Kahaani 2, starring Vidya Balan and Arjun Rampal in the lead roles, is the big Bollywood release today. Directed by Sujoy Ghosh, will Kahaani 2 be able to match the success of Kahaani? Here is our Kahaani 2 movie review.
Kahaani 2 Cast: Vidya Balan, Arjun Rampal, Tunisha Sharma, Jugal Hansraj, Kharaj Mukherjee
Kahaani 2 Direction: Sujoy Ghosh
Kahaani 2 Rating:
(2.5/5)
Almost five years since Sujoy Ghosh and Vidya Balan gifted us the gem called Kahaani, the two are here with a sequel. But if you expect a thriller as riveting as Kahaani, Kahaani 2 won't live up to your high expectations.
Titled Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh, the sequel is the story of Vidya Sinha (Vidya Balan) and her daughter Minni (Tunisha Sharma), who live in Chandan Nagar. The story is set in West Bengal, from Kalimpong to Kolkata, and Chandan Nagar in between; Bengal and its people, everything is captured well on camera. The ponds and roads are just like you see in a small town, not through rose-tinted glasses.
Vidya's daughter is paralysed waist down, and she wants to get her daughter treated at the New York Children's Hospital. This lower-middle class family has Vidya striving hard to save money, saving the rickshaw fare to the station and continuing with a 'dabba' phone, while Minni keeps reminding her mother to not be 'kanjoos'. Vidya leaves for office one fine morning and comes back to find Minni missing. A stray call on her phone asks her to come to a certain place if she wants to see her daughter alive. On the way, she met with an accident.
While Vidya slips into a coma, sub-inspector Inderjit Singh (Arjun Rampal) gets the case. At the Chandan Nagar police station, Inder's senior, Pranab Haldar (Kharaj Mukherjee), tells him that they are looking for a woman called Durga Rani Singh, wanted for kidnapping and murder. Except, Durga Rani Singh is the spitting image of Vidya Sinha.
The biggest strength of Kahaani 2 lies in the performances of its hero, Vidya Balan, and Arjun Rampal, who shines as Inderjit. Balan is terrific in her role. She is hysterical, near-mad when her daughter is kidnapped. She makes you feel her pain, but there are scenes when you want the Vidya Bagchi of Kahaani to come back on screen. Balan overdoes some of the bits and you wish she were a bit understated in her role.
Arjun Rampal is a revelation in Kahaani 2. He plays Inder with elan, even though he is yet to reach emoting perfection, if there exists such a thing. Much like Vidya Bagchi, you miss her charioteer Satyaki/Rana (Parambrata Chakrabarty) too in the sequel. Jugal Hansraj is hardly a Bob Biswas. The Kahaani nostalgia is crippling in Kahaani 2. Therein lies the biggest problem of Kahaani 2.
You are unable to get out of the first film. The twists are predictable, including the climax. There's this problem with most thrillers Bollywood has been giving us these days. Deciphering the twists is not a difficult task at all. In the near-five years that have passed since Kahaani, our senses too have become a bit sharper, and it doesn't help dumbing them down and pretending to jump in your seat at the contrived twists.
When a director like Sujoy Ghosh expects his audience to accept a guessable twist in Kahaani 2, it doesn't work. The flair of Ghosh in Kahaani is missing in Kahaani 2. The script doesn't give enough for a person to be happy about. Kahaani 2 touches upon the subject of child sexual abuse, and that's left dangling.
After Kahaani, you couldn't walk out of the theatre without carrying Vidya Bagchi home. In Kahaani 2, you're not bothered.
Kahaani 2 is alive in its little details. Like the stray comment a streetside madman makes or the lighter exchanges between Kharaj and Inder. The cinematography is commendable. Mehram is a hummable song in Kahaani 2. Aur Main Khush Hoon reminds you of Aashiyan from Barfi.
Want to watch Kahaani 2? Make sure you don't for a moment think of Kahaani. A decent one-time watch if you're able to.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/kahaani-2-movie-review-vidya-balan-arjun-rampal/1/825092.html
Cricket
Current Affairs
Anupamaa
0