Nischal Basnet is a Nepalese film director and actor who primarily appears in Nepali language films. He made his directorial debut in 2012 with the crime-thriller Loot and wrote screenplay for the film. The film focuses on Hakku Kale (played by Saugat Malla), who masterminds a bank robbery. The film received mixed reviews from the critics, some of whom criticized the script for not being original. According to The Kathmandu Post, the film "changed the discourse of the Nepali film industry". Loot earned 25.5 million Nepalese rupees (approximately US$218,000 in 2019), making it Nepal's highest-grossing film of 2012. Basnet went on to win the Dcine Award for Best Debut Director. In 2014, Basnet acted in and produced Ram Babu Gurung's romantic drama Kabaddi. In the film, Basnet plays Bibek, who tries to abduct a gangster's daughter. The same year, Basnet directed the dark comedy Talakjung vs Tulke. The film is set during the Nepalese Civil War, which lasted from 1996 to 2006. Basnet won the Film Critics Society of Nepal Award for Best Director and the National Film Award for Best Director. 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.

In 2017, Basnet directed Loot 2, the sequel to Loot. Loot 2 grossed 60.1 million Nepalese rupees (approximately US$524,000 in 2019) at the box office, surpassing the lifetime box office gross of Loot. After directing Loot 2, Basnet starred in Dui Rupaiyan (2017), portraying Jureli, one of two characters on a quest to find two rupees. In 2018, Basnet appeared in Dinesh Raut's Prasad, playing the role of Ramesh alongside actors Bipin Karki and Namrata Shrestha. For his role in the film, Basnet was nominated for a Dcine Award and the Kamana Film Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role. Besides acting and directing, Basnet has served as a judge on Sarwanam Theater (2018), Nepal Idol (2019) and Nepal's Mega Cinestar (2019). He has also sung "Udhreko Choli", "Hit Geet", and "Ghyampe".

Films

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Credited as		Role(s)	Film director	Note(s)	Ref.
		Director	Actor
2012	Loot	Yes	No	—	Nischal Basnet
2013	Uma	No	Yes	Bhuwan	Tsering Rhitar Sherpa
2014	Fitkiree	No	Yes	Baburam	Anup Baral
	Kabaddi	No	Yes	Bibek	Ram Babu Gurung	Also a producer
	Talakjung vs Tulke	Yes	Yes	Police officer	Nischal Basnet	Nepalese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film
2015	Kabaddi Kabaddi	No	Yes	Bibek	Ram Babu Gurung
	Zindagi Rocks	No	Yes	Nischal, fiancé of Maya	Nikesh Khadka	Special appearance
2017	Loot 2	Yes	No	Dancer	Nischal Basnet	Special appearance
	Dui Rupaiyan	No	Yes	Jureli	Asim Shah
2018	Changa Chet	No	Yes	—	Dipendra K Khanal	Special appearance
	Prasad	No	Yes	Ramesh	Dinesh Raut
2019	Garud Puran	No	Yes	Singer	Subash Koirala	Special appearance
	Ghamad Shere	No	Yes	Shere	Hemraj B.C.
	Jatrai Jatra	No	Yes	Himself	Pradip Bhattarai	Special appearance
2023	Dimag Kharab †	Yes	No	TBA	Nischal Basnet	Filming
TBA	Damadol †	No	Yes	TBA	Asim Shah	Announced

Television

Title	Year	Role(s)	Note(s)	Ref
Sarwanam Theater	2018	Judge
Nepal Idol		Guest Judge	Appeared alongside Dinesh Raut and Namrata Shrestha
Nepal's Mega Cinestar	2019	Judge
Himalaya Roadies	2022	Guest judge

Music videos

Title	Year	Credited as		Singer(s)	Film	Note(s)	Ref.
		Singer	Actor
"Udhreko Choli"	2012	Yes	No	Indira Joshi, Nischal Basnet	Loot
"Hit Geet"	2015	Yes	No	Nischal Basnet	Kabaddi Kabaddi
"Kutu Ma Kutu"	2017	No	Yes	Rajan Raj Shiwakoti, Melina Rai, Rajan Ishan	Dui Rupaiyan	Features Swastima Khadka, Asif Shah and Basnet
"Kale Dai"		Yes	Yes	Nishcal Basnet, Meena Niraula	Parva
"Ghyampe"		Yes	No	Hercules Basnet ft. Nischal Basnet	Loot 2
"Poko Parera"		Yes	Yes	Nischal Basnet	Lappan Chhappan
"Nacha Firiri"	2018	No	Yes	Mahesh Kafle	—	Features Swastima Khadka and Basnet
"Ma Ta Pirim Ma"		No	Yes	Koshish Chhetri, Manisha Pokhrel	Garud Puran
"Maya Pirim"	2019	No	Yes	Nishan Bhattarai, Manisha Pokhrel	Jatrai Jatra	Features Karishma Manandhar and Basnet
"Sali Mann Paryo"		No	Yes	Kali Prasad Baskota, Ashmita Adhikari	Ghamad Shere	Features Swastima Khadka and Basnet