Submit your Article

 The Mystery of Three Quarters opens with a premise that immediately catches your atten­tion. A woman Poirot has never met or even heard of for that matter approaches him demanding to know why he sent her a letter accusing her of murder. Then comes another man, again a stranger, who claims to have received a similar letter. Two more people arrive saying they both received letters from Poirot in which he accused them of murder. The thing is Poirot doesn’t know the man who was apparent­ly murdered and he didn’t send the letters.

The Mystery of Three Quarters is Sophie Hannah’s third Hercule Poirot mystery but the first novel that is truly reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s Poirot. Hannah, it seems, has finally got everything about Poirot right, from his mannerisms to his oft-aggravated sense of self. But that’s about it.

Nothing about the plot or the narrative reminds you of flair with which Christie wrote her simple sto­ries. The plot feels forced and the characters ill-developed, with many arbitrarily thrown in. And there’s just too much happening without any of it going anywhere.

Continuing Christie’s legacy is a herculean task and it’s easy to understand why the Agatha Christie estate chose Hannah for there could perhaps be no one better at cleverly building suspense and intrigue. Her books give you sleepless nights. Fans of Christie might rejoice at Poirot’s return but for those who have read Hannah and know just what she is capable of, The Mystery of Three Quarters falls flat. Having said that, as a crime novel Hannah’s third Poirot mystery is fine – definitely way better than her first.

All loose ends are neatly tied up in the end and the solution seems believable. We would definitely rec­ommend this book as a light week­end read. Just don’t get your hopes up for it to be an immensely enter­taining one.

Book: The Mystery of three quarters (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)

Authors: Sophie Hannah, Agatha Christie

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: August 2018

Language: English

Pages: 400, Paperback

 If you think you’ve figured out the content of the movie “Kumva Karan” by its name or its trail­er, you might want to leave your assumptions at home, for you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Directed by Dipak Oli, Kumva Karan is not an all-out comedy. It sure is based in the comedy genre but the thrilling, suspenseful twists and the shocking ending will keep you entertained throughout, despite all its glitches and flaws. It’s a Nepali movie—for Satya Harishchandra’s sake! We can sure be a little forgiving. The name Kumva Karan does not allude to the mythical sleepyhead demon from Ramayana, unlike what we’d assume. Instead, the name is a tell-tale of the movie’s plot, clev­erly revealed in the second half. The whole film is done smartly, actually. Sans expensively shot item numbers and massive production cost, Kumva Karan relies on its plot, screenplay and star cast to keep the audience hooked to their seats for the 1.47-hour runtime.

The film centers around three Karans—Karandeep Ghimire (Bhola Raj Sapkota), Karan Prasad Upad­hyaya (Gaurav Pahari), and Karan Bahadur Chhetri (Abhay Baral)—respectively the head master, Nepali teacher and a peon of a community school in Pyuthan. Their otherwise passive nature is given a masculine jolt by the entry of Sapana mad­am (Nisha Adhikari), the English teacher who they all fall for heads over heels.

They compete for her attention, healthily and unhealthily, and the first half is all about their antics to win her affection. Then, what fol­lows changes the narrative entirely. (As we don’t know any other review­er who’s spilled all the beans on a review and lived to work another day, we’ll leave it at that.)

Coming to the performances, the troika of Karans fit right into their characters and are pleasant to watch. Well, it’s always good to see a Nepali comedy where the actors don’t scream their lungs out to make you laugh. Comedy can be subtle, like it is in Kumva Karan. Bhola Raj, who shot to fame with his significant appearance in the Bollywood hit ‘Barfi’ (2012), puts in a par perfor­mance as a wannabe strict headmas­ter, who actually ends up looking comical and cute. Gaurav as the shy, spectacled Nepali teacher also justifies his character.

Only if the dialogues were better! Forgiving as much as we want to be, we do need to address the elephant in the room

The one person whose name has cruelly been left out from the trailer and promotions wins the man-of-the-match though. While Bhola Raj and Gaurav manage to score what they’re expected to, Abhay Baral as the obnoxious yet lovable peon is like the tail-ender who scores a blazing 17-ball half century to take his team home. His comic timings are impeccable and he manages to grab all the attention onscreen with both his physical performance and dialogue delivery.

If only the dialogues were better! Forgiving as much as we want to be, we do need to address the elephant in the room. The dialogues under­cut the possibility of this being a brilliant movie. All the emotions in the film are basically visible, thanks to the actors, and had the dialogues given to them been any better, the characters would certainly appear stronger. Imagine a Gabbar Singh without Salim-Javed’s prolific prose-work. Jason Kunwar’s background score manages to save some grace during the pivotal scenes though and the aural needs of emoting are somewhat fulfilled.

 Who should watch it?

If you can excuse some typical glitches of our Kollywood productions, you might actually like the film. It’s definitely worth the time and movie tickets. A little humor and a rather simplistic thriller is also good when the weather is bad and you have nothing else to do.

