Blog Posts by Rummana Ahmed

Vidya in KahaaniA lot of us might have completely written off Sujoy Ghosh after box office disasters like 'Home Delivery' and 'Aladin' but he has managed to score big with 'Kahaani'. Ghosh manages to weave a compelling, well-nuanced tale that skillfully transforms from a drama to a gripping suspense thriller.

Gaurav Malani in his review says the narrative is the star of the film:

Kahaani rightly lives up to its name and reinstates the fact that the core criterion for a decent film is a strong story. And if that story is in competent hands, you don't need anything else. No big stars, songs, budget or even a customary male lead. For a (pleasant) change, the script is indeed the hero here!

What's interesting about 'Kahaani' is that different elements work for different people. Kaveree Bamzai in her review says:

Kolkata is the star of the film. Kolkata early morning, with people drinking tea, brushing their teeth, waking up from the pavement. Kolkata going home, on the tram, with the obligatory call from

Vidya Balan in KahaaniSujoy Ghosh's 'Kahaani' is such a compelling watch that it makes it difficult for the audience to sit back and relax. The tight script manages to keep the viewer's hooked till the end and the climax has a payoff that's completely worth the wait.

The premise is simple: Vidya Bagchi's (Vidya Balan) husband who had come to Kolkata on a short assignment has suddenly gone missing. A pregnant Vidya comes down from London to find Arnab Bagchi, who seems to have either disappeared or never made the trip in the first place. The way a simple search story unfolds, weaving a complex conspiracy is most intriguing.

The storytelling is taut and the momentum builds to a grand climax, the pace not slacking even for a moment. The possibilities are infinite: Did Arnab Bagchi just desert his pregnant wife? Are the police trying to somehow cover up his Kolkata visit? Does Arnab Bagchi exist or has he given his naïve wife a false identity? Is it possible that he has gone missing because he was mistaken for

n Cast: Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chatterjee, Saswata Chatterjee n n Directed by Sujoy Ghosh n Rating: **1 /2 n n “Computers are like a cycle for the mind, ” is something the late Steve Jobs once said. His analogy works just as well for suspense thrillers. Some love them for the uneasiness of being unsure of what will happen next, others enjoy putting the pieces together before the climax. And if they can ’t, they love it even more. ‘Kahaani ’, with a few loose ends, manages to score with an ‘unpredictable end ’ but the tension on the screen doesn ’t translate into an anxious audience. Not throughout the film at least. A pregnant woman seeks her absconding husband. She has flown down from London for the very first time to our colonial junkyard- Kolkata, precisely to do that. Now just this as a starting point could be used to terrorize the audience. A strange city full of people speaking an incomprehensible language can be portrayed cinematically through sweeping shots of crowds,