I have never seen such a strong faith in any Nepali movie director that Nepalis are giving upon Mr. Director Nischal Basnet. The faith he has earned from the people is due to his amazing cinematic work in the blockbuster
Loot and they believe his second directorial venture has more to offer than Loot. We need more of such directors for the betterment of Nepali film Industry, and whose story telling shall develop every aspects of film making from technical side to actors to film crew. Here is what his latest has to offer.
TalkJung Vs Tulke is a movie about a poor laborer in a village in the western region who calls himself "BabuSaab" (the royal) but people treat him the exact opposite way. The "good for nothing" character's real name is TalakJung Singh Thakuri but people call him "Tulke" derogatorily. Tulke keeps whining about his greatness and involves in brawl with others for his love "Phuli" and mere issues. The movie takes place in the era when most of the villages in the country are affected with the insurgency and this village is no exception. The protagonist is so naive that he takes armed conflict as an simple task and asks them to mix him in the group without knowing what the armed revolution is all about. He keeps mumbling about taking revenge of the Local feudal "Babusaheb" and his son, who are ruling over the poor laborers but he does not have that courage to stand against, unless he is drunk. In an unexpected turning point, he is forced to evict from the village with his head cross shaved ("Char pate mudera"). TalakJung enters Kathmandu, meets a group of thugs and helps them collect huge sum by intimidating people in the name of fake insurgent groups. The unprecedented encounter of all other members with Police leaves him no choice but to return back to the village that he would have done anyway, to take revenge of his insult. The village now has changed a lot due to the armed conflict. As the revolt in the village leads to a tragic conclusion, the "Good for nothing" TalakJung happens to do the best thing that I think establishes an identity that he was searching for.
The story line is quite simple and inspired by Chinese Novel "The true story of Ahq" that is well molded to Nepali domain by the screenplay writer Khagendra Lamichane who is also the lead actor, playing Tulke. The presentation of the movie is done in a comic style with such grave issue of armed revolution in the background. The movie won't take side for the human killing but the innocent dialogue asking the revolutionist not to kill people ( Krantikari haru lai Munche chahi namara bhande hai!!) gives the reflection of Tulke's mind (who wants to join the revolutionists). Flawless acting from the lead Khagendra Lamichane (Tulke), Richa Sharma (Phuli), Sushank Mainali (Suke), Dayahang Rai and Rabindra Singh Baniya (Binay) is quite remarkable and obvious for the established actors and theater artists. As Khagendra was mostly blindfolded in his first movie
Badhshala, this movie proved his acting skills and will definitely get more invitations for new movies. Black beauty Richa Sharma without makeup or probably adding more black in her face, has done full justice to the character. Dayahang Rai and Bikram Singh have no major role in the movie apart from some loot and the item song. The slow paced movie manages to keep people adhere to the screen for almost full time, though there are some sequences that looses the theme and at times even makes you forget Tulke. The eight lakh worth item song "Nachana" is energetic and arouses good feeling in the audiences, but not up to the level of Udreko Choli. Apart from the Paschimi (western region) accents (like Kya arni ho, munche and many more), the movie is also better in putting finer details like radio program of that era, Darpanchaya show in BishwoJoti. Though people have admired the movie as a whole, some people shared the ending could have been better but may be that's the way it ends in the original story. Director Nischal Basnet (Actor
Kabaddi) has definitely kept the faith for the people with this dark comedy. I am now wondering if its gonna be "Loot 2" or "Dimag Kharab" that he will start putting into action first.
One additional thing that I appreciate is the initiative in playing the National anthem at the start of the movie. This is a common practice in various part of the world where we even being a foreigner stood to give a respect to the country. This helps to promote the patriotic spirit and should be practiced from the Cinema hall side or the Government itself.