Movie: Kumva Karan

Genre: Comedy/Thriller

Cast: Nisha Adhikari, Pramod Agrahari, Gaurav Pahari, Bholaraj Sapkota, Abhay Baral, Kuldip Adhikari

Direction: Dipak Oli

Rating: 2.5/5

 Every once in a while you come across a book that just blows your mind away. ‘Revenge’, a collection of 11 short stories, by Yoko Ogawa is one such volume. Oga­wa has you trapped in her web of dark tales and you wish to relive the experience over and over again. You enter Ogawa’s dark and delicious world with a woman going into a local bakery to buy strawberry short­cake for her son. In the course of the conversation, she tells another wom­an she has only just met at the other­wise empty bakery that “today is his birthday.” When asked how old he is, the woman replies, “Six. He’ll always be six. He’s dead,” before going on to explain the bizarre events following his death.

All the stories in this collection begin innocuously enough. Two girls work in the laundry at a hospital washing lab coats. A man on the way to his stepmother’s funeral is waylaid when his train gets stuck in the snow. Each premise is ordinary but as the stories progress they take horrify­ing turns. They are all about death, abruptly ending relationships, and, of course, about revenge. Individual­ly, the stories don’t add up to much. If you choose a random story and read that, you are likely to be disap­pointed. But it’s a powerful, albeit at times jarring, anthology when you read the stories consecutively from beginning to end. There are some stories like “Old Mrs. J” and “Lab Coats” that can be read as self-con­tained pieces but most stories have a link to the next in the anthology.

The charm of the stories, howev­er, lies in how unpredictable they are. It’s spooky and fun at the same time. You get goose bumps when you suddenly realize what has just happened. And the blows are always sucker punch—you never see them coming. Translator Stephen Snyder compared Ogawa’s work to Muraka­mi’s, going as far as to call her “the next Haruki Murakami” and some reviewers have even cited the influ­ence of Edgar Allan Poe and Jorge Luis Borges. Deftly constructed and skillfully written, Ogawa’s stories will leave you feeling a bit unsettled but also wanting to read everything else she has ever written.

Book: Revenge

Genre: Fiction

Author: Yoko Ogawa

Published: January 29, 2013

Publisher: Picador

Language: Translated in English by Stephen Snyder

Pages: 176, Paperback

 ‘Aladdin’ is a live-action musi­cal fantasy adaptation of the popular 1992 Disney produc­tion of the same name. The film follows Aladdin (Mena Massoud), a street urchin, as he falls in love with Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott), befriends a wish-granting Genie (Will Smith), and must save the kingdom from the conspiring Jafar (Marwan Kenzari).

When the first pictures of the movie were released back in December, it received a mountain of criticism for the film’s portrayal of Genie, as the character was labelled “too humanoid”, resulting in upset fans. Then they released the trailer in March. The trailer got the fans a little less upset than they were back in December. And now, in May, with the movie out, many fans, including this reviewer, have found themselves wronged for judging the movie so quick.

Aladdin, as much as it was a fantastic cinematic experience, was also a major reminiscence of my childhood. From jumping through roofs on Agrabah in the 1993 video game ‘Aladdin’ in its compact 2D gameplay to rubbing puja lamps hoping to find a genie as a child, the movie brought back many elements of my childhood.

The opening ‘Arabian Nights’ sequence gave me massive goosebumps for two straight minutes. It was dealt beautifully, conserving the mystery, horror and scale from the original.

You know what was better than the opening sequence? The acting. Don’t get me started on that. Will Smith is funny, and will keep the tone light-hearted right through with his wit and humor. While his portrayal doesn’t compare to Robin Williams’ in the original, it is unfair to criticize Smith for trying things a little differently.

Fans were skeptical about Mena Massoud as Aladdin but he’s proved everyone wrong with his phenomenal performance. Starting with his perfect chemistry with the beautiful Naomi Scott, everything feels smooth. Scott looks gorgeous as a middle-eastern princess and delivers a strong performance as the strong-minded patriarchy-breaking Princess Jasmine. They couldn’t have put together a better Aladdin-Jasmine duo. Marwan Kenzari as the antagonist Jafar is also fantastic, radiating a cunning dark persona with every dialogue.

The problems with the movie are few but important. First, the set feels superbly small. The characters revolve around the same places and the audience is treated with the monotony of the same building over and over again. Disney should have had no problem shelling out enough budget to accommodate more exploration within the city of Agrabah. Second, the CGI does not do justice for a Disney movie. At times, visual effects feel bland—a major flaw for a fantasy movie like Aladdin.

Third, the ‘musical’ part of the movie fails where the original delivered big-time. Most of the musicals feel ill-timed and forgettable. ‘Speechless’ will probably be the only song from the movie I’ll remember.

Even with its downsides, Aladdin is still an amazing movie you will enjoy watching. The only way it will disappoint you is if you’re a purist and want everything recreated exactly like the original. Take your kids, or/and your kid-self and sit back for 2h 8m of pure Arabian magic.

Who should watch it?

The kids will absolutely love it. So will the fans of Will Smith. Visual effects and some songs are disappointing. But, overall, a fun film for the whole family.

Movie: Aladdin

Genre: Fantasy

Csst: Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban

Direction: Guy Ritchie