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I wanted to review the newly released science fiction “Oxygen” this week. But given Nepal’s current battle with oxygen and my own experience with Covid-19, the movie about a woman fighting hypoxia in a confined space became a little too triggering for me to do. Now it becomes one of those movies I’ve left half-way despite being interesting. I also wanted to switch to a different OTT for once and review Salman Khan’s “Radhe” but by this time you probably know why I didn’t.

So, coming to my review for this week, I found solace in an entirely different universe of “Shadow and Bone”–an American fantasy streaming television series based on Leigh Bardugo’s “Grisha” novel trilogy. Directed by various directors, the eight-episode series is developed by Eric Heisserer and was released on Netflix mid-April. 

The events in Shadow and Bone take place in Grishaverse where a war is raging between Ravka, Fjerda and Shu Han regions. Shadow Fold—a dark void created centuries ago by a wizard called the Black Heretic where sinister creatures called Volcra live—divides the world and creates problems for people in all regions. Shadow Fold divides families, villages and even nations. 

Unbeknownst of her powers at the beginning, cartographer Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) is recruited to cross Shadow Fold from West Ravka to the East. Inside the Fold, the expedition is attacked by Volcras, who kill most of her team. In order to save herself and her childhood friend Malyen “Mal” Oretsev (Archie Renaux), Alina unknowingly unleashes the power of the ‘Sun Summoner.’

After Alina’s ability is discovered, different forces fight to capture her and harness her power, which could potentially destroy the Show Fold, for their own purposes. In search of the Sun Summoner across the Grishaverse are Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter), the leader of the Crows gang and General Kirigan (Ben Barnes), the General of the Second Army, the Shadow Summoner, among others.

A fantasy series it may be, but you would be wrong to compare Shadow and Bone with “Game of Thrones” or even the “Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy. But even if it might not have the captivating tenacity of Game of Thrones or the magnificent otherworldly visualizations of Lord of the Rings, Shadow and Bone’s story-telling and presentation make it one of the best fantasy series available on Netflix at present. 

The most noticeable and appreciable feat of the production team behind Shadow and Bone has to be world-building. The writers, both of the original book and the adapted screenplay, create a universe similar to the world we live in, but with entirely different places and people. It’s like we are back at the start of the 20th century, but in a whole different world. Despite having to create entirely new situations and explain them so that the audience is not lost, Shadow and Bone barely has any lapse in storytelling. 

The visualizations are also impeccable. Fantastical places and characters are presented realistically, as if they belong to the real world. Given the advancements in film production technology, this can be called pretty standard for a Netflix production. Still, Shadow and Bone has enough visual appeal to entertain you even if you don’t enjoy the storytelling.

Who should watch it?

Shadow and Bone is one of those screen adaptations that make you want to go read the original book. The series is a special treat for fantasy film lovers but might also interest anyone looking forward to a good pastime. The only disappointment is that the series leaves many conflicts unresolved, but that’s probably because the filmmakers are preparing for a few more seasons. Anyone who’s used to watching television series wouldn’t mind waiting. 

Rating: 3.5 stars
Actors: Jessie Mei Li, Ben Barness, Freddy Carter
Director/s: Lee Toland Krieger, Dan Liu, Mairzee Almas, Jeremy Webb
Genre: Fantasy
Run time: 7hrs approx.

Kathmandu valley and most parts of Nepal are under strict prohibitory orders in an effort to break the chain of Covid-19 infections. Amid this gloom, the entertainment provided by the Nepal Super League (NSL) being held at the Dasharath Rangasala Stadium in Kathmandu is offering Nepalis much-needed respite. The newly established franchise football league, organized by Nepal Sports and Event Management (NSEM) and televised live on AP1 HD, has seven teams vying for the coveted title, with national and international players lining up for each size.

As the first-ever NSL reaches its end stage, Kathmandu Rayzrs FC—the top team on the table based on round robin matches—now looks to secure the title.

Under the expert coaching of Nepali football legend Bal Gopal Maharjan, Kathmandu Rayzrs plays Dhangadhi FC in the final on May 15.

Owned by the MAW Enterprises—one of the biggest and most diverse conglomerates in the country—the Kathmandu Rayzrs is sponsored by MAW’s most popular import—Yamaha motorcycles. Vishnu Agarwal, Managing Director of MAW and owner of Kathmandu Rayzrs, talks to Sunny Mahat of ApEx about the team and the private sector’s involvement in sports.

