Apabad : A good exception but not the best

Apabad : A good exception but not the best

The recent days have seen the prospective films in Nepali Cinema Industry which is obviously the good news. Apabad, which was expected to add a new dimension in this trend setting era, has been received with mixed responses but fairly large audience with positive remark. In this sense, it has been able to spread the vibe of the ripple.

Now let’ s talk about the movie specifically. Before it’s release, Apabad was very much hyped in media and that created a huge bar of expectation that it would turn out to be a milestone like “loot”. As it’s mostly the case that even a good film would be received poorly when the public expectation exceeds the normalcy and moulds the film into his/her own anticipation. I think partly this has been in the case of “Apabad”. People expected more than the story would have delivered and little disappointment would be felt who thought it would be a turning point for Nepali Cinema. But it fairly carries the spirit of good movie and has added the pace in the development of Nepali film.

Talking about its story line , it has exploited the present family discord between parents and children . It has shown the friction between a father’s expectation for his son and the son’s dreams which creates the mounting pressure in the son because of which he wants himself to be good riddance for the family. The best part of the film is that it has made the youth’s aspiration and dream which often may have to find a vent for an outlet, a theme of the story. It has reflected and portrayed the attitude of our society especially our family. What would a son/daughter in the situation whose interests and desires are not respected by their own parents and how could it get recociled? Thus the story is not so different from the stories that we hear, see and experience in our family.

Another good aspect the film is the effort of the actors. They have played natural and made the film flowing. The audience do not get bored by the film cause there are some flicks of comedy and some instances of serious emotional upheavals. I think it is successful in hooking up the audience’s attention throughout the film. The main character, Suyog and the female lead character, Sunanda played by Raj Ballav Koirala and Nisha Adhikari have made the film crispier and lively. Raj Ballav Koirala as a lead role has wonderfully portrayed the character. All the actors in the film have played good though it could have been better with more refinement in acting and dialogue delivery. But much to be expected from young talents like Raj Ballav and Nisha in the coming days.

The music of the film is fabulous . All the songs in the movie add the additional fervor of feeling in the story. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that music is the strong part of the film. The technology and camera use of the movie with my minimal knowledge I think is exceptional. The cinematography is good. This simply shows the increasing advancement of and talent in the technological field of the film industry.

Now let’s come to the contested arguments about the story’s adaptation from the famous Hollywood movies Into the Wild , Caste Away and a Korean movie Caste Away Onto The Moon. The movie team has honestly accepted this in their opening disclosure. For this honesty, they must be appreciated. But I do not fully appreciate the story trying to contextualize the scenes with that of famous movies. And this , in my opinion has created the major crunch in the story. It would have been better if it would have not tried to copycat the scenes from Caste Away and Caste Away Onto The Moon. Because of this, the movie has lost it’s originality and in some away has lost the credibility of it’s creativity.

The major default and the most disappointment of the story is while trying to convey the story with different angles of presentation with the use of monologue, it hasn’t been able to connect the momentum of feelings and emotions along with the flow of the story. Though the story seeks the most emotional dip from audiences and even attempts to make it but fails to bring the degree of emotion it seeks. In this sense, the film is slackening in it’s attempt connect the audience’s emotions with the story’s emotional wave. This is the problem due to poor synchronization of the presentation with the scenes and acting. Though the acting of the actors are good but not better to move the audience. And I think it also could be due to the ineffective dialogue delivery as with the other Nepali films.

I think, in overall the film is good and average but could have been better if it had pepped up with its own creativity and more vigor of acting. But nonetheless, the effort from the movie team should be sincerely appreciated. So Apabad has been the good exception but not the best. Well at least, it won’t be a waste of time and money if you watch the movie.

I have mixed feeling and dilemma trying to rate this movie as I am not thorough with idea of 2.5/5 or 3/5. But honestly I would give 2.5/5 which I think is not that bad, is it??

“Pal” Nepali Movie – Contrasting the negativism with positivism

Challenging the current trendz of “masaaledaar” movie making mania in Kollywood, karna Shakya’s Pal has been successful to set its unique attire. As been hyped before the release , the film has lived upto the expectation of audience. With the little doubt i had entered into the hall and with the happy mood i exited convincing myself finally that nepali films can indeed be worth watching , unlike the popular notion that detest the content of nepali movies, given the creativity and acting efforts put by all the stakeholders. The film is smoothly flowing and captivating . All the more the message it tries to impart is to be appreciated.

Starring the fresh faces such as Raj Ballav, Nisha Adhikary and Anup Baral,the film has presented itself so uniquely that  it has portrayed the same story with the same characters in two different perspectives.  The film is narrated by the guest appearance, Karishma Manandhar in her own delightful charisma. In the first half before the interval , the prevailing nepalese mentality towards politics, money, prestige, family life and career are depicted. It has shown even the small momentary negativity in life can radically change the whole course of life. Whereas in the second half, after the interval the same story in the same setting is contrasted with previous scenes in first half. The difference is the attitude of characters only, how they take everything within their moral values and positivism they maintain throughout the story. The story with the latter perspective is indeed the true intended meaning of the film which can be concluded in one sentence, ” we shouldn’t be bound by any circumstances or situation but rather we should have complete  grasp on our situations and circumstances.”

The film is very successful engulfing every aspects i.e. romanticism, family life, social structure, politics, the state of youth in the country, nationalism and moral values. The film is therefore not epicentral to one subject only but gives the whole canvas of individual life, family life and even whole national life.  Seeing the film takes you through every fervor of feelings. At one moment you will be laughing the other you will not notice the tears flowing in your eyes. It pinches your conscience and makes you contemplate on your ways of life.  It gives hopes , enthusiasm and synergy to do something innovative and be diligent in the work.

The only thing, in my opinion is little bit out of track is its message that is emphasized in the halfway of the film that we don’t need higher education to be successful which is quiet disgusting. I really resent the idea which discourages youth to take their knowledge in the next level. Maybe it could be scriptural  or my understanding glitch !!( hope it is) . Otherwise the film is truly in it’s moment of height as the name of the film “pal” itself suggests…