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So the latest news is, arch nemesis India and Pakistan have settled their differences and have joined hands to beat the British. They don’t use bombs and guns to defeat their colonizers though; their weapons of choice being hip-hop and bhangra this time around. Well that’s the plot of Remo D'Souza’s “Street Dancer 3D”, his third dance flick.

When the dancer turned choreographer turned reality TV judge D’Souza directed the 2013 hit “Any Body Can Dance”, the film with a cast of real dancers and not so popular Bollywood faces, besides Prabhu Deva and Kay Kay Menon, had an organic nature to its production. It was one of the first dance-oriented films in the industry and using actual dancers for the entire cast, the film was special and created a milestone. The director then decided to back this success with ABCD 2 in 2015. This one was more commercial-minded featuring star kids Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor in starring roles.

While D’Souza’s choreography skills are reaching new heights, the director seems to have entered a rabbit hole of filmy clichés in this one. With Varun and Shraddha repeated as the leads, “Street Dancer 3D” is more of a generic Bollywood drama than a full-fledged dance movie.

Shraddha (Inayat) leads a team of Pakistani dancers called “Rule Breakers” and Varun Dhawan (Sahej) is the leader of a team of Indians called “Street Dancers,” both based in London. Inevitably, the two teams are rivals in dance and also in cricket banter. But things change when Inayat discovers a group of homeless illegal immigrants in the undergrounds of London and takes it upon herself to help them. How? By winning a dance competition that has the huge prize money of £100,000. Very typical, right?

Yes, it gets too melodramatic at times. Yes, the incorporation of Bollywood masalas into the movie has stretched it into a lengthy 2hrs 30min run time. And yes, the under par acting performances and direction are evident. But does Street Dancer fail to entertain the audience seated it the theaters? It definitely doesn’t. All sorts of lapses in film production are nullified by the fact that the choreography is unprecedented in the industry.

The centerpiece of the drama takes place in the first half and the second half sees it unfolding with exceptional dance performances not only from the cast but also from different dance groups featured in the film. Besides Varun and Shraddha—both accomplished dancers—the cast includes Prabhu Deva (Ram Prasad), Norah Fatehi (Nora) and a list of familiar faces from Indian dance reality shows including Punit Pathak as Inder, Salman Yusuff Khan as Zayn, Raghav Juyal as Poddy, and Dharmesh Yelande as D.

Coming back to the film’s choreography, combined with excellent cinematography, it sets a benchmark. The music is basically Punjabi hip-hop and RnB but also draws influences from house, trance, trap, and much more. While the songs are not quite memorable in themselves, the combination of choreography, dance routines and photography create a visual extravaganza, especially with the deliberate 3D effects.

Who should watch it?

Anybody who enjoys watching dance will love this movie. Also, if not for anything else, do watch it for our homeboys Sushant Khatri, who plays “Chotu” in the movie and the dance troupe Wild Ripperz who feature as themselves. A stepping stone for Nepali dancers to be featured in such a huge stage.

Genre: Drama

Rating: 3 Stars

Run time: 2hrs 30min

Director: Remo D'Souza

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhu Deva

In an interview, Isabel Allende said that she wrote ‘In the Midst of Winter’ in 2016 just when she was coming out of a divorce after 28 years of marriage and her agent, three close friends, and dog had all died. It was during these trying times that she came upon a quote by Albert Camus: “In the midst of winter, I finally found there was within me an invincible summer. For the summer that we all have inside to manifest we need to open the heart and take risks.” And that’s what the book is about: Three trau­matized people trapped in a snow­storm in Brooklyn, New York facing a life-and-death situation. By choos­ing to support one another and being kind, they ultimately discov­er the invincible summers that lie within them.The book opens with a minor car collision, between 60-year old schol­ar Richard Bowmaster and Evelyn Ortega, an undocumented Guate­malan refugee. This incident sets into motion a chain of events which forces the two and 62-year-old Lucia Maraz, a visiting professor at NYU, who is also Bowmaster’s coworker and tenant, to deal with a situa­tion that, to begin with, is not their problem, and which seems to be spiraling out of control by the min­ute. While ‘In the Midst of Winter’ mostly focuses on Richard, Lucia, and Evelyn’s seemingly ordinary lives, mystery and intrigue simul­taneously weave their way into the story, making what would otherwise have been a slow narrative into a gripping can’t-stop-till-I-know-what-happens-next read.

Lucia and Evelyn sometimes feel like extensions of Allende’s personal history as the author has said, time and again, that, for much of her life, she’s felt like a foreigner. And it seems here, through them, Allende is taking the liberty to make her readers understand what the immi­grant experience is like. Though there can be no better time to tell immigrants’ stories, you sometimes wish the writing were a little less flowery, allowing you to focus on the character’s lives instead of getting stuck in the imageries it manages to conjure.

