Average Lukamari

Movie: Lukamari

PC: facebook.com/lukamarimovie

Director: Shree Ram Dahal

Screenplay: Binod Khatiwada

Actors: Saugat Malla, Karma, Bikram Singh Tharu, Surabina Karki, Rista Basnet and others

In My Eyes: 2.5/5

Lukamari is a suspense drama packed inside a box of comedy. The basic storyline is how two police officers go undercover to investigate a crime and how they carry their task. It is, as the title suggests, a hide-and-seek between cops and criminals.

Good things first, Lukamari carries good content. The presentation is well and so is the characterization of lead characters; the performances compliment it rightly. Making the movie not get overly serious by the use of comic factors helps the entertainment value of the movie. The punch lines and the few scenes make sure to get audience lol. The nuances of basic Kathmandu life in the first half are well-displayed. The last half hour is dramatic and keeps you hooked.

Gajalu Works

PC: merocinema.com

Movie: Gajalu

Director/ Writer: Hemraj BC

Actors: Anmol KC, Shristi Shrestha, Menuka Pradhan, Salon Basnet, Gaurav Pahari, Ritik Shahi and Gauri Malla, Krishna Malla, etc.

In My Eyes:  3/5

Gajalu is a rom-com that primarily focuses on the relation between an ex-Kumari and a guy helping her to live an independent normal life rather than succumbing to the cultural pressures of being Kumari, which is the main highlight of this movie.

Good things first, Gajalu turns out to be one decent movie with a good presentation of pretty average story. The flow is smooth and the movie, overall, is entertaining. This is director Hemraj BC’s best work till date. The little sibling chemistry between Anmol KC and Menuka Pradhan’s characters is sweet and seems realistic.

Wonderful – Kalo Pothi

Movie: Kalo Pothi

Director: Min Bahadur Bham

Screenplay: Min Bahadur Bham, Abinash Bikram Shah

Actors: Khadka Raj Nepali, Sukra Raj Rokaya, Jit Bahadur Malla, Hansha Khadka, Benisha Hamal, Nanda Prasad Khatri, Bipin Karki and Pravin Khatiwada

In My Eyes: ****1/2 (out of 5)

In a single line, Kalo Pothi is a brilliant presentation of a simple story. In one word – Wonderful! Watching this movie has left me completely enthralled that I have literally run out of words to describe it, however, I will try.

The best factor of Kalo Pothi for me is its sheer authenticity. Having its root in the rural village of Mugu, Karnali and growing it into a plant that it has turned out to be, not only make it delightfully authentic but also largely widen its universality. The rawness in the performances and finely detailed and balanced-in-all-ways setting bring the organic vibes in the movie, and this is what makes Kalo Pothi beautiful.

Homework – is short of homework

Movie: Homework

PC: www.isansar.com

Director: Nirak Poudel

Script: Shibham Adhikari

Starring: Aryan Sigdel, Gauri Malla, Namrata Shrestha, Bijay Lama, etc.

In My Eyes: 1.5/5

The social drama Homework has tried to show the clash of two generations and deliver the message on the importance of education through an old man’s journey of schooling in his sixties. Now, this very content is actually interesting and when I first saw the trailer, I thought there’s something new, substantial and authentic in this one. Turns out disappointing.

The old man in the movie is a rich businessman, who has ever supporting and loving and caring wife, a son ashamed of his lack of education and a childhood friend in the form of a school principal. An incident or two happens that leads the old man to disappear from his home, only to be found later in the school of his friend, as a student in full uniform. While he continues his study staying at school for years, his son back at home destroys the business due to his arrogance.

Rolpa Rog – loosely diagnosed

PC: facebook.com/RolpaRogMovie

Movie: Rolpa Rog

Director/Writer: Dipak Oli

Cast: Shishir Bhandari, Janak Gharti Magar, Kuldeep Adhikari, Sushil Pokhrel and more

In My Eyes: 1.75/5

Rolpa Rog tells the story of three young men and their lives on the periphery of civil war. How the conflict between army and maoist in the war affects their lives form the core content of this film.

One of the good aspects has to be the way it has dealt with the issue of civil war without taking sides of any party, but rather focusing on its effects on the innocent people of the village. It tries to depict how people got involved into the Maoists either forcedly or by the circumstances. Also, it shows how both Maoists and army had committed mistakes that had the direct impact on public.

