| Username |
Post |
| Biswo |
Posted
on 29-Apr-03 08:39 PM
At the left column of this website, a continuing flash of advertisement about the movie "Ta ta saarai Bigris Ni Badri" touts it as 'a must watch film' and "The funniest movie ever produced in Nepal!". Starring a cast of people like Haribansha and Bhuban KC, and beautiful belle Bipana Thapa, this movie promises a lot. Haribansha and Bhuban KC are the fixture of Nepali cinema, they are there in Kollywood almost since its inception, and people of our generation has known them from the day the knew about Kollywood, and they remain , until now along with Madan Krishna Shrestha and Rajesh Hamal, the most salable faces of Nepali screen world.
Badri(Haribansha) was rotten: he sold his lands, became disloyal to his wife and committed bigamy, left his mom in his old house to take care of herself and entered the city life of decadence and betrayal. Kollywood has this ambivalence about Nepal's city life: sometimes village is portrayed as a place of injustice(Santan, babusahib etc.) , and rest of the times cities. Badri also physically abused his first wife(Susmita KC),and son, who were miraculuously rescued by a drunkard,apoplectic, tent-living, disillusioned-son-of-a-politician, slightly alopecic Bhuvan KC. In alliance with this very drunkard, and capricious man, Sushmita staged revenge against the cohorts of her former husband. The movie then ends in a predictable sequences leading upto the reunion.
Kollywood's usual weakneses are evident in this movie: everything is predictable. It is amazing to know that even with a relatively recent storyline [buying motobike by selling land is the most vulgar thing I saw in mid-nineties in Chitwan], a movie can relapse into old formula.Every sequence in this movie is predictable, there is a lack of moment when we can laugh like we did with Pukar Gurung's bellowing of "Koi Chha" in "Saaino", or Haribansha's own strong-willed but often-botched following of the daughter of his landlord in "Ke Ghar Ke Deraa".In this movie, it seems like there is a strong lack of cerebral treatment of 'script', the movie is a result of a cursory script, and a rash directorial work. In the ranking of Nepali cinema, this movie will rank somewhere along the bottom. Even with the assembly of starts like KC duo, Bipana Thapa and Haribansha, the movie fails miserably to produce any good moments. It is important to watch this movie because it can then be contrasted with 'Paraalko Aago' whose almost religious following of script had helped it to be coherent, and eventually be recognized as a masterpiece in Nepali cinema. The movie "Badri.." disappoints because of its disrespect for the art of movie making, because of the belief [of its makers] it unwittingly evinces that a movie can be made with no proper intellectual input, no good and coherent storyline and just with the help of a camera and a yelling director.
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"Confidence" is a new feature film starring Edward Burns, Andi Garcia and Dustin Hoffman. It is such a mixture of technological and scriptual experiments,that it reminds both "The Sting" and "Blair Witch Project". There are more scams than we can count, and they all coalesce to become one big mega scam, there are more tales of betrayals than the viewers can count, and yet they only engrosses viewers, serving as horse-de-oivre before the climactic moment. The superb performance by Burns who plays a small time crook unfortunately running into the bigtime city mafioso, and Huffman , a big time eccentric city boss, is amazing. This movie is one of the best scam movies I have ever seen.
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| ashu |
Posted
on 29-Apr-03 08:43 PM
Biswo wrote:
"In the ranking of Nepali cinema, this movie will rank somewhere along the bottom."
Biswo, it's refreshing that you call a spade a spade.
In Nepal, I am just tired of reading and hearing all these sugary praises for this ultimately khattam, jhoor and embarrassing movie by people who should know
better.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| prawin |
Posted
on 29-Apr-03 09:18 PM
People!
wait for me to finish my studies. your days of cursing the filmmakers will be over. or it will worsen, but for the good.
: )
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 29-Apr-03 10:15 PM
Ashu,
Thanks for your input. After watching the movie, I tried to remember anything that impressed me, something like Nir Shah's impressive performance in Prempinda where he persevered (to pursuade his slave Sunny) until the last moment when, frustrated, he tries to hand over his keys to Sunny Rauniyar, or something like the slavish toadying by a pathetic character of Shambhu in Chino with his repeated statement of 'Hajur Maalik'.
Unfortunately there was none. And it was obvious that the effort to look for such memorable and original moments was futile. Jarringly disappointing was,however, its script. A story with such carelessness and incoherence, and a dialogue so hackneyed are difficult to find even in Nepali movies of pre-2050[I can't say about post 2050 movies because I have seen very few of them.] There is no excuse for such carelessness, specially if someone has enough money to assemble the stellar cast of Bhuvan KC, Shushmita KC, Bipana Thapa and Haribansha.
