Submit your Article

Bhuwan Chand—the first officially recognized Nepali feature film actress—dons the producer’s hat this time to bring Saino into the Nepali film industry. Although it takes its name from the classic Bhuwan KC-Danny Denzongpa-Tripti Nadkar starrer Nepali movie from 1987, this Saino has an independently created plot, and is nowhere close to becoming a ‘super hit’ like the former one.

Chand’s Saino, a social drama based in a hilly village near Kathmandu, revolves around a young couple Raj (Raj Kumar) and Anu (Miruna Magar). The two are in love with each other and want to get married, but the girl’s father and her cousin Maite (Roydeep Shrestha) oppose the union. In fact, Maite wants to marry Anu; both are from the Lama culture, where a guy has the right to court the daughter of his maternal uncle. So Maite tries to woo Anu, but because she snubs his advances, he plans to kidnap and marry her forcefully—another privilege his culture entitles him to. (Interestingly, the custom in which a man can kidnap and marry his cousin is still prevalent in some parts of Nepal and a few elected representatives from those areas spoke this week in the parliament about banning it.)

What follows is a long ordeal of escaping and hiding for both the lead characters. The film’s story is pivoted in such a way that it does not stick to the predictable nature of stereotypical Kollywood plots where a young couple elopes together when their union is not accepted by their families and society. The film has its own twists and turns and also tries to touch the issue of human trafficking. But this is where the film falls flat. In what is probably an effort to make a movie carrying a strong social message, the filmmakers have only managed to address the issues superficially, while there is no notable lesson the audience can take home. With a runtime of 1 hr 54 mins, the film becomes tedious to watch.

A legend in her own right, Chand also appears in a supporting role as Raj’s widowed mother. Most of the young characters in the film are newcomers, except for Radha (Nita Dhungana), who adds another love triangle to the story as she pursues Raj romantically. Performance wise, Raj Kumar’s debut as Raj is rather forgettable. He looks quite uncomfortable on screen at times and is not at all convincing as a passionate lover. Miruna, on the other hand, plays a village girl with considerable ease and her NRN status (she was born in Hong Kong) doesn’t affect her character at all. She plays Anu quite convincingly, more so than many actresses born and bred in Kathmandu who fail to enact the ‘rural’ character when needed.

Nita, with all her previous experiences in Kollywood, doesn’t add a strong work experience to her resume with this film. She does attempt to fit into her character as a dance instructor and Raj’s old friend who is head-over-heels for him. But besides showing off her dancing skills, she doesn’t do much to make the audience like her. The film would have been unbearable if these central characters were forced on the screen throughout its entire length, but the filmmakers have smartly given some screen time to a number of supporting characters to avoid the disaster.

Comic relief in Saino is minimal but clean (non-sleazy), and the comeback of legendary actors Madan Das Shrestha and Basundhara Bhusal elevates the film’s status as a whole. The veteran actors play a landlord couple and provide a much-needed break from the film’s mediocrity with their mature acting.

Who should watch it:

Saino is a below par production in terms of storytelling and acting. The plot, which again could have been its strength, becomes its weakness as the filmmakers attempt desperately to appeal to the audience’s sense of sympathy. But the movie is not entirely unwatchable. The supporting actors make it more bearable than it may sound in the review. And since there were no new releases this weekend, a Nepali film lover might want to watch this to support the industry.

Rating: 2 stars

Run time: 1 hr 54 mins

Cast: Nita Dhungana, Miruna Magar, Raj Kumar

Director: Ramesh Thapa

Genre: Drama

Sonakshi Sinha-starrer ‘Khandaani Shafakhana’ would be a much better film had the runtime been, say, 90 minutes, instead of the 136 minutes it actually is. Nothing wrong with the story. Sinha plays Babita ‘Baby’ Bedi, a young woman who has inherited an old Unani medical dispensary from her deceased uncle, Mamaji (Kulbhushan Kharbanda). The problem is that it’s a sex clinic, and Baby won’t be able to make it her own unless she runs it for six months, as stipulated in Mamaji’s will. A young woman running a sex clinic in the heart of the conservative Punjabi heartland is problematic on multiple fronts.