What made MAW decide to own and operate a football team?
I would call it an opportunity we got. MAW has always been associated with football. We have sponsored football tournaments in the past and have also been giving Yamaha motorcycles to outstanding players every year in coordination with ANFA.

Yamaha motorcycles are designed for the youth and performance driven. And as football is a popular sport among the youth, we decided to sponsor Kathmandu Rayzrs to connect more with them.

Any reason behind calling the team Rayzrs?
You can say the Kathmandu Rayzrs is basically named after the Yamaha Ray ZR scooter, a popular and high selling two-wheeler in the 125cc category. Performance-wise, the Ray ZR is a scooter with maximum mileage and maximum pickup, hence the name for our team.

How do you find the league without live spectators?
It is a rather sad situation. We were really excited about the NSL and looking forward to huge public participation but the ongoing Covid crisis has changed everything. Still, we are satisfied with our team’s performance and how the league has shaped. Covid-19 stalled some of our plans for this year but we hope to do better in the coming years.

Does MAW have other plans of investing in sports?
We plan to make our presence felt on fields besides sports too. As for sports, we do not have any other plans now. At present, we are only exploring the possibilities of taking Kathmandu Rayzrs FC to greater heights.

What kind of contribution can private organizations investing in sports make?
Whenever private organizations are involved, the concerned sport benefits. Not only in Nepal, we see the same phenomena around the world. It is appreciable to see people putting effort to rope in private organizations into sports. We have to encourage and support sports of all kinds.

‘Limited series’ have always been my preference over seasons after seasons of ‘extended series’ where sometimes the waiting time can feel eternal (sic “Money Heist”). I am not keen on months-long wait to find what’s happening next in a story I’m already invested in—one reason I don’t much watch television series. But limited series or miniseries is completed in one season, leaving you without the gnawing feeling of ‘mission incomplete’.

When, once in a while, you come across something like “The Innocent” (Spanish: “El inocente”), and you are blown away by how much suspense and thrill an eight-episode miniseries can pack in. Released on Netflix on April 30, the Spanish television thriller is based on Harlan Coben’s novel of the same name and directed for the screen by Oriol Paulo.

A young Mateo Vidal (Mario Casas) gets into a fight outside a disco and accidentally kills someone. An aspiring lawyer, he gets four years in prison, which he completes. Back from prison, it does take some time for Mateo to adjust to the outside world but he manages to create a place for himself in the society and now successfully runs a law firm. He is also happily married to Olivia Costa (Aura Garrido) and the couple is expecting a baby.

All is fine and dandy in their lives until Olivia’s business trip to Berlin turns awry. Mateo gets video calls that show Olivia in a compromising position with a stranger and a further inquiry leads to a revelation that she has not left the country. As he begins to investigate his wife’s disappearance, Mateo also gets entangled in a chain of incidents that make him a fugitive of the law again, with time-hardened cop Lorena Ortiz (Alexandra Jiménez) after him.

With Lorena at his heels, Mateo is also forced to confront ghosts from his past and demons from present. On the other side, his wife Olivia too has a set of skeletons in her closet and there seems no end in sight for the number of problems they get into.

Suspense is the very DNA of The Innocent. Every episode has something that will surprise the audience and further draw their interest, only to take them towards another spinoff in the story. It is delightful to watch filmmakers pull off so many substories and subplots within the series, the contents of which has enough material for a few more seasons.

Suspense after suspense packed in a single season speeds up The Innocent, but nothing an engrossed audience cannot keep up with. The series does not center on a single character. Using multiple flashback scenes and also background narrations for storytelling, The Innocent gives each character its own space, story and POV. 

The acting—although I am in no position to judge dialogue delivery as Spanish is not a language I understand—is convincing to the point that a non-speaker like me reading dialogues on subtitles easily understands the emotions the actors are trying to convey. This is a big win for the actors and directors.

Who should watch it?

If you like thrillers, we recommend you drop whatever you are doing and begin The Innocent asap, before spoilers start appearing all over social media. It is the type of series that you can watch now and revisit a couple of years later. (Seriously.) Also for audience who are not generally into crimes and thrillers, this could be an exception. This will perhaps also change your mind.

Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Thriller, crime
Actors: Mario Casas, Aura Garrido, Alexandra Jiménez
Director: Oriol Paulo
Run time: 7h 47mins

What makes for a good film? The story? The cast? Big budget? Huge production? Extravagant set designs? Heavy VFX? The answer probably is, we don’t know yet. Some movies with millions of dollars of investment don’t last a weekend in theaters and some with a fraction of their budgets become cult classics. Released recently on Netflix, “The Boy” joins the line of low-budget films that have the potential to be cult classics.

Not to be confused with the 2016 horror movie of the same name, The Boy is an American thriller based on a short film by Craig Macneill and Clay McLeod Chapman, the genesis of which lies in Chapman’s novel called “Miss Corpus”.

The Boy is about nine-year-old Ted (Jared Breeze), who lives with his father John (David Morse), a motel-keeper at some obscure highway in Colorado. The rundown motel is their family business and it is the two of them living in the seemingly deserted highway that sees little traffic. Ted’s mother has long left them and is in Florida and he still harbors the desire to go see her someday. His father John has taken the separation heavily, almost turning into an alcoholic.

With no business as such in the estate, no friends to play with, no family to turn to and an only parent who completely neglects him, young Ted turns to keeping himself entertained by roaming around the area and collecting roadkill. His father pays him for whatever dead animals he collects. As life gets excruciatingly boring for Ted and he has to find new ways of entertaining himself, Ted’s morbid hobby of collecting dead animals turns to hunting them, first out of curiosity and then out of pleasure.

On a fateful night, Ted’s attempt to kill a deer by making it stand on the highway while vehicles speed by causes an accident. The accident brings the mysterious William Colby (Rainn Wilson) to the father and son’s life. Colby decides to stay at the motel to recuperate from the accident but the local sheriff’s office is suspicious about him. Nonetheless, he stays and forms a good friendship with Ted. But not for long.

One can’t probably write about The Boy without giving away a major spoiler, but that’s not the point of the film. Yes, the little boy Ted in The Boy turns into a serial killer. There’s nothing suspenseful about that and the makers don’t intend to hide the fact. It is the process through which he transitions that matters more.

Ted is living a life of neglect. His father has abandoned his duties towards him. He does not go to school. He has no other adults taking care of him. He does not have same-age children to play with. So Ted’s absolute boredom and freedom gives space to unchecked wantonness, which then gets a dangerous edge. The quote “as flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport” from Shakespeare’s “King Lear” becomes a description of his life. He starts killing out of boredom, for pleasure.

Most serial-killer movies either glorify the killer or demonize them. The Boy does neither. It just lets the audience get a glimpse of Ted’s life and how he metamorphosizes from an innocent young boy to a ruthless killer, all within his nine years on the planet.

The storytelling is slow and gradual. It takes time to develop Ted’s character. Child actor Breeze has done a commendable job as the troubled Ted, driving the film alone, of course supported adequately by his adult co-actors. The low-budget film banks entirely on its actors and storytelling and successfully so.

Who should watch it?

A potential ‘cult classic’ also means this film might have only a niche audience who will actually enjoy it. The onus lies on you to decide its fate. The film does have an excellent background score and its cinematography captures the vulnerability of lonliness with haunting resemblance to real life. So I still recommend The Boy to anyone who enjoys crime/thriller movies.

Rating: 3.5 stars
Actors: Jared Breeze, Rainn Wilson, David Morse
Director: Craig Macneill
Genre: Crime, thriller
Run time: 1hr 45mins

A second wave of Covid-19 infections could hit Nepal, health professionals had been warning since mid-March. But the government didn’t heed their warning. Instead of deploying its resources immediately to prepare for a new surge, officials spent valuable time and resources on organizing programs to attract the masses, rather than urging the members of the public to wear masks and maintain social distancing.

When the government finally woke up from its slumber, it shut schools and colleges from April 19. Even then it took almost a week for the decision to be implemented completely. There were reports of schools flouting the government diktat even as high case positivity and even death rates were being recorded among the young population.

On the same day, the government also targeted the sector most vulnerable to any kind of government intervention. Restaurants, bars, pubs and nightclubs were ordered to shut down by 8pm every day. The decision brought mixed reaction from the general public, with most expressing concern over the implications of the decision. They don’t see a valid reason behind the decision as everything else in the country was operating like normal.

