Background

Thousands of people enter Kathmandu, the capital, from different parts of Nepal for the search of opportunities and fulfill their dreams. At the same time, many leave to tend their wounds when their dreams get shattered. Akash Adhikari’s movie, "Kathmandu", released today in Kathmandu, the city, is based on such types of different dreams, different problems, and varieties of people.

Story

The movie, "Kathmandu", is made on the story a character, Aryan Rana (played by Akash Adhikari) who comes back to Nepal from USA after completing his study of film making. He competes in Nepal to get an opportunity to make movie and during his struggle, he faces different problems, typical of Kathmandu. Although he tries to fight with every problems, a problems in his family forced him to return back to the USA.  Apart from the family problem, "Kathmandu" tries to portrays problems in teens caused by the misunderstanding between their parents. Drugs abuse in teens and problems in them caused by the carelessness of their parents. The movie also deals with the problems of street children, problems of youth, unemployment, negligence of the government, the games played by politicians, and girls being exploited to make indecent movies.

Strengths and Weaknesses

One of the best aspect of the movie is the quality of picture. Shoot with red 4K Camera, the quality is awesome. It sure is an eye candy. But, technology alone can not make a best movie. Akash Adhikari seem to be more focused in showing the scenes of USA rather than those in Kathmandu. He should also have captured beautiful sceneries of Kathmandu.

Kathmandu‘s attempt to show the strong impact of the parent’s mistakes on their children could have been improved, made much more creative than it is. The director Akash Adhikari’s focus in presenting various problems of Kathmandu has made watching the movie boring at times and the story lacks excitement from time to time. It would have been a lot better the story had focused in fewer problems and focused more on them rather than incorporating everything.

Although the direction of Akash Adhikari is appreciable, he has failed to bring a best output that can be made with this story. He has focused more on showing the problems of Kathmandu than presenting it in interesting ways, leaving the movie tasteless. Screenplay of Suraj Subba ‘Nalbo’ is also not so impressive. Music of Rahul Pradhan is good with new taste from Bollywood singers.  Dirgha Gurung’s cinematography is also average. Sahilendra Karki has captured scenes of USA in proper way.

Actors and characters

Work of lead actress, Prapti Ghimire, as Simrik is appreciable. She has done a good job as a drug addict and a girl longing for her parent’s love. Prapti has proved to be a promising newcomer in Nepali film industry. Work of Mamta as Astha is also good. These two characters, having important role in this movie, have justified their part.

Although Resh Marattha is featured in the posters of the movie, he doesn’t have much role in the movie. The non-Nepali actress, Ria Murphy’s role as Ria has done good job as an international lover of Aryan (Aakash Adhikari). The lead actor, Akash Adhikari, has done good job as an actor but he has more to improve. Samyukta Rana has also done good job as an ex-Miss Nepal and Gauri Malla has also done justice to her role.

Summary

In a whole, Akash Adhikari’s attempt to show various problems of Kathmandu has missed the point. It is more focused in problem of a high class family and his attempt to include problems in middle class families did not relate much to the story, making the movie boring.  More than a movie, I saw "Kathmandu" as a doc-drama attempting to portray the problems in the Capital with little success. 

In short, Kathmandu is like a food to kill hunger but a compromise in taste. The cook could have made it much tastier and fun. Are you hungry?

Photo and poster credits – Facebook profile of Akash Adhikari