By Renuka Dhakal
Kathmandu, Oct. 7: There is a saying that art has no boundary, it flows like a river and eventually reaches its destination.
Like this, many Nepali artistes have gone to different countries to explore their art and similarly, many artistes from India have come to Nepal to establish themselves in Nepali entertainment sector.
Among such artiste, actress Uma Giri (Baby) is one, who came to Nepal from Sikkim, eastern part of India, to establish herself as a Nepali actress. Before coming to Nepal, she had become popular as an actor, dancer and model in Sikkim though she was a young girl.

Like many other actresses of Nepali filmdom, she was introduced to Nepali film industry by veteran filmmaker Tulsi Ghimire. While in Sikkim, Uma came to know that director Ghimire was auditioning for his film Lahana in Sikkim.
She was excited to meet a successful director like Ghimire and decided to give the audition. She was only 14 then and Ghimire told her that she was too young to act in the film but her acting skills had impressed Ghimire.
After three years, Ghimire remembered her for another role. She was extremely excited and travelled to Kalimpong, Darjeeling from Sikkim for the audition. Giri won Ghimire's heart and she was selected for the TV serial Jhajhalko.

This is how her journey from Sikkim to Nepal began through filmmaker Ghimire. Since then, she has acted over two dozen films and she also started her own production house, Uma Films.
From the Uma Films they have produced the films like Ishara, Sisha and Kahinkatai.
Giri considers director Ghimire as her mentor and under his guidance, she moved to Kathmandu and debuted at Tod as its lead actress.

Giri is now busy preparing her next film Krit-Kabya. She is collaborating with Akash Adhiakri, one of the celebrated directors of Nepal. She said that Adhikari and herself would do the lead role in the new film. The film will be shot in Sikkim and Darjeeling in India and in various places in Nepal. Giri informed that the film will be made in both Hindi and Nepali languages.

When asked how she enchanted in acting, she said that she was keenly interested in dancing from her childhood. She participated in various programmes held in schools and other cultural events. Impressed by her unfathomable talent and deep passion for dance, the Sikkim State Government had approached her to be a member of State Cultural Department.
This opportunity provided her multiple platforms to explore her talent. Along with modeling and acting, she performed all across India through various regional programmes and received a lot of accolades. She was also presented award on the Republic Day by the then Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh.

Recently, she was also awarded with the Best Actress Award by Season Media in Nepal. She started her acting journey quite earlier. At the age of just 15, she acted in Maya Garchhu Timilai, which she said was the first film ever produced in Sikkim. She also acted in the Bangali language film.
In Nepal, she acted in the films like Tod, Majhi Mama, Desh Dekhi Videsh, Dhoon, Satyadeep, Shisha, Phool and others.

She said that she did a few movies but I got opportunities to work with Nepali actors like Biraj Bhatta, Nikhil Upreti, Dilip Rayamajhi, Rekha Thapa, Uttam Pradhan, Aaryan Sigdel and others.
She was also offered Hindi language TV serials and films, however, she chose Nepali film industry and because of that she didn’t accept the offer. As a result, she has become a popular actress of Nepali filmdom. She said she was satisfied with what she achieved while doing films in Nepal.