*ing: Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chattopadhayay, Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Bollywood is not known for giving good thrillers. In the past, Vijay Anand made some good thrillers. But nowadays what a Bollywood viewer gets, at best, is only some glossy substandard thrillers from Abbas-Mustan. Johnny Gaddar is the only thriller that comes to my mind that was seriously good in recent times and it was 2007. Finally Kahaani comes out as one good thriller.
Kahaani is about a pregnant lady Vidya Bagchi (Vidya Balan) who comes from London to Kolkata in search of her missing husband Arnab Bagchi. Arnab had come to Kolkata on an assignment for National Data Center (NDC) but is currently out of contact. But NDC denies anyone by the name of Arnab Bagchi working for them. Even the lodge, where Arnab was staying, denies his stay and the immigration department has no records of arrival of Arnab to India. Vidya takes up the investigation into the matter herself with the help of sub-inspector Rana (Parambrata Chattopadhayay). The resemblance of Arnab with Milan Damji, a former employee at NDC, gets Investigation Bureau (IB) involved into the scene. As Vidya digs into the matter, new characters crop up including a creepy contract killer and it gets more mysterious with each passing minute. Revealing more about the plot would give out spoilers.
Vidya Balan is the hero of the movie and Kahaani revolves all around her. From struggling to get her name pronounced correctly by the Bengali people when she first arrives in Kolkata to transforming into a brave woman who is out to the dig into the matter that might put her against some dangerous people, Vidya Balan gets everything right in her act as Vidya Bagchi. Vidya Balan is truly the current queen of bollywood and not some plastic face Katrina Kaif or over-hyped Kareena Kapoor.
Parambrata Chattopadhayay in his first outing in a hindi movie gives a very good and restrained performance as a cop who lends a helping hand to Vidya from start to finish. Nawazuddin Siddiqui playing a foul-mouthed IB officer is fine too.
The writer-director Sujoy Ghosh has paid attention to the minor details which lack in hindi thrillers. The director, with the help of cinematographer who is successful in capturing the city of Kolkata, its streets and alleys aesthetically, has established Kolkata as one of the important characters of Kahaani. The climax shot during Durga Puja in Kolkata deserves a special mention, where the director portrays Vidya as Durga, the savior against the evil. The dialogues in the movie could have been better and it would have lifted movie to another level. The movie will keep the viewers guessing right to the end and ending will prove your guesses wrong. Kahaani, in a way, is a redeeming act for Sujoy Ghosh after giving trashes in the form of Home Delivery and Aladdin. Kahaani is a taut thriller which is crisply edited. It will keep you on the edge from start to finish. Waise toh main free mein advice nahi deta, aapko deta hoon : “Go watch Kahaani”
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