Kathmandu, Sept. 7 -- [Editor's note: This review contains spoilers. Read on at your own risk.]

Samragyee RL Shah, the lead in the new film Maruni, said in an interview that her mother had advised her to take up the film as it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Maruni really is like no other Nepali film, in that it is about the trans community. But then again, it is exactly like most other Nepali films, in that it is purely a commercial take on a sensitive topic.

The Nepali word maruni literally means 'a person who dances and sings in the disguise of a woman'. With a subject matter this powerful, you'd expect the film to be a deep character study. Sadly, the film pities, rather than empowers, its LGBTIQ character, saying things like ...