By Renuka Dhakal

Kathmandu, Apr. 16: The COVID–19 pandemic has resulted in countless changes in our daily life. In many countries people are obliged to live their daily life in self-quarantine. With the preventive majors against the deadly coronavirus, the government in Nepal has imposed the nationwide lockdown from March 24.
Amid the pandemic, Mithila Sharma, a veteran actress and a great dancer, urged people to stay safe and live simple life. Sharma said that to make family, society, country and the entire world safer an individual should first be safe and people should strictly follow the preventive measures recommended by the WHO (World Health Organisation), including frequent washing of hands, maintaining social distance with people, cleaning the surroundings and so on to keep oneself and others safe from the virus.
Now, nature and the environment are apparently exultant because there is no pollution, however, people are living in a great fear of the pandemic.
She stressed that people should strive for positive vibration and make their living environment as positive as possible.
Talking to The Rising Nepal, she said that exercise, Yoga and meditation could help avoid mental illness like depression, anxiety, frustration and boredom greatly.
“If individuals give one or two hours daily for exercise, they can protect themselves from mental fickleness and lead a healthy life even in the crisis of pandemic,” she said
Sharma is now spending time in quarantine state, reading books, watching movies, reading news and looking after her grandchild. She is making her time as qualitative as possible by reading Pradeep Kumar Gyawali’s “Sahayatri” and other religious books.
However, she is completely opposed to cooking different types of food at this time though many people are spending time making varieties of dishes at home. She further said that nobody knows how long the current crisis of pandemic escalates so people have to save food and gas even for the worst situation.
Sharma was last seen in a critically acclaimed and a successful movie “Aama” released on February 21. She believes that the movie must go through the eyes and stay in the heart and become their own. After Aama’s release, a trend has set as people started calling her aama as after the film Didi (sister) released in 1992 people used to call her didi.
She started her journey to the entertainment industry from the age of 10. Her first performance was Panchakanya (Five girls) in 2030 on the occasion of late king Birendra Shah’s birthday.
Sharma was first screened in the film “Bishwas” directed by Chetan Karki released in 1986. Her role in Mukhunod: Mask Of Desire took her to international film industry. Her films such as Aaphno Manchhe, Sukha Dhukha, Basain, Silsila, Didi, Aama and so on are loved by audiences. She has so far done more than 120 movies and played in more than 100 tele-serials.
She is a great dancer and she loves folk dance and lyrical contemporary dance and she performs magically various forms of dance such as Bharata Natyam, Manipuri dance, Kathak dance and so on.
She is a recipient of various awards including the prestigious Gorkha Dakshin Bahu, Janasewa Shree, Trishaktipatt and various awards and honours.
In regard to Nepali films, she said that a deep research and study are needed to make a quality movie and movie makers should focus on the good content rather than quantity. She further said that the filmmakers should avoid unhealthy competition and there is a dire need for the quality of the film to attract the audience. She said there are many things that are entertaining for viewers these days, if not made into a good movie audiences are easily diverted to something else.