The point “Poi Paryo Kale” tries to get across is something new and admirable, dealing with the age-old discriminations based on skin color that is still prevalent in our society. The concept that fair-skinned people are superior to the dark-skinned fellows is absurd, yet endemic. “Poi Paryo Kale”—written and directed by veteran comedian Shishir Rana—tries to convey that it’s not skin color but a person’s substance that really matters. Unfortunately, despite the strong message, the delivery is anything but.
No matter how pure the intent behind this film, there are moments when the filmmakers unknowingly mock dark-skinned people and create embarrassing situations. This leaves us with a totally different message instead. Not everything done with pure intent turns out good. Like a 10-year-old making your breakfast. You know the intent is clear, but your kitchen is still a mess in the end. That’s “Poi Paryo Kale” for you.
Director Rana, who also plays a supporting role, has made a mess of what could have been a potentially strong story. Instead, what he has managed to do is cast half a dozen recognized faces who are badly let down by lack of good screenplay and storytelling.
Pooja (Pooja Sharma) is the film’s central character who ends up hating dark-skinned people after a childhood trauma. She doesn’t even hang out with ‘black’ people, let alone wish to date or marry one and she makes that clear from the start. She even hates black coffee, just because it’s black!
But as luck would have it, some clichéd 90’s plot creates a sequence where she is unknowingly married to Gaurav Shumsher (Saugat Malla), a rich bachelor who is ‘black’. What happens then is basically the story of “Poi Paryo Kale”, (literally translated as “I got a black husband”).
The main problem with PPK is in its execution. Malla is average in his role and without a strong motif, there’s nothing memorable about his character. The same can be said of Sharma. Although she reportedly charged Rs 2 million for this movie, she clearly doesn’t prove her worth. Pooja is supposedly a beautiful but arrogant and self-centered young woman, which Sharma finds hard to portray. Instead, she over-exaggerates her scenes and ends up looking like a vamp, without any scope for the audience to emphasize with her, although the plot seemingly wants us to.
PPK also has former Miss Nepal Shristi Shrestha as Kriti in a major supporting role. But her character is poorly built as well. One thing Shrestha can be lauded is for is her ‘Pokhareli’ accent, which only she has in the whole movie, even though it is based entirely in Pokhara. There’s also Akash Shrestha as Neil, Gaurav’s best friend and a stereotypical womanizer. To be frank, he’s someone who got the looks but whose skills can be credibly questioned by even the most novice film critic.
Besides the inability to establish strong characters, the film also fails in projecting its message clearly. Instead of making the audience truly believe skin color is not important, it instead makes a mockery of dark-skinned people and certain communities. The most cringe-worthy aspect of PPK is making the Madheshi’ characters the butt of all jokes.
It's high time Nepali cinema progressed from the “Madhesi=stupidly funny” equation. The movie also suggests that all Madheshis are dark-skinned, which is not entirely true as well. We have all sorts of ‘black’ people from other communities in Nepal. And then some characters, including Gaurav and Neil, don the ‘black’ face using what looks like boot polish. Seriously. The filmmakers probably hired the worst makeup artist ever to give ‘black’ faces to the characters because…duh! They obviously couldn’t find dark-skinned actors to match their characters.
Who should watch Poi Paryo Kale?
People with ultra-thick skin against racism and find humor in racial stereotypes would love it. The rest can hold on to their moneys while they wait for “Ghamad Shere” and “Sarauto”.
Rating: 1.5 Stars
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Run time: 2 hrs
Director: Shishir RanaActors: Pooja Sharma, Saugat Malla, Shristi Shrestha
