This movie based on Subin Bhattarai’s hit Nepali novel Summer Love (2012) was released in the Valentine week. Just days before, Bhattarai, who was involved in writing dialogues for the film, had expressed his disappointment with the casting. Forget casting. There is hardly anything good in the movie.
‘Summer Love’ has a conventional storyline of a guy (Atit Sharma played by Ashish Piya) falling in love with a girl (Saya Shakya, played by Rewati Chetri). Atit, who hails from Biratnagar, falls for Saya when he has only seen her name on a college board. But Atit and Saya hit it off instantly. By and by, Saya calls Atit to a party, where it is revealed that she is going to pursue her Master’s at a Norwegian university on full scholarship. Instead of being happy for her, Atit is discouraging and makes a fool of himself by drinking and vomiting in front of her parents.
Who should watch it?
If you can overlook bad acting in favor of great location and if Korean pop is your thing, there are bits and pieces you may like
When Saya leaves for Norway, they miss each other so much that Saya returns to Nepal to secretly marry Atit. Back in Norway, she proposes that Atit meet her father to officially ask for her hand in marriage. When he does, he is insulted by Saya’s father, who also rules out marriage because of difference in castes. This creates rift between Saya and Atit, and in frustration, Atit sleeps with Sushmita (Namrata Sapkota), who helps him get through the hard times. Atit later goes to Norway to meet Saya and gets nothing but cold looks. She acts distant and without revealing why, the film ends with a “to be continued…”
In the lead, Ashish and Rewati do injustice to their roles. You just don’t feel the pain of a couple struggling in a long distance relationship, especially when their parents disapprove. The supporting actors are more convincing though. Namrata does a wonderful portrayal of Sushmita, in emoting how she feels knowing he loves someone else. Atit’s parents, despite getting less screen time, show the love for their child with the acceptance of an inter-caste marriage.
This film is pleasing on the eyes. The locations and costumes are pretty. If they wanted lead actors to look Korean, they nailed it. Both Ashish and Rewati dress like the actors in the famous Korean drama ‘Boys Before Flowers’.
But this film as a whole is shallow. We don’t know where these two lead actors are coming from or about their family’s economic conditions. Atit looks like a rich dude covered in expensive clothes but he actually rides a public bus. Also, he lives in a fancy room and gets the job of a project manager in a company but a short scene shows him taking a loan of Rs 3 lakh. So many things are unclear. It is disappointing to sit for this long film and not know what happens in the end. Just tell us already!
The plot of this 2h 36m movie is so slow you may catch a nap and not miss anything, unless you are hooked to the unnecessarily long exchange of looks between different characters. The overuse of background score whenever Saya and Atit are together, apparently to compensate for the missing on-screen chemistry, is tacky too. The book may be good; not this movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment