Obituary - Sunil Thapa

Kobold mourns the passing of Sunil Thapa, Nepal's most iconic actor portraying villains of all backgrounds.

Sunil was a Koboldian and a member of the Nepal Fire Truck Expedition. After making a name for himself in Nepal, Sunil became popular in Indian Bollywood films, before returning to Nepal where he drew a large crowd everywhere he went.

Improbably, Sunil remained down-to-earth in spite of his immense success. In 2015, in the middle of the secret Indian blockade of Nepal, Sunil agreed to do a sit-down interview on very short notice. After he was reached by phone, Sunil arrived at the Kobold offices in Kathmandu only half an hour later - record time for anyone in Nepal, much less a Nepali - to the complete surprise of the camera team and Michael Kobold, who had wanted to interview the Minister of Supplies, also named Sunil Thapa. Instead of taking offense for being "the wrong Sunil Thapa," the actor simply laughed out loud and then improvised by helping the film team set up a shoot in another location in the middle of Kathmandu.

In July 2017, following two devastasting earthquakes in 2015, Sunil joined Sopranos actor Michael Imperioli and Michael Kobold to launch the Nepal Fire Truck Expedition at the iconic and newly-rebuilt Boudhanath stupa.