Nepal's biggest film franchise "Kabaddi 5: After the Final Match" is coming to theatres on Kartik 6, and the production team broke the news by dropping a single poster online.
The first-look poster features the franchise's three central characters: Kaji, played by Dayahang Rai; B.K., played by Bijay Baral; and Chhantyal, played by Buddhi Tamang. The film is written and directed by Ram Babu Gurung who has directed every film in the series since it began in 2014 and produced under Basuri Films.
The film will be distributed in Nepal by Venkatesh Entertainment and T Folk, while Seven Seas International will handle overseas distribution.
The announcement comes as a genuine surprise for Nepali cinema as 2022's "Kabaddi 4: The Final Match" was explicitly marketed as the end of lead character Kaji's story and went on to become the highest-grossing Nepali film of all time, so a fifth film picking up "after the final match" essentially reopens a chapter everyone assumed was closed for good.
The returning cast is extensive: alongside Rai, Baral and Tamang, the film features Bipin Karki, Rishma Gurung, Sirjana Gurung, Pushkar Gurung, Kabita Ale, Aruna Karki, Shishir Bangdel, Maotse Gurung and several other familiar names from the franchise's ensemble tradition.
Since launching in 2014, the series has become one of the defining franchises in Nepali cinema, known for its comedy-drama blend and setting rooted in Mustang. "Kabaddi 4: The Final Match" (2022) broke Nepali box-office records, collecting over Rs 22.73 crore the benchmark "Kabaddi 5" will inevitably be measured against, fairly or not.
