Kabaddi: a Movie Review

My "dui sabda" about the Nepali film "Kabaddi" starring Rishma Gurung, Dayahang Rai, Nischal Basnet et. al



I can tell you straight away that Kabaddi is going to be the "worst" Nepali film that I have watched this year. Why? Because it is the only film that I'll be watching.

Kabaddi is also going to be the "best" Nepali film that I have watched this year, precisely because of the same reason. And a few more.

Let me count how many years it has been since I last stepped onto a theater to watch a Nepali film. I cannot because its too many. Which in itself should describe the strange appeal that Kabaddi had on me. To start with its trailer, it had that pull factor which made me- a reluctant, cynic passive movie hater-drag myself into a hall. So for the promotion, I will give the team a 5 on 5. Its all relative of course, the only thing that might have pulled me into theaters could be the lead hero/heroine who were so offbeat  for mainstream Nepali film. May be I just wanted to experience how it would be to see a "feature" that has long been a staple for minor "comedy/goons"  role helm a movie . May be I wanted to see whether that "feature"/those features held or not.

They held. Yes very much.

The trailer was the first thing to pull me in. After having watched the movie, I conclude that the cinematography of the movie is the best thing about it. "Visually stunning"-cliche words but the film is very much so. I remember the last bollywood movie that I watched-Chennai Express(no, I did not watch it in theater) which has rich jaw dropping scenes of some fine territories of India. I'm sure Kabaddi was made on less than 1/20th of a budget of that movie, and they didn't have to CGI anything to get a super dramatic landscape. That scene with those two giant  waterfalls cascading down green hills. Awesome. For bringing the best of Mustang vista-Kabaddi gets another 5/5 from me. Now let me see, what else? The acting yes. Everyone has acted well. It does not feel made up, like they are "acting". That is an impressive achievement for Nepali film, given that for most, we even feel when the director has yelled cut and the actor suddenly spins around or starts flapping their eyes or something. So in this regard, all good.

Source

Hmm, let me see now. Is it all a review is supposed to cover. Oh yes. Now go back to work everyone. Its over. I'm done....what? But I've not dealt with the most important part of the review. Like how entertaining it is, how is the story line, whether sitting through for 2.5 hours is worth it or not? And there lies the problem of Kabaddi. It skirts around humor, culture, good cinematography, great acting-all those pieces which are essential to a good comedy movie-but like the big chunk of my review (the heart lets say) has been missing, it also essentially misses the heart. There's no depth, or purpose to what's been going on for the entire time that you sit through it. Each scene after another is loaded with some funny joke, or one liners. The characters deliver their lines just perfect, there's no pretension about them. But it is just that. It is as if the whole movie is a quilt work of jokes upon jokes, which somebody thought of weaving into a loose story. This is not a bad idea-except that in a collection of jokes you really cannot have character development. In one scene your character might behave in one way as per the punch line, but for another he/she has to act another way to deliver another punch line. The protagonist Kazi (Dayahang) seems like he is a good enough guy with nothing to kill his time in a small village, but some of the scenes depict him as being able to even murder someone. We like him in a few frames, and even in the frame where he is almost a killer-because the stress is always on humor. But then, when we sit and think, how were we forced into liking a man capable of murder just because he can produce some good laughs? This is just an instance. Kabaddi is full of such pitfalls. There are many things worth appreciating-how subtly it shows the setting of the home of its "Dalit" character. At the bottom of the village, with only one another house nearby it. But then again, how easily it skirts around this issue. A film need not be serious always, and need not deliberately implant "sadness/social issues" around such topics, but then it has to have some depth nonetheless. That depth is missing entirely from Kabaddi. That is why I say, its a entertainer no doubt. It has its moments. But please leave your brain at home. Otherwise you will be wondering like me, doesn't a 32 year old's obsession over a 19 year old girl who has just given her SLC look a bit creepy and pedophile? How can a girl who just met her father after a long gap only to see him being arrested in a matter of seconds, travel so cozily full of herself as if nothing happened immediately? Over simplification for the sake of humor. That's the problem with Kabaddi.

Dayanhang Rai can act. But what is he to act, if all he has to do is not smile or laugh, run his hands through his hair every 20 seconds and just be an asshole throughout the movie. Not a good call on the director/screenplay writer's part.

This movie is very 2D. For all it promises, for all it could have been, it simply didn't. It lacks depth. It lacks coherence. It simply lacks a story teller's soul. But I still appreciate this movie, for breaking all sorts of stereotypes (of course while still reinforcing the gender one-but lets not get into that right now). For bringing different "features" to lead a movie, and for being successful in doing that.