A disastrous casting call
The subject that director Nawal Nepal’s “Maruni” deals with is strong in itself. The film is a rare Nepali production where people of a different gender other than the conventional ‘male’ or ‘female’ are not heavily stereotyped or given offensive comic cameos. “Maruni” makes a case for a person to be able to choose a gender. With a transgender woman in the lead role, the film has a somewhat unprecedented story, at least in the Nepali film industry.
In “Maruni,” actress Samragyee RL Shah plays Suman—biologically a man who undergoes a sex reassignment surgery to turn into a transgender woman. Suman falls in love with Yash (Puspa Khadka), and her love turns into obsession even as Yash rejects her advances, not because he knows she is transgender but because he is married to Madhu (Rebika Gurung.)
Despite a strong subject, the film does not have a thoughtful story. Marketed as “an obsessive love story”, one can neither feel the love nor the obsession in the two-hour runtime, thanks to a forgettable performance of lead actors.
Nawal Nepal—as a story/screenplay writer, assistant director and director—has been in the industry for almost two decades and yet has gone without a successful film. Unfortunately for him, “Maruni”, despite taking up a strong social issue, won’t give him that success either. And being low budget compared to the multi-million dollar Bollywood flick “Saaho”, a simultaneous release, is no excuse as he has chosen popular faces in the cast at the expense of hiring talented actors who could carry a strong storyline.
In this digital age, content is the king and there have been multitudes of low-budget movies in Bollywood itself, which have given tough competition to big productions. Complaining about getting less screen time in Nepali halls is also out of place when filmmakers can’t even entertain the little audience they get.
Coming back to the film, Shah as Suman is a disaster. Playing a character with so many different layers and who needs to drive the whole film forward, Shah never gets into it. She is unable to grasp the weight of her character and wears a confusing expression in most scenes. Her dialogue delivery is ridiculously anglicized and at times incoherent.
Another lead, Khadka as Yash, does a slightly better job but lacks the intensity his character requires. As someone fighting an obsessive pursuer, Yash isn’t successful in emoting his struggle before the audience. Neither is his chemistry with his wife believable. We don’t even know if he is loyal to his her or is too scared to cheat on her with another woman. Yash is that futile. A prime example for filmmakers that popular faces from social media and music videos cannot necessarily lead their films. For a multi-layer storyline, Shah and Khadka’s acting is amateurish to do justice to the film.
In terms of the script, too, the filmmakers have made juvenile blunders in their attempt to add “masala” to the movie. The song and dance sequences are unwanted and there’s a fight scene where Yash—so drunk that he can’t even stand on his own—immediately gets up and fights off a bunch of goons with high flying kicks and acrobatics. Mr Nepal, if you don’t want Bollywood to compete with you, why do you stick to Bollywood’s masala formula?
The film also attempts a serious twist which we can’t reveal as it would be a big spoiler. So we completely and deliberately neglect one important character.
Who should watch it?
Well, if you love Shah and Khadka for their social media popularity and despite their poor acting. The duo are decent dancers and the songs, although awkwardly placed in the movie, are well choreographed with the two flaunting their skills to the hilt. Deepak Bajracharya’s “Jam Na Maya Jam” is probably the best thing about the movie. His playback singing gives a new sound to Kollywood cinema and Shah and Khadka perform their sequences with flair. Maybe they should stick to music videos.
Rating: 1 star
Cast: Samragyee RL Shah, Puspa Khadka, Rebik Gurung
Director: Nawal Nepal
Run time: 2 hours
Genre: Drama
Disturbing but dull
I was excited to read ‘Sharp Objects’ by Gillian Flynn as I had really enjoyed her ‘Gone Girl’. But Flynn’s debut novel is nothing like her third, which was an international bestseller. Both are psychological thrillers but the similarity ends there. Sharp Object fails to deliver the same edge-of-your-seat impact as Gone Girl. It just isn’t as well written, and something about the story feels off.Sharp Object follows Camille Preaker, a Chicago-based journalist, who returns to her hometown Wind Gap in Missouri to report on a series of brutal murders. Going back home is somewhat of an ordeal for Camille who has probably never gotten over the death of her sister, and whose relationship with her mother can only be described as cold and dysfunctional. The story is both about the murders of little girls as well as Camille’s relations with her family, and you get a sense that the two are somehow entwined. The other characters in the story, especially Camille’s boss, step-father, and half-sister, could have added interest to the story had they been developed a bit more. But Flynn doesn’t bother much with them, choosing mostly to focus on Camille and her mother, and it’s that lack of nuances and normality that makes Sharp Objects a dull, monotone read. Flynn also likes to write about dysfunctional women, but in today’s world of television and books dysfunctional characters are more the norm than well-adjusted ones so there’s nothing new there either.
Having said that, Sharp Object touches on issues like self-harm, familial bonds, and the need to fit in and be loved. There is also a generous dose of darkness and gore that is trademark Flynn and she manages to give different dimensions to the main character. Camille is unlikable and she has no redeeming qualities but you are still able to empathize with her because you realize she has been shaped by her childhood and circumstances, and that she is only human. If you read Sharp Objects with some preconceived notions about how it might or should be, based on Gone Girl, the book or the film adaptation, then you are unlikely to enjoy it. But if you haven’t read Flynn before or didn’t think much about Gone Girl, then you just might like this novel that explores the different facets of human psyche.
