Shristi Thapa

Mithun Dai: The Cobbler Who Stitches His Life Together On a chilly winter morning in Kalikasthan, Mithun Ram—affectionately known as Mithun Dai—sits cross-legged on a broken legged chair, surrounded by a sea of shoes waiting for his skilled hands. A gentle man in his early sixties, his fingers weave stories much like the leather he carefully stitches. Born in 2032 BS in Saptari, Mithun Dai arrived in Kathmandu in 2051 with nothing but hope and a hunger for survival. He soon found work as a laborer. After sometime, Mithun found his calling in cobbling. “I learned the skills at Bashbari Karkhana near Gangalaal Hospital,” he shares, his eyes reflecting nostalgia. It wasn’t an easy start. After the training he started working on his own. He earned 20-30 Rupees per day, he and his friends would pool their earnings to catch the latest films.  He has worked tirelessly, mastering the art of polishing, resoling, reheeling, and intricate leatherwork. “The first few years were hard,” he admit...

                                                  The film Shattered Glass (2003), directed by Billy Ray, is based on the exposé published in Vanity Fair magazine in 1998. It was written by Buzz Bissinger who detailed Stephen Glass’s fabricated stories, the fallout from his actions, and the efforts of his editor who uncovered the fraud. Later on, the story was adapted by Billy Ray in the movie which gave him a directorial debut.   From the beginning of the movie, it makes use of flashbacks to explore how Stephen Glass constructed his lies  and manipulated people in his office. He is seen describing students about the morals of journalism in the classroom which juxtaposes with immediate scenes where he is violating the very ethics in the newsroom. When the movie is at its peak during the scene of “Hack Heaven” story, it uses cross-cutting editing to...