Lack of budget can't be pretext for what is obviously a lack of hardwork. And if Nepali papers were full of sugary praise for this movie, then I think it is sad. Recognition of talent is as crucial as making of talent.
I hope to see great Nepali cinema in the coming days. I know there are capable people, and I know there are people who can make great movies if they work harder in the scripts, and editing. We have great talents in our country, all they need to do is have more respect for their profession, and work hard. And I have similar experience after reading "Grihaprabesh" , a recent novel of Diamond Shamsher, too.
--
Prawin:
>wait for me to finish my studies
I am sure you mean exam, right? :-)
Good luck to your exam, and looking forward to your inputs too.
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| czar |
Posted
on 30-Apr-03 06:59 AM
I watched Confidence and found it to be a smooth, entertainer with just the right mix of twists n turns, backed by a capable cast. After which, I then read the review, particularly about Dustin Hoffmans performance that got a thumbs up. The reviewers gushing about how the Tootsie like glasses were effectively used to add an element of menace by suggesting an ambigious sexuality, felt like hogwash. I did not find Hoffmans character convincingly threatening. Still, a very entertaining and rather cheeky story.
But then I'm the same feller who thought "The Orchid Thief" was no big shakes either, so my movie reviews may not quite fit the mainstream veiws. :)
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| Deep |
Posted
on 30-Apr-03 07:12 AM
Ma ta Badri ta Badri....Badri Mandal kuhi sakechha ta ganthe! bhanera chhireko ta arkai Badri re chha...dikdar jasto bhayo bhanya....
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| prempujari |
Posted
on 30-Apr-03 04:52 PM
Biswo, talkin' about "confidence", I think Edward Burns sucked in the movie -- The more he was trying to act, the more he fell flat. If only someone like Tom Hanks did that role, it would've been awesome. When Hoffman hold's his hand in the bar, he was just numb. That was the crucial scene in the movie, and Burns was standing there, expressionless. Well he was supposed to be expressionless, but he was supposed to act expressionless.Thanks god, Hoffman saved that scene. And the way Burns speaks, sucked.I think Edward Burns should stick to the screen writing and Directing, rather than acting. Technically it was okay, considering the fact that they just spend $15 million for the movie. I'd say,Ingenious script saved the movie!! But, that just me.
I'd go for "identity", rather than "confidence"... Watch "Identity". Concentrate at the screen for one hour, and let this who-dun-it unfold it's story, one layer after another. One shock after another!!! Just don't get out of theater, thinkin' that you have seen too many of these kinda movies. Was that too much of hint??? DON'T READ REVIEWS. The less you know about this movie, the better. :D
CZAR bro, 'orchid thief' re? Are you talkin' about "ADAPTATION"??? hmmmm, My fav movie bro........ :D
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| czar |
Posted
on 30-Apr-03 06:02 PM
See what I mean PP ? I can't even get the name straight! :)
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| NK |
Posted
on 30-Apr-03 06:17 PM
Biswo,
Although I have limited experience of viewing Nepali movies, I can very well understand your frustration after seeing these so called "must see" Nepali cinemas. First of all what's up with this "Kolywood?" I know, I know - Holywood, Bollywood,and Kollywood. Why must we copy even naming our film industry? The embarrassment starts right there for me. Depirivation of imagination (re naming our film industry), if you ask me. After that, I imagine everything goes downhill. If I remember those long gone movies: actors suffering from overacting, shouting unnecessarily and of course bursting into singing (a' la hindi movie). Paral ko aago sounds like an exception.
And, how come nobody talks about 'The Hours?'
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 30-Apr-03 11:23 PM
NK,
To tell you the truth, I haven't watched The Hours. I wanted to watch the movie, but then I had a chance to read the semi-biography of Hervey Weinstein, the Miramax head. I figured out that he was having big time trouble with the director of The Hours,Scott Rudin. In fact, the movie was then considered to be a low quality movie, not deserving to be sent to Venice Film Festival[it was not sent eventually]. I was fooled by that brawl between the makers. I kept on thinking the movie wasn't worth watching. I haven't watched it yet. Is it good?