“Does corona virus spread only after 8pm?” many people questioned on social media.

Dawang Tamang, coordinator of the Night Entertainment Business Association of Nepal (NEBAN) raised the same question when contacted to get his views on the night curfew imposed on restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs.

 “There is a crowd everywhere in Kathmandu. There are people everywhere. Even the government is organizing mass gatherings. The vaccine centers are crowded with no social distancing. Why only target night businesses?” Tamang asked, unaware at the time of the impending restrictions that would shut down everything “non-essential.”

Tamang also informed that restaurants and bars in Durbarmarg and Thamel employee around 14,500 people who will now suffer the consequences of the restrictions. The revenue generated by these businesses amount to billions of rupees per annum. And the investments are huge. “Still, instead of letting us operate with safety measures and in half the capacity, the government decides to shut us down before everything else,” Tamang says.

The idea to shut down restaurants and bars did not go will with most of the businesspersons involved. It was counter-productive, and confusing, most people ApEx talked to said. Only this week, popular restaurateur Tasneem Sahani took to Facebook to vent her frustration.

“Does anyone have a clue as to why the police came today at 8pm and shut everything down at Jhamsikhel?” she wrote, explaining that the police enforced a curfew, forcing everything including grocery shops in the area to shut down. Sahani knew that restaurants had an 8pm deadline for dining-in, but was under the impression that deliveries and takeaways were allowed till regular hours.

The confusion over deliveries and takeaways for restaurants is still rampant as Kathmandu braces for restrictions. If the restaurants are allowed to deliver and open for takeaways, will their staff be allowed out on the streets with their vehicles? They have not been told yet and will probably will find out only when their vehicles are confiscated.

‘Confusing’ is the state-of-affairs for most businesses in the present situation. Event manager- turned-restauranteur and club owner Ritesh Marwadi, who operates four different properties in Thamel and Lazimpat, is not sure if his businesses will ever recover from the losses. Marwadi co-owns two restaurants in Thamel and one in Lazimpat, with investments of over Rs 10 million each. His recently opened “Sugar Club” in Thamel was built on an investment of over Rs 40 million.

Ritesh Marwadi

As for monthly expenses, Marwadi employees a total of 50 plus staff and including rent and other expenses, the expenditures come around Rs 2.2 to 2.3 million per month.

“We were told to shut down the club, which we were ok with to some extent. But forcing us to shut down our businesses by 8pm meant that we would not even make a fraction of our required daily sales,” Marwadi complained. Many popular restaurants in Kathmandu have food as their unique selling points. These restaurants can survive, if necessary, on takeaways and deliveries alone. Unfortunately for Marwadi, his restaurants thrive more on the ambience they offer than the food. His restaurants run at night only.

In an interview taken before the government imposed the restrictions in Nepal starting April 29, Marwadi gave the example of Irish Pub at Lazimpat, one of the restaurants he operates. The restaurant opens only at around 5pm. “Just the other day, we had one single guest who came in at 7pm and ordered beer and fries. He was just enjoying his order when the police came in at 7:30pm,” Marwadi narrated, “The customer panicked and left. The total sales that days was just over Rs 900.”

When the deadline for restaurants is 8pm, police start making their rounds almost an hour earlier, which startles the guests. Marwadi, along with many other businesses, request the government to let them operate till at least 10 pm. In return, they assure that they will maintain all safety protocols and operate in half capacity to facilitate physical distancing.

“Instead of enforcing restrictions on us and locking us down, the government should have locked the borders and stopped people coming from India,” Marwadi concluded, “With the country openly exposed at the borders, and by air travel, we will not achieve anything.” With his restaurants not opening for deliveries due to the restrictions, Marwadi is focusing on his commerce business for now.

Julia Shah, event promoter at Club Platinum is now unemployed because of the prohibitory orders. She feels that the government is repeating the same mistake it did last year. Instead of focusing on shutting down the borders and protecting the country, the government is doing the opposite.

Julia Shah

 “Restaurants and club businesses are not only for entertainment. They employee so many people and contribute to the economy,” Shah says, “These restrictions just forced us towards unemployment. We could have operated with social distancing and safety measures instead of just shutting down everything for months.”

Restaurants and bars not only employee staff in the kitchen and services department but also contribute to the monthly earnings of people of other professions as well. Musicians, DJs, dancers, drivers, security guards are just some of the professions that are tied up with restaurants and bars.

