Witch Traditions (Boksi): A manifestation of Cruel Practice and Dark Reality in Nepalese Society and Nepalese Film- Boksi Ko Ghar

Abstract

This research article intends to explore Nepali cinema Boksi Ko Ghar (House of Witch), written and directed by Sulakshan Bharati, to discover who the Boksi (Witch)really is. Bharati has tried to portray a Boksi in his film Boksi Ko Ghar. Thus, the paper concentrates on the way Boksi Ko Ghar tells us/who Boksi is and why/how one becomes a Boksi. Boksi Ko Ghar delves deep into the hard-core socio-cultural aspect of a rural Nepalese community. There are numerous stories and cultural practices of witches in different communities at different geographical locations. This paper tries to explore various stories and cultural practices of witch treatment in their everyday life. The cinema also offers a lens to peep into the rural Nepali community and the psychology of the villagers living there. The methodology commissioned here is a qualitative analysis of the elements of cinema, such as actors, narration, dialogues, symbols, etc, to meet the objectives of this paper. Erving Goffman’s sociological approach, Evan-Prichard’s witch tradition, J.H. Mead’s looking glass self approaches were seen as how the witch is created in the society, and Foucault’s discursive formation is commissioned as a tool to scrutinise the text. This paper anticipates how Bharati constructs Boksi in his cinema Boksi Ko Ghar. The myths of Boksi and the cultural practices, including the treatment of witchcraft, were not equally distributed in different locations, religions, caste-ethnic belongingness and political economic status of the women in society. The cinema represents a particular narrative of witchcraft which was not equally practised in all cultural groups in different geographical regions in Nepal.