Marketed as the ‘the only sex film for the whole family’, the film takes up a delicate subject, which is still a taboo in many parts of South Asia. Mamaji was himself shunned by the Unani medical community for bringing the fraternity into disrepute by running a sex clinic. Twenty years later, when Baby wants to run it, she is shunned and shamed as well.

At the start, Baby is only interested in completing the six months so that she can legally inherit the clinic and be able to sell it: Her indebted family desperately needs the money. But in time she comes to realize that Mamaji, instead of being someone of disrepute, had actually helped countless couples to lead happy conjugal lives by improving their sex lives. And the realization that Mamaji trusted Baby, and no one else, to look after the clinic, also makes her consider keeping it.

‘Khandaani Shafakhana’ is a lighthearted comedy and fun to watch in bits and pieces. It also makes a strong case for sex education for youngsters and opening up about sex to bring it out of the closet. Baby’s struggle as a medical representative, her light-hearted riff with her brother Bhooshit (Barun Sharma), the weird complaints Baby’s patients come up with—all add a humorous touch. The rapper Badshah, who plays a Punjabi singing heartthrob, looks the part as well.

So what is wrong with the film? First, it is a touch too slow. Second, without giving away the plot, parts of it are unconvincing: everything happens so fast that events often seem unbelievable. Sinha is brilliant in her role. But for a mainstream Bollywood movie, the weight is too much for her to carry alone. A promising plot thus underwhelms.

The good bit is the film’s contribution to making sex less of a taboo in this part of the world. In this, the movie, again, largely succeeds. It also breaks the stereotype of males as family’s breadwinners in traditional India.

If that was the sole expectation of the film production team, they have succeeded. But if they wanted to make a fun movie and mint some money out of it, we are afraid they have won’t get far. People go to Bollywood films with certain expectations, and Khandani Shafakhakhana fails to live up to them.

Who should watch it?:

If you are parents of young children, this film offers the most gentle lesson possible on the birds and the bees. You will also enjoy it if you like women-centric cinema. But it’s a little slow and for the important message it wants to deliver, not always believable.

Movie: Khandaani Shafakhana

Genre: Comedy

Actors: Sonakshi Sinha, Badshah, Varun Sharma, Annu Kapoor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda

Director: Shilpi Dasgupta

Runtime: 136 minutes

Rating: 3 stars

I remember buying my first ever copy of ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl. I was nine and the book cost Rs 350. I was fifty rupees short but I desperately wanted to read Matilda, having recently finished Dahl’s ‘The BFG’. I told the bookstore owner I would be back the next day with the rest of the money and she was nice enough to let me take the book home. There are some books that just make you happy. Matilda is one of those books that I still pick up whenever I feel a bit bogged down.

The story is heartwarming and uplifting and Dahl knows just how to delight you. Filled with humor, adventure, and a bit of mystery, this children’s book is one you should (have) read as a child (or an adult, if your childhood was Dahl-less) and to your children well before they are able to read on their own. I recently read the book and was transported back to my childhood when all I ever did during the weekends was read, and eat Cadbury Perk. Life before there was laundry and vegetable shopping to be done.

The story is about an amazingly gifted girl named Matilda who can multiply “big numbers” in her head and loves Charles Dickens. By the time she is three, she has taught herself how to read. By four, she is done with all the children’s books at the local library. She is brilliant and her classmates at school and her teacher all love her. But despite being so perfect, Matilda’s life isn’t a happy one.

Her parents couldn’t be more indifferent. Her father, Mr Wormwood, a dishonest used car salesman, actually encourages her to watch TV rather than spend her time reading. Her mother, who goes off to bingo leaving little Matilda home alone, tells her “brains never got a woman anywhere”. And they punish her for being able to solve a mathematical problem (simple addition) when her elder brother fails to do so. Basically, she is punished for being smart.

