Bipin Karki is a good actor, no doubt. The roles he picks remind this reviewer of Nawazuddin Siddique, that versatile Bollywood actor who nails nearly everything he does. Yet there is also a definite difference between the two. Siddique is so good because everything he does feels effortless, as if there is no difference between the actor and the persona he portrays. But rather than relying on his natural talent to impress the audience, Karki sometimes pushes it too far. This is amply manifest in ‘Jatrai Jatra’, the sequel to the highly-successful 2016 heist comedy ‘Jatra’. For some reason, in the second edition, Director Pradeep Bhattarai saw it fit to make Karki’s character of Phadindra Timilsina repeatedly cry. Not just cry. He cries and drools and spits and speaks, all at the same time. The spittle-flecked scenes are obnoxious, made worse because you can barely make out what Timilsina, with his weird accent, is saying. It is sad that when you come out of the theater this is what you remember, rather than Timilsina’s otherwise great acting, amply supported by his two partners-in-crime —Jayas (Rabindra Singh Baniya) and Munna (Rabindra Jha)—in what is a twisted gold heist.
The movie starts with the release of these three ‘criminals’ jailed for stealing Rs 3 million. They have no intent of going back to a life of crime after their release. But as luck would have it, Timilsina, a taxi driver, in another freak incidence, finds himself in possession of 10kg of gold. The plot revolves around how the three try to safeguard their chance wealth and how the real owners of the gold, a gang of hardened criminals, is intent on getting it back. Oh, and in this gang is Don (Dayahang Rai), who belts out another low-key but masterful performance.
Barsha Raut in her role as Timilsina’s estranged wife is effective too, even if she can be a little hard to understand: at one point she is a moralizing wife trying to convince her husband not to take the ‘wrong path’ again, in the other she is an active partner in the gold heist.
Packed with such good actors, some situational comedy scenes are hilarious. But overall, the film disappoints: it is too loud, and trite, and emotional in all the wrong places. Someone who has recently watched Hari Bansha Acharya-starrer ‘Dal Bhat Tarkari’ and was put off by Acharya’s puerile acting and Niruta Singh’s constant shouting will find similar jarring echoes in ‘Jatrai Jatra’. And there is far too much grime and shit and dirty toilets on display, which, again, are a big put-off for the audiences savoring their popcorn and nachos.
Not that it is a bad movie. There is suspense, drama, comedy, some nice dance numbers too. Yet given the anticipation it had generated, Jatrai Jatra disappoints. If you have nothing better to do in the weekend, you may still want to watch it. But keep your expectations low.
Who should watch it?
Die-hard Bipin Adhikari and Dayahang Rai fans should have enough to keep them hooked for 2h17m of runtime. If you have the stomach to ignore all the (literal) filth on display, the other bits of the package are—how do we put it?—digestible.
Movie: Jatrai jatra
Genre: Heist Comedy
Cast: Bipin Karki, Dayahang Rai, Rabindra Singh Baniya, Rabindra Jha, Barsha Rau, Rajaram Poudel
Direction: Pradeep Bhattarai
Rating: 3.5/5
