Vidya Balan is on a roll. A National Award in the bag, she is the only heroin in this industry to have the power to draw in the crowds on her presence alone. The simple reason being, she can act. A very rare quality in this industry of non-actors. But it’s also true that all that she touches doesn’t necessarily become gold. And that’s the story of Kahaani. It isn’t gold.
Sujoy Ghosh made one of my most fav. movies of all time, a path –breaker “Jhankaar Beats”. It was unconventional and it had a freshness about it; which is exactly what this film lacks - freshness. Kahaani is terribly conventional. Well… Not if you are totally cut off from run-of-the-mill Hollywood thrillers. The second problem with it is, it tries too hard to be a tribute to a city! Plus the narrative is deliberately misleading most of the times.
If you do not know, the film is about a wife trying to find her husband in Kolkata. She is terribly pregnant (around 12-13 months I would guess!) and is fighting the odds to find a man who does not seem to exist. The investigation is lead by the pregnant sleuth herself with the aid of a besotted policeman. What she stumbles upon is a threat to “National Security” and I will not say more than that.
Though the attempt is to make another “A Wednesday”, the thrills are very forced. The background score is extremely heavy and just keeps giving you the heebie-jeebies unnecessarily. Bidya ( No its V, oh! Forget it) keeps roaming in places around Kolkata and Sujoy gleefully keeps showing montages of a city he loves. Unfortunately, like the tension, the city is also forced upon you. After a few scenes though, you keep looking forward to something happening and the movie becomes predictable. As predictable as its end.
The story is good, but the treatment is faulty. The film does not have meat enough for 2 hours and hence keeps going for cheap thrills. The screenplay is not as fast as its background score makes it to be. The acting also seems a little over the board from certain characters. Vidya is well, Vidya – she would sleepwalk through these roles I guess. Parambrata Chatterjee supports Vidya excellently and his is the performance to look forward to.
I am being a little bit too harsh on the film, I must say. It is not all that bad. It’s infact a decent effort. But the opening shot of the film very much defines the condition of the audience. You are treated like the LAB RATS shown in that scene. The film's extremely misleading nature really disturbed me (especially when I could guess the end!!). Plus, everything seems to be lifted from some Second Grade Hollywood thriller. You just can’t put your finger to what exactly and from where!
I suggest watch it if you like Vidya. But do not expect a mind blowing film. What it is though, is a mildly entertaining, but suspiciously misleading and familiar tale.
Rating: 4 / 10
Sujoy Ghosh made one of my most fav. movies of all time, a path –breaker “Jhankaar Beats”. It was unconventional and it had a freshness about it; which is exactly what this film lacks - freshness. Kahaani is terribly conventional. Well… Not if you are totally cut off from run-of-the-mill Hollywood thrillers. The second problem with it is, it tries too hard to be a tribute to a city! Plus the narrative is deliberately misleading most of the times.
If you do not know, the film is about a wife trying to find her husband in Kolkata. She is terribly pregnant (around 12-13 months I would guess!) and is fighting the odds to find a man who does not seem to exist. The investigation is lead by the pregnant sleuth herself with the aid of a besotted policeman. What she stumbles upon is a threat to “National Security” and I will not say more than that.
Though the attempt is to make another “A Wednesday”, the thrills are very forced. The background score is extremely heavy and just keeps giving you the heebie-jeebies unnecessarily. Bidya ( No its V, oh! Forget it) keeps roaming in places around Kolkata and Sujoy gleefully keeps showing montages of a city he loves. Unfortunately, like the tension, the city is also forced upon you. After a few scenes though, you keep looking forward to something happening and the movie becomes predictable. As predictable as its end.
The story is good, but the treatment is faulty. The film does not have meat enough for 2 hours and hence keeps going for cheap thrills. The screenplay is not as fast as its background score makes it to be. The acting also seems a little over the board from certain characters. Vidya is well, Vidya – she would sleepwalk through these roles I guess. Parambrata Chatterjee supports Vidya excellently and his is the performance to look forward to.
I am being a little bit too harsh on the film, I must say. It is not all that bad. It’s infact a decent effort. But the opening shot of the film very much defines the condition of the audience. You are treated like the LAB RATS shown in that scene. The film's extremely misleading nature really disturbed me (especially when I could guess the end!!). Plus, everything seems to be lifted from some Second Grade Hollywood thriller. You just can’t put your finger to what exactly and from where!
I suggest watch it if you like Vidya. But do not expect a mind blowing film. What it is though, is a mildly entertaining, but suspiciously misleading and familiar tale.
Rating: 4 / 10
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