Movie review: The ambitions and plotholes of ‘Gauthali’

The film tackles patriarchy and autism with compassion, but its uneven storytelling leaves much to be desired.

Kapil Rijal’s new movie ‘Gauthali’, named after its female protagonist, picks up salient themes of patriarchy and mental illness. Gauthali, two years out from appearing for the SEE exams, is married off by her family, at her ailing grandmother’s insistence, to what turns out to be an autistic man. The grandmother fears her own chances of getting into heaven lest she die before partaking in the piety of her granddaughter’s wedding ceremony.