A Migrant Speaks
Dalbir Singh Baraili is a circular migrant, caught between his desire to better his life abroad and his longing to be with his family. Baraili, an ex-soldier, worked in the UAE for a decade before resigning to return to his village in Ramechhap, as seen in the 2009 film, In Search of the Riyal. But work in Nepal paid a fraction of his earnings, so he went abroad again. During his time in the UAE, Baraili gained a reputation for his ghazal writing and also ran a YouTube channel on literature for the Nepali diaspora. His earnings enabled his family to move to Kathmandu. His daughter enrolled in university and a son went to study in the UK.
In 2019, Baraili unexpectedly lost his job in the UAE. Rather than take a lower-paid job as a guard he attempted to make his YouTube channel commercially viable and to become a videographer of weddings and functions. At 50, Baraili may have finally severed the cycle of migration he seemed to be trapped in, but the struggle to maintain his family’s enhance lifestyle is humbling.
Original Language
Nepali/ English
Direction
Aishwarya Baidar
Camera
Siddharha Shakya/ Shyam Karki/ Dalbir Singh Bareily
Editing
Kesang Tseten
Sound
Sukanta Majumdar/ Burri Bolalima
Script
Kesang Tseten
Producer
Kesang Tseten
About the filmmaker.
Kesang Tseten’s documentaries are screened regularly in Nepal and at international film festivals such as Amsterdam, Leipzig, Yamagata, Thessaloniki, Krakow, and the Margaret Mead, among others. His films include the prize-winning Who will be a Gurkha (an IDFA feature length official selection), Trembling Mountain, Macchendranath, Castaway Man, Hospital, and a trilogy on Nepali migrant workers in the Gulf States. He wrote the original screenplay for the feature Mukundo, Nepal’s entry to the academy awards as well as Karma. He is a graduate of Dr Graham’s School in India, Amherst College, and Columbia University.