Kathmandu

Plight of a dalit woman, away from her husband, in a patriarchal society set in a rural backdrop is a promising storyline for a movie. But bad direction accompanied by not-well-written story makes a disappointing feat like Dhauli. Had the story been properly written by the script writer and well-executed by its director, perhaps it could have been an interesting watch.

It is the story of a dalit woman named Dhauli (Gita Adhikari), who works and lives at Bada Baa’s (Prakash Ghimire) house. She has a son named Bir (Gajit Bista). Her husband, who went abroad to earn money, has not returned home for years. Taking advantage of Dhauli’s situation, Kanchho (Bishnu Gautam), brother of Bada Baa, seduces her to have physical relation with him. Kanchho promises to take care of Dhauli, who is now pregnant with his child. Bada Baa happens to know about Dhauli’s pregnancy and takes steps to get rid of her. What happens next is something you can anticipate. Then the story is set 20 years later.

The dialogue delivery, characterisation, set-up and dress up is convincing for what the story portrays. The main problem of Dhauli is — it lacks essential details while has forcefully added unnecessary scenes. Though not impressive, the first half of the movie attempts to tell the story. But after the interval, the film is very loosely connected making it difficult to understand what is going on. The protagonist Dhauli disappears in most parts of the film just to appear at the climax. Dhauli’s struggle after leaving Bada Baa’s home and her son’s journey to becoming the successful businessman Bir Nepali is missing. Two decades of the lives of main characters is mentioned nowhere in the film — one would want to know more about them rather than the scenes like buffalo mating.

Despite a bad treatment, Adhikari has done justice to her character. She has aptly portrayed the condition of a dalit woman who falls prey to the patriarchal society. Ghimire’s acting is flawless playing the head of an upper class family who becomes flexible for the sake of his child. Sambhu Thapa as Gobinde has justified his character as domestic helper who infuses some humour in the movie with his babbling.

And there is only one song in the movie that it will also not lift up your mood.

Dhauli

Genre: Social Drama

Director: Ghanashayam Lamichhane

Cast: Bishnu Gautam, Gita Adhikari, Gajit Bista, Anu Shah, Prakash Ghimire, Shambhu Thapa, Bidhya Karki

Being screened at QFX Cinemas