“Because of the nature of our businesses which involves high movement of people, we become an easy target for the government. The government had to do something as the infection rates got higher, they decided to impose restrictions on us to show they are concerned,” says Shree Gurung, event manager and restauranteur.

Gurung, who is also active in raising social awareness and continuously posts about Covid-related issues, is of the opinion that given to the situation, the government’s decision cannot be taken too harshly. With the second wave, Nepal might surpass the infection records of last year and is still unprepared for the pandemic.

“I personally feel the decision is alright, albeit not enough. We should take a break in this situation. To deal with the pandemic, businesses like mine take collateral damage,” Gurung says.

The collateral damage could mean a huge loss to businesses and cause massive unemployment. Employing around 300 staff on a regular basis, besides creating opportunities for musicians and performing artists, restauranteur Karish Pradhan sees the future bleak.

Pradhan’s five restaurants, all upmarket properties with individual investments of around Rs 20-30 million, might not see through the end of the pandemic, he says. His monthly overhead expense is around Rs 500,000-Rs 700,000 for each restaurant.

Initially, Pradhan was miffed at the government for only imposing the 8pm curfew on restaurants without any other measures to curb the infection spread. “Our main source of income is liquor sales. Sixty percent of the business takes place after 8pm. With the 8pm curfew, the guests do not bother to come any more. Also, takeaways and deliveries cannot generate the operational costs,” Pradhan had told ApEx before the prohibitory orders were announced.

Post prohibition, Pradhan has a changed stance. He welcomes the new regulatory orders and says it was important for the government to impose strict measures to curb the spread of the virus.

Pradhan informed that he will shut all his restaurants, since takeaways can’t cover even the operating costs, for the whole period of the ‘lockdown.’

 “Money is not the only issue, we have to play our part as citizens too,” Pradhan said, also informing that his sixth and newest property in Lazimpat could not even host an opening night because of the restrictions.

Despite an eventful week, in which we relaunched the print edition of The Annapurna Express, I finally succeeded in committing myself to a series that had been on my watchlist for almost a month now. Co-produced by BBC One and Netflix, “The Serpent” has been a trending topic of discussion for film lovers online and I couldn’t put it off any longer.

The eight-part crime drama serial has a strong connection with Nepal and features the life and crimes of serial-killer Charles Sobhraj, also dubbed the ‘bikini killer’ and ‘the serpent’ based on the nature of his crimes and his cunningness. Told in different timelines using flashbacks to switch between the past and the present, The Serpent chronicles Sobhraj’s criminal activities from the early 70s till his arrest in Nepal in 2003, where he is still imprisoned, serving two life sentences for the murders he committed back in 1975.

The plot of the series is already known to the world with plenty of online resources available on Shobhraj’s life. It is the execution of these available timelines, with some creative liberties of course, that makes The Serpent deservedly get so much attention.

Algerian-French actor Tahar Rahim plays Shobraj, the French serial killer of Vietnamese-Indian origin, embodying his beguiling personality with much conviction. Compared to Randeep Hooda’s Sobhraj in “Mein Aur Charles” (2015)—which I thought would remain the best on-screen portrayal of the mysterious serial-killer—Rahim’s personification is what apples are to oranges. While Hooda’s Shobhraj had the style and suave befitting a Bollywood production, Rahim’s is more raw, gritty and tenacious. With the character of Charles Sobhraj itself covered in a number of multi-ethnic, multi-lingual layers, Rahim does an excellent job of personifying the bundle of complexities called Shobhraj.

In the supporting roles, Jenna Coleman plays Marie-Andrée Leclerc, Sobhraj’s Québécois girlfriend who assists him in smuggling, robbing, and unknowingly in murder. In this adaptation, however, Coleman’s Leclerc is just one of the lost souls who Sobhraj captivates and uses to commit his heinous crimes. Amesh Edireweera as Ajay Chowdhury—Sobhraj’s partner-in-crime—has the simple task of showcasing unrelenting evil and violence on screen. While Sobhraj seems to have at least some method to his madness, Chowdhury is utterly evil and actor Edireweera portrays the role convincingly. Billy Howle as Herman Knippenberg—a Dutch diplomat in Bangkok whose investigations lead to Sobhraj’s capture and incrimination—is also one of the strong onscreen presences that make the series enticing.

