Kahaani movie review
Kahaani is an Indian Bollywood drama-thriller film directed and co-produced by Sujoy Ghosh. It stars Vidya Balan and Parambrata Chatterjee in lead roles. Vishal-Shekhar’s music is a major attraction in technical front. His music is completely in accordance with the story. Balan plays a pregnant woman in search of her husband and the father of the child. Perhaps Kahaani would have been an also-ran without the acting genius of Vidya Balan, but with her, the film is a delight to watch, because of the surprises it throws at you and by the power-packed performances by its cast in entirety.
A London-based software engineer, Vidya is a Tamilian married to a Bengali and visiting the City of Joy, not for any jolly reasons, but to inquire the whereabouts of her missing husband Arnab Bagchi. The unknown bylanes, unseen people, unheard sounds, regional quirks and Kolkata, in all its festive glory, presented in a way that makes it a breathing, living, secretive character that will never reveal its answers, as hard as you may try to learn them.
Vidya’s boots are the giveaway, way too smart for just a wife of a software engineer, as is her obsessive cleaning of her room. Vidya displays a rare understanding of her character`s exacerbated emotional and physical state. Luckily for her, her co-actors display no outward or inward signs of insecurity in playing roles that are designed to be supremely supportive. The second half of the film changes it all; from being the sob-story of a helpless pregnant woman, it turns into a beast of a thriller.
But by and large Ghosh keeps the plot ticking. Parambrata Chatterjee is perfect as young Rana, who is half in love with Mrs Bagchi, and is her willing accomplice in breaking into offices and interrogating/charming informers. Nawazuddin Sidiqqui, that brilliant actor from Kabir Khan`s ‘New York’ and last week`s ‘Paan Singh Tomar’, brings steely-sharp ruthlessness to his investigative officer`s role. Dhritiman Chatterjee, all stiff upper lip, is the IB chief. Kahaani has its share of flaws – a trigger-happy, life insurance agent, portions in the first half when you wonder why a cop would help a random NRI woman and behave as if he were her aide or some such. The finale justifies it all, and makes you marvel at the talent of the filmmaker, Sujoy Ghosh.
Overall, Vidya Balan’s stellar performance and the wonderful screenplay make the film Kahaani a wonderful movie-going experience. Don’t miss it.
