The journey of Pal, a film written by entrepreneur cum writer Karna Shakya, boasts of an original story line.[break]
Krishnaman (Ramesh Budathoki) is a Constituent Assembly member, who under the pressure of his wife Champa (Tripti Nadkar) indulges in corruption because Champa wants her son’s wedding to be grand.
Dipak (Raj Ballav Koirala), the son, is in love with Sushma (Nisha Adhikary) who belongs to an affluent family. She is urbanized and against joint family. The two tie the knot thus chaos begins in the family, followed by an intermission.
The second half of the movie revolves around the same characters but deals on how one’s life can be lived differently to make the most out of each Pal (moments).
The message of the story – living the moment in life is powerful. The same story fragmented into two parts is unique for the Nepali film industry to explore.
Nonetheless, when it comes to the thin line of balance between the screenplay, story and its execution, it seems like director Ramesh Budathoki, during the first half of the movie gets over ambitious. The movie proceeds at a turtle pace while the characters don’t look realistic.
Though the script assimilates daily activities from political satires to household frustrations and relationship issues, director Budathoki’s execution looks flummoxed.
This might have happened because the director himself plays an important character in the film.
Though the Director announced before the screening that “Pal will speak for itself”, the movie fails to hold audiences’ attention until the second half, where characters had an opportunity to deliver their best and the subplots were threaded together.
Some of the characters in the movie can’t seem to fit in the movie. A promising actor like Anup Baral, who portrays a negative role, is a disappointment.
After Dasdhunga, Baral has failed to deliver in Batch No 16 and now in Pal. In this case an actor can’t be fully blamed because it’s in the hands of the executor to portray characters in the right way.
It’s difficult to understand why Nepali filmmakers assume that some English sentences in a Nepali movie would fancy the audiences. It’s not that the urban youth heading for a Nepali movie wouldn’t understand the language.
If it was only the language that a film needs to boast of, why are so many non-English films popular worldwide?
If the actors aren’t comfortable with delivering the dialogues in English, to force it doesn’t make any sense; rather it sounds stupid. In Pal, while Baral disappoints with his diction, actor Dinesh DC who wasn’t required in the film overdoes it with fake American accent. Even comedian Mahadev Tripathi’s role was not required.
Child artist Saransh Thapaliya’s acting skill is also wasted. Karishma Manandhar as a narrator in the film sounds stiff and uncomfortable.
Though director Ramesh Budathoki isn’t impressive enough in his direction, he however leaves his benchmark as an actor. Tripti Nadkar looks sensual but fails to deliver her best as a fashionable mother.
The show stealers are definitely actors Koirala and Adhikary. Ballav has improved a lot as an actor from his Parkhi Basen and Pahilo Pahilo Maya days. Ever since his movie Swor, he has evolved as a potential actor. Adhikary doesn’t only look stunning, but her dialogue delivery is also neat and can be tagged almost ‘realistic’. Indeed she has come a long way since her Mission Paisa days.
Nhyoo Bajracharya’s music and Kiran Kharel’s lyrics are soothing to your ears and there are no clichéd action scenes as depicted in other Nepali mainstream films.
All in all, it’s an ardent task to categorize a Nepali film as good or bad as the “industry” is still at its infancy. However considering the fact that Pal: The Moments in Life is not a stereotype and has moments to cherish.
Pal will release officially in the cinema halls in September.
The writer is Program Officer at Indian Cultural Centre.
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