Good moves, bad movie
The idea of a female-centric Nepali Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) movie was promising. When it was first announced amid much fanfare in May 2018, public expectation was naturally built. But from the time of the release of the trailer two months ago, troubling questions were already being raised about Namrata Shrestha-starrer “Xira”. The story of “Xira”, directed by debutant Ashutosh Raj Shrestha, is like a Jean Claude Van Damme movie from the late 80s and Akshay Kumar’s Bollywood movies in the late 90s.
A martial-art expert protagonist seeks revenge from a baddie and in the course displays some physical prowess that keeps the audience entertained. The only difference here: gender roles have been reversed, as our heroine Xira loses her husband Rao (Anoop Bikram Shahi) to the mob kingpin Raja (Pramod Agrahari) and his sidekick Bullet (Srijana Regmi).
The audience could have guessed the plot from the trailer. No big deal. What the movie actually promised as the first ever MMA-based film was a ‘feast of fury’ combined with a lot of action-packed sequences. But, alas, gross negligence in many aspects of filmmaking make “Xira” not even worth sitting through its short 1 hr 35 mins length.
With Namrata herself as one of the producers, the technical glitches in the movie are too many to ignore. The VFX, color grading, editing and even cinematography lack the consistency that most new Nepali movies excel in. The screenplay is so loose that it makes a 95-minute film seem lengthier than it is, and the inclusion of a very tacky item number makes matter worse. Can’t understand why Nepali filmmakers choose a zero-figure model to perform mechanical dance steps in flimsy clothing when they can actually hire a real dancer for much less. So uncalled for from Namrata and the rest of the crew.
But while Namrata fails in filmmaking, she makes it up with her acting. As Xira, a professional MMA fighter and wife of policeman Rao, Namrata gives ample life to her character. She takes method acting to the next level in the context of Nepali films and sets a benchmark for other actresses. Namrata has trained hard for “Xira” and her hard-work shows in her action sequences. She jabs, punches, kicks and grapples like a pro and it would be fair to say she is the only Nepali actress who can give a long shot of action sequence without the help of ropes and wires. Kudos to the Gymkhana team who trained her for the movie. They sure did a good job. Debutant Srijana Regmi as “Bullet” also gives a good performance. A popular model with a well-toned physique in real life, Regmi plays a worthy nemesis to “Xira” with her fighting skills, stone cold countenance and a body most aspiring models would die for. The men in the movie are all below par though. There’s a lethargy in their acting that doesn’t sit well in an action movie. Maybe it’s the nonchalant approach to just doing what they are paid for in a female-centric film. Even Raymon Das Shrestha—the hunky Nepali actor, RJ/VJ and judge of a reality TV show—fails to impress as “Raman,” a corrupt cop. (He may have a bigger role in the second installment of the film which is announced in the end.)
The one actor who needs to be individually called out for his underachieving performance though is Pramod Agrahari. A character actor who has performed in at least half-a-dozen pivotal roles in Nepali films, Agrahari here fails to capitalize on his opportunity to create a formidable villain as Raja. He doesn’t seem to grasp the difficulty of portraying the role of the ace villain. He mumbles his dialogues like someone with a mouthful of tobacco, and his emotions never feel real. Raja is a don, but Agrahari is not! .
A feel good story
Anyone who loves cats must read ‘The Travelling Cat Chronicles’. But even if you don’t really fancy cats all that much, then too you must read this heartwarming and tender book about a man’s journey through Japan with his adopted street cat. To be honest, I’m not a big cat fan either. But if all cats were like the one in Hiro Arikawa’s novel, that was made into a live-action Japanese film in less than a year after its release, I perhaps wouldn’t have a problem with the way they seem to contort their bodies (which frankly gives me quite the chills).The story is about a Japanese man named Satoru who finds a stray cat sleeping on the hood of his silver van and takes him in as his own when it gets injured. He names the cat Nana. However, after five years, Satoru is no longer able to take care of Nana (and we don’t find out the reason until the very end). So he gets in touch with family and friends who are willing to take the cat in for him and thus begins the pair’s road trip across Japan—in search of the perfect new family for Nana.
The story, though laced with a fair bit of sorrow, for most parts is a happy one. The strong bond between Nana and Satoru warms your heart. Anyone who has ever had a pet can relate to it. The book also touches on often-complicated human traits like friendship, loyalty, and sacrifice while offering you some fascinating insights into Japanese culture and tradition. What makes this book fun and different is the fact that the narrator is a cat. You might not like the idea of an animal raconteur but we all agree that animals have feelings too, and that they sometimes understand us humans better than our friends of the same species. And having a cat narrator works to reaffirm that belief.
Nana provides you a window into how the minds of animals work and you will look at your pet or animals in general a little differently after reading The Travelling Cat Chronicles. I will admit that I still wondered why the author chose a cat and not a dog even after I was done with the book. But cats apparently hold an important place in the Japanese culture. There are shrines dedicated to them and cat cafés where people can go to hang out with cats and pet them. Almost every business has the maneki-neko, the beckoning good-luck cat that ensures success and prosperity, placed prominently at their entrance or counter.
In bits and pieces, the narrative also reads like a travelogue and that’s a refreshing change. But written in a simple style, alternating between a third person narrative and Nana, the cat, The Travelling Cat Chronicles is essentially a story about connection and communication between cats and humans, and thus by extension animals and humans. The novel might feel sappy and sentimental at times but it will leave you with a bittersweet feeling that only really good stories can evoke.
