Film Review and Book Review - Class 12 English Board Exam

Film Review / Book Review

Film Review and Book Review carry 10 marks in Class 12 Board Exam. Students are generally asked to write film/book review that you have recently watched/read.

Word limit : 300 Words

1.Write a film review about any film that you have recently watched in about 150 to 200 words.

Title of the movie: Chhakka Panja

Movie : Chhaka Panja

Director : Deepa Shree Niraula

Produced by : Deepak Raj Giri, Jeetu Nepal, Kedar Ghimire

Starring : Priyanka Karki ,Deepak Raj Giri, Kedar Ghimire, Buddhi Tamang,                   Basundhara Bhusal, Barsha Raut , Aryan Sigdel

Genre: Social

Duration: 136 minutes

Language: Nepali

Release Date: 9 Sep , 2016

                                              Chhakka Panja

 Last week I got a chance to watch Nepali comedy film. Chhakka Panja. Chhakka Panja is one of the most popular films in Nepali Film Industry. It has also observed 100 days in the film halls. This is the film directed by Deepa Shree Niraula. The film reflects the bitter truth of our contemporary society. This film gives the lesson to the husbands who go to foreign countries to earn money and also to their wives. The story of the film begins from Atit (Shiv Hari Paudel). He gets DV for America and gets married to Brinda (Barsha Raut). He flies to America alone and promises with his wife that he will come back to take her.

 There is another character, Raja (Deepak Raj Giri) who lives with his widow mother. Neither he wants to marry nor to work. He wanders here and there with his three friends: Jeetu, Kedar and Buddhi. Except Buddhi, all three are unmarried. When Shiva goes to America, his wife Brinda and Deepak fall in love. Brinda shows real love but Deepak wants only to exploit her beauty and youth. She becomes pregnant. At the same time, Shiva comes back from America without informing and knows their love affair but he doesn't show any reaction.

 On the other hand, Deepak gets married with Champa (Priyanka) due to his mother's force. Then Aryan Sigdel is seen as a villain. While Deepak and Priyanka are going to Kathmandu, Aryan and Priyanka attack to Deepak in the forest and injure Deepak. Then Aryan and Priyanka run away from there.

 Similarly Jeetu and Namrata are in love but Namrata's father advises Jeetu to go foreign country and earn money to get Namrata. So he is in Kathmandu. One day Buddhi beats his wife being drunk so she has gone to maiti. Although everybody thinks Kedar is in foreign country, he is in Kathmandu as the head of criminal gang. Deepak and Buddhi go to Kathmandu to search Aryan and Priyanka. They meet to Jeetu and Kedar there.

 One day Aryan phones to Deepak and informs that he is getting married to Priyanka at temple. He also threatens to Deepak to stop that marriage if he can. When four friends (Deepak, Jeetu, Kedar, Buddhi) reach to temple, Aryan reveals a secret plan. In fact, Shiva Hari is getting married to Priyanka not Aryan. Priyanka has got married to Deepak according to Shiva's plan and he is getting married to Priyanka (Deepak's wife) to teach lesson to Deepak.

 In this way, the film has happy ending because every problem is solved. Deepak accepts Brinda (Shiva's pregnant wife) as his wife. Shiva gets married to Priyanka (Deepak's wife). Buddhi realizes his mistake and promises not to beat his wife again. So his wife returns from maiti. Jeetu returns from foreign country by earning money and gets married to Bishnu (Namrata). Kedar also gets married to Deepa Shree.

 The film is very interesting to every audience since it gives moral lesson to every husband not to play with youth of others' wives. The dialogues used by the actors are very humorous. The audiences can't stay without laughing while watching the film. The plot, acting of the characters, comic scenes and dialogues and the message conveyed by the film are really praiseworthy.

 2.Write a film review about any film that you have recently watched in about 150 to 200 words.

Title of the movie: Jhola

Director: Yadav Kumar Bhattarai

Producers: Raj Timalsina, Ram Gopal Thapa and Sushil Shah

Starring: Garima Panta, Desh Bhakta Khanal , Sujal Nepal, Laxrni Gin and Deepak Chhetri

Genre: Social

Duration: 90 minutes

Language: Nepali

Release Date: 7 December 2013

Jhola

 Jhola is a Nepali film based on Krishna Dharawasi's short story "Jhola". It has depicted Nepali society about the Sati tradition that was prevalent until the 1920s. The film has beautifully presented the issues of violence against women. "Has Nepalese society really passed through such in human tradition?" is the question every youngster wonders about.

The plot develops with the death of Garima's husband in which she has to immolate herself upon her husband's death, typically on his funeral pyre. She is supposed to be burnt alive with the dead body of her husband according to the tradition. However, she escapes the fire and hides in a cave. The help of her son fascinates the audience.

