During the launch, the Chancellor of Nepal Music and Drama Academy (NMDA), Sarubhakta Shrestha, said that he was happy to see Malla still actively involved in the uplifting of Nepali theatre and also wished for the artist’s good health. “We have so much to learn from him. He alone is a library for us,” said Shrestha.

Also speaking at the programme, Ghimire Yubaraj, artistic director of Shilpee Theatre, pointed out the dire need for the initiation, on the government’s part, in preserving and acknowledging the contribution made by the likes of Malla and other veteran artists and writers.

Then, the author took the stage to give a speech. He said that he was very glad to find so many talented youngsters actively working on making the art of drama as competitive as any other form. Malla, who had studied drama in the then USSR in the 1960s, is often credited with having initiated the practice of modern theatre techniques in Nepal, which played an important role in shaping contemporary Nepali drama.

He was one of the closest pupils of legendary dramatist Balkrishna Sam. The septuagenarian’s influential book Nepali Ragnamanch, published almost three decades earlier, has been deemed by critics as a must-read for anyone wishing to know about the history and the workings of Nepali theatre.