Shaurya Singh Thapa is a journalist and freelance writer from India who indulges the nitty-gritties of cinema, music, history and pop culture. His interests in cinema range from mainstream Hollywood to regional picks from all his native country and the rest of the world. Instead of Netflix and Prime, he is an unabashed promoter of the streaming platform Tubi mainly because it's free and because it offers some of his preferred low-budget cult classics like The Toxic Avenger, WolfCop, The Evil Bong, Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter and Post Apocalyptic Commando Shark. While he's not a filmmaker by profession, "auteurs" like Tommy Wiseau (The Room) and Ed Wood (Plan 9 From Outer Space) are his role models in life. Thapa also makes Instagram satirical posts/memes and makes parody rap/pop music on the side.
Experience and Education
Thapa's tryst with journalism began in his undergraduate years when he was pursuing History (with the hopes of being Indiana Jones or in his case, "Indian" Jones). As a student reporter in his alma mater Delhi University, Thapa started out as a ground reporter and copy editor for DU Beat, the campus newspaper and India's largest student-run publication. Within a year, he became DU Beat's Web Editor. This was followed by a regular stint as a listicle and features writer for Canadian infotainment site Screen Rant, penning more than 1100 articles on movies, comics, music, books, ending explainers etc. He also spent a year working as a Sub-Editor for the acclaimed India Today magazine's digital section. He also authored news reports and features, conducted guest intervies and manages Instagram content for India Today's subsidiary website DailyO. As a freelancer, Thapa's observations on cinema have been published in CBR, Film Companion, LiveWire and Firstpost.
Favourite Movies and TV-Shows
Thapa bases his personality by quoting The Room (arguably the worst movie ever made or the movie that's so bad that it's good) so that Tommy Wiseau classic is definitely up there among his favourite movies. Other go-to movies include Stand By Me, anything by Spike Lee or Spielberg, The King of Comedy (best Scorsese movie, period), Shrek and a whole lot of Aamir Khan movies from India. He's also a dedicated horror aficionado, deriving pleasure out of Hereditary, The Empty Man and Talk To Me. As for TV shows, any show with a morally ambigious self-hating protagonist works for him (Barry, Fleabag, Bojack Horseman, Succession, The Sopranos, Better Call Saul, Atlanta, Flowers). You can follow him on Instagram at @dalai_thapa.