Junge: A decent attempt gone failed

PC: nepalimovieworld.com

Movie: Junge

Director: Utkal Thapa

Screenplay: Subash Koirala and M.S. Agraj

Starring: Suraj Singh Thakuri, Reecha Sharma, Naresh Poudyal, Anup Baral, Nazir Hussain, Sushil Raj Pandey, Sushank Mainali, Deepsikha Shahi, Kevin Karki and more.

In My Eyes: 2/5

What started on a promising note ended making it feel like watching a south Indian action flick in spite of the carefully handled complex content.

In a sentence, Junge depicts the story of how the title character rises into a powerful position. It is all about the politics and games people play for the power and position. Modernizing the Junga Bahadur Rana history into the today’s time through modern-day characters is as tough as the subject matter itself. The director Thapa has done a decent attempt in so and quite impressively, but the movie overall lacks the grip due to the weaker screenplay.

How Funny? - Just average

Movie: How Funny

Director: Nilu Doma Sherpa

Writer: Shan Basnyat

Starring: Priyanka Karki, Keki Adhikari, Dayahang Rai, Anoop Bikram Shahi, Nisha Adhikari and more

In My Eyes: 2/5

In a sentence, How Funny is an average sit-com movie that happens to entertain just okay.

This is a story of two best friends Ramita (Priyanka Karki) and Pushpa (Keki Adhikari) hired by a CBI officer Tej Bahadur Rai (Dayahang Rai) for a case of missing daughter Heera (Nisha Adhikari) of a rich businessman (Shishir Rana). The girls mismatch the case with another one named ‘Diamond Case’ and the series of twists and turns begin. Anoop Bikram Shahi plays another CBI officer Kumud.

Forcedly Bloomed – Bato Muniko Phool 2

PC: facebook.com/Reeecha.Sharma

Movie: Bato Muniko Phool 2

Director: Subarna Thapa

Story: Yash Kumar

Starring: Yash Kumar, Babu Bogati, Ashishma Nakarmi, Dilip Rayamajhi, Reecha Sharma, Rima Bishwokarma, Arpan Thapa, Ganesh Upreti, Tika Pahari, Subhadra Adhikari and more.

In My Eyes: 1.5/5

This movie is yet another example of how the weak screenplay ruins the otherwise heavyweight content raised inside a film. This might also be an example of misbalance between the plots leading to the dilemma that what the primary motive of a movie or of a protagonist is.

The writing is very poor; it just couldn’t justify the theme of a movie. It raises the upper caste-lower caste discrimination problem, like in the first installment, but the developments for so look forcedly input. The whole initial processing between the characters of Yash Kumar, Ashishma Nakarmi and Babu Bogati looks rather unconvincing on the screen; it looked superficial and sadly, this was what the most of the first half contained.

Performances of the year 2072

There is no lack of talented actors here, what lack are the proper script and the direction to show the potential. Here are my favorites from the year gone by.

Top Nepali Movies 2072

Even though the year 2072 B.S. was devastating in many ways for a nation, it became quite a better year for the Nepali movie industry. The commercial success of movies was relatively greater in number. The main problem in most of the movies remains to be the screenplay. But the future is bright for sure, with many makers trying out to bring the better cinema. Pashupati Prasad is the greatest achievement of this year.

Pardesi, Dreams, Kabaddi Kabaddi, Pashupati Prasad, Prem Geet, Resham Filili, Hostel Returns, Bhairav, Classic, Woda No. 6 are the front-runners in the terms of business. The last releases of the year, Nai Nabhannu La 4 and Rampyari both are doing great business as per the news. Movies like Fanko, Ko Afno, Bhaag Sani Bhaag, Dhauli, Rahadani failed at the box-office despite their mostly average to good reviews.

Here are few movies that I found better amongst the rest.

Nai Nabhannu La 4: Dying and Crying

PC: reelnepal.com

Movie: Nai Nabhannu La 4

Director: Bikash Acharya

Starring: Priyanka Karki, Anubhav Regmi, Paul Shah, Barsha Raut, Aanchal Sharma, Saroj Khanal, Shishir Bhandari

In My Eyes: 1.5/5

So, dying and crying are the trademarks of Nai Nabhannu La films. Nai Nabhannu La 4 is the repetition of the same. The director somehow balances the twirled-up story and its tissue-thin screenplay with the decent presentation. Music, as in previous installments, plays the vital role.

