WANTED! : Higher leaps of Imagination
Kahaani 2
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
The more one watches cinema, the better one appreciates the crucial value of a strong script. The cinematographer, editor, director et al can only do so much if the script fails to soar. Sujoy Ghosh rides on the strength of his outstanding thriller Kahaani (2012) to team up this time with co-writer Suresh Nair for a different version of the same formula (they have averred that this is not a sequel). They rustle up a good deal of quality suspenseful story-telling for two-thirds of the run-time, but then the fatigue in thinking, starts to show.
The one unquestionable reason for this movie to exist, is the impressively direct way with which it deals with the issue of child sexual abuse, especially in a country where discussion of sex is still largely taboo and sexual abuse of children is even more of a suppressed reality. The same month of release two years ago, Kashyap's remarkable 'Ugly' dealt with this subject as a tangential plot angle, but here it is right at the open centre of this thriller.
Pic commences as Vidya Sinha (Vidya Balan) rushes through her morning chores to set out for work, while cautioning her young daughter to look after herself. That juncture onwards, both mother and daughter are pushed into a succession of harrowing events straight out of a nightmare. Hospitals, abductions, cops , criminals, the rescue of a traumatised child and even a coma are thrown into the mix as timelines are shuffled and the story runs on parallel tracks covering a police investigation while rewinding Vidya's past.
Inevitable comparisons with the first instalment reveal the second picture's weaknesses. Vidya Balan's character lacks the behavioural sparkle of her previous avatar, though she is resourceful and determined to the same degree. She is plump, dresses frowsily, is poorly kempt and looks tired all the time but none of that would have mattered much had a bit more of brightness and wit been introduced into her demeanour. Balan remains a gifted actress but one wishes she had improvised more in Kahaani 2.
Arjun Rampal as a young cop delivers a solidly controlled performance but is not given more to chew on. Shades of moral complexity and sly treachery would have better suited this film's villain but once his true nature is revealed, Jugal Hansraj's antagonist is reduced to a boring two-dimensional baddie.
The most arresting parts involve the attempts to rescue a little girl from sexual abuse by a relative who lives in the same house. An elderly lady in the family wonders aloud how this can possibly happen—an inherently stupid question which betrays a poor understanding of the range of human nature. A police inspector concludes it is a false case after he questions the six-year-old girl who denies any such abuse! Kahaani 2 plainly shows this moronic circus to demonstrate how incompetently and blindly these incidents are often handled in real life.
Did I miss the movie's absence of songs? No. This has little to with the movie's excellent narrative flow. The main reason is that I have left behind in the cradle of childhood the rattle toys that many grown-ups amongst the audience and producers still insist on being musically shaken in their face for every Indian movie.
It looks like there's going to be a Kahaani 3. Ghosh thus ably draws upon his MBA background to employ some principles of 'vertical integration' where one venture is used to create more and directly connected business opportunities for another one. I would not begrudge this type of further enrichment of his bank account as long as he able to rediscover and infuse the same superb story-telling into the potential third version as he did in the first Kahaani.
Rating: 3.5/5
Kahaani 2
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
The more one watches cinema, the better one appreciates the crucial value of a strong script. The cinematographer, editor, director et al can only do so much if the script fails to soar. Sujoy Ghosh rides on the strength of his outstanding thriller Kahaani (2012) to...
Kahaani 2
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
The more one watches cinema, the better one appreciates the crucial value of a strong script. The cinematographer, editor, director et al can only do so much if the script fails to soar. Sujoy Ghosh rides on the strength of his outstanding thriller Kahaani (2012) to team up this time with co-writer Suresh Nair for a different version of the same formula (they have averred that this is not a sequel). They rustle up a good deal of quality suspenseful story-telling for two-thirds of the run-time, but then the fatigue in thinking, starts to show.
The one unquestionable reason for this movie to exist, is the impressively direct way with which it deals with the issue of child sexual abuse, especially in a country where discussion of sex is still largely taboo and sexual abuse of children is even more of a suppressed reality. The same month of release two years ago, Kashyap's remarkable 'Ugly' dealt with this subject as a tangential plot angle, but here it is right at the open centre of this thriller.
Pic commences as Vidya Sinha (Vidya Balan) rushes through her morning chores to set out for work, while cautioning her young daughter to look after herself. That juncture onwards, both mother and daughter are pushed into a succession of harrowing events straight out of a nightmare. Hospitals, abductions, cops , criminals, the rescue of a traumatised child and even a coma are thrown into the mix as timelines are shuffled and the story runs on parallel tracks covering a police investigation while rewinding Vidya's past.
Inevitable comparisons with the first instalment reveal the second picture's weaknesses. Vidya Balan's character lacks the behavioural sparkle of her previous avatar, though she is resourceful and determined to the same degree. She is plump, dresses frowsily, is poorly kempt and looks tired all the time but none of that would have mattered much had a bit more of brightness and wit been introduced into her demeanour. Balan remains a gifted actress but one wishes she had improvised more in Kahaani 2.
Arjun Rampal as a young cop delivers a solidly controlled performance but is not given more to chew on. Shades of moral complexity and sly treachery would have better suited this film's villain but once his true nature is revealed, Jugal Hansraj's antagonist is reduced to a boring two-dimensional baddie.
The most arresting parts involve the attempts to rescue a little girl from sexual abuse by a relative who lives in the same house. An elderly lady in the family wonders aloud how this can possibly happen—an inherently stupid question which betrays a poor understanding of the range of human nature. A police inspector concludes it is a false case after he questions the six-year-old girl who denies any such abuse! Kahaani 2 plainly shows this moronic circus to demonstrate how incompetently and blindly these incidents are often handled in real life.
Did I miss the movie's absence of songs? No. This has little to with the movie's excellent narrative flow. The main reason is that I have left behind in the cradle of childhood the rattle toys that many grown-ups amongst the audience and producers still insist on being musically shaken in their face for every Indian movie.
It looks like there's going to be a Kahaani 3. Ghosh thus ably draws upon his MBA background to employ some principles of 'vertical integration' where one venture is used to create more and directly connected business opportunities for another one. I would not begrudge this type of further enrichment of his bank account as long as he able to rediscover and infuse the same superb story-telling into the potential third version as he did in the first Kahaani.
Rating: 3.5/5
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