Junge: A decent attempt gone failed

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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.

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The characterization is good; the interconnection between them and the handling of about a dozen characters are worth praising. The grey shades in almost all the characters bring it closer to reality and the actors’ performances compliment it rightly. Whilst making the whole setting of a movie in the Birgunj city gives a refreshing touch, the insertion of smuggling and stuff help to connect to the modern day scenario.

It acquires quite a bit time for introducing characters that eventually lags the conflict development. It would have been better if the actual actions had built them instead of a narration. The plots are not strongly developed. There can be felt a sense of hurriedness, in a script, to show all the main actions of Junge, that it only showed the outcome and not the actual process.

Likewise, antagonism factor doesn’t seem strong enough, which directly or indirectly makes the primary action weaker. The required intensity is lacking in the movie. Loopholes have found several ways into the plots. For example, where is the bike of Junge that used to be with him all the time, when he needed? Just to show him run all the way and finally failing to reach the venue at a time? The matter with the Junge, Raja Saheb and Bhunte Sarkar goes unexplained. The action sequence in the climax is dragged too long.

Cinematography is impressive. The landscape shots of Terai looks beautiful, so is the way it zooms into the faces of characters. Editing could have been crisp and the running time shorter. Background score is okay. Songs break the flow of the movie, completely unnecessary.

Amidst the many actors, Nazir Hussain, Reecha Sharma and Sushil Raj Pandey shine brighter. Nazir has nailed the character Bhappu with his body language and the dialect; wonderful performance. Reecha Sharma as Rani Saheb is a delight to watch, she looks beautiful and her expressions are just what her character asks for. Impressive job, once again. Sushil Raj Pandey has done a very good job as Bhunte Sarkar. Anup Baral in a brief but strong role is first-rate. Naresh Poudyal as Raja Saheb is equally good too.

While the supporting actors fit easily into their roles, the central one’s act does not seem to. Suraj Singh Thakuri’s work as Junge is just not up to the mark. Sushank Mainali as Gagan has not got much scope; it is sad to see the talent in him go undiscovered here. The rest of the supporting actors are okay.

Overall, Junge, despite carrying the strong content and few first-rate performances, falls below average due to the poor writing. It is a decent attempt gone failed.