"Laalibazar" Releases Powerful Trailer Depicting a Badi Woman's Fight to Save Her Daughter

Kathmandu — The three-minute trailer of Laalibazar has been unveiled at a special ceremony in Kathmandu, and it has left audiences deeply moved. Set for release on Baisakh 18, the film confronts one of Nepali society's most painful and long-ignored realities: the generational suffering of women from the Badi community, and one mother's fierce struggle to keep her daughter from inheriting the same fate.

At the center of the trailer is Swastima Khadka, who plays a Badi woman pushed into sex work through the exploitative natthi system — a practice that effectively bound women from the community into sexual servitude. The trailer shows her character fighting with everything she has to protect her young daughter from being pulled into the same darkness. The emotional weight of that battle is rendered with unflinching honesty, and Swastima's performance, even through the trailer alone, has already drawn strong reactions from audiences.

Speaking at the trailer launch, Swastima called the film one of the most significant milestones of her acting career: "This creation will always be something I raise a toast to. For me, the fulfillment this film gives me matters far more than any box office result."

Laalibazar is directed by Yam Thapa, with screenplay and dialogues co-written by Thapa and Pradip Bhattarai. The film was entirely shot in Rajapur, Bardiya, and is produced under the banner of Shatkona Arts — the company behind the acclaimed Jatra — by Max Dipesh Khatri and Rabindra Singh Baniya, with Bhattarai as executive producer.

Alongside Swastima, the cast features Rabindra Singh Baniya, Samaira Thapa, Mukunda Kumar Shrestha, Abhay Baral, Asha Poudel, Govinda Sunar, Aabha Aryal, Tara Sharma, Ramesh Badi, and Saraswati Adhikari, among others. The film also marks the silver screen debuts of theater artist Bishal Devkota and Prasangsha Subedi.

Technical credits include cinematography by Sushan Prajapati, editing by Mitradev Gurung, and music by Prakash Saput, Khem Senchury, and Jayan J Waiba.