Kahaani

Kahaani is a 2012 Indian thriller film directed and co-produced by Sujoy Ghosh. It stars Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chatterjee and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in lead roles. Balan portrays the role of Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant woman in search of her missing husband, who is helped in her quest by Chatterjee and Siddiqui. After starring in strong female-oriented films in Ishqiya, No One Killed Jessica and The Dirty Picture, Kahaani was Balan's fourth consecutive film to win her critical acclaim.^[2]

Kahaani was released on 9 March 2012 to wide critical acclaim and emerged as a success at the box office.

Plot

The film opens with a poison-gas attack on a Metro Rail compartment, killing more than a 100 passengers on board. Two years after the incident, a pregnant software engineer Vidya Bagchi (Vidya Balan), arrives in Kolkata from London. She is looking for her missing husband Arnab Bagchi and is offered support from Satyaki Sinha/Rana (Parambrata Chatterjee), a junior police officer from Kalighat Police Station. Although Arnab came to Kolkata on an assignment for the National Data Centre (NDC), initial probes suggest that no person named Arnab Bagchi came to work in NDC, or stayed in the guesthouse that Arnab had described to Vidya during their phone conversations.

Agnes D'mello from human resources of the department, suggests Vidya that her husband resembled an ex-employee of NDC, Milan Damji and she'll try obtaining his records from NDC's old office. But before she could gather more information on Damji, Agnes is killed by Bob Biswas (Saswata Chatterjee), an contract killer who works as a life insurance agent. Vidya, assisted by Rana, breaks into the old office of NDC to collect documents on Damji. Here they barely manage to escape a close brush with the contract killer who was also looking for the documents on Damji.

Meanwhile, activities on obtaining Damji's records rattle two high ranking Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials: the IB chief Bhaskaran (Dhritiman Chatterjee) and his deputy Khan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). Khan arrives at Kolkata and reveals that Damji was an IB agent who had gone rogue and was responsible for the poison-gas attack on the Kolkata Metro. Khan warns Vidya not to get involved into the matter as he suspects a mole in the system. Vidya, fearing Arnab's resemblance with Milan has led Arnab into trouble or whether Milan Damji and Arnab Bagchi are same person, continues her relentless search.

The residential address on Damji's records lead the investigating duo of Vidya and Rana to a dilapidated flat in one of Kolkata's narrow alleys. The errand boy of the neighbourhood tea-stall, Poltu, informs them that the resident of that flat occasionally had a visitor. On Vidya's request Paresh, an artist and a police-informer, provides them with some details about Milan Damji being wounded about two years ago and was apparently treated by Dr. Ganguly, but he is killed by Bob.

Poltu then identifies R Sridhar, a technology officer of NDC, as the person who had visited Damji's flat. Sridhar instructs Bob to kill Vidya. After a failed attempt to kill her in crowded alleyways, Bob is run over by a tempo during a chase. Examination of Bob's mobile phone leads them to an IP address sending instructions to kill her. Vidya and Rana break into Sridhar's office to verify his IP address. However, Sridhar is alerted electronically, and returns back to his office pursuing the duo. A commotion ensues and Vidya shoots Sridhar accidentally. Khan, the IB official, is upset as they wanted Sridhar alive. Khan reveals that Rana has been working for him. Khan planned this as Vidya, being pregnant would not generate suspicion much as the police or investigation bureau would. If they had done the investigation, this would alert the culprits who supposedly have reach to the higher echelons of the investigation bureau itself. Although not happy at being used as a ploy, Vidya agrees to help Khan. Further examination of Sridhar's computer reveals a code which is deciphered to be Bhaskaran's phone number. Khan guesses that Bhaskaran himself may be the mole within the IB. According to his plan, Vidya calls Bhaskaran, and tells him that she has got hold of sensitive documents from Sridhar's office; if Bhaskaran helped Vidya to find out her husband, she would hand over the documents to Bhaskaran. Bhaskaran nonchalantly tells Vidya to contact the local police as he is not associated with this. However, within a few minutes of this conversation, Vidya gets a call from unknown number, warning her that she should hand over the documents to the caller if she wants to save her husband.

Per the instruction of the caller, Vidya, followed surreptitiously by Rana and Khan, goes to meet Damji in Triangular Park. On being asked about documents, she asks about her husband. Damji attacks her and hits her abdomen. It unfolds that Vidya has been faking pregnancy with a prosthetic abdomen; she kills a baffled Damji and flees before the arrival of police, leaving a note for Rana and a pen drive containing data from Sridhar's computer. Rana deduces based on several past incidences (most of which were shown to the audience during the movie) to Khan that no Vidya or Arnab Bagchi existed. The data from Sridhar's computer leads to Bhaskaran's arrest. The last minutes of the movie reveal the identity and motive of Vidya. Her husband, named Arup Basu (Abir Chatterjee), was an IB officer who was killed in the Metro poison gas incident. Meanwhile, Rana is seeing a candle-light vigil to those who died in the poison-gas attack two years ago. Leading to Bhaskaran's arrest and the death of Damji, it is said to be Vidya and the victim's families had finally got their answer.

