It’s almost blasphemous to go wrong with Kahaani. For Pete’s sake, the first installment is amongst the few Indian films that have inspired a Hollywood remake. It is a close shave for director Sujoy Ghosh, who gives Bollywood its most fantastic pre-interval sequence ever but wobbles thereafter. Of course, it ended up as a classic case of too good to be true. The curse of the second hour hits bad with a clunky half comprising gimmicky action sequences and a brooding cop who scurries around acting handsome in his khakhi wardi.
As expected, this time around the story isn’t even a patch on the first. Since Sujoy and his aide Bidya.oops.Vidya. I want to say Bagchi.but, no.Balan.return after a phenomenal film, drawing parallels is inevitable. Yes, Vidya is in great form. She ain’t Bidya Bagchi, a character that fit her like a glove, but Durga Rani Singh isn’t too far away. It is a well-rounded performance that can’t be faulted. As a why-dunit more than a whu-dunit, Sujoy begins on a sturdy note. Unfortunately, it too is a dark, delicious story with malicious undertones, everything fitting the blueprint of a true blue thriller.
Yes, the Bidya hangover continues even this time. Sujoy’s heroine is introduced in a crackling scene as Vidya Sinha in a humble neighbourhood, living with her paralyzed daughter Mini. When the little one goes missing and the lady herself is fighting for life after an accident, the case falls in the hands of a cop named Inderjeet Singh. They figure Vidya’s alias name is Durga Rani Singh who hides a murky past in the pages of her cluttered diary. Revelations stumble out of the closet and her past history with the cop returns to haunt everyone. Durga’s bond with Mili is unspooled over a trail of scenes that involve a sticky duel with an uncle whose glib dialogues are haunting and a brooding grandmother who gives the creeps.
Since it’s a thriller, there is little that can be divulged about the plot hereafter. By design, the story relies solely on the prowess of its leading lady. Vidya is expectedly in ace form, giving an assured performance. She beautifully brings out the trauma that she faced as a kid, trapped in an horrific situation with adults who could be sheer evil sans remorse. As she learns to adjust to the demands and prerequisites of a romantic relationship, her nervous energy garners sympathy.
But the story takes up a cliched route. After multiple films in recent time, be it Badlapur, Raman Raghav or more recently Sujoy’s Te3n itself, there is an overkill to understand the dynamics of a sinner and saint. Perspective?
The narrative is absolutely rousing, nail biting and terrific in the first part. There isn’t a second wasted in pulling the viewer into the drama. Kolkata’s personality adds novelty to the plot though it is far less effective than it was in the case of Kahaani(After Piku, the love story has reached a beautiful crescendo, nay?). Sujoy is never lackadaisical in his apparoach but to be able to find an intriguing hook is always a pertinent challenge in a thriller. The obviousness was absolutely absent in Kahaani and this time the guess work ends pretty soon, even before the story has unraveled its big mystery. The suspense is hardly piercing when it is muttered screen which is often a thriller’s biggest failure.
The mind games have gone obsolete. the actors are commendable - Jugal is worth a mention, Arjun is lightyears ahead of anything he has been seen in recent times but it pivots on Vidya, who shoulders it steadily. But the writing is loose, missing Sujoy’s crisp narrative from last night. In between Kalimpong, Kolkata and Chandan Nagar, the answers are served in a platter. What’s the point of a thriller if you have no questions to ask? Of course, the questions we ask are absolutely banal. Note to self-it’s a thriller, you can’t say much! Oh damn, let’s put it as dubiously as possible - are co-incidences so smooth always or just in our movies? Rhetoric reply, of course but don’t let anything hold you back from giving this movie shot. Thats’s something Sujoy and his Bidya command by virtue of the last movie and partly this. If there’s a third, we pray, it’s less filmy than this.