Then there’s her nightmare of a school principal. A former hammer-throwing champion who flings children at no provocation at all because she hates children and is “glad she never was one”, Mrs Trunchbull is a “gigantic holy terror, a fierce tyrannical monster who frightens the life out of the pupils and teachers alike”. The only nice person in the story is Miss Honey, Matilda’s class teacher, who is also Mrs Trunchbull’s niece. Her parents died in unexplained circumstances and Miss Honey feels it was Mrs Trunchbull who killed them but is unable to do anything about it. Matilda is determined to help Miss Honey. And she can do that because she isn’t a regular five-year-old. She has powers. She can move things with her mind.
If you feel you can’t be reading a children’s book, I urge you to reconsider. Matilda is a fun and funny story. You will find yourself smiling and giggling throughout. And when are we ever too old for that? Also, as with any Dahl story, Matilda has a strong message for both children and adults. She makes you believe in the power of standing up for yourself and the ones you love.

Publicity stunts, controversies, media debates, and social media hullaballoos can only lead the horse to water. But they can’t make it drink. This holds true in the case of Prakash Kovelamudi’s “Judgementall Hai Kya.” The film created quite a stir in the Indian media, first for its original name (‘Mental Hai Kya’), then for the possible clash of its release with Hrithik Roshan starrer “Super 30” and then for its lead Kangana Ranaut’s public spat with an Indian journalist. “All publicity is good publicity,” they say in show business. But how long till the audience identify with Ranaut and her elder sister’s ploy to grab the limelight by hook or by crook, just in time for her every new release?

The filmmakers bank too much on Ranaut. As a result, her character gets way too much exposure, even at the cost of keeping a healthy pace of the plot. Ranaut plays “Bobby Grewal”, a young woman suffering from acute psychosis resulting from a childhood trauma. In the movie, she shows all the symptoms of psychosis like delusions, hallucinations, mood disturbance, and bizarre behavior. Bobby works as a voice-over artist, dubbing non-Hindi films into Hindi, and typical of her mental illness, she internalizes all the character roles she dubs. They all stay in her head.

A loner living in a big home left to her by her parents, she rents out a section of the house to new tenants—Keshav (Rajkummar Rao) and his wife Reema (Amyra Dastur). That’s when the trouble begins to brew. Bobby is at first obsessed with spying on Keshav and Reema’s personal life and then on proving him a murderer. The twists and turns thereafter is what should have been driving the film. But again, the filmmakers are adamant on taking us inside Bobby’s head and thus the plot is watered down.

Ranaut as the mentally unstable Bobby—who loves to make origami with newspaper-cuttings detailing rapes, murders and domestic violence—carries over the eccentricities of her earlier characters from “Tanu Weds Manu” (2011) and “Queen” (2014). She does wonderfully well in her role as a psychologically challenged yet gifted person, but after all the expectations she has created about her new release, she clearly punches below the weight.

Also, for someone whose Hindi-speaking skills are newly acquired and someone who still struggles with her diction, the role of a Hindi dubbing artist does not come across as entirely believable. Director Kovelamudi pays a bit too much emphasis on glorifying Ranaut’s Bobby. So much so that the other important character of Keshav and the talented actor Rao playing him, are unjustly denied screen-time and character growth.

While Ranaut gobbles up the limelight, Rao subtly aces whatever little screen-time he gets. In “Judgementall Hai Kya”, he plays someone he has never done in his career—a handsome hunk and a ladies’ man. He is not weighed down by past laurels, and has no point to prove, which is perhaps why his new character is a breath of freshness. Although the filmmakers chose to put him on a lower pedestal in the equilibrium in a story that supposedly should have been a battle between two main characters, he holds strong grounds and proves why he is so loved in Bollywood.

Who should watch it?

The movie, albeit erratic, is bearable for someone who likes psychological thrillers. Also for the Balaji audience, producer Ekta Kapoor takes a break from her typical ‘bottleful of glycerin, bucketsful of tears yielding mother-in-law v daughter-in-law struggles’.

But for those non-innocent souls who’ve watched her AltBalaji series like “Gandi Baat” and “X.X.X” you know she’s holding back. But what could she do? This is mainstream Bollywood. 

Movie: Judgementall Hai Kya

Director: Prakash Kovelamudi

Actors: Kangana Ranaut, Rajkummar Rao, Amyra Dastur

Run time: 116 minutes

Rating: 2.5 stars