Date Night: Nepali Style

Date night in Nepal generally consists of Mero Budda and I and a group of friends going to a movie, drinking beers on our roof top or doing errands. Mero Budda’s idea of a date really stretches the definition to its most basic form: people doing stuff.

The other day ‘stuff’ was a movie with four friends, who I questioned were never there and in fact have never even been to a movie. Most dates here seem to be somewhat convert operations as ‘nice girls’ don’t date.

Even though I can’t understand the dialogue Hindi movies are not that complex. Good guy meets good girl, they fall in love, enter bad guy, good guy overcomes problem to kick bad guy’s butt and impress girls father. Throw in some songs which seemingly have nothing to do with the actual plot and you have 99.9% of ll Hindi movies.

I love going to the movies in Nepal. I love the predictability, the happy endings, the kitchiness. Most of all I love the audiences. When you go to the movies in Australia you don’t know what will happen in the story so you need to listen, it is so annoying when people talk. In Nepal, since you know what is going to happen, the entertainment comes from the audience interaction. They boo when the bad guy comes on, cheer when the good guy wins and whistle when the couple (almost) kiss.

The movie we went to see was Singham. I was told it was an action flick but I thought it was hilarious. Over the top fight scenes, cops who fight crime with belts rather than bullets, a scene where the hero rips out a light post with his bare hands… AMAZINGLY FUNNY. The opening song has a dance move which simulates a lion roaring… SINGHAM (lion roar open claws) SINGHAM (lion roar close claws).

I only have one criticism of the movie. The story isn’t very believable, I mean we all know there aren’t any honest cops left in this part of the world!