‘The Man from Kathmandu’, an action thriller written and directed by Pema Dhondup, follows the story of Faizal Mustafa (Jose Manuel), a disaffected half-American-half-Nepali half-Hindu-half-Muslim man. He is in Kathmandu in his quest to find out if his jihadi fighter father has joined the war in Syria. The movie opens with a Dhaka Topi-clad Mustafa in an interview room at the American Embassy in Kathmandu. A Darth Vader-ish robotic voice comes from the other side of the glass (signaling the interviewer) which immediately puts you off. This sets the stage for a series of disappointments to follow throughout the movie.
The movie then takes you to a beach in Los Angeles where a couple of bystanders park their vehicle behind our hero’s. When Mustafa asks them to move their car, they make racist gestures and we are presented with our first action sequence.
By Nepali standards, the action sequences are good enough and Jose Manuel can be seen making the best of his martial arts skills, knocking down goons armed with hammers and screwdrivers with his bare hands and feet.
But who is Mustafa? There is a flag of the Islamic State over his bed. He can also be seen communicating with people who supposedly know the location of his dad. While in LA, Mustafa is arrogant, and takes every comment as racist and frequently lashes out at strangers. After a series of communication, Mustafa finds himself back in the country of his origin. We are then presented with our two antagonists: Panditji (Hameed Sheikh), a high-ranked Hindu priest, and Abu Miya (Gulshan Grover), a rising politician. From this point onwards, everything goes in a downward spiral.
While walking around town, Mustafa finds Namrata (Anna Sharma) getting harassed by a local goon connected to Abu Miya. He fights off the goon, and soon finds himself in a maze of criminal, social and political conspiracy in his grandfather’s life, and himself tangled in everything from local politics to US foreign policy. The story sounds or at least gives off a great vibe, right? I thought so too.
The film looks to mesh an already complicated genre of action with an even more complicating mix: that of politics, romance and religion. While it does some justice to its action genre, it fails in every other aspect. The politics is all over the place, with unexplained plots and inconsequential actions resulting in monumental consequences. The Hindu religion, meanwhile, is presented as a mantra-spitting, soul-possessing endeavor.
The movie tries to unrealistically link the Islamic State recruitment camps with Panditji. The transition is weak and so is the flow. In one scene, Namrata is oblivious about Faizal’s work and in the next scene she starts to blame him for everything. The dialogues are sub-par and the script does not align with what is being shown. Mustafa is seen wearing a normal hoodie with a small beard when a character says he has changed a lot, perhaps hinting of him turning into a Muslim, when, in fact, Mustafa’s get-up could be compared to any beard-sporting teenager in the world.
The cinematography also needs a lot of work. Many scenes are out of focus. Other than that, the film is technically sound—color grading is dynamic and the video quality also trumps that of other Nepali films.
With a plot this complicated, the filmmakers should have done more research. It appears the movie plot was copied from the first line of Wikipedia, with no understanding of the subjects that complicated.
The Man from Kathmandu is branded as Nepal’s first international movie. With star cast from all over the world, it could have been so much better. As it is, the movie looks like a product of a bunch of good-looking cultural exchange students with expensive camera gears doing a school project.
The best thing about the movie is that it ends. It is a 1 hour 47 minute movie that is 1 hour too long 47 minutes too boring. It is so bad it gives a good name to every other movie out there.
Who should watch it?
No one
By Nepali standards, the action sequences are good enough and Jose Manuel can be seen making the best of his martial arts skills
Movie: The man from Kathmandu
Genre: Action/Drama
Cast: Gulshan Grover, Hameed Sheikh, Jose Manuel, Karma Shakya
Direction: Pema Dhondup
Rating: 1/5