Attention to detail is another strength of The Serpent. The makers have put in a lot of effort into research and execution as they recreate the 70s hippie era in countries like India, Pakistan, Thailand and Nepal. Jhochhen (Freak Street) featured in some parts of the series is extremely convincing, as if it was actually shot back in the 70s itself. The attention to detail is so intricate that the makers recreate the iconic Snowman Café of Jhochhen—a hip joint back in the 70s—which still exists.

Told in so different timelines and travelling to-and-fro across many countries, The Serpent manages not to break the story’s continuity. The series retains a healthy pace throughout and every episode is enjoyable. The only complaint with the producers, who have otherwise worked so hard: the use of Indian actors for Nepali characters, and recognized faces at that. The Nepali film industry, although nowhere as big as Bollywood, definitely has actors who could have fit the supporting roles. Honestly, it feels wrong to see Indian actors take up Nepali roles when such faux pas could easily have been avoided.

Who should watch it?

This review is for those who have not watched The Serpent yet. I know quite a few who are apprehensive about starting a series lest it disappoints and wastes their time. This one, I would assure, is worth every minute spent on Netflix. If you like crime thrillers or dramas based on real-life people, this one is for you.

Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Crime, drama
Actors: Tahar Rahim, Jenna Coleman
Directors: Tom Shankland, Hans Herbots
Run time: 7hrs approx.

“When I first came to Nepal, I hated it here,” recalls Sunmi Paik, a musician and educator who is now working to enhance music education in Nepal. “I was in transit from Bhutan and got a big cultural shock on arrival.” 

Sunmi, a virtuoso pianist and PhD scholar in education at the Korea National University of Education in South Korea, first came to Nepal on 21 February 2020. She had spent some time in Bhutan as part of her PhD research. Nepal was supposed to be a short transit. Unfortunately, her flight home was delayed for months when South Korea got engulfed in a massive Covid-19 pandemic. 

“I was then forced to stay here for 40 days, and the initial days were really difficult,” Sunmi says. Having traveled to around 30 countries around the world, Sunmi initially found Nepal the least hospitable of them all. Kathmandu was dusty and crowded and people stared at her uncomfortably. Adding to her misery, she also did not have many friends or acquaintances in the country. Coming from the naturally pristine Bhutan, it was a jarring experience. 

Now on her second Nepal trip, Sunmi is a changed person. “Namaste, ma Sunmi Limbu,” she introduces herself as any other Nepali would. Limbu is a surname she’s unofficially adopted as she has been time and again mistaken for a Limbu woman. As for her Nepali skills, she is surprisingly fluent for the relatively short period of time she has spent here, and her conversations are a mix of English and Nepali. 

“I find it easier to speak in Nepal than in English,” Sunmi says. “Learning Nepali was essential to understanding the people and culture here, and I am glad with the progress I have made.” Sunmi has also been learning the local Newa dialect and is confident she will gain some proficiency in the language soon. 

So what changed her mind and made her adopt Nepal as a second home? It was a gradual process, and she realized it when she went back home. During her stay in Nepal, Sunmi had befriended many local musicians, professionals and amateurs alike. The pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns freed many gigging musicians who Sunmi got in touch with, and shared experiences and even collaborated with. She also traveled to Pokhara during her first visit to learn the state of music education there. 

“I kept in touch with Nepali musicians when I returned to Korea. It was then that I realized I was in love with Nepal,” Sunmi says. When Nepal opened its borders post-lockdown, Sunmi went straight to the Nepali Embassy in Seoul and became the first Korean to get a visa to Nepal. She arrived here in January and has since been working to develop music education in the country.

“When in Bhutan, I had a chance to see its systematic and well-developed education system up close. In Nepal, music education is still primitive. As a musician and music educator, how could I ignore this?” she asks. On her second trip, Sunmi started organizing workshops for music teachers as she believes teachers can help bring big changes. “As a single person, I cannot do much. But if I train teachers here, we can together make a big difference.” The free workshops started small but have grown in size.

Music is a secondary or an optional subject in Nepali schools. There are music institutions and schools, but the teachers are not properly trained. Mostly, musicians with skills become teachers. Sunmi wants to instill internationally practiced and proven teaching methodologies in Nepali music teachers to make classes more effective for students. “Many times, the teachers are surprised by my simple yet effective teaching methods,” Sunmi says. “The master-courses I conduct will change teaching and learning processes and definitely produce more music scholars in the future.” 

