Given that last year’s Kabaddi, directed by Ram Babu Gurung, had pleasantly exceeded my expectations—thanks to a number of strong performances, a picturesque and utterly believable small-community setting, and good whacks of playful humour to tie it all together—the release of its sequel had naturally been something to look forward to. But while the new Kabaddi Kabaddi does retain much of what was good about its predecessor, it perhaps also clings to that brief a little too strongly: the film can frequently feel like an amped-up retread of the older one. It might boast a star-studded extended cast and cameos, more stylish visuals, catchier tunes and a slightly longer running time, but its all in the service of largely repetitive jokes (alongside the occasional distasteful one, but more on that later) as part of a script that often runs around in circles, not quite sure of where its going or what it wants to say.

We’re back in the village of Naurikot, Mustang, and back in the company of the remarkably self-important Kaji (Dayahang Rai), who is more than a little surprised that the girl of his dreams, cousin Maiya (Rishma Gurung) is still being standoffish with him, despite him having exerted himself greatly to rescue her from the clutches of a young vengeance-seeking thug from Kathmandu (Nischal Basnet) in the last film. He had thought it a done deal, but try as he might to suit up (shiny shades perched just so on his nose) whenever he goes to see her, she seems intent on rebuffing him each time. And to make matters worse, there’s a new guy from the city sniffing around her now, the flashy Bom (Saugat Malla), who is in town to help his father, a village elder, to run in the upcoming elections.

It’s a cause Kaji himself, as youth leader of the same party, really should be supporting, but Bom’s advances towards Maiya, and the fact that she seems to be falling for them, has him miffed. His dilemma is furthered when his uncle—and Maiya’s father (Shishir Bangdel)—drops in to run against Bom’s father, and is soon luring poor Kaji’s loyalties with an offer that is very, very difficult to turn down. Kaji and his two besties (Buddhi Tamang and Bijay Baral), having changed sides, must now go about convincing the rest of Naurikot’s residents to do the same. But party duties come a paltry second to the ups and downs of their love lives—all three are undergoing particular tangles in that area at the moment—to be poured and slurred over in the dimly-lit innards of their local bhatti.

Kabaddi Kabaddi ropes in a few more big names this time, most prominent among these being Malla. But the performance is rather perfunctory, the kind of role the otherwise-talented actor has, for some reason, been inclined towards of late, and could probably do with his eyes closed by now—namely, the roguish charmer with the fancy coif and clothes. I found his character difficult to believe, and that over-the top posturing can get exasperating. Gurung, meanwhile, as the centre of all the fuss, is still a touch wooden, although that’s very possibly the fault of a script that allows her little to do except snap at people and glower. Thankfully, we have Rai, Tamang and Baral returning as the three none-too-brainy chums, and they are terrific as ever, exhibiting wonderful chemistry.

To be honest, had the film included more scenes with these three in it—no grand hijinks necessary, just the usual silly bantering—it would’ve made for a far more likeable watch, given that the conversations between them comprise the brightest spots in the whole enterprise. As it is, however, it just packs in too much, tries too hard, and loses its way. It clearly wants to outdo the previous instalment, but its approach to that end largely involves showing more of the same stuff—including a basic plotline featuring yet another city slicker come to whisk Maiya away, the same sort of verbal sparring and never-ending awkward foot-and-fistfights between her two contenders, among others. These might have been funny the first time around, but just punching them in over and over again throughout the second film only serves to prolong scenes unnecessarily. There is, of course, the change of premise offered by the election, rife with comedic possibility, though sadly not mined to the extent that it could’ve been. And Bom’s back story, revealed in protracted bits, proves pretty darn underwhelming.  

But what is, by far, most problematic about Kabaddi Kabaddi is a particular sub-plot that I felt to be in extremely poor taste. The long-running “gag”, although I won’t go into it in detail here, basically involves the drugging and raping of one of the female characters, which, to my intense surprise, most people in the theatre that I was watching the film in seemed to find absolutely, roll-on-the-floor hilarious.

Now, before you roll your eyes and spew forth about how “it’s a comedy!” and how this should give it license to push limits—I hear you, and I agree that jokes treading such sensitive ground can be funny, even important, when done right. But it’s a very, very, very fine line between targeting misogyny with creative humour, and actually falling into the misogynistic trap oneself—and unfortunately, it’s the latter case for the new film. And so it was a hard sell for me from that point on, especially given that the joke is reiterated many times over throughout. To be fair to the filmmakers, they do make some reparations towards the end, but the fact that the subject is treated with such flippancy for such a long time by both the film and the audience means that the damage is well and truly done by then.

To put it plainly, though its title might suggest twice as much entertainment as the first film, Kabaddi Kabaddi gets nowhere close in reality. Let’s just say, I’m not exactly holding my breath for a round three.