Given the nature of its story, A Mero Hajur 3 could have been a metafilm that could present to the audience the underbelly of the entertainment industry. However, it is so poorly developed that it ends up being a cheap and comic parody of a star’s power and limitations.
Fascinating appearance
Nevertheless, let’s begin the discussion with positives. The movie is excellent when it comes to cinematography. The camerawork is impressive. Various places of Nepal and the United States have been captured in beautifully composed frames. Drones have been used to generate aerial images whenever necessary.
The cast and crew have gone to remote mountains of Nepal and posh cities of the United States to shoot a few sequences, and it looks amazing. Even narrow alleys of the Kathmandu Valley and congested rented apartments of lower-income people have been filmed realistically.
Because the story itself is about the life of a ‘megastar’, most of the setting is extravagant and fascinating. When the hero appears for the first time, his helicopter lands, his guards are on standby, and his assistants open the door of his car, even before he comes out of a helicopter. His apartment is lavishly furnished.
The heroine is not less than the hero. Though her room looks like a hostel unit, it is spacious and luxurious. Every item necessary for the modern life is available easily—from cars to the internet. All of them have been shown attractively in the movie. It looks as if the audience doesn’t only see, but can feel their texture. The visual replication is fascinating.
The actors have developed themselves as role models for the Nepali youth in how they can be and feel like stars and/or their ‘true’ fans. Anmol KC’s acting as the ‘megastar’ has improved. Suhana Thapa’s performance can also be considered satisfactory because it is her debut project. Both of them have exhibited potential to exert unconscious influences on the audience through their bold and appealing acting. Don’t get surprised if many teenage boys begin changing their hairstyle to that of KC and the girls visit every garment shop of their neighbourhood in look for the gown that Thapa dances in.
Clear confusions
But, the film fails to keep the audience hooked for it lacks a substantial and smooth story. While watching the movie, the audience keeps themselves busy thinking what the movie wants to convey.
Throughout the first half, the audience happens to see three avatars of KC. Different appearances serve as a basis to take the story ahead. Though it creates confusion in our heroine, most members of the audience can understand that the three avatars belong to the single person, and he is taking different guises for different purposes. What they cannot understand is the real nature of the movie itself.
The first half is a comic farce. The audience is provided with a lot of lame jokes, most of which are related to private organs of men and women. Like many other recent productions, this movie has also misused the idea of sex as something to make the audience laugh.
The screenwriter and the director’s efforts to make the movie a love story have failed. The foundation of the relationship between the hero and heroine is dramatic and invented. You cannot imagine a ‘megastar’, guarded by his half dozen assistants, getting out of his car and helping his fan kickstart a broken down scooter when it is raining cats and dogs. And, who does give a lady an autograph on her chest, just above the breasts, in the open?
In fact, the projection of our hero’s stardom is apparently a parody. He rides the vehicle which does not have a registration plate. Other vehicles escort him every time. His guards do not leave him even when he dates his diehard fan. The movie shows that he is under surveillance every time because a tycoon holds him hostage. But, how can a national star keep mum about the abuse he faces from his ‘master’ almost every day?
Later, the audience cannot understand why the story forcefully establishes the hero as a brother of a friend of the heroine. Though the friend’s mom sobs when she says that she got the son that was missing in the family in the hero, it does not touch the audience because the scene does not have any background, nor does it move forward.
In another example of unnecessary scenes, a minor character played by Rear Rai falls in love with a ‘third gender’. Such scenes cannot be considered parts of the plot; but they should not be called subplots either because they are not related to the plot, thematically. Arguably, the movie is neither about filling the gap of a son in a family, nor about accepting the relationships with members of the sexual minority. No wonder the movie lasts for two-and-half hours—a close examination finds a number of such unnecessary scenes.
Another funny thing about the movie is its beginning. When the curtains open, you see the heroine dancing in a religious song. Few days before her death, she says she got to see the hero, who acts as a superstar singer of the town, thanks to the grace of Lord Krishna. Whenever something appears in the beginning and the end of an artistic project, the audience naturally thinks that it is an important theme of the work. But, the movie does not have any suggestion about Lord Krishna in between.
Hence, you come out of the theatre questioning what is A Mero Hajur all about. Is it a comic parody, a love story, or a religious preaching? And, what are its themes and key messages?
Or, is it an advertisement? Why does the heroine clearly advertise Dabur Chyawanprash and Coca Cola in the beginning, chanting exact lines of their commercials?
Verdict
In one of the scenes, the heroine tells the hero that making him kneel down and plead for love was just a game and she did not have any feelings for him. Watching the weakly knitted movie that glitters in its appearance, the audience feels that A Mero Hajur 3 is just a game producer Sunil Kumar Thapa and director Jharana Thapa wanted to play to make their daughter Suhana Thapa costar with the ‘megastar’ KC.
After all, all that glitters is not gold.
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A Mero Hajur 3
Genre: Comedy, love story
Runtime: 150 minutes
Director: Jharana Thapa
Cast: Suhana Thapa, Anmol KC, Arpan Thapa, Salon Basnet, Rabindra Jha, Rupa Ghising, Rakshya Gautam, Rear Rai, Saroj Khanal
2/5
