KAHAANI(2012)
For generations movies have sidelined or to say side-billed the heroine, in a way it is a proud moment when Vidya Balan’s name appears boldly in a typewriter font preceding the title.
Vidya Balan lives up to her name playing the heavily pregnant and equally resolute Vidya Bagchi whose actions of lifting her oversized sunshades reminds us of a knight who does a similar act before entering the arena, the arena here in Kahaani is the life throbbing city of Kolkata to which the computer professional Vidya comes to find her lost husband Arnab Bagchi.
Kahaani is packed with details, packed is the right word to use because you might lose an interesting bit while searching for underlying popcorn in the dark. You have been forewarned that the brilliant writing will keep you glued to screen and the characters that inhabit those words. Parambratha Chatterjee and Nawazuddin Siddiqui require special mention amidst the robust cast who travel along with Vidya Bagchi on her quest until it all ends in a mythical climax.
But the final praise shall rest on director Sujoy Ghosh and his team of writers who have conceived a truly different film both in styling and content, in the time of inconsiderate romantic comedies.I counted upto six people involved in the writing of the film and the last time I saw so many names was in Shahrukh Khan’s much derided Ra.One, but this time the writers have won with some help from the divine feminine.
So what is wrong, if people can make stories for the Khans they should be able to make stories for the Balans, as long as the writing is good we will not complain.The writers have won. The writers have won!
Surely they should have listed Kolkata/Calcutta in the cast. Surely.
KAHAANI
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Cast: Vidya Balan, Parambratha Chatterjee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Saswata Chatterjee.
Music:Vishal-Shekar
The Lowly Laureate 