Mask of Desire

The film peels back Kathmandu’s ritual life, showing a world that feels intimate yet quietly fading, where belief and daily life brush up against each other in unexpected ways. At the center is Dipak [Ratan Subedi], a boyishly composed man in his mid-30s who used to be a football player in the army and now serves as a uniformed guard for a prosperous business. He is married to Saraswati [Gauri Malla], two years younger, a wholesome and devoted wife who adores her footballer husband. They inhabit a modest two-room apartment on the second floor of an old brick building, sharing the space with their two young daughters. For most of their lives, they seem an ordinary, contented family, even as a quiet ache threads through their days—the longing for a son to complete their happiness.

That longing becomes a fragile thread that binds the couple when Saraswati seeks help at a Shiva-lingam shrine. A sadhu appears and tells her that only the goddess Tripura, at a small brick shrine by the riverbank, can answer her prayers. She hesitantly follows this guidance, and when a son is born, she believes the prayers were responsible. Yet joy quickly darkens—the infant dies a few weeks later, leaving the family to grapple with sorrow, anger, and guilt. Saraswati’s health falters, and she sinks into bouts of illness and depression. In her distress, she returns to the goddess who granted the first glimpse of hope, only to be told that she should seek the help of the jhankrini, the spirit medium of the Tripura goddess, for a deeper healing.

The jhankrini, a healer steeped in her own history, is introduced as Gita [Mithila Sharma], a woman whose life has been marked by trauma and resilience. In her youth she was married to a mentally disturbed husband who drifted toward madness and eventually suicide, a past that left her emotionally fragile yet capable of extraordinary visions when the divine calls. A relative and attendant caution her not to stray from this sacred path, hinting at consequences for deviation. The film slowly reveals how fate and personal longing pull Dipak, Saraswati, and Gita toward one another, even as their lives test the boundaries between faith, desire, and responsibility. The jhankrini’s presence is both comforting and unsettling, and her relationship with Saraswati and Dipak becomes a quiet focal point in the weaving tension.

As Saraswati undergoes her treatment, a complex bond forms. Saraswati grows grateful to the jhankrini and, in turn, the healer is moved by the couple’s ordinary love and by Dipak’s gentle, almost youthful steadfastness. Dipak, while navigating the advances of Gita, remains entranced by a larger allure—one that seems to transcend his own life and the immediate promises of domestic happiness. This awakening stirs a mix of attraction and unease, ultimately complicating the couple’s already delicate balance.

The trio’s bond comes under pressure as the past and present collide. The loss of Saraswati’s son, the unfulfilled wish to keep Dipak fulfilled, and her increasingly sharp envy of Gita push her toward crisis. She resolves to act, returning to the riverbank shrine where it all began, hoping for a healing that can redeem her life. Her communion with the goddess compels her to seek Gita’s help again—not out of jealousy alone, but for a higher good that could save her marriage and life.

Gita, sensing the shifting power and keeping faith in the goddess, prays to renew her own healing gifts, even as her attendant warns of the fragility of such power. The day of Saraswati’s ritual cure falls within a major religious festival, when devotees pull a colossal wooden chariot containing the gods through the streets. The healing unfolds smoothly at first, but a sudden, ferocious turn upends the ceremony. The jhankrini and Saraswati become locked in a brutal struggle, each insisting the other is bewitched, a conflict that spills out to a thunderous crowd of drums and frenzy.

In the end, the confrontation leaves the air thick with unresolved energy. The ritual ends in eerie silence, and the film leaves us questioning who truly wielded the bewitched power and who simply bore witness to a more inexplicable force at play. The result is not a tidy judgment but a haunting meditation on belief, longing, and the invisible forces that shape a family’s fate.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 16:41