A victim of child abuse to the rescue of another.
‘Kahani 2’ is second of the successful ‘Kahani’ series bringing you yet another entertaining suspense crime thriller.
Story: Vidya(Vidya Balan) through the blessings of a local NGO wishes to take her 14 year old paralyzed daughter ‘Mini’ to America for treatment. However, Mini is kidnapped and a little later Vidya meets with an accident and goes into a coma as a result of traumatic brain injury. Indrajeet Singh(Arjun Rampal), a sub-inspector who is transferred a week ago to this little known ‘Chandan Nagar’ locality in West Bengal is investigating the case. The good news is that Indrajeet knows Vidya personally but as ‘Durga’. He is keen to find out why Durga was living a dual role. He is then in possession of a diary wherein Vidya had scribbled events of her life which gives him some insight. Indrajeet also realizes that an active investigation is ongoing in parallel against Durga and a case of kidnapping and murder is already registered against her 8 years ago. He is duty bound to solve the kidnapping case and ensure justice prevails.
Cast: Vidya Balan and Arjun Rampal were brilliant and impressive sharing most of the screen time. Manini Chadha looked pretty and delivered a mature performance as Indrajeet’s wife. Jugal Hansraj as uncle of Mini had a brief but significant role. Naisha Khanna as 6 year old and Tunisha Sharma as 14 year old ‘Mini’ were praiseworthy. As such, the entire cast did justice to their respective characters delivering an impressive performance.
Pros: Cast, Direction, Cinematography and brilliant script laced with effective suspense & thrill.
Cons: The screenplay and thrill of ‘Kahani 2’ is not as intense as ‘Kahani’. The editing lacked finesse and professional touch. Most of the scenes were in flashback and the transition was a bit confusing at few places. Even though the plot is successfully executed, and suspense revealed towards the end, one may not be able to easily connect all the dots convincingly. There was a flaw in the plot which jeopardized the lives of Durga and Mini which remained unexplained. The end appeared abrupt and did not result in an impactful finish.
Direction: ‘Kahani 2’ is co-produced, co-written and directed by Sujoy Ghosh. He is consistent in maintaining the quality of screenplay and continues to thrill with the suspense. He narrows his vision on the characters and the core plot without going astray while limiting the songs to bare minimum. This time he has touched a topic of child abuse and created a strong character to counter & challenge this cruel sin. The way he directed the negative characters who wished to downplay the abuse will make you react and feel uneasy. He made all the characters relatable and with a purpose.
Conclusion: ‘Kahani’ lovers will be in for a treat with this second installment. Since this is not a sequel, it is most suited for one and all. The film has a message - People who abuse children act normal, hence it is difficult to detect and easy for them to escape, while the victim is rendered helpless and traumatized. The film generates an exemplary strong character to counter this abuse and for us to emulate. The film run time is around 2 hours and is engaging providing suspense, thrill & entertainment value, hence worth a watch.