[edit] Cast

• Vidya Balan as Vidya Venkatesan Bagchi
• Parambrata Chatterjee as Satyaki Sinha/Rana
• Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Khan
• Indraneil Sengupta as Milan Damji
• Dhritiman Chatterjee as K. Bhaskaran
• Saswata Chatterjee as Bob Biswas
• Shantilal Mukherjee as R. Shridhar
• Kharaj Mukherjee as Inspector Chatterjee
• Colleen Blanche as Agnes D'mello
• Nitya Ganguli as Mr. Das
• Ritabrata Mukherjee as Bishnu
• Pamela Bhuttoria as Sapna
• Kalyan Chatterjee as Paresh Pal
• Ridhi Sen as Poltu
• Darshan Jariwala as Captain Bajpai (guest appearance)
• Abir Chatterjee as Arup Basu (guest appearance)

[edit] Production

[edit] Casting

Parambrata Chatterjee, a well known actor in Bengali cinema, was chosen to play the role of Inspector Rana, who helps Vidya in the search for her husband. Sujoy Ghosh met him in 2006 in Mumbai when Parambrata was showing his film The Bong Connection at the MAMI festival. Having liked his work in The Bong Connection, Sujoy called him in 2009 when Parambrata finished his film-making course in UK, to offer him a lead role in Kahaani. Parambrata has earlier worked with Vidya Balan in her first film and his second film, Bhalo Theko. ^[6]

[edit] Themes

The film is female-centric, revolving around a pregnant's woman's journey in search of her missing husband. Director Sujoy Ghosh claims that his project is a study of motherhood. According to him, a mother can go to any extent to protect her baby even if that includes dealing with a physically powerful man: "It is inspired as much by your mother as it is by mine. The entire transformation of a woman due to motherhood has always fascinated me. I have seen girls become mothers and it is terrific as much it is beautiful. She is this petite little girl at first, but as soon as she becomes a mother, she is the most powerful individual there."^[7] Sources reveal that the theme was also chosen because women-centric films are popular after Balan's last release The Dirty Picture (another female-oriented film fetching Balan her first National Film Award for Best Actress) ^[8] , was well received with critical acclaim^[9] and a strong box-office response.

Release

Critical reception

Upon release, the film received highly positive reviews from critics. According to review aggregator ReviewGang this movie received 8 out of 10 rating by professional critics.^[12]

Taran Adarsh of Bollywwod Hungama gave 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "Post The Dirty Picture, the admiration for the National Award winning actress Vidya has scaled woozy altitudes and let me affirm, the supremely talented actress delivers a performance that's at par with her former accomplishments."^[13] Times Of India gave 4 out of 5 stars and said "Once again, a 'pregnant' Vidya, ironically displays more 'male ornaments' (excuse the watering down) than most heroes."^[14] Rediff.com gave 4 out of 5 stars and said "Vidya Balan excels in Kahaani, a film which is much too enjoyable to find flaws."^[15]

Rajeev Masand of IBN Live gave 3.5 out of 5 stars saying "it's a delicious thriller". Aakash Barvalia of MoviezAdda gave 4 out of 5 stars and said "It’s a story of one brave and courageous pregnant woman, Vidya Bagchi (Vidya Balan), who came all the way long from London to Kolkata, to find her missing husband Arnab Bagchi."^[16] Anupama Chopra stated that "Kahaani is a nifty thriller with an enjoyment quotient that is indirectly proportionate to how long you spend thinking about the plot."^[17] The Hindu stated "Worth every rupee paid to watch the movie. Not to be missed".^[18]

Bollygraph.com gave the film 4.5 stars out of 5 and praised, "Vidya Balan’s Kahaani was being awaited much. After watching her marvelous performance in the superhit The Dirty Picture, people were simply crazy to watch her next venture. Kahaani hits the screens today with gusto. Prior to the release, the expectations from Balan’s fans and the moviegoers were high and she as well as the film too live up to those expectations aptly."^[19]

One article noted that the climax of the film was a "huge dampener"^[20] and explains, "The diabolic twist at that juncture got underplayed by capitulating to what is crassly referred to as "what the Indian audiences demand" from a Hindi film. What follows is a sobfest, a repeat of a candle light vigil scene from Balan's earlier film No One Killed Jessica and the apologetic explanation of why she does what she does. Justifying her action comes across more as an effort to appease the Indian morality..."^[20] The Outlook review noted, "At times, Kahaani is too clever, at others extremely pedestrian like in the depiction of computer hacking and IB operations, not to speak of the ludicrous terrorist angle and the all-too predictable Durga Puja setting for that mythology tie-in."^[21] It adds that, "The ending feels more clumsy than menacing as Ghosh begins to explain each detail at length—very literally. The spoon-feeding takes the intrigue away."

