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.
Two-hour yawn-fest
Just when the new school of filmmakers are using their creativity and ingenuity to break through the shackles of low budgets and limited markets, films like “Hajar Juni Samma” come out to completely destroy your budding faith in the Nepali film industry. Directed by Bikash Raj Acharya (the man behind the overly-stretched movie series “Nai Nabhannu La”), this movie is a disaster.
Just when the new school of filmmakers are using their creativity and ingenuity to break through the shackles of low budgets and limited markets, films like “Hajar Juni Samma” come out to completely destroy your budding faith in the Nepali film industry. Directed by Bikash Raj Acharya (the man behind the overly-stretched movie series “Nai Nabhannu La”), this movie is a disaster.
Films like this are difficult to review because as much as you want to, you have nothing good to say. For a reviewer, the best place to get audience reaction is at the loo during the interval. When everyone is too somber even to talk, and yawn through their nature’s call, you know the script has gone badly wrong.
The story of “Hajar Juni Samma” is unoriginal and seems to have been lifted off the trash can of a Bollywood production house in the 90s. Even the logo of its production house evidently takes inspiration from Bollywood biggies Nadiadwala and Grandson Entertainment.
Aryan Sigdel makes a comeback in this film as Siddhanth, a retired singer and now a guitar store owner in Pokhara, who seems to be super-rich—an oxymoron the filmmakers don’t care to explain. (And this is not an isolated quirk.) Anyway, Siddhant lives in Pokhara with his adopted sons Nishant (Salon Basnet) and Atharba (Akhilesh Pradhan). He is also good friends with Avantika (Swastima Khadka), a medical student from Sikkim studying in Pokhara. Despite his chronic coughing, endless smoking and habitual drinking, Siddhant is a good father who wants to find the perfect match for his son Atharba and repeatedly asks Avantika to become his daughter-in-law—despite knowing that the two have never met and Avantika already has a boyfriend.
Now this is a movie you’d want to watch with your female friends, just to see them cringe at the creepy old man trying to find a match for his son. The whole of the first half is devoted to how the father-son trio tries to woo Avantika throughout a long journey. Some of the metaphors and allegories used for women in this film are so belittling one wonders why no Kollywood feminist has flagged them yet. Either they haven’t watched the movie or they are protective of their own fraternity while they publicly bash “Kabir Singh” for being a misogynist.
The long journey we speak of is what the majority of the film is about. Forced by his sons, Siddhant travels to Sikkim to find his lost love Maya (Priyanka Karki) who he had an affair with for the whole of nine days—and all of 14 years ago! Now our filmmakers seem to be from the school of fiction writers who believe a girl can get impregnated from a single intercourse and raise a perfectly healthy child who looks like neither of her parents. They also seem to forget that the age of rapid communication had already begun 14 years ago. Strangely enough, our love birds managed to only share each other’s postal address but not phone numbers. The only thing worse they could have done was to use pigeons to ferry their love letters across Sikkim and Pokhara.
So the audience is made to stay put for over two long hours, anticipating at least one unexpected scene. But the only twist there is of the audience fidgeting in their seats trying to laugh at Nishant’s forced antics, while desperately trying to find the connection between Atharba and Avantika and somehow ‘feel the love’ between Siddhant and Maya. All to no avail .
(Note: We’ll skip the acting part because we don’t want to personally attack the actors. But a hint: it’s way below par, especially in the case of Aryan Sigdel and Akhilesh Pradhan.)
