Kapoor and Sons since 1921: Reviews and BO Thread - Page 46

Since I don't watch much TV, after watching #KapoorAndSons, I finally get the #FawadKhan fandom.

Kapoor And Sons Review: Fawad Khan steals the show in this tale of loving your dysfunctional family!

Film: Kapoor & Sons

Director: Shakun Batra

Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan, Alia Bhatt, Rajat Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor

Rating: **** (4 stars)

What's it about:

The movie is about two brothers, Rahul (Fawad) and Arjun (Sidharth) who stay away from home. Their parents Harsh (Rajat Kapoor) and Sunita (Ratna Pathak Shah) live with Daadu (Rishi Kapoor) in Coonoor. The two boys return home when their Daadu suffers a heart attack. There are some unresolved issues, not just between the two brothers, but also their parents. Tia (Alia Bhatt) unknowingly adds to to the tension between Rahul and Arjun. Amidst all this, is Daadu's wish to click one family picture.

What's good:

It's good to see that Karan Johar's brand of cinema has moved away from loving your 'perfect' family to loving your dysfunctional family. This family indulges in screaming matches and snapping at each other at the dinner table. They make up too, and that's what makes them so real. Writers Shakun Batra and Ayesha Devitre Dhillon come up with characters that are refreshingly flawed. Tension simmers with various issues like second-child syndrome, sibling rivalry and gender preferences among others being thrown into the fray. Among the supporting cast, Rishi Kapoor as the weed-smoking, po*n-loving grandfather who keeps troubling his family by playing dead every now and then, is lovable. The actor can raise laughs and get you emotional with equal ease. Rajat Kapoor and Ratna Patak Shah give flawless performances. From taking potshots at each other at the dining table to making efforts to keep the family together, these two actors make it seem absolutely natural. The movie begins on the right note because of Rajat, Ratna and Rishi. Though Sid and Alia are Dharma protgs, it's Fawad who shines bright. His performance at the "perfect" son with a secret, stands out. The actor shows versatility and vulnerability with equal ease. There's a lot more to this actor than good looks and charm. Sidharth, as the troubled younger brother, is passable. Fawad covers up for him. From Student of the Year to Kapoor & Sons, Sid has improved as an actor, but he still need to work a lot on his craft. Alia's character is that of a catalyst. She breezes through the fun bits and is equally effective in emotional scenes, particularly the one where she talks about her parents. Unfortunately, Shakun doesn't give her much to do.

What's not:

While the characters are refreshing, we wish the pace of the movie was better. The movie has some genuinely funny moments - like the one where the family is having a huge fight over finances while a plumber is at work. When it's time for payment he says 'pay what you think would be right in these financially trying times'. However, at other times, the humour does seem forced.

What to do:

The Kapoors are not a perfect family, but you will love and accept them with their flaws. Go watch this one.

http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/review-kapoor-and-sons-review-fawad-khan-steals-the-show-in-this-tale-of-loving-your-dysfunctional-family-2190983

Oh please do visit these Kapoors from Coonoor

Kapoor & Sons (Since 1921)

Director: Shakun Batra

Actors: Siddharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan

Rating: ****

This is absolutely the most gut-wrenchingly personal, mainstream film on an urban Indian family that I've ever seen. Yet, for the number of twists and turns that take place in the plot, or the story-line as it were"between four main characters who are together for as many as four or a few more days"the film runs the risk of you zoning out eventually and noticing merely the extraneous things that make this picture so much fun after all.

Such as, to begin with, the chemistry between the young lead actors on the screen. They are stars in their own right. And what's a star anyway but a really good-looking face or figure on the big screen who, as is being expected of them more and more now, is a really good actor as well. As is Alia Bhatt (for inspiration, I reckon, she draws quite heavily from Kareena Kapoor"at least so far as this particular role, or performance, is concerned).

There's also Siddharth Malhotra, who's so casually under-stated. And yes, Fawad Khan. Of course. It's been hard for me to fully make sense of this Pakistani phenomenon. But okay ladies, one somewhat gets why you've been crushing like lemons on him lately. That other picture Khubsoorat had genuinely wasted his potential.

The two guys in the film play brothers who've grown up together. While the movie I guess is naturally centred on them, that isn't what the film is really about. If anything it is about so many things: sibling rivalry, Oedipal complex, financial woes, marriage, age, adultery... You are forced to look beyond the peripherals therefore. And look within yourself, in fact, if not your own family. This is the closest an Indian script has come to taking the carpet off the little pieces of familiar, familial dirt so dutifully, and beautifully.

What about the rather incredulous plot though, given that it packs in so much in such little time? You simply go with it because you genuinely care for every character on the screen. They are so, so real, and with their own set of flaws, all so human. You could see shades of your own mom in Ratna Pathak Shah. A touch of your own dad in Rajat Kapoor. The brothers aren't wholly a mystery either. You kinda know who they are, even if you don't think you're them.

It's the hardest still not to fall for the old man heading this family, undoubtedly the sweetest grandfather you're likely to come across. Only Rishi Kapoor, hidden behind prosthetics, expressing his innocent love for po*n and smoking pot, could have pulled this crazy old man off with such natural ease and lan.

The old, diabetic grandpa is pretty much on his deathbed. This gets the Kapoors to get together in their family home in the hills. The two grandsons (Siddharth, Fawad) are hardly on speaking terms. Sometimes I wonder how this happens to siblings who are naturally connected to each other by birth.

Maybe things do turn ugly, when siblings belong to the same profession. The intense rivalry thence is likely to get unhealthy"one will obviously be more successful than the other. Or, if they're locked in a battle for the same thing"namely a common business empire, like the Ambanis, or kingdoms in the past.

Both the brothers here are writers by profession. They live abroad. There's hardly room for too many writers making a living only out of writing in India. One's doing better than the other. This must be hard on both. What's worse, in all likelihood, they could even be fighting for the attention of the same woman (Alia Bhatt).

Oh no... But then again, just when you assume where the film is going (or hope it doesn't), that's precisely where it doesn't. In its intimate detailing and writing, this film belongs more to the tradition of British minimalist dramas"directed by, say the likes of Mike Leigh"or what in America get called the indies'. It is at the same time very much a Bollywood film with its own grammar of highs, lows, and crescendos for an interval or the climax, although the songs have been smartly weaved in as natural music at a local club or house party.

Let me think what this reminds me of: Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding. Hmmm... Frankly that is the best compliment I can think of.

http://thew14.com/2016/03/18/kapoor-and-sons-review-by-mayank-shekhar/

@KapoorAndSons_ is off to a good opening. Expected Day 1 collection: 8 crores. Woah.. Great.