Nepal, Aug. 18 -- Picture a serene lake, its waters placid and calm. A rock drops and breaks the surface tension, sending out ripples that spread across the lake. And suddenly, the lake isn't that tranquil anymore.

If that body of water is the Nepali film industry, then that rock, by her own admission, is Rekha Thapa.

"I kicked my way into the film industry in a skirt," she says, confident, assertive, outspoken-every bit the Rekha Thapa you have come to expect. "If I was going to aim a kick at someone, I wasn't going to do it in a sari."

Thapa, at just 16, came into the film industry like a wrecking ball. At a time when female Nepali actors were meek and subservient accessories to their male counterparts, Thapa made a name for herself ...