Movie review - Kahani (Hindi)

This was a week which remained faithful to Murphy's law - everything that could possibly go wrong , did go wrong. I got a slight whiff of cold while in Kochi. So I had to cancel my plans to meet up some pretty friends. Then I lost a month's earning thanks to faulty systems of IRCTC.

It was at that time my friend came up with a comment ' Vidya Balan is the Indian version of Meryl Streep'. As a hardcore Streep fan I wanted to check out. On the way home from the railway station, I got to see the poster of 'Kahaani'. I made up my mind to go for the movie.

And as luck would've it, my buddy called up and we made plans for a movie. It's a huge bore to go to a movie hall alone. Although he had ideas for a Mallu , I convinced him for this one.

But everything didn't go well exactly. It started raining as soon as I stepped out of house. I reached the hall completely drenched. To make matters worse, I had to choose a broken  seat. I heard Mr Murphy laughing at me from the corner of the dark hall.

My apprehensions seemed to come true, when the movie opened up with a very ordinary start. The acting (barring Balan) , lighting, frames, colour tones, handy cams seemed very much ordinary.
I feel the new age, city bred directors are losing their talent of wide frames. They are drawing too much inspiration from the 'city of god' and we have to end up seeing numerous roadside chaiwalla, mithaiwallah, crowded bus stands, railway stations. It used to enamor me , but I have reached the irreversible path of boredom. Hope atleast they try improvising.

The Bombay Marine drive was, once upon a time, crowded with Bollywood cinema shooting. Then recently they shifted the entire equipment to NewYork and London with plenty of chubby Punjabis cracking horrid jokes. Then they once again came back, but this time to the rich mansions of Delhi. Thankfully the director tried something new in Kolkota, the city which always carried a cultural and emotional baggage with it. It's so easy to arouse the cultural complex of a Bong. The Durga Pooja had offered an ideal chance for that. The story has festival running in backdrop. The director has also brilliantly portrayed the inherent laziness in a fast moving city.

There where signs of influence from English movies . It wasn't a Priyadarsanesque movie making where cinema is palgiarized frame by frame. You simply feel a deja vu on seeing some sequences.
The story and the plot is brilliant and orginal. Unlike any other Indian cinema there's no sudden diarrhea post interval. The story is very evenly paced. Still It's a glued-to - your seat kind of cinema. Thankfully, the music and song melodrama has also been avoided

When we deal with secret agents and terrorist attacks, there could have been more slickness. And the acting department too could have done a bit better.

Now coming to the star of the movie - Vidya Balan rocks the whole film world. She is an enigma. I am qouting a friend ' Awesomeness personified, beauty , grace, charm, orginal, surreal. Not so long back she struggled for a foothold in an industry ruled by plastic dolls. The low point being fashion disaster in Kismat Konnection and the Filmfare paparazi hunting her down for the so called senseless choice of clothes.

The actress in her has grown quite comfortable with herself. This has been showing in recent run of successful films. She has been doing films where she stole the thunder from her male counterparts. The ' Kahani' which has coincided with women's day and has brought in parallels with the feminine gods needed a powerful woman who could carry the film on her shoulders.

Vidya did make sure that the vengeful wife held her charms and grace to overpower her foe. There's no denial of feminity or It's weaknesses. I feel the narrative at the end could've been avoided so character remained an enigma . The Indian movie maker has to stop spoon feeding and learn from the international line of thought.

The body language and ease of emoting is a must watch and learn for any acting enthusiast. I came back home and picturised all our stars in that role, I felt Vidya is irreplaceable. Another irony is Bollywood used to import women who could 'act ' from Bengal to balance the silicone babes from the north. Now here we have a Madrasi setting the screen on fire in a movie based in Bengal.