Nepali Movie Chapali Height

KATHMANDU, March 20: The film “Chapali Height” garnered much controversy prior to the release – but for all the wrong reasons! First came the accusations on the poster being copied from Basic Instinct, the 1992 Hollywood thriller; then came the press conference called out by one of the leads of the movie, Bineeta Baral, where she said she wished to clarify that the promotional pictures released were not nude photographs. There was an objection to the hoarding board of the film by the police to which the director responded with an enormous question mark. Finally, the film touted as a sexual thriller received an Adult certificate. After the film finally hit the theatres, one is left questioning: why put up so much for a film like this? The film would have been better if it was a rip-off of a Hollywood hit, like alleged. But sadly, it is not. It is something dreadful. Chapali Height, for its basic plot, had the potential to be a first of its kind cult film in Nepali cinema. It had non-mainstream content, very few characters and a few locations. However, the makers seem so overwhelmed with their own idea that they end up making a mess. The story begins with Raj (Raj Ghimire) waking up exhausted after a nightmare to receive a call from his friend who requests him to shelter him and his girlfriend in his house at Chapali Height. Bineeta Baral (Bini) is the girlfriend who indulges in chatpate and likes to sway to any music that plays. She talks a bit too much and plays weird sexual games to such an extent that she manages to miff off her boyfriend. Now, her boyfriend Amir (Amir Gautam) for most part seems fine with Bini’s ways. In fact, he actually encourages her as he dances along, intoxicating himself with alcohol and cigarettes. He likes playing tennis and carries multiple sim cards in his pockets which have nothing to do with the film, much like many other scenes. Now be warned, for the film is a compilation of such tasteless scenes. A good 20 minutes of the film are wasted on the highway while the couple, Bini and Amir, elope and drive towards Kathmandu. The highway for them, not for the audiences, is extremely adventurous for they encounter some rowdy helmetless bikers in a short spell of swearing beep words. The bikers meet with an accident, and the couple celebrates with a Lakhe who appears out of nowhere and starts dancing in the middle of the road. The film, and thank God for that, starts officially when the couple reach Chapali Height at sundown where Bini displays her extreme open mindedness, standing in front of both the guys asking if she looks sexy dressed only in a shirt. Then the eloped couple indulges in a perverted fest in presence of Raj which is awkward for him as well as the audiences in the cinema hall who laugh out loud! The chuckles don’t end for the audience mocks those scenes by which the film intends to shock, thrill or at times scare. Amazingly, however, the filmmakers manage to insert sex psychology even if only for a small part. Sadly the score in enticing the audience is a zero. As you move further you get the feel that, the script of Chapali Height might just be a rip-off of some bad erotic story that somehow stuck to into the writer’s head. The treatment is that of a short film with lethargically extended scenes. Dirgha Khadka’s editing of the film is terrible. Scenes showing time lapses using the “dissolve” feature in an editing software does not get the film moving. Nor does cutting from a wide angle to another wide angle.

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