Adding to my list of cultural activities here was a trip to the local cinema to watch a Nepali film. Of course, being in Kathmandu, 8am on a Saturday morning is a perfectly reasonable time to go to the cinema.
The film was called देश (desh) pronounced 'des' here and meaning 'country' - think of Bangladesh as being the 'land of the Banglas'. As expected, it was quite nationalistic in orientation. Lauren gives a much more detailed review of the film, although neither of us really managed to follow the film completely owing to our less than native Nepali language skills.
The film stars Rajesh Hamal, who I gather is to Nepali cinema what Shah Rukh Khan is to Bollywood (especially with regards to playing characters half their real ages). He plays a journalism student at a local university who ends up forming a political party and eventually dies (because of his beliefs?). Well I must admit I understood a tiny fraction of the dialogue, though the on-screen action made the plot somewhat easy to follow.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the cultural experience of being able to cheer with the audience when the hero does something great or jeer when the bad guy does something heinous. (Note: the bad guy in the film actually throws a grenade at a defenceless woman and her daughter while her brother (the protagonist) and son are walking off.) My mum talks about a time in Singapore when such banter / making comments during movies was the norm in cinemas - something she still continues to do even today, and one of the main reasons I don't watch movies with her.
The film ended on a rather sad note, with the protagonist getting shot, while the political party he's formed keeps moving on (literally, the procession keeps going while he lags behind and collapses). Still, at least his little nephew seems to take over the mantle by accepting the highly symbolic pen that was given to the protagonist when he was a boy. (Note: this same boy is earlier shown setting fire to and killing the man who had thrown the grenade at his mother and sister, with no apparent repercussions.)
It was also interesting to see the flow of people in and out of the cinema. People were arriving as later as an hour into the film, and whenever the cinema doors opened in the middle of the film, a flood of people would take the opportunity to walk out. I suppose it wasn't the plot that most people were interested in, but like myself, just the experience of being at the cinema.
Cinema goers spilling onto the street after the film
The film was called देश (desh) pronounced 'des' here and meaning 'country' - think of Bangladesh as being the 'land of the Banglas'. As expected, it was quite nationalistic in orientation. Lauren gives a much more detailed review of the film, although neither of us really managed to follow the film completely owing to our less than native Nepali language skills.
The film stars Rajesh Hamal, who I gather is to Nepali cinema what Shah Rukh Khan is to Bollywood (especially with regards to playing characters half their real ages). He plays a journalism student at a local university who ends up forming a political party and eventually dies (because of his beliefs?). Well I must admit I understood a tiny fraction of the dialogue, though the on-screen action made the plot somewhat easy to follow.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the cultural experience of being able to cheer with the audience when the hero does something great or jeer when the bad guy does something heinous. (Note: the bad guy in the film actually throws a grenade at a defenceless woman and her daughter while her brother (the protagonist) and son are walking off.) My mum talks about a time in Singapore when such banter / making comments during movies was the norm in cinemas - something she still continues to do even today, and one of the main reasons I don't watch movies with her.
The film ended on a rather sad note, with the protagonist getting shot, while the political party he's formed keeps moving on (literally, the procession keeps going while he lags behind and collapses). Still, at least his little nephew seems to take over the mantle by accepting the highly symbolic pen that was given to the protagonist when he was a boy. (Note: this same boy is earlier shown setting fire to and killing the man who had thrown the grenade at his mother and sister, with no apparent repercussions.)
It was also interesting to see the flow of people in and out of the cinema. People were arriving as later as an hour into the film, and whenever the cinema doors opened in the middle of the film, a flood of people would take the opportunity to walk out. I suppose it wasn't the plot that most people were interested in, but like myself, just the experience of being at the cinema.
Cinema goers spilling onto the street after the film
