Move over, Bruce Lee

Local Nepali Shuny Bee masters martial arts, filmmaking

By Matthew Graham

Pamplin Media Group, Oct 30, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Martial arts master Shuny Bee performs precise moves with nunchucks in his Clackamas studio. Bee, who originally is from Nepal, is starring in a new movie, “The Gorkha Protector,” which will make its debut at the Hollywood Theatre on Nov. 1.

JONATHAN HOUSE / TRIBUNE PHOTO

More than two decades ago, Nepal native Shuny Bee was working as a teenage actor in Bombay, India, doing commercials and TV shows, hoping for Bollywood stardom.

A friend of his traveled from Nepal to enlist his help in rescuing two girls who had been brought to Bombay and sold into prostitution.

Bee and his friend risked their lives to take on a monolithic crime syndicate to free the girls and return them to Nepal.

Now 39 years old, Bee has written and stars in a film about the incident. “Gorkha Rakshyak,” or “The Gorkha Protector,” premieres in Portland on Saturday, Nov. 1, at the Hollywood Theatre. Gorkha is another name for the people of Nepal, which is where the movie was filmed and produced.

In the film, a fictional work based on the actual events, Bee’s character has spent his life in a Buddhist monastery meditating and training his body, mind and spirit. He experiences enlightenment in the form of a new concept of martial arts, which he calls Bajra. (“Bajra” is a Sanskrit word meaning “thunderbolt.”)

Upon leaving the monastery he encounters a world of gang violence and drugs, which he dedicates his life to fighting.

The film also stars Oregonian Robert Madrigal, 38, who has trained with Bee for about 10 years. In the film, Madrigal plays a student learning the philosophy and principles of the Bajra technique.

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