 Almost all the scenes seem realistic and historical. Traditional tools like dhiki, janto, madaani, etc. give traditional look in the film. Similarly traditional lights like ranks, diyalo and fire place represent ancient environment to the spectators. In addition to Sati tradition, the movie also touch Kamara Kamari(a kind of slavery) tradition. What a beautiful cinematography it is! I think costumes of the artists and the leaf music in traditional tunes touch the heart of every one present in the cinema hall. Garima's natural appearance, her role and her acting are spellbinding and add to the beauty of the movie.

This is a must watch movie. Don't miss  it.

3.    3.Write a film review about any film that you have recently watched in about 150 to 200 words.

 Title of the movie: Pardeshi

Director:  Narayan Rayamajhi

Producers:  Rajesh Banshal

Starring: Prashant Tamang, Rajani K.C , etc

Genre: Drama

Duration: 128 minutes

Language: Nepali

Release Date: October 22, 2015

Pardeshi

 

"Pardeshi's strong key points are its story and screenplay, music and actors performance. These key elements of the film have made the film watchable one. Ramesh BC and Narayan Raymajhi have written the story and screenplay. Credit must be given to the story and screenplay for adding emotional undercurrent into the film which are appreciable and will hold you in the seat. The emotions touch the right chord and a couple of them could even make the weak-hearted cry.

Musician B.B.Anuragi is another appreciable team member of the film Pardeshi. All the songs of the film are melodious that will get into the nerves of the audience. Every song has its importance in the film which will take the story to next level. The purely folk melody songs will make your movie experience enjoyable.

Actors' performance is another strong aspect of the film. I could not find any flaw on any actors' performance. From lead actors to supporting actors, child actors to guest actors, everyone has performed brilliantly. Every actor has got into the character and performed. Every character is developed properly which will give sense to their individual story and will help the audience to relate with them.

Prashant Tamang being an Indian idol and an international celebrity, he is not presented in the film as a celebrity. This is one of the important beauties of the film, Prashant is into the character of Binaya so much that audience will forget that they are watching Prashant in the screen.

Rajni KC was featured in glamorous avatar in her first film Loafer. But in Pardeshi, she has got a big opportunity to showcase her talent as an actress. Her performance as Namrata is brilliant. Keshav Bhattarai as Binaya's father is good. Naren Khadka has also performed well. All other actors have done appreciable works which have given life to every characters of the film.

 Pardeshi's major drawback is its cinematography. Shiva Dhakal's cinematography is poor. Beautiful scenes Palpa are not captured well. All the shots are normål and don't add beauty to the visual experience of watching a film. If cinematography was improved, the film would have been a masterpiece. The climax also seems filmy but doesn't hamper the film.

Book Review

1.    1.Write a book review about any book that you have recently read in about 150 to 200 words.

 Review of Book: Palpasa Café

Title of book: Palpasa Café

Author: Narayan Wagle

Publisher: Nepalaya ( Kathmandu , Nepal)

Publish Year:  2005

Genre: Fiction

Language: Nepali

Palpasa Café

Narayan Wagle is one of few Nepali journalists I admire I have been an avid reader of his gossip column Coffee Guff which is marked by gift of phrases. I'm also a fan of his graphic reporting specially from remote corners of Nepal. Simplicity, I must say, is the hallmark of Wagle's writing, But, as I waded through the pages of Wagle's debut novel Palpasa Cafe, I concluded that it's just an extended version of Coffee Guff.

Let's begin from the beginning. The novel starts with a metafictional note. The narrator, a journalist, is waiting for his protagonist to show the manuscript before sending it for printing. But then, Drishya (sight, literally) gets arrested. Chapter One opens in Goa, a perfect place for love, it seems! Here a painter falls in love with his admirer (a US returned, amateur documentary maker), solitary loitering.

Let me take a break from storytelling. In fact, if you have read the novel, you know the story and if you haven't you don't want to know, for it spoils your curiosity. Anyway, the story goes, as life goes on. But two things are crucial: how it is told and what the content is. Wagle obviously is a formalist. He prefers form over content. Nevertheless, the story weaves both the complexities of ongoing conflict and its consequences.

But, like the protagonist's shattered dream of opening Palpasa Café in the idyllic hills, the novel seems promising in the outset while needs up in the maze of it's own making. Conflict is only the backdrop where an artist searches meaning of his love-life. But despite having an encyclopaedic knowledge of nature and painting, Wagle fails to portray Drishya as an artist. Like Wagle himself, he sounds more like a joumalist; so he is an alter ego of its creator. The novel is oddly replete with female characters (Palpasa, Christina, Phulan, Jemina, gradma etc.) whereas males are not only mysteriously absent but are also nameless and faceless in the narrative.

 

2.    2.Write a book review about any book that you have recently read in about 150 to 200 words.

