Dayahang Rai filmography

Dayahang Rai is a Nepali actor who made his debut in the 2009 romantic comedy film Mero Euta Saathi Chha.[1][2] The same year, Rai appeared in the mystery Dasdhunga, in which he portrays the suspected killer of Madan Bhandari, leader of the Communist Party of Nepal;[3] this performance garnered the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.[4][5][6] In 2012, his breakthrough role came in Loot, in which he starred as Gofle, who with his four friends sets out to rob a bank in Kathmandu.[7] Rai's performance was praised and the film was a commercial success.[8][9] He then starred in Deepak Rauniyar's drama Highway (2012).[10][11] In 2013, he appeared in Badhshala, a film about the Nepalese Civil War and the human rights abuses committed by the Nepali Army.[12][13] This film was later banned in Nepal by the military and criticised for empathising with Maoists.[12][14]

Dayahang Rai at the International Theater Festival in 2019

In 2014, Rai appeared in the comedy Jholay, in which he portrays a man who visits Kathmandu to go to a foreign country to find work.[15] His performance received positive feedback from critics.[15] He also starred in Ram Babu Gurung's comedy-drama Kabaddi and Nischal Basnet's crime drama Talakjung vs Tulke. He received widespread critical acclaim for his performance in both films.[16][17][18] Talakjung vs Tulke was selected as the Nepalese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.[19][20] In 2015, Rai won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Sambodhan.[21] That same year, he starred in Kabaddi Kabaddi, the sequel to Kabaddi.[22] This film became one of Nepali cinema's highest-grossing films,[22] and Rai won the National Film Award for Best Actor.[4]

In 2016, Rai appeared in the war drama White Sun, in which he portrays Chandra, an anti-regime partisan Maoist who returns to his village for his father's funeral.[23][24] The film was selected as the Nepali entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.[25] In 2017, Rai starred in Loot 2, the sequel to Loot.[26] This film received mixed feedback from critics and audiences but was a commercial success at the box office.[27] In the film Ghampani, Rai played Furba, a Tamang boy who has an inter-caste marriage with a Brahmin girl.[28][29] In Taandro, he plays Koshish, a member of an underground Maoist party that is trying to overthrow the Government of Nepal.[30] Rai was praised for his portrayal.[30][31]

In 2019, Rai appeared in a supporting role in Saili, for which he won the Kamana Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.[32] The same year, he starred in Jatrai Jatra as a don, and his performance was praised by the critics.[33][34] Later he appeared in the third installment of the Kabaddi series, Kabaddi Kabaddi Kabaddi, which was commercially successful.[35][36] It grossed 14.7 million Nepalese rupees on its first day of screening, setting the record for the highest-grossing opening of a film in Nepal.[37] In 2020, Rai starred in the comedy-drama Senti Virus, which was pulled from cinema halls after three weeks of screening due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal.[38] Apart from acting, Rai produced Machha Machha in 2019.[39]