When the first-look poster of “Selfie King” was released a few months ago, it was widely criticized and trolled on social media for its similarities with the Hollywood movie “Joker”. But having watched both, I can confidently say there is no similarity of any sort. Joaquin Phoenix’s “Joker” was a psychological thriller that had the lead character—a failed comedian—descend into insanity and nihilism. Bipin Karki’s “Selfie King” is rather about a successful comedian who fails to manage his life. The big difference is, while Phoenix was able to put in an Oscar-winning performance, Karki has become a victim of bad writing, poor direction, and lethargic screenplay, a casualty of his own reputation as it were.

“Selfie King” disguises itself as a compelling drama depicting the problematic life of a popular performer, but the movie turns out to be an overly ambitious project. It is a cinematic blunder that botches Karki’s reputation as an ace method actor, because there’s no method to this madness. For an actor who has banked more on his acting skills than on his looks and publicity, Karki’s credibility from roles like “Bindu” in Chhadke (2013), “Bhasme Don” in Pashupati Prasad (2016), “Phanindra Timsina” in Jatra (2016) and even the lesser known “Goldie” in Naakaa (2017) are questioned as he utterly underwhelms as the “Selfie King.”

Debutant director Bishal Sapkota relies too much on Karki’s character and gives him so much screen time that all other characters pale into insignificance. And Karki, despite his proven talent, is unable to connect with the audience in and as “Selfie King.” He manages to emulate the intensity of Phoenix’s Joker at times, but rare are the occurrences. The result is an excruciatingly slow movie with no palpable conflicts and resolutions, and no grit to hold the story together. And, would you believe it: despite being centered on a comedian, the movie doesn’t have a single laughter-inducing scene?

The protagonist Gopal Dahal goes by the stage name Selfie King, for no convincing reason as it’s evident from some scenes that he’s uncomfortable taking selfies. His mother is his biggest fan but his father, not so much. But when his father has a brain stroke and is hospitalized for surgery, the story takes a new turn.

Selfie King then has to undertake two journeys. One, travelling to the remote Salleri in Solukhumbu district for a stage show. The other, his journey to find himself amid self-doubt, guilty recollections and fear of fading out. Unfortunately, the parallels are far from perfect and the audience soon tires of the forced efforts.

Written by the director himself, the film’s screenplay is extremely loose and the story unconvincing. Selfie King appears to be a well-recognized comedian since people instantly recognize him. Then the question comes, why is he not making much money despite the huge popularity? Only the writers know.

There’s no evidence that his popularity is waning either. There are tangential hints at times, but not enough to justify his downfall. The drinking and extramarital affairs are his vices, but again, not enough to spiral him into the state he is in. Without backstories to establish his situation, the character of Selfie King is so poorly written that even an actor of Karki’s caliber cannot get the audience to empathize with him, including in potentially the most poignant scenes.

The film does tries to portray the lives of performing artists whose work is not taken seriously by even their own families. Lack of privacy, stress of having to keep a presentable personality in public inner suffering, fear of waning popularity, cost of stardom and insecurities from younger prodigies—the film tries to paint them all. But the painting has by this time become so abstract that the audience is unable to understand either its form or features.

Who should watch it?

This is one of those painful times we cannot recommend even a highly-anticipated Nepali film. But we have to bite the bullet on this one for our revered readers and advise them to stay away. Not worth your time.

 

Rating: 1 star 

Genre: Drama

Director :  Bishal Sapkota

Cast :  Bipin Karki, Laxmi Bardewa, Abhay Baral

Run time: 1hr 50mins