The sports boy matures to ace reality television
“I find the word ‘old’ a cliché. There’s a stereotypical thinking of how someone my age should be. But that’s not who I am,” says Aman Pratap Adhikary, 46, a man of many talents, one of them his ability to start a good conversation at any given place and time. “I say this because when I posted my age on my birthday recently, some people said I was getting old. I’m friends with my young daughter and son, and I think I’m their age.” Adhikary, currently popular as the “Don Director” of the youth-favorite reality show “Roadies,” is a busy man in Nepali television. Starting his TV career as a sports program presenter/producer in the late 90s, Adhikary has experienced Nepali television like no other person: making sports programs, commentating, to directing music videos to making documentaries, he has done it all. And he has now found his calling in reality TV, a new challenge.
But how did he get into making something whose audience is mostly teens and young people in their mid- 20s? “Well, it’s because I think young and act young,” he says. “I even try out all the tasks for Roadies, as long as my crew permits me.” Adhikary says he maintains certain discipline in his life to keep him both physically and mentally strong. That he was an A-division footballer before joining television helps.
After having spent years in Nepali TV channels, Adhikary’s actual growth, as he puts it, started when he left for Scotland in mid-2000s. There, he got a degree in Television and Film Production from the Edinburgh University and also interned in international production houses. He believes his six years in Scotland shaped his career for the better.
But why did he come back to Nepal despite being eligible to apply for PR in the UK and having already gotten a decent job? “A mentor once asked me if I wanted to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond,” he says. “That struck me. I chose the former and here I am, using all my education and experience in Nepal.”
When Adhikary came back in 2010, he started “Venturing Nepal”, an adventure show that used multi-camera productions, then directed “Kripa Unplugged,” a music program that combined multi-camera production with studio-grade recording. “People were kind of surprised initially when I directed Kripa as they had seen me do just sports and adventures. Only a few knew I was the son of poet/lyricist Kshetra Pratap Adhikary and I grew up having musical legends like Narayan Gopal and Gopal Yonzon hanging out in my house.”
Adhikary was looking for the next big challenge when he was approached for Roadies. It was a big challenge for Adhikary as Roadies was a franchise that had been running in India since 2003, and the standards set by the production company were high. But with his experience, and support from the crew, the first season of Roadies was aired in 2017 and there has since been no looking back. “It was difficult initially when we had to start from scratch and gather a crew which could shoot Roadies,” he says. “We also had to get verifications and approvals for literally everything from India. But at one point, they let us work independently and even praised our work. That was a big achievement for us.”
With the popularity of Roadies at its peak, Adhikary also directed the very first season of “Ko Bancha Crorepati”, another franchise reality TV show. “That was textbook for me though,” he says. “While I was very passionate about Roadies, Crorepati was me using what I’d learnt in college.” He again credits his Roadies team for helping him out with Crorepati and says they are ready to take on any new challenge. That confidence has also promoted him to explore the launch of the Indian franchise “Splitsvilla” in Nepal. The project, an ambitious one, is still in its pre-production phase.
But Adhikary is more excited about his own reality production called “Shailee”, a poetry show where participants will have to woo the audience and the judges not only with their writing skills, but also their presentation. “This is our own offering, dedicated to my father,” he says. “We’re looking for the X-factor in Nepali poets and giving them an outlet for an outburst.” Shailee, Adhikary informs, is all set for production and will soon be launched
A diary full of embarrassing clichés
Most love stories, as we know them, are full of clichés, repeated for generations to give the receptors a romantic facade. Familiar with the girl-boy enmity that turns into love? A love triangle where the bond of friendship overrides and makes room for life-altering sacrifices? A good-turns-evil or evil-turns-good character change? We’ve watched them all in cinemas, daily soaps, music videos and all kinds of consumable video materials for years.
