Saga of Nepal Television's first cameraperson

Shyam Chitrakar, a senior sports journalist and Nepal Television's first camera person, proves that age is nothing but a number. Chitrakar who is now 81-years-old is still seen out and about with his camera, especially in sports competitions.

Chitrakar started using cameras in 1963 and is an exemplary personality of the Nepali communication sector. Before joining media as a sports person he was also a football player. He had played football for Mahabir club for almost 7 years. After that, he was more inclined to snooker and became an official in the snooker association. And now though he might be able to play, his passion has turned him into a sports history collector.

He has taken videos and pictures of all the national sports organized since the National Sports Game started in 1982. His personal collection includes scenes from all the South Asian Games. 1984 as well.

Not only has been an intriguing part of the National sports sector, but he is also the first camera person of Nepal Television since its initial broadcast in 1985.

In the very beginning, Nepal Television did not have any cameras, so his camera was used for the first time. He made documentaries for Nepal Television. And when News recording was started, the news bulletin was shot at his private studio in Bagbazar. 

When King Birendra visited Australia for the first time in 1985, Chitrakar was a part of the team as a camera person along with Nepal Television's founding chairman and general manager Nir Bikram Shah and reporter late Durganath Sharma. He took his personal VHS camera with him and filmed it. At that time, people did not have televisions in their homes to watch the broadcasts, so Nepal Television took TV sets to public places and arranged for the common people to watch news and programs.

Not only was Chitrakar a part of that, but he also followed King Birendra while he visited various districts of the nation for a month.

Chitrakar had also operated the Umatic camera rented by Nepal Television in Australia. He was also a part of the SAARC summit held in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh in 1985. He has also conducted sports-related programs for many years for Nepal Television.

Even after all of the contributions to Nepal Television, and despite getting a job offer as a chief cameraman by the then chairman and general manager of Nepal Television, Nir Bikram Shah, he was more interested in sports and preferred working as a senior photographer for the National Sports Council.

Though he never worked for Nepal Television, his contribution will also be a big part of history as Nepal Television has kept the cameras used by him in a museum.