KATHMANDU: The much-anticipated film Karma, starring Bipin Karki, opened on March 29 but has so far not made any impact at the national box office. In its first eight days, the film has grossed a modest 2.6 million Nepali Rupees. Despite some initial excitement on New Year’s Day, audience enthusiasm quickly faded, leading to a reduction in theater shows. Notably, the QFX chain hasn’t even shown the film in the Kathmandu Valley, and other popular multiplexes have started pulling it from their screens after just one week.

Directed and written by Saurabh Chaudhary, Karma was heavily marketed as an action film, with Bipin Karki promoting his debut in an action-packed role. However, the movie failed to deliver on its action promise. Aside from one climactic fight scene, there was very little action throughout the film. This mismatch between the show itself and the advertisement seems to have disappointed a number of viewers who were expecting action-packed high-energy sequences.

While the fans of Bipin Karki may want to see him portray another kind of character, those who were drawn into the theaters by the promise of an action-packed adventure were left disappointed.The film turned out to be more of a social drama than the action film it was advertised to be.

To insult and injure further, the stunt sequences also went wrong. The body double used for the action stunts didn’t match Bipin’s physique, and the motorcycle stunt stunts were performed so obviously by someone else that even passive spectators mentioned this fact. This failure in continuity and believability disappointed the audience further.
Despite boasting a star-studded cast in Bipin Karki, Upasana Singh Thakuri, Mukun Bhushal, and Divya Dev, Karma failed to hold its ground at the box office. It failed to even survive for a whole week in the majority of the theaters, demonstrating that despite having a popular cast, misrepresentation at the promotional stage can have a massive impact on the success of a movie.