Until when will the audience be subjected to these irrational clichés, and continue to have their intelligence challenged? Released this week, “Love Diaries” is a supposed romantic drama that in reality is nothing but a show-reel of repetitive banalities. In fact, one is forced to consider if the filmmakers first jotted down all the available clichés into their diaries, and then nonchalantly wrote a plot over them.
Love Diaries was meant to be a Valentine’s special. Directed by newcomer Saurav Chaudhary, the movie collided in its release with Bollywood veteran Imtiaz Ali’s “Love Aaj Kal,” both the films trying to capitalize on the Valentine’s Day crowd. It was courageous on the part of the distributors and producers to release the Nepali movie against Love Aaj Kal which stars the current Bollywood heartthrob Kartik Aaryan.
Unfortunately, both the movies failed to make V-Day romantic enough. There are reports of Love Aaj Kal’s weak collections, with critics already claiming the market has rejected it. We can only guess from the empty cinema halls, the dwindling number of daily shows, and social media word-of-mouth that Lovie Diaries too is a box-office dud.
It’s a story of three strangers who cross paths and then intermingle in a complicated relationship, like hundreds of similar romantic movies released across the world. Needless to say, even the characters are written dispassionately and the lack of creativity in writing (both the plot and dialogues) makes one cringe.
Nirvan Narsingh Rana (Sushil Shrestha) is a wealthy NRN, born and brought up in Canada, who is forcibly sent to Nepal by his father to curb his drinking and womanizing habits. Ram Aryal (Bishwojit Rimal) is a migrant worker who’s deported from England and has a family loan to settle in his hometown of Chitwan. Sanjana Malla (Rubeena Thapa) is a Kathmandu-girl who wants to be an interior designer against the will of her father.
A hotel in Chitwan—owned by Nirvan’s father, where Ram works as Nirvan’s assistant and Sanjana as the interior designer—becomes the plot’s epicenter. What then transpires between them has been played onscreen for years, only presented rather absurdly in this one. The story of how they get to Chitwan—don’t even ask. The screenplay offers more jerks than a Ratnapark-Jorpati microbus trying to outrun its competitor.
The writing is not the only disappointment in the movie. There’s a feeling of immatureness, negligence and sloppiness surrounding the whole production. The night scenes suffer from terrible lighting while continuity is a forgotten art for the filmmakers.
Debutant Bishwojit is the biggest let-down. His presence onscreen makes one question the filmmakers’ intent. With zero acting skills, feeble dialogue delivery and the most unassertive gait possible, Bishwojit proves to be a disastrous choice for the lead, not that the filmmakers seem to care much about other aspects of the movie.
Another debutant, Rubeena, kind of becomes a causality amid all this mess. But she definitely draws attention with her acting as well as dancing skills. She’s a promising performer who hopefully makes better choices in the future.
Who should watch it?
Well, we met a group of a dozen-odd young men who’d come to the theater just for Sushil Shrestha. Performance-wise, the actor is just repeating his character from “Hostel Returns” (2016) for which he earned many young fans. If you’re not among his big fans, spare the ticket-money for another film.
Rating: 1 star
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Run time: 2hrs 5min
Director: Saurav Chaudhary
Cast: Sushil Shrestha, Rubeena Thapa, Bishwojit Rimal
Nepali Joker bites the dust
When the first-look poster of “Selfie King” was released a few months ago, it was widely criticized and trolled on social media for its similarities with the Hollywood movie “Joker”. But having watched both, I can confidently say there is no similarity of any sort. Joaquin Phoenix’s “Joker” was a psychological thriller that had the lead character—a failed comedian—descend into insanity and nihilism. Bipin Karki’s “Selfie King” is rather about a successful comedian who fails to manage his life. The big difference is, while Phoenix was able to put in an Oscar-winning performance, Karki has become a victim of bad writing, poor direction, and lethargic screenplay, a casualty of his own reputation as it were.
