Dasdhunga: A handsome cinematic approach to reality

At Kumari Cinema Hall, it was a sight to see during the premiere of “Dasdhunga” on Thursday. For the first time in Nepali film history, people from all walks of life, including the political fraternity that included the likes of UCPN Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, vice chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai, CPN-UML’s chairman Jhalanath Khanal, and RPP’s chairman Pashupati Shumsher Rana attended the premiere of Dasdhunga – a film based on a real life story of the tragic death of the CPN-UML’s senior leader Madan Bhandari and Jibaraj Ashrit.

However, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Defense Minister Bidya Bhandari canceled their presence.

Produced by Apil Bista Films and directed and written by Manoj Pandit, Dasdhunga is a two-hour-ten-minute docu-fiction. Somewhere close to a biopic, Dasdhunga finally got clear over all the censorship hassles after the production team agreed to cut a few sequences from the film. Some big profiled names like KP Sharma Oli and Madhav Kumar Nepal were forced to be removed from the film for the Censor Board’s approval for screening.

Was Madan Bhandari and Jibaraj Ashrit’s death at Dasdhunga, Chitwan, an accident or was it conspired? Can we believe Amar Lama’s, Madan Bhandari’s driver at the time of the accident, take on the incident, or was he involved in the tragedy? If we are to go by all what Lama has said, he has always contradicted his statements during the investigations. But if we are not to agree with Lama, who is also no more, where can we find more evidences on this incident?



Director Pandit keeps dealing with such unanswered questions throughout the film through Anup Baral, who plays the role of an investigator. And the movie’s footages of Madan Bhandari’s speeches, his last rites and the sound bites of live witnesses of the Dasdhunga accident proves that the film crew has well-researched to make this docu-fiction a must-see.

Nimesh Shrestha’s editing and Purusottam Pradhan’s cinematography are something that Nepali silver screen has hardly explored before. The camera works are extremely neat and the sound editing compliments the plots and the screenplay. Actors Baral and Dayahang Rai (Amar Lama) do all justice to their characters while Sanchita Luitel and Saugat Malla have average performances.

The movie is beautifully documented as a historical story in the first half while progresses fictionally in the second. To shift the film from reality to a cinematic world, Pandit creatively introduces schizophrenia, a split-personality disease, and the dramatic elements that follow are highly captivating.

Though the movie repeats the same mysterious story of the incident and doesn’t draw a conclusion whether the accident of the two political leaders was a misfortune or a conspired plan, it definitely raises many unanswered questions and keeps the audiences intact with its screenplay.

“It’s not that this film is going to bring in some drastic change to Nepali film industry overnight. Nevertheless, this will certainly live up to its expectations – reminding the dark real story to the society, which chose to close its eyes since yesteryears,” actor Baral shared during the premiere. “Even if only two percent of the population of Nepal watches this cinema, it’s more than enough to make an impact.”

Source: http://theweek.myrepublica.com/details.php?news_id=22895