Chhakka Panja

Chhakka Panja (Nepali: छक्का पञ्जा) (transl. Six, Five) is a 2016 Nepalese comedy drama film directed and produced by Deepa Shree Niraula.^[1] The film is Niraula's directorial debut and features an ensemble cast of Priyanka Karki, Deepak Raj Giri, Jeetu Nepal, Kedar Ghimire, Buddhi Tamang, Shivahari Poudel, Barsha Raut and Namrata Sapkota .^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} The film is first part of Chakka Panja series and tells the story of Raja (Deepak Raj Giri),a rich but illiterate man and his group of friends Ateet(Shivahari Poudel), Saraswati(Jitu Nepal), Magne(Kedar Ghimire) and Buddhi(Buddhi Tamang), Raja who is devoted to the chase gives in to family pressure and gets married but different events unfolds in his and his group of friend's life that gives rise to comedy of errors and situations. The film received highly positive reviews for its screenplay and story, performances, humor and its social setting and message. The film was an " All Time Blockbuster " at the box office breaking several records at the box office was the highest grossing Nepali film of all time until it was overtaken by its 3rd part. However, due to piracy problems, the movie was released on YouTube.^[8][9] Due to the piracy, the international screening of the movie was highly affected.^[10] The film had two sequels :- Chhakka Panja 2 and Chhakka Panja 3, both of which were commercial blockbusters.Thus, it is the highest grossing Nepali movie franchise.

Chhakka Panja
Theatrical poster
Nepali	छक्का पञ्जा
Directed by	Deepa Shree Niraula
Written by	Deepak Raj Giri Kedar Ghimire Jitu Nepal
Screenplay by	Deepak Raj Giri
Produced by	Deepak Raj Giri Deepa Shree Niraula Kedar Ghimire Jeetu Nepal
Starring	Priyanka Karki Deepak Raj Giri Kedar Ghimire Shivahari Poudel Barsha Raut Aaryan Sigdel
Cinematography	Purshottam Pradhan
Edited by	Bipin Malla
Music by	Rajan Raj Shiwakoti Deepak Sharma
Production companies	Aama Saraswati Movies IME Group
Distributed by	HighlightsNepal
Release date	9 September 2016 (2016-09-09) (Nepal)
Running time	136 minutes
Country	Nepal
Language	Nepali language
Budget	रु 85 Lakhs
Box office	रु 100 core

Chakka Panja is considered as one of the best Nepali films ever made and one of the finest comedy films of all time made in South Asia noted for its humorous dialogues blended with social message.

Plot

Raja(Deepak Raj Giri) is a rich but illiterate man enjoying his life with his friends Ateet(Shivahari Poudel), Saraswati(Jitu Nepal), Magne(Kedar Ghimire) and Buddhi(Buddhi Tamang). He is not willing to marry despite his mother's repeated requests, citing his neighbour's condition after marriage.

Ateet is jobless but after falling love with Brinda asks her father for marriage. Brinda's father refuses at first, but relents after Ateet is chosen to receive a US Diversity Visa. He marries Brinda and goes to the US, promising to take Brinda when her papers are ready. However, Brinda falls in love with Raja and they have an affair.

Magne stays with his mother, who becomes sick, after which he knows that the mother loves him so much. He then vies for employment abroad.

Saraswati blames his father for his feminine name and loves a village girl Bishnu. Saraswati goes abroad for employment after Bishnu's father challenges him to earn money.

Buddhi is married but jobless. Buddhi is incited to beat up his wife by his friends by drinking alcohol. This leads to serious row between the couple and Buddhi's wife goes to her brother's house.

While taking revenge on Buddhi's brother-in-law, Champa criticises Raja. However, she accepts Raja's clumsy marriage proposal. Champa succeeds at bringing Raja into the track and bring happiness to his family. But in the twist of the story, Champa and Aryan try to kill Raja and they elope. Raja, infuriated, looks for the duo and moves to Kathmandu.

Raja finds Magne in Kathmandu, unable to go abroad because of manpower agency and now a goon. Raja with his friends Saraswati, Magne and Buddhi locate Champa and Aryan, only to get surprised with Ateet as the bride for his wife Champa. Ateet reveals that after his return, he knows about Raja and Brinda's relationship and planned the plot to make Raja feel when you lose someone you dearly love.

In the end, Ateet marries Champa and Raja becomes a hermit while Brinda stays at Raja's house and gives birth to a baby. Sarawsati marries Bishnu and Buddhi reconciles with his wife before going for foreign employment. Magne now with his mother proposes Deepa for marriage.