“Selfie King” disguises itself as a compelling drama depicting the problematic life of a popular performer, but the movie turns out to be an overly ambitious project. It is a cinematic blunder that botches Karki’s reputation as an ace method actor, because there’s no method to this madness. For an actor who has banked more on his acting skills than on his looks and publicity, Karki’s credibility from roles like “Bindu” in Chhadke (2013), “Bhasme Don” in Pashupati Prasad (2016), “Phanindra Timsina” in Jatra (2016) and even the lesser known “Goldie” in Naakaa (2017) are questioned as he utterly underwhelms as the “Selfie King.”
Debutant director Bishal Sapkota relies too much on Karki’s character and gives him so much screen time that all other characters pale into insignificance. And Karki, despite his proven talent, is unable to connect with the audience in and as “Selfie King.” He manages to emulate the intensity of Phoenix’s Joker at times, but rare are the occurrences. The result is an excruciatingly slow movie with no palpable conflicts and resolutions, and no grit to hold the story together. And, would you believe it: despite being centered on a comedian, the movie doesn’t have a single laughter-inducing scene?
The protagonist Gopal Dahal goes by the stage name Selfie King, for no convincing reason as it’s evident from some scenes that he’s uncomfortable taking selfies. His mother is his biggest fan but his father, not so much. But when his father has a brain stroke and is hospitalized for surgery, the story takes a new turn.
Selfie King then has to undertake two journeys. One, travelling to the remote Salleri in Solukhumbu district for a stage show. The other, his journey to find himself amid self-doubt, guilty recollections and fear of fading out. Unfortunately, the parallels are far from perfect and the audience soon tires of the forced efforts.
Written by the director himself, the film’s screenplay is extremely loose and the story unconvincing. Selfie King appears to be a well-recognized comedian since people instantly recognize him. Then the question comes, why is he not making much money despite the huge popularity? Only the writers know.
There’s no evidence that his popularity is waning either. There are tangential hints at times, but not enough to justify his downfall. The drinking and extramarital affairs are his vices, but again, not enough to spiral him into the state he is in. Without backstories to establish his situation, the character of Selfie King is so poorly written that even an actor of Karki’s caliber cannot get the audience to empathize with him, including in potentially the most poignant scenes.
The film does tries to portray the lives of performing artists whose work is not taken seriously by even their own families. Lack of privacy, stress of having to keep a presentable personality in public inner suffering, fear of waning popularity, cost of stardom and insecurities from younger prodigies—the film tries to paint them all. But the painting has by this time become so abstract that the audience is unable to understand either its form or features.
Who should watch it?
This is one of those painful times we cannot recommend even a highly-anticipated Nepali film. But we have to bite the bullet on this one for our revered readers and advise them to stay away. Not worth your time.
Rating: 1 star
Genre: Drama
Director : Bishal Sapkota
Cast : Bipin Karki, Laxmi Bardewa, Abhay Baral
Run time: 1hr 50mins
Saif shines in his signature role, again
From his entry into the Bollywood film industry in 1993, Saif Ali Khan has played a wide variety of roles. In fact, he is one of the few mainstream Bollywood actors who take huge in playing non-conformist characters. But coming straight from the success of “Tanhaji” which was preceded by the semi-flop “Lal Kaptaan,” Saif as an actor and a producer in “Jawaani Jaaneman” goes back to doing what he does best—playing the ladies’ man, the cool dude, the Casanova, the ‘man-child’ with commitment issues.
Be it his first commercial success “Yeh Dillagi” (1994) with Akshay Kumar through which he Oley Oleyed into limelight or the box-office successes “Hum Tum” (2004) and “Salaam Namaste” (2005), Saif has excelled in playing the urban alpha male with suave. And in this latest release, he reprises his character into making this light-hearted, PG comedy “Jawaani Jaaneman.”
