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LatestLY has begun this new Lockdown series, where the writer revisits some popular or obscure or underrated films and pick out stuff that he or she learnt from rewatching the movie. We have already begun the series with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Rang De Basanti, starring Aamir Khan. Today, we will go with Kahaani, the acclaimed thriller made by Sujoy Ghosh and starring Vidya Balan in the lead. A surprise box office hit, Kahaani that came out in 2012, is still considered one of the best thrillers made in Bollywood cinema. Amitabh Bachchan’s Badla, Vidya Balan’s Kahaani, Shah Rukh Khan’s Don – 7 Bollywood Movies of the 21st Century With Terrific Twist Endings (SPOILER ALERT).
You know the story - a pregnant lady who calls herself Vidya Bagchi (Vidya Balan) comes to Kolkata from London during the beginning of the Durga Puja Festival. She visits the police station where she files a missing persons' complaint that her husband, Arnab Bagchi, has disappeared in the city for some time. A sympathetic cop Rana tries to help her seek the truth about her missing husband, and in the process, they open a can of worms, when they find out Arnab closely resembles a terrorist Milan Damji (Indraneil Sengupta) and the Intelligence Bureau gets involved. The movie ends with a killer twist, that shocked many of the audiences when they watch the film the first time.
Kahaani is set is Kolkata, and features many popular Bengali actors in the cast. Vishal-Shekhar's score, though sparingly used in the film, was also a huge hit then, and so was Clinton Cerejo's BG score. Sujoy Ghosh, coming after the failures of Home Delivery and Aladdin, vindicated himself as a filmmaker to watch out for with the success of this film, making thrillers his forte. A sequel, Kahaani 2 - Durga Rani Singh, however, didn't manage to come anywhere close to the success of the first film, even though Vidya and Sujoy were part of the project.
Anyway, so as we revisited Kahaani, while we are in quarantine, here are 10 things that we observed while watching this fine thriller.
#1 Prosenjit Chatterjee
In the opening credits, the movie thanks Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee. Wondering the story behind this gratitude, we dug out this old interview of Sujoy Ghosh and realised that Prosenjit is the reason why Kolkata became the setting for Kahaani. Considering that the city became a character of its own in the movie and gives the film its distinct flavour, we have a lot for Prosenjit to thank for!
#2 The Media Didn't Blame A Community For a Change
When the terrorist attack happens in the Metro train in the beginning of the film, we see the Zee News channel covering the event, and for once, doesn't blame a community for the attack! Interestingly, the actual terrorist - Milan Damji - has a Hindu-sounding name, which would have caused a huge furore these days, but was overlooked during its release, for those were a more tolerant era.
#3 Satyoki
Rana (Parambrata) reveals to Vidya that his real name is 'Satyoki' and 'Rana' is his pet-name (the dual name is a running motif in the film). To which Vidya responds by saying that the name 'Satyoki' (Bengali way of saying 'Satyaki') means Arjun's charioteer, thus defining Rana's purpose in Vidya's mission. But 'Satyaki' also holds another significance in Mahabharat. He is a Yadav warrior in Lord Krishna's contingent who fights for the Pandavas and whose name means 'the seeker of truth'. The significance of that name makes sense in the film when Rana figures out the truth about Vidya, and then you realise that while Vidya actually wanted to catch Damji only, it was only Rana who was seeking the truth all the way, thus living up to his name.
#4 Movie, Stop Fooling Us and Let Vidya Do That For You!
The one thing about Kahaani that annoyed me the first time I had watched it and even now, is its manipulative use of flashbacks. If you are confused as to what I am talking about, it is whenever Vidya Bagchi's flashbacks are shown, we see Indraneil Sengupta as her husband, which we realise in the end, wasn't the case. So why was the need to deliberately fool the audience? Wasn't Vidya Bagchi herself doing a fine job at that?
#5 Bhaskaran is a Confused Antagonist
Throughout the film, we hear that there is a mole in the intelligence bureau, which we later find out to be IB Chief Bhaskaran. Played by veteran Bengali star Dhritiman Chatterjee (kinds wasted in the role), Bhaskaran turns out to be a very confused antagonist. If he has been helping Damji all along, then why would he send Khan to to Kolkata, when Vidya makes the Damji case resurface? We can make a case that he did so to avoid creating suspicions in Khan's mind. But then, why did he go and seek the help of Colonel Pratap Bajpayee (Darshan Jariwala), who is another honest officer? He is a pretty confusing man who loves to dig his own graves.
