Cast: Aryan Sigdel, Keki Adhikari, Gajit Bista, Sushma Shahi, Mithila Sharma, Vijay Lama, Deshbhakta Khanal, Surbir Pandit, Laxmi Giri, Rashmi Bhatta
Director: Sajan Shrestha

Punarjanma is a story of two army officers who were close friends. The movie is directed by Sajan Shrestha and stars Aryan Sigdel and Gajit Bista as army officers. The picture also features Keki Adhikari opposite Gajit Bista and Susmita Shahi opposite Aryan Sigdel.

When a person dies in Nepal, we have a ritual called ‘Shradda’ on 13th day in memory of a dead person. Wikipedia has more information about Shradda here. But what if the person comes alive after ‘Shradda’ is complete? I think that would be the most shocking moment. Yes, it can happen, mostly when the person is in the army or police force. So, when this happens, we have a very interesting ritual called ‘Punarjanma’ that many of us are unaware of. The guy who’s Shradda is completed is not allowed to enter the house. He has to take ‘punarjanma’ or reincarnate again, then complete the rituals ‘nwaran’ and ‘bratabandha’ before he can marry his widowed wife again. That’s pretty remarkable.

The first half of the movie was slow with very less amusement and second half of the movie seemed more like a documentary. Background score was too loud on a few occasions. For instance, when Amar and Aman asked their senior for sickness leave, background music was too loud and made it difficult to hear what their senior said. Another thing I felt that they showed too much of army trainings. It seemed like they were having problem to cross the length of two hours. Also, when the armies were training, the background music was like big war was going on. Besides these, I have nothing to say about the cinema. I was expecting some entertainment, but the picture instead provided information about the possibly extinct ritual of our country, which is not bad either. I loved the conversations between Amar (Aryan Sigdel) and Maya (Susmita Shahi) in their first night of marriage. The script of the movie was average and the screenplay was not better.

Plot:
Amar (Aryan Sidgel) and Aman (Gajit Bista) are two very close friends in an army. Aman first meets Rupa (Keki Adhikari) in front of the Shrepa mall of Kathmandu and falls in love with her. Aman asks his mother (Mithila Sharma) that he loves her. But when Aman and his mom ask Rupa’s father for her hand, he rejects. So Aman and Rupa decides for court marriage. On the other hand, Amar marries with Maya (Susmita Shahi) who was the girl he loved. After marriage, both of them had to fight in a clash with terrorist groups. In this brawl, Amar dies. So, Amar’s family follows all their rituals done after a person died. But after few days Amar returns home. It was not Amar who died, but instead Aman was the one who died. Probably the message was delivered incorrectly. So Aman had to undergo ‘Punarjanma’ rituals before he can marry his own wife again.

Watch or Not?
If you want to gain knowledge about our ancient ritual ‘Punarjanma’, then you should probably watch this movie. Otherwise, there is no reason to watch this movie.

Cast – Jay Kishan Basnet, Sarika Kc , Rajaram Paudel , Laxmi giri , Puran Thapa , Laya Sangraula, Rajendra Khadgi , Ramesh Mattare
Writer,Director – Puran Thapa

Having a baby is considered a great joy to anyone. In a country like Nepal, it’s more than joy to have a baby. Infertility is considered as a curse. Occasionally, women who cannot give birth are bullied and harassed by society. There were trends of bringing new wife if their current wife couldn’t give birth to any child. Clearly its discrimination because a man could divorce or re-marry his wife on grounds of infertility but a woman could not divorce him if he was impotent.

Kanchi Matyang Tyang is movie about journey of a married man Krishne(Jay Kishan Basnet) to find a new wife as his wife is also infertile. But this time, the wife asks her husband to bring new wife herself. She is always harassed by the people around her and so wants his husband to bring a new wife as she badly wants to play with kids.

Kanchi Matyang Tyang is a comedy movie with few crazy of jokes and lots of hilarious moments. Although it is not the best script, the main theme of the movie seems fresh and creative. The movie has very few boring moments, which I think is very rare in Nepali cinema. Lots of senior actors they were all splendid. I loved Laxmi Giri as mother in law. She was extraordinary. There were lots of hilarious dialogues. In particular, here is Rajaram Poudel’s dialogue that I loved.

“Tapaiharu ko Jodi yesto jamchha ki yesto jamchha ki, testo ta bhaktapur ko dahi pani jamdaina.”

Well, the action in the movie was a minus. It’s hard to take one fat guy jumping 10 ft above and kicking 10 huge guys. Is it compulsory to have such action scenes in Nepali movies? Indian cinema has progressed a lot in their cinematography and vfx in last decade. So when they do action scenes, it easy to take. But I think for Nepali cinema, it looks awful, with poor cinematography and vfx.

Plot:

Krishne is a traffic police with a wife who is impotent. The movie starts as Krishne dreaming about lots of sexy girls around him and they were all dancing with him. As he awakes up, his wife scolds him for not being able to bring new wife. Well, she has a reason to ask her own husband to marry again. People around her think she is cursed and they annoy her. Now the journey of Krishne begins to find a new wife. It’s not easy to find a girl for a married man. Check the movie to know how he manages to find the solution.

Watch or not

Its a time pass and watchable movie.

Official trailer

Jhola becomes successful in portraying the story of most evil custom of Nepal, ‘Sati Pratha’ in a pleasing way. When new age Nepali cinema is characterized by glitzy packaging and fancy camera tricks, this sorrowful tale showing the cruel and inhuman practice of Sati in Nepal has broken many hearts and filled many eyes with tears.

Although the Sati system was abolished decades ago, Jhola is still relevant to today’s Nepal where, unfortunately, cases of sexual harassment, violence against women, trafficking remain all too common. The film may not be technically sound or perfectly enacted, but it succeeds in leaving an impact and inspiring viewers to take a stance.

Based on the well known writer Krishna Dharabasi’s novel, the movie also depicts the relationship between a mother and son beautifully. Director Yadavkumar Bhattarai presents each character with beauty and all the characters must be applauded for their outstanding performance. At the start, I felt there were few amateurish acts, but soon the movie takes rhythm and as the lead actors comes into action, the movie comes to life. Garima Panta performs an outstanding act and so was Laxmi Giri and other actors. Child actor, Sujal Nepal performed a breathtaking act to make all the audiences cry at moments.

The film begins in 1958 B.S. in Kathmandu, when an old man called Ghanashyam (Sujal Nepal) leaves his bag for a night at the writer’s home. As Dharabasi starts reading, story takes him to Nepal of the 18th century. We are introduced to a young Ghanashyam who lives with his mother Kanchi (Garima Panta) and his old, sick father (Desh Bhakta Khanal). After her husband passes away, Kanchi’s life becomes a nightmare. Expected to sacrifice herself on the funeral pyre, Kanchi enters almost a daze like state and goes from being a strong-willed, loving mother to a helpless widow. As she prepares herself for the ceremony and Ghanashyam comes to terms with being orphaned, the anguish of both mother and son becomes palpable on screen. While expertly depicting the pain of the protagonists, director Yadav Kumar Bhattarai also explores the tender relationship between a mother and a son, which imbibes the movie with a soul.