The strange film is known as Nepali Tarzan, which was first released for a single premiere on the 8th of November 2013, after about four years of development hell. As its name suggests, it's a retelling set in Nepal's stake of the Himalayan foothills rather than a fantasised take on the African hinterland like in the Disney variants.
Written and produced by low budget grandmaster Nischal Shrestha, the movie stars Prajwal Giri, Shyam Katuwal, Shailesh Pahari, Lucky Shrestha, Dil Krishna Shrestha, Bibash Dutaraj, Mala Thakuri, Shyam Shrestha, Saku Thapa Magar, Urmila Shrestha, Subash Tamang, Madan Dahal, Kishor Puri, and Rista Rajbhandari as various characters.
Is it a ripoff? It's more like an unofficial live action localisation of the Disney Tarzan films, albeit set in late 2000s-early 2010s Nepal for the most part. The three films named Tarzan the Apeman, the other Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films, Greystoke and Babbar Subhash's Adventures of Tarzan are amongst the film's other influences. Thanks to being inspired partially by headline grabbing Nepali crimes and other social issues which disaffect the country, the director Yadab Silwal and fellow creator Nischal Shrestha are brave enough to have filmed this movie with a crap ton of important reveals on how messed up their society still is even in the decade after its release.
The story had begun when a near-toddling Tarzan was abandoned by his mother, because she knew that he was her illegitimate kid, so she had to abandon him in the woods for work in a city. Sabor the tigress found him because her cubs were eaten by a male tiger. A few years later, the little one could stride through the Himalayan woods looking out for food.
The hero's childhood saga continued when the preteen school aged Tarzan had to go through various hard events such as leaving behind his wolf mother and tiger mentor, while also befriending Cheeta the Macaque and a crow who happens to be a Gooney Bird expy. Little Cheeta taught him to climb on a bunch of vines next to the cliffs, and he later learnt how to swim. He also howled like a wolf.
Over a decade later, a Ruby Shetty expy becomes the subject of ridicule by her own perverse college aged fellows and teacher, who visit the Sunkoshi River. But when she sunbaths near Sunkoshi, she falls down onto it and can drown at any minute until the Nepali Tarzan rescues her. The fellows will ask her about the wild man in confusion. Thinking about having a future husband is a complicated thing, but the wild man starts to know about it. Even as she annoys and nags him so much, he remains nice to her, and the Gooney Crow agrees with him!
Meanwhile, some of the college brats are basically mobsters on the run. Three of them, Shrawan and his sidekicks, are looking for a gamble by balling through the billboards. Tarzan doesn't care much about it until someone gets killed by a mobster. Even as he survives various horrid gang beatings by attacking some of them, he gets hurt many times when he goes back into his nest, thus Cheeta licks his face in a dirty manner! Later on, the misguided Mr. Shetty expy meets his more popular lackeys, only to tell them off about his own daughter. The police and Nepali Ruby's own brother meet each other in the woods and think about the consequences.
Otherwise, Nepali Ruby finds out that one of the mobsters is a warped mess who waits until he calls quits when retiring via seppuku. His retirement is so profound, that even her dad has realised that he's an old man, who startlingly can't stand his own more dangerous lackeys anymore. He then flees the scene while Tarzan could kill them all later. The story ends when Mr. Shetty finally told his nagging daughter that she could no longer be with him for the rest of her life. Nepali Tarzan is incredibly joyful about the crazy situation surrounding Ruby ending out in his eyes. Thus, he and she live in their nest as a happy brotherly-boyfriend and sisterly-girlfriend, soon to be married years later.
Hoo boy, the movie had a really risky production schedule and it showed! Being edgier and more gruesome than its more popular Bollywood predecessor, it has its place not only in Nepalese cinematic history, but also in the history of cinema as a whole, as one of the world's riskiest jungle movies to date. It is also a rising jewel amongst unofficial Tarzan adaptations which are so bad they’re good, even in spite of being rather heavy handed about environmental issues.
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