Film Review: Kahaani (9 March 2012)

The ‘kahaani’ begins with a pregnant Vidya Bagchi – the lead protagonist played by Vidya Balan – landing at the Kolkata International Airport, at a time when the city is gearing up for the Durga Puja celebration. She goes to a police station to report her missing husband, who had come to Kolkata from London – that’s where the couple lives – for some office work. Vidya goes from the pillar to the post; but every potential clue to her husband’s whereabouts eludes her each time. She finds a good pal in Rana, a police sub inspector, played by the sober Parambrata Chatterjee, who realizes that a lady at a mature stage of her pregnancy in an unknown city needs support for her mission.

What follows is quite a spectacular show.

Vidya Balan once again stands out with her out of the world performance. Probably no one else could be even half as good as she is through the length of the film. It is pale predictable ritual then that all her co-stars are reduced to mere supporting actors. It is Vidya’s story and all the other characters revolve around her, and the director’s mastery is in the way he weaves them at the right time at the right place.

The story is genuine, storytelling is magnetic and the script is near flawless with only a few microscopic dots. The audience becomes a prisoner of the director’s scheme of things as he paints the landscape with uncanny surprises. Towards the end, the Durga immersion ceremony is perfectly blended with the film’s climax.

The movie leaves you spellbound when the real ‘kahaani’ unfolds. One of the best synchronized moments is the last scene when a Durga idol slowly sinks into the water, while Amitabh Bachchan renders his voice in the background.

This is exactly the kind of movie we need to rid our Hindi film industry of the curse of shameless remakes and senseless sequels.

I’m going with 4 out of 5 for Sujoy Ghosh’s outstanding thriller drama, Kahaani. Watch it if you love the art of cinema!