Sulakshan to raise women's stories

The society makes a witch pact on that. In the eyes of the society, with a friend who left after marriage at a young age, the husband was touched. He has neither a friend to talk to, nor a companion to bear the burden of his heartache. Near the house, Ajang has a peepal tree, during the night she makes love with the leaves of that peepal tree, brushes her mind. And that same girl in the course of time hangs her jingling hair on the same peepal tree and says in a scary form - I am a witch, a witch. Who can cast spells, who can eat a child, who can kill your husband.

In August 2073, 'Boksi ko ghar' was staged at Mandala Theater in Kathmandu. Sarita Giri gave a solo performance on whose multi-faceted character, from sweet and innocent, from innocent girl to fearsome witch. Sulakshan Bharti took the reins of writing and directing the play. Sulakshan, who started his career as a director with 'Wilgates Pandit', earned appreciation from his second step with 'Boksi Ko Ghar'. Now he has expanded the same play to the big screen, almost 8 years later.

The screenplay should be written according to what the audience wants to see. You have to be able to keep the audience tied,' Sulakshan is aware not only in directing but also in writing when it is being transformed from the stage to the screen. He says that the presentation is different from the drama so that the audience does not feel the film is slow. Although entertainment is paramount, Bharti does not consider films to be mere business. Film is a reflection of society. But how conscious and conscious are filmmakers about the society and its values?'' he says. Perhaps that is why, through 'Witch's house', he raised the question towards the society that exploits women under the guise of patriarchy. "Maker only raises questions, it seems that it is not our responsibility to find answers," Bharti adds, "even today, it seems that many stories of women are yet to be told."

Also, Keki Adhikari, the main character and producer of the movie 'Boksi Ko Ghar', felt the same way, eight years ago, watching the play Boksi Ko Ghar. I was very thoughtful. Some stories are happening before our eyes and yet we ignore them by generalizing them. I thought, as a pure audience rather than an artist or a producer, this story should be told to the general audience.'' His feeling became more intense during the Covid lockdown, and the film journey of 'Boxiko Ghar' began.

Sulakshan was accepted when Keki offered to make a film, but he became suspicious when Keki was cast as the main character. The fear was also natural, Sarita Giri had heated up the stage by living alone in all the characters, in such a filmy flight of stardom, that kind of multifaceted performance will come from Keki, won't it? But Keki also supported Sulakshan as an artist, who was taking a break herself, and spent 6 months in character building under Sulakshan's direct supervision. Now we can get a glimpse of it from the promotional material of the film, the audience will also do the final test of the film which will be screened from tomorrow. Forgetting the

commercial aspect, Sulakshan is confident that the film will be entertaining as well as thought-provoking. I think the strong point of the witch's house is its story and acting. That's why I don't feel that fear,'' he says, looking confident in the face of the performance, the main thing is how the artist understands the story, the character's mood and the society, the time and can depict it or not. Even though this is a character oriented film, the lead actor Keki has not followed only one style of acting. In the film, she has worked well in four styles of realism, naturalism, melodrama and stylized according to the different situations of the character,' Sulakshan adds, 'Kiki's acting has reached naturalism towards the end of the film as per the demand of the story and character. So, I believe that the audience will get that variety from the acting aspect when watching the film. She prefers to compare her character to Hanuman from the Ramayana. He has magical powers, his bamboo is in a peepal tree, on the night of Ounce, he uproots that peepal and immerses it in Kashi. How many things can a person know by assuming the form of a cat? Let's see, to what extent is this imagination?' She says excitedly, 'He is not very powerful, is he? I thought of the character not as a witch but as powerful as Hanuman from Ramayana. Let's imagine, how beautiful would this story be if there were no violent events and torture in that character?' Sulakshan made a play by mixing some of his own experiences in various real collected stories. He says that this time, another story has been added to the film. "This film is a garland prepared by taking more realistic stories and events in these 7/8 years after the play." Because of the name itself, it may seem that the witch's house is also close to spiritualism. But the director has basically made it with realism. That's why he changed the previous climax. I wanted to capture the

climax grandly. Preparations were made accordingly. That scene could have looked better on screen. But I removed it," Sulakshan says about the reason, "I felt that the climax did not match the way we had been saying the whole film. I also like the current climax very much. Kiki says that anyone who wants a change must watch the witch's house, "I am bound by watching the film, now how happy and agitated the audience is, that has become awaited."