Directed by Nitin Kakkar, Saif stars as Jaswinder “Jazz” Singh, a London-based real estate broker who lives a happy bachelor life. Jazz is this upper-middle class, 40-something dude who doesn’t have to put in a lot of effort at work, has the self-proclaimed ‘swag’, is a serial womanizer, parties almost every night and is terrified of commitments or any changes in his life. Seemingly, he is oblivious to his growing age too.
But the real story starts when he ‘picks up’ a 21-year-old “Tia” (Aliya Furniturewala) from the bar with all the wrong intent and she in turn surprises him by revealing that he might have 33.33 percent chance of being her dad. It won’t be a spoiler to let the audience know that Jazz eventually turns out to be Tia’s father, and Tia is pregnant with her ex-boyfriend. The film’s intent is not to keep secrets from the audience but reveal conflicting situations in the characters’ lives after these shocks.
With witty writing and equally fitting performances, JJ is an entertaining comedy that explores different realms of life such as the struggles of a single mother, the stress of fatherhood, the impact of dysfunctional families on children, and how lives change with the addition of a family member. The story is set in London to conveniently place it away from the orthodox Indian society. Had the setting been India, the story would perhaps have evolved differently, without much scope for comedy, we dare say.
As mentioned earlier, Saif is at completely home in the movie. Saif’s Jazz comes across as natural as his “Karan Kapoor” in Hum Tum, which also won him multiple awards including the National Film Award, and “Nikhil Arora” in Salaam Namaste. He does show a few signs of ageing, but with that also comes the maturity through which he handles emotional scenes.
Debutant Aliya also gets an impactful character and is probably the most successful newcomer in her age group. A string of star kids have entered Bollywood in 2019/2020 and so far only Aliya (daughter of actress Pooja Bedi and granddaughter to movie veteran Kabir Bedi), has been able to give a promising performance. The actress as the young Tia—who is out on a journey to find her biological father and is overwhelmed with happiness when she finally finds him, but also gets a big shock on discovering her pregnancy—knows how to rightly portray the mixed emotions without over-dramatization. There is definitely room for improvement but only time can shape those acting skills, if Bollywood is kind enough to give her more space.
The only complain about the film is that the makers put way too much stress on certain scenes and sequences, making the movie slightly lengthy and close to boring. It definitely feel unnecessarily stretched out. Also, the story gives too little space and too little significance to Ananya (Tabu), Tia’s mother. The audience don’t get enough time to know her. An actress of Tabu’s caliber definitely deserves more space.
Who should watch it?
The 1hr 59mins long movie, albeit tardy at times, is definitely an entertainer. Underdog as he is, we believe Saif does have his fans and for a Saif fan, this is the best zone he could be in.
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Family
Run time: 1hr 59mins
Director: Nitin Kakkar
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Alaya Furniturewalla
Melodramatic but mighty fun
So the latest news is, arch nemesis India and Pakistan have settled their differences and have joined hands to beat the British. They don’t use bombs and guns to defeat their colonizers though; their weapons of choice being hip-hop and bhangra this time around. Well that’s the plot of Remo D'Souza’s “Street Dancer 3D”, his third dance flick.
When the dancer turned choreographer turned reality TV judge D’Souza directed the 2013 hit “Any Body Can Dance”, the film with a cast of real dancers and not so popular Bollywood faces, besides Prabhu Deva and Kay Kay Menon, had an organic nature to its production. It was one of the first dance-oriented films in the industry and using actual dancers for the entire cast, the film was special and created a milestone. The director then decided to back this success with ABCD 2 in 2015. This one was more commercial-minded featuring star kids Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor in starring roles.
While D’Souza’s choreography skills are reaching new heights, the director seems to have entered a rabbit hole of filmy clichés in this one. With Varun and Shraddha repeated as the leads, “Street Dancer 3D” is more of a generic Bollywood drama than a full-fledged dance movie.
