Some of Nepali silver screen’s who’s who and mainly well wishers were already walking down the red carpet right at the time while, to a great surprise, the latecomers were the actors of the film. Nevertheless, that was caught as star entry at 6 pm on Thursday evening.
After the release of “Dasdhunga”, the much awaited Nepali film for many was definitely “Ek Din Ek Raat”. With the promos and publicity of the film being taken care of properly, the film certainly had gathered huge expectations from many.
After receiving Best Actor’s award for Dasdhunga, Anup Baral definitely had to keep his aura as an actor going. With “Ek Din Ek Raat”, he has maintained his potentials as a fine actor to look up to.
As Cinema Entertainment Private Limited’s first movie venture, “Ek Din Ek Raat” is one of the very few suspense thrillers ever made for Nepali silver screen. And the best thing about the film is, though the film is not one of the finest suspense thrillers you have ever seen, for Nepali filmmakers to reach almost close to the genre is worth a special mention.
The film is a must-see also because it is a stress buster from all those typecast Nepali cinemas still running with the same formula of “five action scenes at Chovar, four dances at Pokhara, cheesy romance and over-the-top characters with overrated dramas.”
The film begins with Utsav (Vinay Shrestha) filing his article on an “unseen power” to his boss (BS Rana) who refuses to publish it without any real evidences. So, to give his project a conclusion, he gathers his friends – Ichhya (Diya Maskey), Sabhya (Jasper Neupane), Jen (Karma), Rooshan (Menuka Pradhan), Nil (Prabesh Giri), and Pralaya (Anup Baral). All of them head on the quest of finding the unseen power.
The movie proceeds further and wraps up within “Ek Din Ek Raat” (One day and one night).
Director Dev Kumar Shrestha’s story proceeds powerfully, backed up by strong dialogues. But it loses its grip and suspense factor in the second half.
All the tensions and suspense that arise during the first half ends as suspense without justifying the stress level by the end of the film.
Nonetheless, the dialogues, the humor scenes and cinematography are well taken care of, justifying the whole theme of the film. For a change, Tsujil Karmacharya’s background score is something you and I have hardly heard in Nepali films so far. Yes, it’s way better than the regular loud “ghintang-ghintangs.” However, the sound mixing done to create the horror feel could have been minimized a bit, as it seems too loud in some spots. But the soundtracks are the film-stealer. Manaraja Nakarmi, Firoj Bajracharya, and Tsujil Karmacharya need a special mention for this.
What attracts one most are the cast of the movie. As casting director, Anup Baral has certainly picked the finest characters the film needed. Vinay Shrestha is much better as an actor than what he was like in “Sano Sansar” and “First Love.” Karma is refining himself as one promising actor to look up to in 2011. Karma who played a serious lover in First Love does exactly the opposite in Ek Din Ek Raat, but with the same maturity.
It’s pleasing to see Diya Maskey in a different character after Kagbeni. Pooja Lama is the only glamourous element of the movie while Menuka Pradhan, Prabesh Giri, and Jasper Neupane equally support the team in the film. Definitely, Anup Baral holds the weight in a dark character.
But post-interval, the script falls into the trap of loopholes and slowly the story loses its gravity. Many subplots are left unjustified. The stress and the unanswered questions that arise with Anup Baral’s character are left unanswered. He just disappears in the latter half of the reel. The primary theme of the “unseen power” is also not justified well. What was all the terror and horror for? It remains unanswered till the end. Director Shrestha’s overlooking on the ending of the film spoils the entire mood of “Ek Din Ek Raat”.
Utsav and Ichhya screening the video of their trip to their boss as an evidence to the unseen power is just too unbelievable because they had not actually shot anything after the intermission.
I’m pretty sure that many in the mainstream filmmaking will have a lot to complain about “Ek Edin Ek Raat” because they think one should not dare to think out of the box and should continue doing typecast melodramas backed up by unbelievable action scenes. But who cares so long your ticket money is not wasted? So, do go for “Ek Din Ek Raat” to get the different experience and feel of Nepali cinema.
Screening at Jai Nepal Cinema Hall, Naxal.
(The writer is Program Officer at Indian Cultural Centre (ICC), Indian Embassy.)
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