Dil Kabaddi is a movie that most of my friends slept through, but it’s not bad at all. The plot revlves around 2 married couples- irfan khan and soha ali khan (let’s call them couple 1); rahul bose and konkona sen sharma (couple 2; I don’t remember names in the film, sorry).
The film opens with a private squable between couple 1 shown. Irfan Khan wear sunglasses at night, absurdly flashy clothes, and Soha ALi’s sophisticated tastes are jarred by his whole personlaity. They are going to meet the other couple, and once at their place, they announce their separation, and though they promised each other they will behave before their friends, their sullenness spills over and soha ali makes a scene in a restaurant.
Anyway, they split, much to the excessive chagrin of the other couple, especially konkona. Now the movie shows us the forays of each of the 4 characters into extra-marital attractions. At the end, Soha Ali and Irfan re-unite, having realised, afer their period of separation, that they miss each other. Irrfan Khan, in his attempt to coax/woo back Soha Ali to him, even takes to watching art movies/foreign films etc.
Meanwhile, couple 2, the couple with whom no one could discover anything wrong at the beginning of the movie, realise by the end of the movie that there’s something lackiing in their marriage and they split.
So, it’s both a surprise ending and not a surprise ending. SInce couple 1 began by splitting, one could only expect the rest of the movie to be about their reunion. ANd since couple 2 did not split at the beginning, if couple 1 unites, then predictably, couple 2 was meant to split. at the end.
ANyway, this is a movie that describes real life situations in marriage- situations that many are afraid to face. It shows economically independent men and women living out their lives and relationships to their logical conclusions, fearlessly. ANd it does not end sadly. Though couple 2 split, konkona is shown married to an office colleague and irfan is lukewarmly ok with his occassional vague relationships with his students (he is a lecturer).
One unrealistic character was that of Kaya, the sexy but stupid gym trainer played by payal rohtagi (did I get the spelling right?), with whom irfan khan was supposed to be playing out his sexual fantasies. Possibly, this characterisation was done to give the story a happy ending. I mean, who on earht is going to feel sorry about a clown like her? Had the lady in question been shown to have more dimensions, as is completely possible in real life, the story would have had even more depth but would have lost a great deal of the feel-good factor about it. On the whole, I think this movie is completely worth watching, but you might like it better if you’re married!