Nepal’s traditional cultural and caste divides meant only certain communities were allowed to be musicians. But Sunmi believes gradual changes will make music education progressively more palatable in the society. “At least by the time we get old and become grandparents, we’ll see children freely choose to study music as a major subject,” she says. 

In Nepal till June, Sunmi plans to continue giving workshops to music teachers every two weeks. She is also developing music education books and curriculums. Sunmi has been appointed an instructor for Western Classical Music History at Kathmandu University Department of Music. “The university has been very accommodating and has offered me online classes when I go back to Korea,” Sunmi says. “I will also be visiting Nepal every year and make sure I see the changes I am trying to instill.”

“Roohi”, released theatrically on March 11, was one of the first movies to be played in Nepal’s cinema halls after the lockdowns. Those who could brave being inside confined spaces of cinema halls with their air-conditionings on might have probably watched the movie, which is still showing in some of Kathmandu’s theaters. For others not brave enough, Netflix released the Hindi-language film on its platform this week. 

Set in a village called Bagadpur in India, “Roohi” the movie is about a girl called Roohi (Janhvi Kapoor) and the extraordinary things that happen in her life. Bhawra (Rajkummar Rao) and Kattanni (Varun Sharma) are members of a kidnapping gang in the village where bride-kidnapping is a custom. Under the leadership of Guniya Bhai (Manav Vij), the duo kidnap girls and force them to marry grooms that pay them for their services. 

An innocent Roohi becomes one of the gang’s victims when a prospective groom hires them to kidnap her. But due to a death in the groom’s family Bhawra and Kattanni are forced to hide her for a few days in an abandoned shack in the middle of a jungle. The two men hold their victim hostage in a shed. Little do they know they are dealing with a sinister force.  

It turns out Roohi is possessed with the spirit of Afza, a ‘mudiyapairi’ (a ghost with feet turned backward). Terrified at first without the option to escape, Bhawra then falls in love with Roohi. To complicate things, Kattanni falls in love with the spirit Afza. From then on, the film’s plot tries to explain what transpires in the lives of the three people and one ghost. 

To be blunt, “Roohi” doesn’t offer much to the audience. The plot itself is a ghastly attempt at replicating some successful Indian horror-comedies. For horror-comedies to be successful, they need to be either scary or funny, or both for best result. Either that or they have to have a lot of adult content to at least cater to one group of audience. “Roohi” has nothing of the sort.

The film’s writing and Hardik Mehta’s direction are not the only let downs though. Janhvi Kapoor, who comes from one of the most influential families in Bollywood and is heiress to the legacy of the legendary late Sri Devi, embarrasses herself in the film. She is utterly unconvincing as Roohi, a kidnapping victim. And disaster strikes the screen every time Kapoor’s character is possessed; her portrayal of Afza (mudiyapari) is painful to watch.

The same can be said about the more established Rajkummar Rao. As a small-time ‘good-hearted’ goon from a rural village, Rao is unable to display even half the skills he’s shown in films like “Newton” and “Bareilly Ki Barfi.” (Both 2017 movies with Rao in the lead.) It is probably the writing that gives his character a confused appearance, not allowing Rao to get into his elements as an actor. Or playing the same kind of roles in low-budget movies has made him mundane.

The exact same words can be used for Varun Sharma of the “Fukrey” fame. The 2013 comedy film propelled him to fame in Bollywood, with a string of other comedy films to follow. Unfortunately, Sharma has not been able to grow as an actor. It somehow does not feel right watching him do the same thing again and again. If he fails to shed his “Choocha” image he’s been carrying from Fukrey, he will soon age out of Bollywood.

The writing is again to be blamed. Both Rao and Sharma’s characters try to caricature the rural Indian youth. But instead the writing ends up mocking and stereotyping them. The film does try to address the issues of casteism and religious dogmas but the message is easily lost in such a pointless plot.

Who should watch it?

“Roohi” is tolerable only if you have a strong palate for horror comedies. You must be really bored and free to indulge the shoddy acting and direction. Or be a big fan of one of the main characters.

Rating: 1.5 stars
Director: Hardik Mehta
Actors: Rajkummar Rao, Janhvi Kapoor, Varun Sharma
Run time: 2h 14mins