KATHMANDU, Nepal–Nepali feature film Jhola has been nominated to vie in the Oscar Award under the Best Foreign Language Film Category, thanks to the story that portrays the practice of Sati tradition in Nepal in which Hindu women were forced to burn themselves on the funeral pyre of their spouses. “Jhola will represent Nepal in the Oscar”, Best Foreign Language Film Selection Committee (Nepal) stated.
Recounted by Krishna Dharabasi, who is also the writer of the film, Jhola depicts the cruel and inhuman practice faced by Hindu women.
Directed and produced by Yadav Kumar Bhattarai, the film narrates a story of Kanchhi, an attractive woman married to an old man with an age gap of around 40 years. After her husband breathes his last, Kanchhi is forced to jump into the funeral pyre of her husband and leave her only child to survive alive despite her unwillingness.
As luck would have it, she survives as she jumps into water from the burning pyre. Her son later on finds her in a stream naked but feels that he is day dreaming about his mother. He sees her in the next day as well. The boy, his uncle and aunt bring her food, clothing and money and tell her to move ahead with her life.
Some of the dialogues expressed in the Jhola are heart breaking. “Why is it that only a woman has to sacrifice her life when a man dies, why can’t he do the same … And why is it acceptable for a man to marry for the second time,” anyone can’t stop their tear when the actress of the film pronounced such dialogue.
In the meantime, another Nepali film Moksha was also on the fray for the Oscar nomination, according to the Film Selection Committee.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is holding the Oscar Awards ceremony in Los Angeles of the US on February 22, 2015.