Also, ‘In the Midst of Winter’ feels a little awkward because something doesn’t seem right and the ending too is a bit off. But, all in all, Allende deserves to be read because her sto­ries get you thinking about the many things you tend to take for granted in life.

 Who’d have thought the residential area of Dhapashi would get its own multi-cuisine restaurant that also serves blended coffee and imported pre­mium liquor? Well, the owners of the Maze Family Garden and Restaurant just did, and opened up a lavish venue right in the center of Dhapashi. Located near Triyog School (on the way to Greenland Chowk from Dhapashi), Maze is probably one of the biggest properties that serves as a restaurant and bar in the area. Indoor and outdoor seating options and ample parking space give Maze the advantage no other prop­erty in the area has. A little off-key location wise, the restaurant looks to capitalize on the purchasing power and the needs of Dhapashi residents. They won’t have to drive down to Maharajgunj or Lazimpat anymore; they can experience fine dining right next door.

Debutant director Zohn Yonzon’s “12 Sattais” tries to replicate the success of low-budget Bollywood comedies with both critical acclaim and box office success. In fact, if you dismiss a few Hollywood inspirations, you’ll find in 12 Sattais, written by Yonzon himself, a loose cross between “Delhi Belly” (2011) and “Fukrey” (2013). As in those movies, 12 Sattais has a cast of young actors, sets a premise for slapstick comedy with a bit of dark humor, and opens an opportunity to create a cult following for its characters and the film itself. Unfortunately, the film fails in all these efforts. With a feeble script backed up by equally weak actors, 12 Sattais is a complete waste of time for everyone involved in the project—and the handful of audience watching it.

A trio of luckless friends decide to name themselves after planets—Mars (Samir Shrestha), Mercury (Kaji Rana Magar), and Pluto (Abishek Nepal)—because, they believe in astrology!? Weird enough. Then one night of drunken madness lands them on a riverbank in the morning where they find a bag of money. Out of luck and unwise as they are, they do not know what to do with the dough and as events unfold, they land themselves in thick soup, stuck between two goons Helmet Devi (Aasmita Lamichhane) and Pandit Don (Samrat Thapa), and a corrupt cop. The film builds on their struggle to save their newfound treasure as well as themselves from the adversaries.

Absurdity in comedy is only natural and widely used. From comedy-pioneer Charlie Chaplin to our very own Dhurmus (Sitaram Kattel), all visual comedians put their characters into bizarre situations to ignite laughter in the audience. We wouldn’t laugh at what we consider normal, would we? Absurdity is what 12 Sattais, marketed as a ‘visual comedy’, tries to capitalize on, but it fails in execution. The cast lacks basic acting skills and one can see through their acting. The comic timing is so out of whack that even scenes which could have been funny with a better cast, are performed without conviction. Also, the script is flawed and many characters are left unexplained. We do not understand nor can relate to even one of them.

None of the actors stands out. With most of them debuting, this is a project they could have done without at the start of their career. The three lead characters—Mars, Mercury and Pluto—do nothing but run around in lethargically long chase scenes. We don’t know why “Helmet Devi” has that the name besides watching her and her henchwomen wearing helmets everywhere. Lamichhane does much to emulate Richa Chaddha’s “Bholi Punjaban” (Fukrey), but fails miserably with her under-par acting skills. We don’t know the story behind the half-naked, dhoti-clad Pandit Don. (Why is he a don? What does he do as a don?) We don’t know why his henchman “Bhyantey” wears a wooden mask depicting a radio on his head for the entire movie. We don’t know the story behind Pandit’s other two henchmen (who wear oxygen masks and carry oxygen cylinders on their backs, and sport green t-shirts with the print, “Kathmandu’s pollution causes more cancers thank smoking.”)

If fickle acting and plenty of ‘plotholes’ make the film unbearable, a few problematic liberties taken in the name of comedy makes it unwatchable. First, there is a joke about rape which goes along the lines of, “If we [men] touch women, it is rape and if women touch us, its miracle.” In these times when rape is becoming an epidemic, desensitizing rape by joking about it is devious. Also, Pluto once makes a sexual joke, hidden in guise of a public service announcement statement, in front of a minor. We’re left to wonder how crass a filmmaker can get!

Who should watch it?

We have reasons to believe this film won’t be in the theaters by the time this review is published. So if you haven’t fallen prey to its heavy social media promotions, you’d not have watched it. We’re happy for you.

Rating: 1 star

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Run time: 1hrs 56min

Director: Zohn Yonzon

Cast: Samir Shrestha, Abhishek Nepal, Kaji Rana Magar