Box office

On its opening day, Kahaani collected 2.60 crore (US$518,700) in which of 75 lakh (US$149,600) came from paid previews. The bulk of the business came from Mumbai, Delhi/UP, East Punjab West Bengal and Mysore, with those five circuits giving a contribution of over 80%.^[22][23] However, the film picked up on Saturday collecting 4.75 crore (US$0.95 million) and Sunday collecting 5.25 crore (US$1.05 million), resulting in a 13.5 crore (US$2.69 million) net gross on its first weekend. The film collected nearly 24 crore (US$4.79 million) in the first week,^[24] well past its production cost 8 crore (US$1.6 million).^[24] Box Office India declared the film as a super hit.

Visuals and motifs

Portrayal of Kolkata

Some reviewers noted that a major protagonist in the film is the city of Kolkata itself.^[15] Director Sujoy Ghosh portrays Kolkata in a way which is mostly brimming with warm, sympathetic inhabitants.^[15] The film offers multitude of glimpses of everyday life of the city.^[15] As one review mentions, "Ghosh pays a fond yet understated tribute to the city's essence and elements—yellow taxis, leisurely trams, congested traffic, claustrophobic metros, dilapidated brick houses, tapering alleys, rajnigandhas, lal paad saris, piping hot luchis and a gorgeous depiction of how the city acquires a whole new level of luminosity and 'shakti' during the famed Durga Puja."^[15] The film did not bank on the usual stereotypes of Kolkata culture that are otherwise often used in Bollywood films, such as "O-emphasizing accent, dramatic play of conch shells, rasgulla/mishti doi excesses."^[15]

The cinematographer was able to catch various moods of the city effectively through the lens "Dark, lingering, soulful, amusing, festive, enigmatic and unchanging — Kolkata is multiple people in a city's body. This varied, pulsating and intriguing temperament is what is documented in its yellow-toned frames without distracting itself from the story or its telling."^[15] The director admitted, "For me, Kolkata wasn't supposed to be an object. Kolkata is a person and had an emotional index. When Parambrata drives down Vidya to the guest house for the first time, I deliberately show how the evening is slowly setting in. That's how my Kolkata enters every frame and finally becomes a central character of my film."^[26]

[edit] Allusions and inspirations

In a scene of the movie, Vidya asks the manager of the guest house why there is no hot water in the tap although the signboard of the guest house claims "running hot water". The manager explains that the errand boy of the guest house runs to deliver hot water in a kettle whenever hot water is needed, and that is why the signboard says "running hot water". In Satyajit Ray's Joy Baba Felunath, an elderly gentleman asked the same question to a hotel manager, and got the same reply in a somewhat scalding manner.^[27]

Director Sujoy Ghosh admitted several instances of allusions to Satyajit Ray's films. The way Vidya looks out and moves from window to window in the guest house room is reminiscent of Charulata where the actress Madhabi Mukherjee playing a lonely wife enjoys glimpses of the outside world through the blinds of windows.^[28] In an interview, the director said, "Framing comes from Mahanagar."^[28] Mahanagar was another film directed by Ray that was noted for its portrayal of Kolkata. According to the director, he was inspired by particular scenes of Ray's Nayak to plan the portrayal of complex emotional issues between Vidya and the police officer Rana, especially Rana's awe in the presence of Vidya.^[28] Ghosh expressed his inspiration from Ray's Aranyer Dinratri by saying, "...I remember an interview of Ray’s where he had said that in Aranyer Dinratri he wanted the audience to be inside the car with the four guys all the time. So the camera never leaves the car. It stuck in my head. The same thing I have done here... You are like Vidya’s fellow passenger."^[28]

Besides Ray's films, Ghosh also admitted inspiration from the visually striking films of 1970s and 1980s, "I remember the scene in Deewaar when Shashi Kapoor walks in, sees Nirupa Roy and takes his cap off and she breaks her bangles. Nothing more, nothing less. Just images. I have used that here. Vidya comes down the stairs and sees Param standing there... he takes his cap off... just before the morgue scene."^[28] Critics have compared the fake pregnancy twist of Kahaani with similar sequences in the 2004 psychological thriller Taking Lives.

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by Vishal-Shekhar while the lyrics were penned by Vishal Dadlani, Anvita Dutt & Sandeep Srivasta. The album was released on February 22, 2012. Several of RD Burman's Hindi & Bengali composition have been aptly used in the background. Many critics praised the amalgam of Bengali with Hindi lyrics used in the songs. CNN IBN quoted "The team has again come up with a new album Kahaani. The film has six songs with the title song Kahaani featuring twice. Aami Shotti Bolchi not only has interesting lyrics but also conveys the feel of Kolkata. The song is successful even if it expresses about only 20 percent of the local feel of Kolkata. Kahaani may not be a collector's item but it features right voices as per the overall mood of the album. Aami Shotti Bolchi and Ekla Cholo Re have the potential to fetch your attention.

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