Prempujari,
We are at odds re Burns: I think he has a great potential to be a great star in the future. I think he is definitely better than Colin Farrel. Hopefully, we will live long enogh to see more movies from these stars, and judge ourselves for our prediction and evaluation.
czar,
May I suggest you to watch 1971 best acadamy award winner "The Sting"? If you liked Confidence, you would definitely like The Sting, it is a classic , I've never seen any scam movie like that. It is in Blockbuster everywhere. Also can be found in libraries of major universities, I presume.
Deepji,
Tyo more Badri Mandalko ke kuro garnu. Khetaalaa lagaayeko maanchhe! Bigreko Badri pani kati dherai chhan ahileko council of ministers maa bhane, last time I knew there were three Badris in mantriparishad.
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| PremPujari |
Posted
on 01-May-03 04:14 AM
LOL Biswo!!
Contrary to that, I think Colin Farell is the one who has the great potention than Edward Burns. The advantage of Colin Farell is his face. He looks throughly contemptible, mean, detasteful that he doesn't really have to act when it comes to perform such a role. Remember "Dare Devil", "Phone Booth", "Minority Report". On the other hand, he can easily show his goodie goodie side in the movies like "The Recruit".
Burns, hmmm, I'd say "Saving Private Ryan" was the first movie I ever saw of him. And didn't really like his performance, when he questions Tom Hanks about "8 people to save 1". But he has great potential as a director/writer, and I wouldn't be surprised If he gets couple of recognition in that department in future. "Brother Mcmullan" was beautfully directed. So were "No lookin' back", "she's the one"-- LOL!!!
(Sting is a beautiful movie. Compare Robert Redford and Paul Newman with Burns. Redford/Newman performed so well that one doesn't really know what's going on their mind. I also liked "Out Of Sight" by Soderbergh. Another beautifully directed CON movie)
:D
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| Dilasha |
Posted
on 01-May-03 07:09 AM
Thank you for the review Biswo, that was indeed a good one. Despite the mixed reviews, I would love to watch this for two reasons. 1. It's been six years since I last saw a nepali movie, hence I'd love to see the changes (in all aspects) that have occured in nepali movies in the past six years. and 2. It's got the popular comedian Acharya. Although I very much prefer Madan Krishna to the former, I have immense respect for Mr. Acharya for he's got a unique style of his own which I guess no one can imitate. Needless to say he's one of the most talented actors that Nepal can boast about.
Since this thread has carried on with the discussion about other movies, I'd love to see Phonebooth. I heard it's a damn good movie, very sharp and surprising. I first saw Colin Farrel in the movie Minority Report and I'd guessed that he'd be a great star some day. And he seems to have already gained a huge fan following. Like Premi ji said, he's got both the talent as well as the looks. :)
And Biswo ji, you should definitely watch The hours. It's a spectacular movie, very haunting and well crafted I should say. I heard a lot of guys won't or didn't like it as the subject matter may not appeal to them but I...I liked it. Btw, have you guys watched Far From Heaven? I really liked the movie. After the ending, one feels like saying, "now that's a good movie" I'd have loved to write a short review, but I'm in a hurry so gotta go now. But those who haven't seen Far From Heaven, I'd highly recommend it!
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| Deep |
Posted
on 01-May-03 09:43 AM
Biswo ji,
The title you chose was very relevant to DPM ni.
"THE ROTTEN BADRI AND HIS DISAPPOINTING PRODUCTION" : I was jumped into the thread to see and read about Badri Mandal. I was a bit disappointed to see you talking about the movie but then I thought somewhere you got to be taking turn and head toward our DPM saheb. So, I tried to read fast to catch "Badri Mandal" then I would slow down and read back just to make sure I didn't miss Badriji. But when I came to the final period without Badri Mandal then I said "Damn, Biswo bro got me today".
Ek jamana ma maile euta nepali cinema hereko "Juni" bhanne...dherai paila hereko..khas kehi samjhinna tara tyo moti minakshi le oodi oodi laat haneko samjhinchu [malai haina ni feri---cinema ma] ra ahile samma ni man ma kata kata aasajilo lagchha....cinema ma kina tyastari oodai oodai minakshi lai laat hanna lako hola jasto lagchha tara.. tha chhaina...dharo dharma...tyo cinema malai tyati bela yasto jhoor lagya thyo ki ma ta nepali cinema patti nai udasin bhako bhanya...
Aba uso bhe Badri le ni gati chhadechha, haina ta?
paral ko aago bhane malai ni herna man lageko thyo...chakka paidaina hola....NK ji lai fon garera wa e-mail pathara kahani sunna/padhna parla mauka milyo bhani...