Shraddha (Inayat) leads a team of Pakistani dancers called “Rule Breakers” and Varun Dhawan (Sahej) is the leader of a team of Indians called “Street Dancers,” both based in London. Inevitably, the two teams are rivals in dance and also in cricket banter. But things change when Inayat discovers a group of homeless illegal immigrants in the undergrounds of London and takes it upon herself to help them. How? By winning a dance competition that has the huge prize money of £100,000. Very typical, right?
Yes, it gets too melodramatic at times. Yes, the incorporation of Bollywood masalas into the movie has stretched it into a lengthy 2hrs 30min run time. And yes, the under par acting performances and direction are evident. But does Street Dancer fail to entertain the audience seated it the theaters? It definitely doesn’t. All sorts of lapses in film production are nullified by the fact that the choreography is unprecedented in the industry.
The centerpiece of the drama takes place in the first half and the second half sees it unfolding with exceptional dance performances not only from the cast but also from different dance groups featured in the film. Besides Varun and Shraddha—both accomplished dancers—the cast includes Prabhu Deva (Ram Prasad), Norah Fatehi (Nora) and a list of familiar faces from Indian dance reality shows including Punit Pathak as Inder, Salman Yusuff Khan as Zayn, Raghav Juyal as Poddy, and Dharmesh Yelande as D.
Coming back to the film’s choreography, combined with excellent cinematography, it sets a benchmark. The music is basically Punjabi hip-hop and RnB but also draws influences from house, trance, trap, and much more. While the songs are not quite memorable in themselves, the combination of choreography, dance routines and photography create a visual extravaganza, especially with the deliberate 3D effects.
Who should watch it?
Anybody who enjoys watching dance will love this movie. Also, if not for anything else, do watch it for our homeboys Sushant Khatri, who plays “Chotu” in the movie and the dance troupe Wild Ripperz who feature as themselves. A stepping stone for Nepali dancers to be featured in such a huge stage.
Genre: Drama
Rating: 3 Stars
Run time: 2hrs 30min
Director: Remo D'Souza
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhu Deva
A teen prodigy morphs into serious indie talent
For the 22-year-old singer-songwriter Rachana Dahal, the privilege of getting to choose her own career keeps her music going. As a musician who started playing live in the pubs and bars of Thamel from her teenage, Rachana met little resistance from her family and hence her path to becoming a professional musician was cleared.
“My mother was always supportive,” she says. “My father was a bit skeptical at first but eventually he too started supporting my choice.” Her father’s initial reluctance was more due to her young age than anything else. Coming home past midnight frequently is still a big no for Nepali teenagers, especially girls, but her job called for just that. “After a point, my parents were kind enough to even re s c h e d u l e my household chores and our family time to accommodate my late night shows,” she adds.
As she has an older brother who is also a musician, Rachana took to music early. But she discovered her potential much later. “I believe everyone’s a musician. They just need to discover their potential,” she says. “Likewise, I think I was born to do music. I would easily catch lyrics and melodies of songs from an early age.” Her earliest memory with music is singing the whole “Sweet Child of Mine” by the American rock band Guns N’ Roses to her parents when she was in Grade I. She also participated in music concerts in school and was among only a handful of female classmates to take up music instead of dancing. But singing was not her first choice. Dahal wanted to play guitar and at the age of 16 got enrolled into a l o c a l m u s i c institute. The teachers there discovered her singing skills and she got the opportunity to perform in her “first real concert.”
“I felt a sense of empowerment while singing in that show and I was showered with appreciation by everyone when I left the stage,” Rachana says. “It was then that I started thinking of myself as a singer and decided to up a career in music.”
Rachana then started singing covers with local bands. She performed in various venues in Kathmandu, honing her skills while also earning a decent bit to make her financially independent. But when the music started feeling like work and she saw low respect given to a cover artist, she decided it was time she worked on her original music.
With her guitar and vocal skills and the ability to pen lyrics and melodies, Rachana quit the cover music scene and started composing her own songs. She released her debut song/music video “Bhumari” in April 2019. The song about how a relationship can get toxic over time and how that toxicity takes a toll on mental health brought Rachana into the limelight and introduced her as a serious indie music artist.
