The Bipin Karki-starrer feature film, Hari, premiered amid a red carpet event held at Jai Nepal Hall in the Capital on Tuesday. Written and directed by debutantes Safal KC and Pratik Gurung, the film is expected to be yet another title that veers away from the formulaic ‘boy-meets-girl-meets-adversity’ staples of the Nepali film industry.

Speaking to the Post on the eve of the film’s premiere, director duo KC and Gurung said that the film is not based on the traditional formula that Nepali films often use. “Hari is our attempt to tell the story of a character that we have all seen and, maybe, the incidents that the title character faces are incidents that all of us have faced at some point or the other,” the director duo said. “It is not based on any formula and while majority of films of late look like they have been made to cater to the audience’s demand, we have tried to do just the opposite: To give the audience something to think about. Actually we have designed the whole film as if it were conversing with the audience. We expect that each member of the audience will take away something different from the film.”

The film features Bipin Karki in the title role, marking the actor’s 12th feature film in the industry. Prior to this, Karki appeared in Naaka, as a low-life goon, and in Lalpurja, Jatra, and the Loot series, among others.

Speaking about his new outing, Karki said that his character in Hari is the most important he has played so far. “Going by the storyline and the effort I have put into it, I would say that this is the most significant film I have played so far,” Karki told the Post. “If I had given, say, 50 percent in previous films, I have given 70 percent in Hari.”

Alongside Karki, Hari features actors Sunita Shrestha Thakur, Kamal Mani Nepal, Thinley Lhamo, Laxmi Bardewa, Loknath Acharya, Prakash Gandarva, Ram Bhajan Kamat and Sunisha Bajgain.

Hari will hit theatres nationwide on Friday, June 1.