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| Deep |
Posted
on 01-May-03 09:48 AM
"..But those who haven't seen Far From Heaven, I'd highly recommend it! ..."
Thanks for the recommendation, Dilasha...but I have been seeing that for more than a quarter of a century and lately I have been realizing the fact more and more that where I am and what I see is certainly "far from heaven" and in fact much farther than I initially thought. ke garne? ma ta fase bhanya!
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| Robert Frost |
Posted
on 01-May-03 10:42 AM
Biswo, I hear you. A very disappointing film advertised unnecessarilly, vigorously and viciously with lowly outcome.
But having said that, which new movies in Nepali movie industry is good thesedays? They produce movies like the growth of mushrooms and thus there is very less chances of getting quality movies that actually provide some good attachments to one's life. Movies are produced with Director's diary collections of stories from movies produced overseas.
Thus I think I will better watch original characters as Haribansha no matter how bad the picture is instead of watching Rajesh Hamal or some screenless hero playing a Brad Pitt fundamental.
And yeah another thing, I am ready to forgive Mr. Kiran KC as this is the first time he is stepped into production role. Hopefully a man of his talent can grasp some real life humour into cinema the next time he produces.
Good Luck KC.
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| czar |
Posted
on 01-May-03 10:46 AM
Biswo,
I've watched 'The Sting' quite a while ago. Nothing to match the chemistry of Redford/Newman.
I watched phone booth, there were parts where he shone. In one scene, he still manages to display sparks of the hustler, despite being in an untenable position. Colin Farrel is the up and coming newcomer, a feller to watch.
About Kevin Burns: seems there's not a whole lot of fans of the sardonic/laconic. I felt he did a decent enough job. Perhaps those expecting more expressive histronics are too heavily influenced by Hindi movies ? :) Just kidding. So don't anybody run to look for TNT or dynamite.
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 01-May-03 01:48 PM
Dilashaji,
I didn't mean to shoo people away from theater in USA. I hope the inchoate effort to create a market for Nepalese movies be successful, because that will help generate more income for Nepalese movie industry, and may ultimately help the producers to use technology for larger public good. But movies should deserve this. And we need to criticize a bad movie, so that promising directors back home don't emulate undeserving directors.
And I agree with you that "Far From Heaven" is a great movie. Both Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid were awesome. I didn't watch Adaptation. Movies of last year were like a long harrowing travel in desert, you walk all the way, you don't get water, it is scorching hot, and suddenly you find an oasis, full of canals, wells, and flowers, and you are overwhelmed with the choice presented to you. For the whole year, most of the movies were awful. Then around December came "The Hours", "Chicago", "The Hours", "Adaptations" etc. etc., and to tell you what, December is also right when we have final exams:-)
Prempujariji,
Like I said, we disagree about Burns. Let's agree to disagree!
Deepji,
Juni ko kurai nagarnus. Tyo ta 'flop' ko pani record 'flop' movie, tyo jamanaa maa pani. Haamraa gaaukaa aaimaai patukaa baadhera movie herna jaanthe Nepali movie ra Dhaarmik Hindi movie bhanepachhi. Tyasto belaa pani kasaile Juni herenan.
Robert Frostji,
I think there are better movies in Nepal. Especially, if we compare with "Badri..". The following movies that I saw[released before 2051..] were result of very good directorial and coordination work: Maaitighar, Paralko Aago, Jiwan Rekha, Basudev, Saaino, Trishna, Santaan, Chino, Prempinda. I have heard people praising recent "Numafung" also. So it is not impossible for Nepalese people to make good movies.
Czarji,
Before I watched "The Sting", I was told by someone that its climax is the 'most' surprising one in movie industry. Even though, I knew that, I couldn't guess the climax. I was already a fan of Redford-Newman duo after watching "Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kids"[this movie, I believe, is better than The Sting, but it is western, and so the genre is different, right?], and "The Sting" only confirmed what I thought of them. To this day, they are one of the greatest actors of Hollywood, in my opinion.
I think the movie making is a great art, and while most of the responsibilities lie with the director, it is the result of collective effort. As wellwishers, and watchers of Nepali movies, we have right to demand hardwork and more efforts from our movie industry people.
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| PremPujari |
Posted
on 01-May-03 09:06 PM
Oops Biswo!!
Sorry about that!!
Was in the wrong thread!!
"Let's agree to disagree!!"
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