 Review of Book: Muna Madan

Title: Muna Madan

Author: Laxmi Prasad Devkota

Publisher: Sajha Prakashan, Kathmandu, Nepal

Publish Year: 2008

Edition: Twenty Fifth Edition

Genre: Fiction

Language: Nepali

 

Muna Madan

Muna Madan is one of the best creations of Nepali poet, Laxmi Prasad Devkota, popularly acclaimed as "Mahakavi" in Nepali literature. He graduated in Arts in 1930 and in Law in 1933 both from Patna University, India. His early poems were influenced by the English Romantic Movement and his later poems speak with a powerful modern voice. Muna Madan is a folk epic written in poetic version in 1935. This book was among the creations of Devkota which challenged Sanskrit scholars who dominated the Nepalese literary scene. While these scholars determined good poetry as those following the Sanskrit form, Muna Madan was based on the Jhaurey folk tune. This book received recognition from the Ranas at that time.

The book describes the life of a poor society of the rural area of Nepal. Madan, the main and the most important character of the book, represents all the youths of Nepal go to abroad to earn money for their living. Madan is such a character who is compelled to go abroad as he is jobless because of the problems of unemployment and poverty prevalent in his country. The wife of Madan, Muna is the queen of love and sacrifice. She loves her Madan a lot so she is upset as she has to send him to a place, Lhasa, where there are lots of obstacles and risks. But finally she accepts this challenge and stays in the country with her mother-in-law who is old and weak.

Madan goes to Lhasa but his journey is not easy. He faces a lot of obstacles and difficulties during his journey and this is beautifully described in the book. The book has tried to show the ups and downs of life by illustrating the problems of Madan's life. Life is not that easy and only the one lives a meaningful life who accepts the challenges of life and who never runs away from such challenges. While moving through different countryside areas, Madan catches a deadly disease but his friends don't help him turning out to be selfish. Finally he is rescued by a man who is considered to be of lower caste in Nepal. That is why it is said that a man is said to be great not by caste or race but by a heart full of love and humanity. After Madan gets rid of the disease, he returns his home but his mother and his beloved wife had already died.

Through the story of Muna and Madan, Laxmi Prasad Devkota wants to stabilize the facts of traditional societies, unscientific beliefs and the negative impacts of unemployment and poverty in Nepalese society. He has shown the love between a mother and a son. The poet has wonderfully defined love by writing about the relationship of Muna and Madan. Because of the combination of all these categories of human life, this book has earned a great successful journey in the Nepali Literature. At the time of his death, Laxmi Prasad Devkota asked to preserve his book, Muna Madan,

 

3.    Write a book review about any book that you have recently read in about 150 to 200 words.

 Review of book: I Capture the Castle

Title:  I Capture the Castle

Author:  Dodie Smith

Publisher: William Heinemann (UK),McClelland and Stewart (CA), Brown (US)

Publish Year: 1948

Edition: First Edition

Genre: Drama , Romance

Language: English

 

 

I Capture the Castle

Dodie Smith's novel I Capture the Castle is a journey through the mind of a young writer as she attempts to chronicle her daily life. Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain has recently learned to speed-write, and she decides to work on her writing skills by describing the actions and conversations of those around her.

Cassandra lives in a fourteenth-century English castle with an interesting cast of characters: her beautiful older sister, Rose; her rather unsociable author father and hist second wife, artist-model Topaz; Stephen, the garden boy; a cat and a bull terrier; and sometimes her brother Thomas when he is home from school. One fateful day they make the acquaintance of the Cotton family, including the two sons, and a web of tangled relationships ensues.

 While I definitely recommend this book to other readers, I would recommend it to older teenagers, mainly because it will resonate better with them. The writing is tame enough that younger teens could also read it, but most of the characters are adults or on the verge of adulthood. Older readers would take the most from it since they can not only relate, but they may also better pick up on and appreciate Cassandra's sometimes subtle humor. Over the course of the novel, Cassandra undergoes a definite transformation from child to mature young adult, even though it's only over the course of several months. I love that I could see into her mindset and read exactly what she was feeling when she thought out situations. Her thoughts flowed well and moved the book along very quickly. Cassandra's narrative voice is wonderful. She is serious at times, but also very witty, which makes for an engaging read. It feels absolutely real, as though I'm reading someone's actual journal. Sometimes I forget that I am reading a story and not a real-life account. Her emotions and the dialogue are so genuine, and they are spot-on for a seventeen-year-old girl in her situation.

 Cassandra has many wonderful insights on life, on topics ranging from writing to faith to matters of the heart. I personally have had some of the same thoughts as Cassandra, except Ms. Smith was able to put them into words.

 Capture the Castle should be essential reading for aspiring writers, those looking for historical fiction or romance, or anyone who loves reading amazing classic books. Dodie Smith is an exceptional writer, and 1 Capture the Castle is a book that will never become out of fashion.