Paul Shah’s character Neer is the protagonist, but there is confusion in the antagonist. Is Saroj Khanal’s character one or is it the mental state of Neer? Either case, the antagonist factor is not matched up to the desired level in order to create a strong conflict.

Rampyari aka REKHA THAPA

Movie: Rampyari

Director: Shabir Shrestha

Starring: Rekha Thapa, Aavash Adhikari, Aashma DC and others

In My eyes: 1.5/5

Good thing first, the message this movie tries to deliver is good. It does advocate the women rights and speaks against the women violence but also highlights the subject of men’s side in terms of the gender equality: not all men are vicious and not all women are gentle.

But is that message effectively delivered? Sadly, not much. The tissue-thin screenplay highly undermines the content of the movie. The presentation of so is formulaic and has nothing new. The director’s work can be termed average.

Nepali Movie Songs 2072

As the year is few days close to the end, I pick out few songs from the lot of soundtracks of the Nepali movies released in 2072 B.S. These are the ones, which I personally feel are better than the others are.

1. Jaalma and Surke Thaili Khai

Jaalma (Resham Filili)

This one needs no explanation. Period! 

The happy peppy track became the biggest trend on social network within the week of its release last year and contributed a big factor to the success of movie. The song that was on the mouth of the children to the senior citizens alike has already become an evergreen piece of music. One can’t resist the urge to groove when hearing this composition of Kali Prasad Baskota. His catchy simple lyrics and his voice together with Somea Baraili complimented the unique feel of the song.

The original lyrical video had many views but has been deleted from You Tube.

Surke Thaili Khai (Woda No. 6)

This is as bigger hit as Jaalma, or even more. Surke Thaili Khai is now the most viewed Nepali song on You Tube with over 6 million counts. The best quotients of this song with Rajan Raj Shiwakoti’s music, vocals of Anju Panta, Rajan Raj Shiwakoti and Raju Bishwokarma and the catchy lyrics of Shiwakoti himself are the very Nepali feel and the groovy tunes. It has the old school feel and that is what makes it perfect.

A Midsummer Night’s Sapana: Love story full of comedy

A Midsummer Night’s Sapana is the Nepali adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. The veteran Sunil Pokharel deserves brownie points for presenting this drama in such an accomplished manner. The director along with the ones involved in Nepalifying the drama has succeeded wonderfully.

There are primarily three things going on: the chase and run for the love of the four young characters, a group of few people practicing for a drama to perform on the night of their King’s wedding, and in the world of God and fairies, Indra is trying to win the love of fairy-queen. They all happen to arrive in the same jungle and there is Chature, a quirky soul, amidst these happenings, who brings the supernatural turn to the stroy and fuels the fun events in their lives.

With the separate imaginative world and the real one, it looks like a fairy-tale filled with a lot of humor. With regard to the smooth transition and interaction shown between two worlds, complimented with an ample dose of laughter in a love story, the drama is very much finely executed.

Dreams: More Gloss, Less Soul

Movie: Dreams

PC:
www.facebook.com/Anmol-Kc-377646075586656

Director: Bhuwan KC

Starring: Anmol KC, Samragyee RL Shah

In My Eyes: 1.5/5

Yet another love story, and yes, without the happy ending! The favorite piece of cake for moviemakers lately. When it comes to visual appeal, Dreams is a clear winner, courtesy the lavish lifestyle of characters, stylish costumes, beautiful locations and the good-looking lead pair. The movie, otherwise, is just the average one.

There is a little suspense established in the mid of the movie, which is supposedly the positive point for a film as it is what the movie is actually packing inside. But the most of the post interval seems dragged to finally come to that point. Even in the first half itself, there are numbers of quite unnecessary scenes. Action scenes don’t look convincing; a lean hero single-handedly beating off about half a dozen strong-looking goons. Moreover, a hero just arrives at the time to save a heroine, every time. Cinematic liberty?

