansha Rimal had a conversation with Kunjana about her career and life.

How did you start off your career?

I was involved in various extra circular activities in school. I used to participate in inter-school, valley wide competitions and was outgoing. After completion of SLC, I gave my first voice test for Radio Nepal and started acting in dramas and hosted a show called ‘Sathi Sanga Man ka Kura.’ In this process I got a chance to meet various actors and got involved in this sector. I worked for various TV serials like ‘Tito Satya’, ‘Aparadh’, ‘Jiban Chakra.’ I even worked for serials on public awareness and in 2006 I started working as Suntali for Meri Basai.

What made you establish Dhurmus- Suntali Foundation?

We were doing a show in US when the devastating earthquake of April 25 took place. When we heard the news, we were devastated and thought we should come back to Nepal. Sitaram and I were appointed as the sanitation ambassador by the government before we left for US. And we had collected Rs.17, 00,000 to build toilet along highways. But after we heard the news of earthquake, we returned to Nepal and used that money to build toilets and also distribute various relief materials. First, we built toilets in Pipal Danda of Sindhupalchwok then we built school in Nuwakot and later 20 houses colony at Kavre. Our social work started as a relief action to earthquake and soon got collaboration from various people and organizations. We never thought that we would establish Dhurmus-Suntali Foundation but the satisfaction we got while working in this field was overwhelming. We no longer wanted to work only for ourselves, but also wanted to work for society and the country. The feedback we received after we started relief work for only few months was enough to persuade us to establish the Dhurmus-Suntali Foundation.

You seem to be more engaged in social work rather than acting, how do you plan to take both your career in acting and social work?

The establishment of Dhurmus-Suntali Foundation was unintentional; we just wanted to help out people. My passion has always been acting, and so I will continue to act as I always want to make people smile. Aside from acting, I also want to do things that will not only just benefit myself. I want to give back to the people of my country. So I plan to work in both fields with dedication and hard work.

How can we motivate youth to be involved in social work?

I know youth in our country have many problems but they should know that social work provides internal satisfaction. Youth should focus on building their career and at the same time think about the country, community and society because if the young generation doesn’t work for the country, no one will. Source: http://www.myrepublica.com/news/15101