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.

Bajirao Mastani – Love and Grandeur

Photo courtesy: facebook.com/bajiraomastani

“Love has no religion; love is itself a religion.” 

The core of this movie is love, love, and love. With larger than life sets, mesmerizing visual appeal, spellbinding performances, and hard-hitting music, this period drama is one of the cinematic masterpieces. Every frame speaks of grandeur and is polished with art. Sanjay Leela Bhansali all the way - from the very first scene to the last one.

The movie is based on the Marathi novel “Raau” by Nagnath S. Inamdar. Set aside the historical accuracies, for which controversies are already there - what truly shows off is that the movie has its soul and the heart; and it sure does inherit the cinematic liberties.

Now, not everyone can make this type of film. So, hats off to Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The movie does not deviate from its main storyline and flow smoothly throughout. One can have the problem with the pace, which is slow sometimes and fast sometimes, but there is never a dull moment. It touches you and grabs your attention to the fullest. There are some flaws, but apart from those, the movie is nothing short of grand. As a director and music director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali scores high.