Cast

• Priyanka Karki as Champa^[11]
• Deepak Raj Giri as Raja
• Jeetu Nepal as Saraswati
• Kedar Ghimire as Magne
• Buddhi Tamang^[12] as Buddhi (jt .i.e. joytingra)
• Shivahari Poudel as Ateet
• Barsha Raut as Brinda
• Namrata Sapkota as Bishnu
• Basundhara Bhusal as Raja's mother
• Pramod Agrahari as Baba Masta Mola
• Deepa Shree Niraula in (special guest appearance)
• Aaryan Sigdel as Attet's friend (special appearance)
• TR Limboo as new boy (cameo appearance)

Songs

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Purba Pashchim Rail"	Rajan Raj Shiwakoti	Rajan Raj Shiwakoti	Rajan Raj Shiwakoti, Anju Panta	5:23
2.	"Dekhana Champa Sunana Champa"	Shanti Priya	Deepak Sharma	Krishna Kafle, Deepa Shree Niraula	3:23
Total length:					8m 46s

Reception

The movie's viewership surpassed that of Hindi films Baar Baar Dekho and Freaky Ali.^[13] The film even attracted former prime ministers KP Oli, Jhalanath Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal, comedians Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansha Acharya also accompanied ministers to the show. Former Prime Minister Oli reviewed Chhakka Panja as a good film but criticised its title. Jhalanath Khanal also gave good reviews to the film saying that the film unsettled him with its social satire.^[14] The Himalayan Times wrote "Chhakka Panja is a total comedy and social drama, a story of friendship, love and revenge. It is hilarious from start to finish."^[15] It was publicly posted on YouTube on 12 January 2017.^[16]

Awards

List of awards and nominations

Ceremony	Category	Recipient	Result
NEFTA Film Awards^[17]	Encouragement Award	Dipashree Niraula	Won

Piracy

On 12 January 2017, actor and producer Deepak Raj Giri revealed that the movie was leaked on Facebook.^[18] Later on 13 January 2017, a person committed suicide after he was implicated in the piracy but the police found that he was not connected.^[19] Actor Deepak Raj Giri posted on his Facebook page that he felt sorry for the boy who committed suicide.

Sequel

After the huge success of Chhakka Panja, the director and writer i.e. Deepa Shree Niraula and Deepak Raj Giri announced a sequel. Some familiar faces as well as new characters would appear, but audiences were assured a fresh story with Chhakka Panja 2. After the release of songs for Chhaka Panja 2 the singer Almoda was accused of stealing the song "Ye Daju." A lawsuit followed, and rumours suggested that Chhaka Panja 2 would not be as successful as its predecessor. Additional troubles occurred as the popular actor featured in Chhakka Panja, Rudra Prasad Bhattarai aka "Lajalam," died.^{[20][21][22][23]}

References

1. Pant, Shashwat (9 July 2021). "The Nepali film industry is sexist. It's high time it changed". OnlineKhabar. from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
2. "आयो 'छक्का पन्जा' ट्रेलर, कमेडी संवादले खुब हसाउँछ". onlinekhabar.com.
3. . newsnrn.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
4. . kantipur.ekantipur.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
5. "'छक्का पन्जा'मा कमेडी संवाद". nagariknews.com.
6. . admin.myrepublica.com. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
7. . medianp.com. Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
8. . Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
9. "'प्रर्दशनको एकसय २७ दिन मै युट्युबमा आयो 'छक्का पन्जा', पाइरेसीले बनायो बाध्य'".
10. . moviemandu.com. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2017./
11. "दिपक दीपाको 'छक्का पन्जा'मा प्रियंका". onlinekhabar.com.
12. "'हैट' ! बुद्दी तामाङ आए दिपा-दिपकको ग्याङमा". nepaljapan.com.
13. "'छक्का पन्जा'को आक्रामक व्यापार, रुचाइयो कथावस्तु र कमेडी". onlinekhabar.com.
14. "'छक्का पन्जा' हेर्न ओली, खनाल र नेपाल हलमा". onlinekhabar.com.
15. . thehimalayantimes.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016.
16. "Chakka Panja now on Youtube Watch Online". timeandupdate.com.
17. . faan.org.np. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
18. "'फेसबुकबाट लिक भयो यस वर्षको बल्कबस्टर फिल्म '६क्का पन्जा".
19. "'Shocking: 'छक्का पञ्जा' पाइरेसी गर्ने कृष्ण सुवेदीले गरे आत्महत्या !'".
20. "Chhakka Panja 2 Nepali Movie". Lumbini Media. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
21. "Sequel of Chhakka Panja to be produced". My Republica. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
22. "'६क्का पञ्जा २' को गीत ट्रेन्डिङ १ मा". Mazzakoonline. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
23. "'छक्का पन्जा २' गीत रिलिजका दिन को-को थिए विदेश ?". Mazzakoonline. Retrieved 6 August 2017.

External links

• Chhakka Panja at IMDb