Pioneering movie watching experience in Nepal.
After finishing his education from Taiwan, Nakim Uddin came back to Nepal. Soon he found himself helping his father in his 4 x 6 feet pote shop. A British lady bought them orders for Harrods and Uddin managed to run his father’s shop successfully. During the 1988 Indian embargo that lasted for 18 months, their shop ran out of supplies. That was when he mustered up the courage to ask his father to set him free on his journey.
Uddin was very fond of traveling and wanted to convert this passion of his into something. While working for his father he came across many people who were into handicraft business. Nepali handicrafts were in high demand in the European nations. He travelled to Europe, Australia and Japan selling silver jewellery and traveling. By then he hand fallen in love with his future wife, a Hindu Brahmin girl.
Singh made the courageous decision to travel to Kathmandu to realize her dreams. Worst nightmares awaited her in the capital of Nepal.
Trading, travel agency, hydropower there were many things that Uddin tried his hands on. After the reform of the Indian economy, he had to close down his trading business as importing to India was not possible. His travel agency also closed down when the Maoist insurgency hit the country. With two other partners, Rajesh Siddhi and Bhaskar Dhungana, the idea for cinema business started.
Uddin enjoyed watching cinema but whenever his wife took him to the existing cinemas in Nepal, he would always vow that he wouldn’t go there a next time. He also had a licence in hydropower but did not understand much about it. He asked one of his relatives to make his a commissioner and bought in the finances. He handed the project over and got out of the industry realising that it was not his cup of tea.
For the next 12 years, Uddin remained fully concentrated on the cinema business. Before QFX was branded, the team began with screening only English films, but proved to be financially difficult. That was when they bought in Hindi films and also started cinema distribution business. The celluloid technology is very expensive and each set for each theatre was not possible. Uddin and his team hired people who transferred the reel from one hall to another. It was very accident prone and they decided to give up on the method after one of their staff members got into a serious accident.
They continued their research and found that UFO movies in India had come up with a digital solution which was affordable. The team bought the company to Nepal and began digitizing their theatres. Now, the team also provides digitization service.
Uddin felt that the Nepali film industry was producing a copy of other movies instead of coming out with our own unique stories. That was when the team also ventured into filmmaking. Kagbeni was the first movie followed by other critically acclaimed movies like Sano Sansar, Suntali, etc. He believes that it is necessary to create an identity for Nepali movies. The film making unit had to soon shut itself because of lack of losses. During this time, the team realized that movies do much better in shopping malls instead of stand alone theatres.
And so the first multiplex in civil mall was started. A need for brand was felt and the QFX was born. QFX was a word derived from the commonly used terms in cinema VFX and HFX. Team Quest is the parent company of QFX and it is the first cinema corporate house in Nepal.
Uddin believes there is no shortcut for success. It is only through determination and focus that the success of QFX was possible. He believes that the work we do must excite us, motivate us to wake up every morning and go to work. Uddin is also involved in Young Presidents’ Organization through which learnings of the past generation can be shared with the new ones.
Nakim Uddin’s entrepreneurial ventures begin from his early days as he traveled to europe, Australia and japan to sell Nepali handicrafts. With little savings Uddin began trading, travel business and worked as a hydropower commission agent. But he would spend his crucial time into the cinema business QFX, which has revolutionized the cinema experience in Nepal. Uddin is the Director of Team Quest.
