Nepal torpedoes patriarchy

Illustration/Uday Mohite

One of the many big triumphs for South Asian cinema at the Cannes Film Festival was Abinash Bikram Shah earning a Special Mention for his film Lori (Melancholy of my Mother's Lullabies, Nepal) in the Short Film Competition (official selection). The other wins, of course, are Saim Sadiq's Joyland (Pakistan) winning the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard and the Queer Palm Prize; and Shaunak Sen's All That Breathes (Special Screenings) winning the L'Oeil d'Or (Golden Eye) for Best Documentary at Cannes. I've written extensively about Sadiq's and Sen's films before, so I will focus on Lori here. Shah's is a massive achievement for the relatively small, struggling Nepali film industry, dominated by Bollywood, Hollywood and Indian cinema (KGF, RRR).

The general Indian public is usually appallingly ignorant about Nepali cinema - or any South Asian cinema in our neighbourhood, for several reasons. In fact, Abinash Bikram Shah is definitely one of the brighter voices in the Nepali film industry, along with Deepak Rauniyar, Min Bahadur Bham, Tsering Rhitar Sherpa and others, whose films have been on the A-list film festival circuit - Cannes, Berlin, Venice and more. He has an impressive, award-winning body of work as writer, director and producer. His previous work as writer for feature films includes Deepak Rauniyar's Highway (Berlin Film Festival, 2012) and Min Bahadur Bham's Kalo Pothi (The Black Hen, Venice Film Festival, 2016), which was also Nepal's official Oscar entry. He has written and directed several shorts, including Ma Khushi Chu (I am Happy) and Tattini (The Moon is Bright Tonight), as well as written popular TV series, such as Singha Durbar, on a Nepali woman prime minister. Disclaimer: I was also on the Hubert Bals Fund Script and Project Development Selection Committee of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, that selected Shah's new script Elephants in the Fog, among others, in 2021.

Lori, written and directed by Shah, is a stunning 15-minute short, that impresses with its concept, narrative treatment, imaginative images and craftsmanship. Employing an original cinematic concept, Shah uses Nepali lullabies to question a deeply patriarchal Nepali society. For instance, one lullaby goes, "Bless my child, O Mother Goddess, for my innocent little daughter is ignorant of the turmoil the future holds…" Simri, 12, is raised by a spineless single, widowed mother, who allows relatives and traditions to trample over her daughter's dreams and feelings. When a busybody aunt insists Simri's nose be pierced with a nose ring as "you must grow up now," Simri boldly retorts, "No! I don't want to be a grown-up woman like you," but she is pierced anyway. When the mother sympathises later, Simri tells her, "I wish Father were alive, instead of you." There is a startling honesty and boldness in the young girl, infuriated by bovine women, that is very welcome.

Nonetheless, Simri is bundled off in a tractor to be married. The film has a telling scene: the groom, a teenage oaf with a crown, stands high up on a tree, tangled with mannat threads representing wishes, to pop the question to his pre-teen bride-to-be, standing below: "Will you perform your duty as my wife? I'll marry you only if you agree." But Simri retorts only with a defiant silence. Shah's writing and direction is sensitive and sophisticated, and the film is a resounding slap in the face of the inequity of marriage and of the place of women in our society. He has always had an empathy for women, low caste and trans people, and the marginalised. Ankita Yadav is powerful as Simri. Ujjal Bastakoti's cinematography is excellent, and editor Suraj Paudel is good too. Kudos to producer Anup Poudel (Underground Talkies), backed by Petra Film, Hong Kong.

Nauha (Eve of a Eulogy) by Pratham Pooja Khurana, just 23, was another film in Cannes' La Cinef section for film school entries (official selection). This 26 min short, made by Whistling Woods International, Mumbai, is a marvellously crafted, sensitive and deeply moving film on the relationship between a lonely, crabby senior citizen Babuji (Uday Chandra, magnificent as always) and his male carer Kishan (Azhar Khan, absolutely superb). Rarely have we considered the point of view of caregivers, and their co-dependency, as tenderly as this film does; all the more relevant in our post-COVID era. If this is what young Indian film students are producing, then Indian cinema certainly has a bright future.

Meenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin International Film Festival, National Award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist.
Reach her at meenakshi.shedde@mid-day.com