#6 Hey, Remember That Boy?
The child actor who has played the young tea-seller Potlu is Riddhi Sen, the Bengali star who holds the record of being the youngest actor to win the National Award for Best Actor for the Bengali film Nagarkirtan. Bollywood fans would be more familiar with him for playing the role of Kajol's son in Helicopter Eela.
#7 The Most Cult Character Had An Underwhelming Send-Off
Bob Biswas, the contract killer-masquerading-as-an-insurance-agent, has turned out to be the most popular character from the film. The viewers were so fascinated with the portly man, who is often berated by his boss, but turns out to be a deadly assassin. Saswata Chatterjee is a scream in the role, and fans were rightly riled up when they heard that Abhishek Bachchan would reprise the role in the spin-off based on the character.
But for such an awesome character, his death scene seems rather underwhelming. It's not the abruptness of his departure, getting crushed by a vehicle while running away from Rana, but what happens during the chase. There were multiple opportunities for him to kill Rana, who was chasing him, after he attempted to kill Vidya. But despite having a gun in his hand, Bob doesn't shoot down Rana for some reason. Is it some assassin code that prevents him from not killing someone who isn't his target?
#8 Khan is a Toxic Patriot
Nawazuddin Siddiqui is a popular and acclaimed star these days, headlining his own movies. But behind his present popularity, there are years of struggles and bit roles to where he reached now. Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur did bring him into prominence, but it was his acerbic portrayal of IB officer Khan that made the world sit up and notice this bundle of talent (also worth mentioning is his cameo in New York). Khan is an honest and competent officer, but he is pretty arrogant and chauvinist and doesn't mind the collateral damage as long as he is sticking to the book and bringing in the criminal. He believes he is patriotic, but as Rana points out, his sense of patriotism is above his duty towards humanity. But Khan cares no damn, making him an interesting anti-hero.
It is a pretty complex role and Nawazuddin acts the hell out of it. Just watch him in the scene where Khan sheds his haughtiness for a moment to convince Vidya to help him out. It's a moment of acting brilliance. Nawazuddin Siddiqui Birthday Special: 5 Brilliant but Overlooked Performances of the Actor Before His Star-Making Turn in Kahaani and Gangs of Wasseypur!
#9 Vidya Bagchi is a Sly Commentary on Sexism
Nearly every person that Vidya meets in Kolkata is a man, save for the ill-fated Agnes and the receptionist who replaces her. They all have different emotions about her. Rana is allured by her. His senior cracks jokes about her husband leaving her. Khan thinks she is merely a tool to further his purpose. Damji underestimates her. The common thing is that these men don't take her as seriously as the case she is involved in. And the fact that she appears to be pregnant, makes them shed off their cautions about her even further. Khan's boss even doesn't allow him to do a background check on her. After all, what harm can a pregnant woman do to them? Therefore Vidya's (is that even her name?) final victory is a slap on all their perceptions in thinking women as the weaker sex. Which makes Vidya Bagchi a really awesome protagonist, perhaps one of the very best in Bollywood cinema this century.
#10 Still, The Best Thriller of Last Decade
As I have pointed out previously, Kahaani has some glaring flaws. And yet it is a very smart film, both in its writing and direction. The performances continue to be hold out well, Vidya Balan is fantastic; she should have won the National Award for her performance in Kahaani rather than The Dirty Picture. Kahaani continues to withstand the test of time and there is a high possibility it will do so. As for the climactic twist that is reportedly inspired by Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke's Taking Lives, well, I can say, that Kahaani does it better because it uses the twist to deceive the character and the viewers right from the beginning. Unlike the Hollywood film, where Jolie appears to be fake-pregnant only in the climax.
Honourable Mention - Bipasha Basu and Raima Sen 'Spotted'!
Look closely during the climax of Kahaani, and you can see two popular Bong beauties in 'cameos'. I mean, they don't appear directly, but Bipasha Basu and Raima Sen are seen in billboards during the Durga Puja festival.
You can re-watch Kahaani on Netflix, MX Player and Voot.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 15, 2020 07:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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