‘Saili’ is a rom-com dealing with the social repercussions of foreign migration in rural Nepal. Based in a beautiful village in Kaski, director Ram Babu Gurung (‘Kabaddi’, ‘Kabaddi Kabaddi’, ‘Purano Dunga’) has once again aced a rural theme. Saili is exactly what cinema should be: a piece of art.
It is a feminist movie while not screaming of forced “Naari Shakti”, basically a tale of a Muna who falls in love with the wrong Madan.
The movie opens with two men and a woman inside what appears to be a ‘bhatti’. They are both husbands to women who are away on foreign employment. They go on a misogynistic rant about the soul-crushing reality of having to live at their wife’s expense, when the Sauni promptly reminds them who pays for their alcoholic life. The scene then contrasts to a face of a young woman navigating Tribhuvan Airport, cautious in her steps and innocent in her emotions.
And with a quick scene transition we travel back. The story starts with Saili (Menuka Pradhan) and Sunita (Kenipa Singh) sitting beside a river when Saili loses her slipper to a wave. Following the route of the slipper, Saili meets Pitambar (Gaurav Pahari) and his friend Birman (Dayahang Rai), who are both bathing downstream. Pite is instantly smitten by Saili. When asked for the slipper, Pite refuses, upsetting the women who then head home.
The male duo are then on a quest to woo the two women and head to Saili’s home on the pretext of giving back her slipper. After a rather awkward conversation with Saili’s father, who happens to be a lender to his own father, Pite plants a love letter inside one of Saili’s shoes. He writes of his feelings and proposes a date over ‘Jhol Momo’. Saili, with a knack for romance novels, is instantly wooed. For his part, Dayahang Rai or Bire, with his typical ‘bango humor’, keeps the tone of the movie light.
And there are plenty of other light moments. In one notable scene, Sunita can be seen taunting Saili that she might take away her lover because “Ajkal ko Madan lai Muna haina Munni chaincha” (No, we won’t even try to translate that). The entire movie hall thunders with laughter.
The romance borrows elements from Nepali rural society—indirect approaches to romance, reluctance to public display of affection, inability to express love with a straight face. The Pite-Saili affair progresses steadily until Saili’s father gets a wind of it. He senses a ploy by Pite to null out his father’s debt by marrying his daughter. Time and again, Pite is reminded to pay off his father’s debt, and even offered a job oversees by an ex-wardman.
By and by, Saili’s father fixes her marriage with someone else. Pite’s father in turn suggests he elope with Saili. “Everything is fair in love”, his father says as the audience go wild again. On a rainy evening, Pite arrives at Saili’s, with Bire in tow, to rescue his princess. The three run away.
To pay off his father’s outstanding debts, Pite then decides to go abroad. But as luck would have it, Pite is denied a passport because of the unrealistically similar looks between Pite and his father.
After the middleman (the ex-wardman) proposes Saili go abroad to work instead of Pite, the movie takes a melodramatic turn and the misogyny of the lead male character comes in full display. The proposition hurts his male ego and he is mad with anger. Nonetheless, in having to make this tough decision, Saili can be seen as representing all Nepali women working abroad to feed their family back home.
The filmmakers could have done more justice to the character of Saili by giving her more screen time and delving more into her struggles abroad. And the only problem with storytelling is towards the end, when the filmmakers try to whitewash Pite’s previous actions.
The musical score is fantastic at the start. But as the movie is filled with many renditions of the Saili song, it feels super-repetitive and loses its charm. There are also some noticeable faults in sound mixing. Of course these are little things on the grander scale. But when you’re watching a movie this good, you’re only left with breadcrumbs of criticism.
Who should watch it?
Fans of Ram Babu Gurung’s rural storytelling. You don’t need to watch ‘Saili’ just to support the Nepali film industry. First, it’s a good movie, and only then a Nepali one.
Movie: Saili
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Cast: Gaurav Pahari, Menuka Pradhan, Daya Hang Rai, Kenipa Singh
Direction: Ram Babu Gurung
Rating: 4/5
