Neelam Gurung, a Sikkim native, has advanced to the Top 14 of Nepal’s Poet Idol season one. Poet Idol is the first poetry-themed reality show to air in Nepal.
For the show, which is being staged in Kathmandu, many poets from all over the world went through the audition process. Surakshya Panta, Anup Baral, Upendra Subba, and Viplob Pratik are the judges of the show. As the host and presenter, Divya Dev is featured. Producing the show is Z Production Hub. In addition to serving as the show’s director, Aman Pratap Adhikary also serves as executive producer.
Neelam Gurung is a teacher by profession who teaches Nepali language up to the 10th grade and is a native of Sikkim’s capital city of Gangtok. A woman with multiple talents, she is also a voiceover artist, poet, singer, and stand-up comedian.
Despite writing poetry since she was a little child, Neelam asserted that she had not yet created a platform for her work. She is ecstatic to be a part of “Poet Idol,” because the reality show is a revolution in itself. She said in her promo for the Top 14 introduction round that she wanted to be known for her strong, rebellious, and brave poetry, as she writes for women and how society judges them.
The poet sees her speaking voice and delivery style as a strength in addition to her writing, therefore with that in mind, she gives both writing and delivery equal weight. She continued by saying that this was her first visit to Nepal and that she opted to travel by road to get a better understanding of her neighboring nation. She wanted to understand how, although having a similar culture and language, Nepalese in India differ from those in Nepal.
Her recitation precisely accomplished what she desired; a strong, assertive female voice was heard on the Poet Idol sets, dazzling everyone, including the judges. A play was presented to seven contenders in Group A for the top 14. The poets were tasked with creating a poem about a theme they could infer from the drama that was presented. Each poet created a poem according to their vision and visualisation.
Neelam’s video clip, in which she discussed the play and what she inferred from the drama that was shown, was presented before her performance. She said, “I could see exploitation—the exploitation of the weaker sections by cruel politics. People don’t fight for their rights, but they should. They keep complaining, but there is no solution simply because they have accepted the exploitation and have become a part of it. The common people should learn to raise their voices and not entertain injustice, and that is the theme on which I am going to perform.“
She performed her poetry, “Shhatranj ko Kothhe Kameej,” in the same setting. As the name implies, “Shhatranj” is a game of chess, and “Kothhe Kameej” is the player in complete command. This was in accordance with the drama, as the man wearing a checkered shirt, “Kothhe Kameej” was the one exploiting the weaker section of society. Her rebellious poetry focused on issues like how regular people are unwilling to fight for their rights when they are taken away in the name of politics.
Everyone was mesmerized by her performance because it not only highlighted exploitation but also inspired audience members to fight for their rights toward the conclusion. The atmosphere was electrified by the poet’s strong delivery and wise word choice.
One of the judges of the show, Upendra Subba, hailed Neelam for her amazing performance, saying that he had goosebumps. Reading the first few lines of her poem, he described Neelam’s use of words as clever and effective. Suraksha Panta called her voice powerful and expressed her wish to see her in future rounds of the show.
In an interview she gave to DreamLens TV in 2022, Neelam referred to herself as someone who loved and respected her mother tongue, Nepali. She talks about the challenges she faces as a teacher because Nepali is a subject that many students overlook. She thinks the subject needs to be taught with a fresh approach for students to fall in love with their mother tongue. During the discussion, she sang “Byanjan Barna,” a song she had written to aid her kids in becoming familiar with the Nepali alphabet.
Gurung continued by discussing feminism and equality, which are largely the main themes of her poems. She explained why the idea of feminism should not only apply to women because both men and women work together to form a society. In order for the family to function successfully, she continued, both must contribute to every household task as well as their respective professions. She emphasised how certain groups are misusing the idea of feminism for their own benefits, and she termed this worrying since it would prevent some innocent person in another part of the world from enjoying equality.
During the same interview, she was seen performing a few scenes from her stand-up comedy scripts as well as reciting a couple of her poems. She discussed the difficulties of being a stand-up comic and urged audiences to regard comedy merely as a source of enjoyment because, for the most part, comedians don’t mean to offend anyone or any group of people.
Neelam Gurung uses her YouTube channel and her Instagram Handle to share her poetry with the public. Her poetry is outspoken, rebellious, and content-driven, and it addresses a range of societal topics.
Watch Neelam Gurung’s interview with the DreamLens TV –