Pretty entertaining - Prem Geet

Movie:  Prem Geet

Director: Sudarshan Thapa

Starring: Pradeep Khadka, Pooja Sharma, Saroj Khanal, Rupa Rana and Laxmi Giri

In My Eyes: 2.75/5

A good-looking innocent hero, a Mamma’s boy, meets a beautiful fun-loving heroine, a Daddy’s girl, on the way to Kagbeni. They spend few days together (fun moments and a romantic song) and then return to their own lives. Only then, they actually realize the ‘love’ for each other. The problem is that they have lied to their parents, which turns serious enough to create a rift between two families. What follows after is a tragedy.

Sometimes, it’s the presentation and sometimes the performance that lifts up the mediocre script to the good movie, or an enjoyable one. Prem Geet has both of them, plus the music.

Ko Afno – a mixture of emotions

Movie: Ko Afno

Director: Anil Thapa

Starring: Richa Sharma, Sushank Mainali, Subash Thapa, Rajan Khatiwada, Shanti Giri, Menuka Pradhan, Sudam CK, Sulakshan Bharti

In My Eyes: 2.75/5

Ko Afno is the amalgamation of human emotions. The best thing about this movie is to succeed in portraying the emotions through its characters in a controlled way. It is totally a piece that a normal audience would like to term ‘art movie’. Despite the beautiful making and the other good aspects, the screenplay has restricted Ko Afno from being the remarkable one.

The main plot revolves around the poor couple in the village whom a rich couple from Kathmandu frames to adopt their son. What happens when they have to give an only child to others for the sake of his better future but the things turn against their favor? This forms the principal conflict. Other sub-plot shows the struggle of a son (the same adopted one) with his girlfriend and his parents.

Classic: Not Really!

Movie: Classic

Director: Dinesh Raut

Starring: Aryan Sigdel, Namrata Shrestha, and others

In my eyes: 1.5/5

When it comes to movies, love stories are the ones that we have watched so many times. What makes a love story interesting? Answers differ. While happy ones are loved most, I guess the tragic ones are the most famous among others. Classic has one tragic love story to tell, which I found similar to something like ‘the old wine in a new bottle’. Sadly, wine tasted no good.

Honestly, the first half was very boring. The flashback and a couple of twists and turns did not help enough to arouse any engagingness. The second half was better though. The story moved at a good pace and it somehow became interesting to watch, slash the awkward looking conversations. Perhaps, the tragic sentiments helped post interval!

Bittersweet - “Pashupati Prasad”

Movie: Pashupati Prasad

Director: Dpendra K. Khanal

Writer: Khagendra Lamichhane

Starring: Khagendra Lamichhane, Prakash Ghimire, Rabindra Singh Baniya, Bipin Karki, Barsha Shiwakoti, Mishri Thapa

In my eyes: 4/5

Some movies not only entertain much but also touch the heart in many ways. Some movies get much hype from the trailers but only some of them justify the pre-release hype and there are few which go beyond the normal expectations. Pashupati Prasad is one of such. It is contentful, very entertaining, touching and thoughtful film; one of the best to come out this year.

The movie shows the journey of Pashupati Prasad after he comes to Kathmandu to earn money so as to clear his late parents’ debts and dispose of their ashes. The journey is of course, not easy and the bad luck follows him around.

Fanko – average suspense drama

Movie: Fanko

Director: Subarna Thapa

Starring: Saugat Malla, Dayahang Rai, Priyanka Karki, Keki Adhikari, Anup Baral

Photo Courtesy:
facebook.com/fankonepalimovie

In my eyes: 2.5/5

Fanko is an average suspense drama that keeps the audience engaged up to the end. The comical layers in the presentation of a very simple story make a movie an entertaining watch, complimented by Saugat Malla’s performance.

Plot:

Bhakti Thapa (Saugat Malla) is delivering a big sum of cash from Pokhara to Kathmandu on the behalf of his boss Dhamala (Keshav Bhattarai). On knowing this, he is followed by Buddhabir Rai (Dayahang Rai) and Lily (Priyanka Karki). Also involved in the money game is  Pathak (Anup Baral). After Bhakti leaves his wife Mithu (Keki Adhikari) at home on the way towards Kathmandu, the chase begins and the drama gets spiraled.