When the movie team was organizing "Black Friday"-a protest program in Nepal, "Badhshala" (meaning Slaughterhouse in English) got screened in Australia on the very same day it was supposed to be released in Nepal. But due to Nepal Army's objection for the screening and Government indecision, its release date was postponed to indefinite date here and they may resort to Supreme Court for its release. This is not the first time a movie based on insurgency was banned, previously a movie by Narayan Puri - "Aago" was also first banned and later allowed to screen with so many scenes, dialogues being censored.
Directed by Manoj Pandit, Badhshala is a movie based on the torture story inside an army Barrack (Bhairab Natha Gand) where the then Maoists rebels are known to be tortured, humiliated, and disappeared after killing during the decade long insurgent period. As the story of the movie is inspired by books like Adhyara 258 dinharu by Jitman Basnet, Manav Badhshala by Krishna KC and an anonymous article written in Janastha weekly- all being either Maoists or Pro-Maoists, the movie is expected to depict the story just from the rebels point of view.
I myself being in Nepal, have not watched the movie but I have collected some views regarding the movie from my friends in Australia.
According to my friend, there is no big story here, it goes like this: Nepal Army takes custody of some people (Maoists and Normal), tortures them to get the whereabouts of Prachanda/Baburam (the leader of then Maoists rebel), forces them to commit themselves of being Maoists and ultimately kills them. Regarding the torture part, movie has full of goose-bumpy scenes where my friend even closed her eyes at times. A violent scene where a pregnant women is hit by foot in her belly and poor food/living condition for the prisoners inside the army battalion shows the detainees were treated even worse than dogs. The movie is known to include some F*words that needs to be censored which sounded so cheap to my friend.
One friend argued that the movie shows army in a very bad way and tarnishes the image of a National Army, so it should be banned or censored as it will instigate some protests against them.
So the million dollar question is: Is it worthy to ban a movie being based on a story (written by Maoists and pro-Maoists) that portrays Nepal Army in a bad way and tarnishes their image??. Well for that my friends were divided over the issue. Some argued that the movie shows Maoists as a true fighter for the nation and not a single misdeeds were shown from their side. Being a single sided story, it seems like they were trying to support the decade long insurgency. But another question arises instantly in my mind: If that thing is well depicted in the movie, then why would the current government (led by Maoists) is not allowing it to screen as they are very calculative in their own benefit OR are they afraid to go against the Nepal Army's letter to evict another Katuwal kanda-(tussle between Army and government)?
But other friends argued that each Nepali has the right to know what had happened inside the Bhairab Nath Battalion and alike during the insurgency period. Since the movie is based on a true story that happened inside the Army Barrack, some friends are of complete support in screening it in Nepal without censor. They say History is history, we have to accept the mistakes committed in the course of time and learn from it rather than hide it.
Almost all agreed that all star casts of Saugat Malla, Dayahang Rai, Arpan Thapa, Anup Baral, Sarita Giri are super in their performance and some humorous scenes are also there to entertain you. From the conversations with those who have watched the movie, I believe the movie should be rated R for violence and should be screened in Nepal with proper censor without ruining the movie's theme and not instigating some more protests as we already had enough of that. Is not that a win win situation!!!
Lastly, Manoj Pandit deserves salutation for the daring work, as he might have predicted this sort of hurdles for the controversial issue.
Lastly, Manoj Pandit deserves salutation for the daring work, as he might have predicted this sort of hurdles for the controversial issue.
Disclaimer: This movie review is solely based on what I had conversed with my friends.