“I write about my feelings and experiences,” the songstress says about her music. “I imagine myself in different situations and write songs accordingly.” While continuing music is her goal, Rachana does not expect much in return besides gratitude. Her uncompromising attitude to her music will not let it be dictated by financial pressures. “I’m also doing wedding management to help my financial situation,” she says. “I plan to take forward both these careers” O
Rachana will be performing at The Annapurna Express Music Festival 2 on February 8 at Tangalwood, Naxal
Pahenlo Batti Muni: Under the light of music
Back in 2015, as the country reeled under daily power cuts, sometimes for up to 16 hours a day, a group of young musicians were trying to create their own music under the yellowish light of a burning candle— and that’s how “Pahenlo Batti Muni”, an experimental rock band, got its name. When the band released its debut single “Bari Lai” on May 2016, the maturity of its lyrics and music brought it instant recognition, and also music award nominations, that created a space for it as a band not bound by genres or any other limits.
With some original members of the band leaving for abroad in its starting phase, the band’s founder members Rochak Dahal (guitars/vocals) and Pravesh Thapa Magar (guitars) were joined by twins Lav and Kush Jung KC on drums and bass respectively to form the current line-up.
The entry of the musically accomplished KC brothers helped shape the sound further, the band says. With Rochak’s acoustic guitar and non-anglicized Nepali vocals, Pravesh’s carefully placed guitar licks, and the tightness of the twin’s rhythm section, the band found new avenues and went on to release a few singles like “Lori” and “Bichitra”. These brought the band more attention and then, finally, it released its debut album “Asthir” in May 2019.
Although they prefer being placed under ‘experimental rock’, the band members don’t want to confine themselves to a single genre. Their sounds vary in inspiration from Nepali folk to alternative, grunge and even metal, while keeping the foundations of rock intact. “When the KC brothers joined us, we already had a visualization of the sound we wanted,” Rochak says. “Of course when there are new musicians, there are new interpretations. But we are finally headed in the same direction and it is working for us.”
Listening to the band, one can feel the fluidity in their music that the band members want to emphasize. “Our feelings are not bound and that’s what transmits to our music,” Lav, the drummer, says. “We create whatever we want without restricting ourselves to genres.” This results in each of their track sounding unique.
With sounds that are not facsimiles of the older generation of Nepali music, PBM is one of the few young bands whose lyrics are poetic and meaningful. Every song the band has released has a powerful meaning and when the lyrics are read without music, they sound like astute poetry. “I do poems and am also a part of the group called Word Warriors,” says Rochak, who writes the lyrics to the songs. “But I never sit down deliberately to write songs using heavy words. Also, my lyrics and tunes come simultaneously.” Sometimes, when he’s written the lyrics but has not found the melody, Rochak waits. “It is Rochak’s honesty in writing that probably makes audience relate to our music,” Lav adds.
The band members, aged 25-27, seem ahead of their time in understanding their own music and the direction they want to pursue. But when the band had started making music seriously with the new line-up, it was never for fame.
“Even when we first met Rochak and started making music together, we had no intent of becoming popular, or shaping our music to what’s trending in mainstream market. The band’s motive was purely to make the kind of music we wanted to play and put it out there for the listeners.”
But the band did get popular, with some of its videos crossing a million views on YouTube, and it started getting invited to play at live events. “People usually judge us by watching our YouTube videos and listening to a few of our tracks. They think we’re some kind of indie soft-rock band but that’s not who we are at all,” says Lav. “We are a whole different band when it comes to live performance. That’s our forte.”
