Cast: Vidya Balan, Arjun Rampal
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
For many acclaimed directors, it may be a daunting task to, both live up to their undeniably glorious past, and also, surpass their laurels to come up with yet another persuasively resounding plot. It seems that after the stupendous success of Kahaani director Sujoy Ghosh probably got so carried away by his own success of a genre in his storytelling that he decided to use it as a template to bring back a steely willed protagonist Vidya Balan once again in a gripping thriller to the screen. No, there’s nothing wrong with modelling a story after one’s own award-winning onscreen drama in yet another suspenseful story. Just that Ghosh loses on one key ingredient in this part-mystery-part-tense-moving-tale Kahaani 2: more twists in a plot to keep our interest glued!
Having said that let me clear what many cinegoers may presume Kahaani 2 to be: It is neither a sequel nor a prequel. In fact, barring the fact that the character Vidya (rather Bidya since she’s based in Kolkata) is once again looking for a loved one, there’s nothing common between the two. Another commonality may be the setting of Kolkata. This time, her daughter Mini (Tunisha Sharma) is kidnapped, and Vidya would do anything to bring her back. Safe and secure. In the earlier film, it was her husband who goes missing, though the denouement had a more textured and layered finale. Here, Vidya Sinha (Vidya Balan) is a middle-class working mother for whom her life’s savings must culminate into making her 13-year-old daughter walk again.
She lives in Chandannagar near Kolkata with her wheelchair-bound daughter Mini. One day, when she discovers that her daughter is missing from their home, she launches a staunch search for her. As luck would have it, “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions,” and as a panic-stricken Vidya rushes out of her home in a hurried pace to look for Mini, she herself meets with an accident on the road, and lands up in a hospital in a state of coma.
We then get introduced to Inderjit Singh (Arjun Rampal) who we learn, has been recently transferred to this small town — all because he goofed up majorly on an assignment and was denied a promotion. While Inderjit gets cracking on the case, he discovers to his shock that the lady lying in the hospital bed is, in reality, Durga Rani Singh. From then on, with the help of a personal diary, that Inderjit chances upon while investigating the accident victim’s case, the story turns into a back-and-forth unravelling of a mysterious past of a woman. The diary, we all know, has always served as a perfect alibi in most whodunit or mystery thrillers, and this personal record too, has chronicled much to provide us with clues. As the script grapples with unfolding details in a neatly-woven first half, each character keeps us riveted to the screen, and veers towards a cat-and-mouse chase between the law enforcers and the accused.
The diary takes us back to a flashback, and we learn that there was also a reticent six-year-old girl in a school Vidya teaches in, whose little verbalised and implicit victimisation goads Vidya to take up her case, and stand up for her. Once convinced there is something immediately ominous about the situation of a small girl-child from a rich Dewan family who dozes off every day in school, Vidya decides to take charge, and deal out justice to the child, much to her family’s (grandmother played by Amba Sanyal and uncle Jugal Hansraj) antagonism. Convinced of the girl’s uncle’s involvement, Vidya is prepared to fight to the bitter end to see him put behind bars.
Meanwhile, the police, now with all its force, try hard to unpack the enigmatically unsolved happenings while Inderjit keeps his wife (Manini Chadha) in good humour, who is forever taunting him about the small town posting. What also ensues in this 120-minute film is also a startling fact: Vidya is accused of kidnapping and murdering her daughter! Up to a major part of the film, there is a taut screenplay that sincerely paces scenes with enough breathing time complemented by Namrata Rao’s slick editing. There’s chilliness and even sustained quietude in Ghosh’s effective storytelling but we wait for the brightest burst of emotions that would lead to memorable fireworks. Instead, all the slickness makes way for convenient twists and an unsurprising end leaving us with asking for more. Regrettably, what starts off with a great premise and urges to wait for an exciting ride, tapers off soon.
Other than the inertia that seems to have crept into the tale, there is more disappointment in its sacrifice of a faster pace or a compelling action. Perhaps, unable to decide what story he wanted to tell, Ghosh hedges his bets and loses most of it. If there are reasons for you to watch this film, there could be many though. Firstly, the performances — be it Vidya Balan as a doting mother in her de-glam avatar who would even go against the law to protect Mini; or Rampal as police inspector Inderjit, there is little that you would point out as a false note in their performances. Also, remarkably competent is a bunch of actors from Bengali cinema (Kharaj Mukherjee, Tota Roy Choudhury), who as supporting characters add the invaluable energy and backing that this film needed.
There’s also the multi-myriad setting of Bengal captured in its exquisite detail by cinematographer Tapan Basu showcasing Chandannagar, picturesque pristine and less inhabited beauty of Kalimpong, the dock in Howrah and Chinatown in Kolkata. While it won’t change the world, it certainly deserves to be seen, specially as this is probably one of Balan’s strongest dramatic performances. If only Ghosh had paid a little more attention to give us an engagingly compelling film to chew on right from the beginning till end. After making us engrossed throughout for close to 60 minutes, he dishes out something that’s tiredly slow. And less enthralling!
The writer is a film critic and has been reviewing films for over 15 years. He also writes on music, art and culture, and other human interest stories.
