Kahaani Mein Twist

What could one write as a review of a movie that’s already become the darling of the critics and audiences alike?  Difficult but I’ll try being the fault-finder that I’m known to be (apart from giving a ring-side view).

It’s about Kahaani, alright!  After two back-to-back hits last year (Vidya started and ended the year 2011 with NOKJ and TDP and both were BO successes) and a National Award for her portrayal of ‘Silk’, Vidya’s Kahaani had made all the right noises in the pre-release buzz.  But, the director’s previous two outings were BO Turkeys and hence there were sceptics too. 

Sujoy Ghosh’s latest outing – a thriller this time - is satisfying on many counts.  It starts off slowly and before you start wondering what’s happening you’re hooked to it completely and there’s not a moment to pause from the tension to ponder if the plot has any loopholes.  The performances by all the actors are above par, the background music blends in perfectly and the photography captures the mood evocatively and incorporates Kolkata as an integral character to the story. 

By now everyone and her uncle knows what the movie is all about.  So I’ll steer clear of what the movie is all about.  All I want to say is, ‘Guys, don’t miss this.  This possibly is one helluva thriller to hit Indian screens in a long while’.  What works BEST for the movie is nowhere does the director tries to bring in the Western (read, Hollywood or whatever else) style of story-telling.  It’s completely the time-tested Indian style of storytelling (minus the compulsory naach-gaana that we most times suffer and sometimes long for). 

So, what am I cribbing about then? At last here I come to them:

1.    The film credits show Ms Mamata Banerjee as ‘honorary’ Chief Minister.  It should be ‘honourable’.  How come nobody noticed this blooper?

2.  An ex-IB Officer is introduced as ‘Captain Bajpai’ but Vidya repeatedly calls him ‘Colonel’.  Promotion suddenly?  (Unless he originally was a Navy Captain but ‘somehow miraculously’ made it into the Army and got his equivalent Colonel rank)

3.  Rana (Parambrata Chatterjee) is so stylish that he wears low-waist trousers as a police officer.  Special concessions?

4.   In a scene the second-in-command from IB slaps Rana, the Police Officer (twice).  Why was this necessary at all?  Since there’s no further talk of the incident, it gets reflected as if it’s acceptable to do so.  Poor!

5.   There’s the reference at the end of the movie to ‘Durga’ (voice-over by Amitabh) as the destroyer of the demons and her arrival every year for this purpose.  I somehow thought it jarred and didn’t sync with the movie.  

There are other plot-holes but pointing them out would mean giving away the plot completely to those readers who may have yet not watched the movie.  So, mum’s the word (pun intended). 

Go watch it, pronto!  Don’t wait for it to appear on your telly.