As the band looks forward to 2020, it already has plans for more singles, music videos, and concerts across the country. “We have been lucky to have filmmaker friends make music videos for us. Now that we are financially capable and feel our music requires fitting visuals to better connect with our listeners, we want to make professionally produced videos this year,” Rochak says O
(Pahenlo Batti Muni will be performing at The Annapurna Express Music Festival at Tangalwood on February 8)
A dank comedy that no one should watch
Debutant director Zohn Yonzon’s “12 Sattais” tries to replicate the success of low-budget Bollywood comedies with both critical acclaim and box office success. In fact, if you dismiss a few Hollywood inspirations, you’ll find in 12 Sattais, written by Yonzon himself, a loose cross between “Delhi Belly” (2011) and “Fukrey” (2013). As in those movies, 12 Sattais has a cast of young actors, sets a premise for slapstick comedy with a bit of dark humor, and opens an opportunity to create a cult following for its characters and the film itself. Unfortunately, the film fails in all these efforts. With a feeble script backed up by equally weak actors, 12 Sattais is a complete waste of time for everyone involved in the project—and the handful of audience watching it.
A trio of luckless friends decide to name themselves after planets—Mars (Samir Shrestha), Mercury (Kaji Rana Magar), and Pluto (Abishek Nepal)—because, they believe in astrology!? Weird enough. Then one night of drunken madness lands them on a riverbank in the morning where they find a bag of money. Out of luck and unwise as they are, they do not know what to do with the dough and as events unfold, they land themselves in thick soup, stuck between two goons Helmet Devi (Aasmita Lamichhane) and Pandit Don (Samrat Thapa), and a corrupt cop. The film builds on their struggle to save their newfound treasure as well as themselves from the adversaries.
Absurdity in comedy is only natural and widely used. From comedy-pioneer Charlie Chaplin to our very own Dhurmus (Sitaram Kattel), all visual comedians put their characters into bizarre situations to ignite laughter in the audience. We wouldn’t laugh at what we consider normal, would we? Absurdity is what 12 Sattais, marketed as a ‘visual comedy’, tries to capitalize on, but it fails in execution. The cast lacks basic acting skills and one can see through their acting. The comic timing is so out of whack that even scenes which could have been funny with a better cast, are performed without conviction. Also, the script is flawed and many characters are left unexplained. We do not understand nor can relate to even one of them.
None of the actors stands out. With most of them debuting, this is a project they could have done without at the start of their career. The three lead characters—Mars, Mercury and Pluto—do nothing but run around in lethargically long chase scenes. We don’t know why “Helmet Devi” has that the name besides watching her and her henchwomen wearing helmets everywhere. Lamichhane does much to emulate Richa Chaddha’s “Bholi Punjaban” (Fukrey), but fails miserably with her under-par acting skills. We don’t know the story behind the half-naked, dhoti-clad Pandit Don. (Why is he a don? What does he do as a don?) We don’t know why his henchman “Bhyantey” wears a wooden mask depicting a radio on his head for the entire movie. We don’t know the story behind Pandit’s other two henchmen (who wear oxygen masks and carry oxygen cylinders on their backs, and sport green t-shirts with the print, “Kathmandu’s pollution causes more cancers thank smoking.”)
If fickle acting and plenty of ‘plotholes’ make the film unbearable, a few problematic liberties taken in the name of comedy makes it unwatchable. First, there is a joke about rape which goes along the lines of, “If we [men] touch women, it is rape and if women touch us, its miracle.” In these times when rape is becoming an epidemic, desensitizing rape by joking about it is devious. Also, Pluto once makes a sexual joke, hidden in guise of a public service announcement statement, in front of a minor. We’re left to wonder how crass a filmmaker can get!
Who should watch it?
We have reasons to believe this film won’t be in the theaters by the time this review is published. So if you haven’t fallen prey to its heavy social media promotions, you’d not have watched it. We’re happy for you.
Rating: 1 star
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Run time: 1hrs 56min
Director: Zohn Yonzon
Cast: Samir Shrestha, Abhishek Nepal, Kaji Rana Magar
