Kahaani

Rating: 8
Release Date: 9th March, 2012
Time: ~120 minutes
Director & Writer : Sujoy Ghosh; Co-Writer: Advaita Kala; Music : Vishal-Shekhar
Starring: Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chatterjee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Darshan Jariwala

This one breaks quite a few ‘rules’. It’s a woman-centric film, it’s a drama, no lip synch songs, no fancy locales, choosing instead one of the most dilapidated cities in India, Kolkata for all its scenes. And yet, it works and how.

A pregnant lady (Vidya), has come all the way from London, in search of her missing husband. A helpful cop. Secrets, shadowy organizations, contract killers. Just someone who doesn’t want to be found or is there more to it ?

The storyline is quite simple and to the directors credit he resists all temptation to add more characters, more twists, relying instead on crisp editing to keep it taut and letting the uniqueness of Kolkata almost become another actor in this fast unfolding drama.

Beyond the yellow Ambassador taxis & the white uniformed cops, it brings out nuances about the city. The innate helpfulness. The soft-spokenness. The neighbourhood teastalls. The respect accorded to women (probably the safest place for the fairer sex amongst the 4 metros ?), the old world charm. The trams and the metro. The ubiquitous Rabindrasangeet. And of course, the Durga Puja, the pandals and the magical, transformed city Kolkata becomes during those few days every year.

Vidya & the fine character actors don’t put a foot wrong. Even the ones with bit roles. The cop who first files her missing persons report (and later begs her to fix his noisy error-prone computer). He also has the funniest line in the film ‘I’ve been trying for 30 years aur yeh do saal mein kar ke chala gaya’. The receptionist at the zero star Mona Lisa guest house who insists on calling his NRI guest ‘your majesty’. The running water boy who is inseperable from his transistor. Special mention for Parambrata, who I think matched Vidya expression for expression and had a pleasant appeal about him. Would want more cops looking & behaving like him.

The plot is interesting, enough twists and turns thrown in to keep it pacy, many layers, each peeling off at suitably placed intervals. Want to say more but wont for fear of giving it away. We spent the ride home, from the multiplex, trying to think of flaws in the storyline. We’re still thinking. Are probably going to watch it again to test various theories. Its that kind of a film…

Paa

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 4th Dec, 2009
Time : 133 minutes
Director & Writer : R Balki; Music : Ilaiya Raja
Starring : Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Paresh Rawal, Arundhati Naag
Good performances by everyone, an interesting take on single parenthood and an almost ideal, quite sensitive take on how other school kids interact with a disabled child are what make this film interesting to watch. A slightly meandering, slightly over-sentimental, too emotional and perhaps just a shade implausible second half is what makes this a one time watch and by no means a classic.


Auro (Amitabh Bachchan) is a 12-13 yr old kid who has the body of a 70 yr old (with all the accompanying ailments) thanks to a rare genetic disease called progeria. He is brought up single-handedly by Vidya Balan, a doctor, who has chosen not to tell the father she is having the baby, after its clear during their affair that pregnancy, marriage and babies are not what he wants at this stage of his life. Abhishek Bachchan is a very very busy and idealistic politician, who first meets Auro when he is invited to judge a school competition, and slowly begins to get involved with this rare child, despite the political upheavals facing him. Arundhati Naag plays Auro’s determined grandmother and Vidya’s only support, and plays it well.

I liked the fact that all roles came across as very credible, all characters were likeable. I liked the humour, slight whimsicalness that was imparted to Auro, the way he makes his mom have khichdi with aachar, the way he is brought out of a sulk by the lure of video games, the way he gets ready for a ‘time unspecified’ trip to Rashtrapati Bhavan by packing his bag the night before and then not budging from the sofa in a state of 100% prepareness or his 'Google se bach ke kahan jaoge' attitude. And I really really liked his initial interactions with Abhishek, his relationship with his mom and grandmother and (at the risk of repeating myself), the beautiful way other school kids recognise Auro is special and treat him that way without being patronising or rude. Vidya turns in one of her best performances after Parineeta. Abhishek is charming, fun to watch as he engages with Auro. And Amitabh Bachchan delivers as a 12 year old, conveying age through his eyes while behaving like a child through his actions. All were very good indeed.

I liked also Vidya Balan’s response to a inquisitive mother (‘whats wrong with him ?’). I wish most mothers with disabled children could have the courage and sense of humour to behave as she did. I liked how she over-rules the cautious doctor especially with regards to school and ensures Auro gets to live freely and makes sure she or anyone else doesn’t overly smother him. The background score, slightly quirky, fun, ensured that we didn’t feel to intense or heavy and kept things light in the first half. And the opening credits were lovely, a nice unusual touch.

Where the movie stumbled was in not having a brilliant script or from shying away from clichés, especially in the second half, where it almost seemed like the film maker wanted us to cry / weep. The novelty of watching Amitabh as a 12-13 yr old can hold attention for 3-5 minutes, not more. After that it needed a great storyline and the film lacked here. The whole political thread seemed slight out of place – something where Abhishek actually had a point of view around disabled children or single mothers but then changes his thoughts after observing Auro, could’ve made it more engaging perhaps. There were a couple of implausible events – the way he tackles the media or deals with the rumours around Auro, his mother and him being cases in point.


We have a film which everyone associated with it can proudly put on their CV. It’s a change from the run of the mill grist churned out by Bollywood. Its different from the mindless so called entertainers that afflict our industry currently. However, its not a classic and is over-hyped. The reactions of the film fraternity were interesting at the premiere. They said something to the camera and something else privately. And everyone seemed unsure of what to say, asking each other ‘what do you think?' and almost scared to say anything bad about the film. That perhaps was the real verdict…and not what has been published otherwise.