Kahaani - Part Review, Part Experience...

(Contains Spoilers!)

Saw the movie KAHAANI, and fell in love with my home, Kolkata all over again..


The thought that Vellore always tends to disappoint us, is perhaps a bygone trend now in my pre-final year.. for now I can safely say that we've got used to it! But it still manages to amaze us at times..

At times such as last Saturday.


The first 3 websites that turn up in Google upon typing 'KAHAANI VELLORE SHOW TIMINGS' show 2 theaters in Vellore, that are also part of the BIG CINEMAS chain, exhibiting the movie KAHAANI.. So as per the almost-an-established-rule-of-thumb, we start by the last minute and end up half hour late to this theater halfway across to the other end of the town.. only to see a Tamil 3D Horror movie being put up!

'Hindi cinema illa, only Tamil cinema..' declared the goon-ishly looking Humpty-Dumpty in front of the ticket counter. Probably a black-ticket dealer? Though I can't imagine why anyone would come to see this movie with the poster featuring a bloodied claw of a crow or something, which we were supposed to believe to be that of a demon - so forget about getting tickets in black..

'But.. but it showed hindi move Kahaani on your website!' I protested! Feeling crestfallen and panicky, the reason mainly being my accompanying Rupsa's mother and 2 cousins for this movie.. OR basically my being the only responsible and dependent guide in Vellore that you can get for free.. But it so happens that the theater-owners don't even know they have a website online!!

The fault, however, was mine. Why did I even bother!! 'Raghavendra Cinema Hall' has always been the savior.. I failed a loyalty test there!

...

Next was Sunday, where I'll formally introduce Rupsa's mother and her 2 cousins - Bonny di recently passed M.B.B.S. and on her way to study for an M.D. (she's one of those star genius ones, trust me! you, me are way too inferior..) and Tatai da is the senior-most (among us) fun-loving, funny, cheerful and way too amusing to get your bore-some time pass easy..

Anyway, to talk about KAHAANI would be to start the way the movie started, with the power-packed song, 'Kolkata!! Yo SEXY! AAMI SHOTTI BOLCHHI..' or maybe with the statement, 'It is a cracking thriller with the enjoyment quotient being directly proportional to the amount of time you spend thinking about the plot!' The more one tries to connect the dots would be to hyperbolise the incredibility of.. the movie? No, the script and it's proof-reading, maybe!

It's a Hollywood-ishly styled movie, without aping the West in any way.. The actors were finely chosen for they were tailor-made for this role. Vidya Balan is turning out to be our indigenous Merryl Streep! (Watched IRON LADY a few days back and felt the movie was chosen for Oscars just because of Streep's brilliant portrayal of Thatcher..) Where were we? Oh yeah, same emotions here.. While Vidya Balan continues to shine and eclipse other contemporary actors, Bengali actor Parambrata seems better as a young, emotionally vulnerable cop than Topshe! Nawazuddin Siddiqui is, for me, the second best actor in the cast portraying a hard-nosed and duteous IB officer and Saswata Chatterjee plays a roly-poly life insurance agent moonlighting as, quite ironically, a contract killer..

The Yellow Taxi and Mrs. Vidya Bagchi

Bob Biswas (played by Saswata), the contract killer, was another pick from the people.. 'Nomoshkar.. ek minute?' might be trending soon among the Indian population of creepy kids who like to play 'Secret agent-Secret agent' Parambrata was vulnerable like he always can be in his roles.. for him, Bonny di had remarked 'His frustration might lessen if he stops travelling by the late night trams..' So TRUE!


The story in the end, co-written by director Sujoy Ghosh and Advaita Kala is a cakewalk.. How the director had come up with his earlier movie HOME DELIVERY will always be a greater mystery than the one sitting at number 14 on imdb's list of the greatest thrillers of all time.. the most brilliant achievement was the cinematography and camera work done on the portrayal of Kolkata itself! After Baishe Srabon (Bengali movie), this is perhaps the second time the famous and romantically depicted machinery called Kolkata seems ominous and dangerously-frenzied!

Aaaaand.. now I'm missing home!

Oh, maybe the only down-side I found in the movie was the last 5 minutes of it. The not-so-needed narration in the famous voice of Amitabh Bacchan.. It could have been avoided, right? After a pacey unfolding of a thriller story, the movie only minifies its impact by finishing it slow on a piece of mythological relevance in the end..


...

The entire time, upto the climax, all of us were sitting tight with anticipation. The piecing-together-the-puzzle moment immediately after the climax got that softly-synchronized 'Ooh!' from everyone in the theater.. especially that from my Tamil friend Divya, the cleaning away the fingerprint parts; it was so loud that people actually turned around.. Overall, it was a satisfying Sunday after a disastrous Saturday!


It even reminded Divya, her debacle over how the people in Kolkata, pronounced her name as 'Dibba' the last time she visited (you have to agree that's funny!) and her forced request on how it is 'V' and not 'B!' ...maybe next time, they'll quote directly from the movie, 'Kolkata mein Divya, Dibba, sab same feelings!'

The catch of the day was however, Bonny di's comment.. Being an M.B.B.S. she was saddened at a particular event in the movie, where a surgeon, Doctor Ganguly is executed by Bob, the hired killer upon trying to help, by providing a missing link to the murder mystery.. she cried out,

'ONE DOCTOR LESS IN THE WORLD!!'