My journey began thirty-four years ago as a hotelier in Mustang. One afternoon, Captain Sudhir Rai of the then Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation approached me and inquired about the possibility of shooting a Hindi film in the area.

A business so huge was coming to my place! I couldn’t say no. I said, “Yes, it’s possible.” At that time, I was working tirelessly for the development of this area. Everyone supported me. Hearing my positive response, he must have told the film unit members, “It’s definitely possible.”

The reality was that Indian director Mukul Anand was going to make a film called Khuda Gawah with a budget of INR 50.7 million, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi in the lead roles.

Afghanistan was chosen for the film’s shooting. The then president of Afghanistan, Mohammad Najibullah, was a “die-hard fan” of Amitabh. He arranged for the shooting to take place in the Panjshir Valley of northeastern Afghanistan. Although the Afghan Air Force provided security for 18 days, the shooting was stopped midway due to security concerns.

Captain Sudhir’s close friend, Danny Denzongpa, asked after the shooting was stopped in Afghanistan, “Isn’t there any place in Nepal that has a geography similar to Afghanistan’s? If we could shoot there, it would be amazing.”

During the making of the Nepali film Saino, a deep friendship had formed between Sudhir and Danny. They were having a conversation. My answer, passed from Sudhir to Danny, reached Mukul.

One day, Mukul Anand arrived in a hurry in Mustang by helicopter. He was accompanied by film producers Manoj Desai and Nazir Ahmad. They studied the locations here for a few days. Before returning, Mukul made a proposal: “Everything else is fine. As for the hotel, five rooms must have attached bathrooms. The interior of the rooms also needs some improvement.”

At that time, my hotel had only two rooms with attached bathrooms. According to Mukul, it was essential for the rooms where Amitabh, Danny, Sridevi, South Indian superstar Nagarjuna, and Shilpa Shirodkar were to stay to have attached bathrooms.

After that, we reached an agreement: the unit members involved in the shooting would be provided food at a rate of four hundred rupees per person per day, and the stars and VIPs at a rate of one thousand rupees per person per day.

Within three months of Mukul’s return, I ‘upgraded’ the interior of five rooms and prepared bathrooms with commodes by having materials brought from Pokhara.

On October 5, 1991, the first unit of the film landed at Jomsom Airport in Mustang. They had come directly to Mustang after landing in Kathmandu from Mumbai via Delhi. Later, others also arrived, totaling 92 people. A camera and a Nagra sound system were brought from there for the shooting.

To see star artists like Amitabh and Sridevi, a crowd of locals gathered at Jomsom Airport on the first day. But apart from that day, the locals didn’t show much interest. Amitabh used to say, “The thing I like most here is the behavior of the locals. If it were in India, how could we shoot so openly?”

For the shooting, two horses were brought from Rajasthan, India. The horses were meant for the ‘climax.’ But after it rained again at Ghorepani, those horses could not climb the steep trail. Many people were used to bringing the horses up to Jomsom. There was also an extra expense. Still, the horses didn’t arrive. The film’s action director, Tinu Verma, was furious. He hit the unit members responsible for bringing the horses with a stick. After that, I provided my own three horses. A total of 82 horses were used in the shooting. I had managed all of these as well. They spent an additional five hundred rupees for the horses.

Nepali action director Rajendra Khadgi also came to Mustang with 10 fighters. During the shooting, one person’s arm was broken after falling from a horse.

During the approximately one-month-long shooting, some unforgettable events took place. For the film, mineral water was brought into Mustang from Pokhara for the first time. Similarly, a fridge was also brought to Mustang for the first time.

To prepare food for Amitabh Bachchan, I had called cooks from Pokhara’s Fishtail Hotel. Sridevi, however, was accustomed to eating South Indian food. She had brought a cook from Mumbai. I also saw a ‘side-change’ CD player for the first time.

Electricity had just reached Mustang. I had also installed a small solar panel. Therefore, there was not much inconvenience with the lights. People used to watch the Indian channel Doordarshan by setting up an antenna. They also watched it a lot.

Shilpa Shirodkar’s mother had also come with her. Mukul’s brother Rahul had also come. Three rooms were made available for Amitabh. In one of them, he and his makeup man, Deepak, and manager, Pravin Jain, would stay in the other two.

October 11 was Amitabh’s birthday. He was turning 51. One day before that, his wife, Jaya Bachchan, and Amar Singh (a leader of the Socialist Party from Uttar Pradesh) arrived in Mustang. They had brought a ‘birthday cake’ from Mumbai. The birthday was celebrated with great pomp at night. After staying here for two or three days, they returned.

The artists would be busy with the shooting all day. At night, they had to have a light drink. They had brought Bacardi rum and whiskey from Mumbai. They would have a lot of fun. One day, Danny proposed that he and Amitabh sit and drink whiskey together. How could he say no? It was a lot of fun.

Danny had an amazing ‘tuning’ with Amitabh. In the morning, both of them would play table tennis for one hour. I had arranged it myself. Danny played very well, but Amitabh was just okay.

One day, I was sitting at the counter, and Danny asked, “Don’t you have any tharra, brother?” He wanted to taste the local alcohol. I had it brought from the village. The next morning, he was saying, “It’s sweet.”

He would occasionally ask me, “Hasn’t anyone not paid you?” His intention was, “Hasn’t anyone from the unit left a debt?”

As the shooting continued, the weather took a sudden, frigid turn. Lacking modern air conditioning, the hotel staff did their best to keep the guests warm by placing bowls of burning charcoal in the rooms. This, however, caused a major scare, as the smoke severely bothered Amitabh’s existing breathing problem, leaving him unable to sleep throughout the night and almost leading to a serious medical emergency.

At that time, Jomsom had a local doctor nicknamed “Jai Nepal” for his frequent greeting. We woke him up late that night and brought him to the hotel. Following his instructions, Major Taj Man Singh Basnyat, a company commander in the Nepal Army, secured an oxygen cylinder from the nearby barracks. This swift action saved Amitabh’s life, and he did not return to the set for the next three days.

Amitabh also had a lot of trouble while going to shoot towards Muktinath from Jomsom.

On the night before the entire shooting was finished and they were to return to Kathmandu, Amitabh called me to his room and said, “On the way to Muktinath, I saw places for pedestrians to sit. Please arrange to have some seating built there.”

Saying this, he gave me Rs 10,000. After the shooting, Sridevi and Danny were the first to leave Mustang. The shooting of their next film, Lamhe, was in Pokhara. Amitabh, however, stayed for a few more days.

Regarding the money Amitabh gave, I informed the then CDO (Chief District Officer). After Amitabh had left, we went to Pokhara and built a rest area. We had it written, “Dedicated by Amitabh Bachchan.” We sent a photo of the rest area and a signed letter from the CDO to Amitabh’s manager, Jain, in Mumbai.

I am sad that the rest area that Indian film superstar Amitabh Bachchan built is now gone. We could have promoted it all over the world. This could have been of great importance to Indian tourists.

There is another interesting thing associated with Amitabh during the shooting of Khuda Gawah. His feet would hang off the bed. To prevent his feet from getting cold, we had to join two beds in an ‘L’ shape.

After staying in Mustang for about a month, Amitabh was very happy with our hospitality. He gave a good review of the hotel, which brought my hotel more fame. Now, Indian tourists who come to Mustang compete to sleep in the room where Amitabh Bachchan stayed. That’s why we have kept the price of the room he stayed in a little higher than the others.

(Based on a conversation of Nabin Aryal with Bishnuraj Hirachan)