Introduction

Nepali movie ‘Mokshya’ was released on February 7, 2014. The movie directed by a wheelchair ridden musician and editor, Prabin Shrestha, received a good amount of hype before the release of the movie. In addition to prositive reviews during premier show, the viewers have also appreciated the story and story-telling in the movie. Prabin says 70 percent of the movie is his own life.

The movie produced by Sunil Manandhar is written by Pragyan Thapa and Rajan Kathet. The movie features Koshish Chhetri, Benisha Hamal, Bikram Singh, Manish Godar, Dipesh Bhandari, Basanta Bhatta, Shekhar Chapagai, Durga Baraili, Rashmi Bhatta, Sapana Shrestha etc.

Story

The movie is made on a story of four youths who wants to build a career in music. They fight their parents and argue about being different. After the first and successful concert of Mokshya band, the lead character met with an accident and had to live his life on wheelchair. The movie is about the hardships the character goes through in his life. The accident affected the friendship between the four youth as they started living their own lives.

The relationship between Koshish (Koshish Chhetri) and his father (Basanta Bhatta) is very emotional and real. The clash and love between the two has a lot of ups and down. The love between Koshish and Smriti (Benisha Hamal) is quite different from other love stories. They have a very down-to-earth relationship and the story is much closer to the reality.

Strength and Weakness

The movie is made on a real life story of it’s own director. The director had gone through most of the incidents of the movie and he has been successful in presenting he experienced. Every scene seem real and true. The movie also presents a good sense of humor. The movie has an open ending – forcing the viewers to think on the issues raised in it. The ending can be considered a strength of the movie.

The movie is made on musical theme and the director is also from the musical background. So, the music are very well integrated in the movie. The songs are melodious and fit in the emotional situation of the characters. This is the first time all the songs featured in a Nepali movie are rock songs.

Although the scenes of the first half are new and unique, one can get a feeling that some of the scenes are not in sync with the story. It is more focused on establishing the characters rather than the story. The second half is much mature in that aspect. The instant popularity Koshish gets after the concert doesn’t feel real. But, these weaknesses are minor when the whole movie is considered.

Star Cast

Although being a debut movie, Koshish has done a flawless performance and has done justice to the character he is playing. All four youth – Koshish Chhetri, Bikram Singh, Deepesh Bhandari and Manish Godar have done a very good job in playing their roles. Actress Benisha Hamal has done nice performance. A little bit of practice in her voice will certainly help as she sounds stiff in the movie.

In essence, the director Prabin Shrestha has been successful in making it a good movie. He has also been successful in imparting his feelings in the movie by using  music and silence in a very proper way.

Conclusion

This movie is no ordinary ‘made on real incident’ movie as it says the story of the director himself. I think, ‘Mokshya’ is a great movie and shouldn’t be missed.

Recommendation – go for it.

Review by – Robin Manandhar