You can rise from your own ashes and make the world realize that you have not accepted defeat. Sujoy Ghosh, the director of Kahaani precisely does so. Remember his last offering, the miserable Aladin? If you don’t, it’s good for you. Perhaps for him, the Genie has fulfilled his wish, finally. Vidya Balan. Remember how she was severely criticized for her extra pounds and her fashion faux-pas in Heyy Babyy? But how those extra pounds of flesh and a little cleavage here and a little moaning there paved her way to the National Awards, through the dirty alleys of Bollywood!
Well this one was serious. Now imagine a packed theatre, where the audience suddenly burst into laughter as the credits thank “Miss Mamata Banerjee, Hon’ble Chief Minister of
A pregnant woman arrives in the city, is almost forced to hire a cab and the cabbie turns out to be a real sweetheart, giving her his contact number as he reads her “discomfort”. He turns out to be a true friend and Usha Uthup goes, “Chhote se chhote ho koi yahaan phir bhi dil hai bada/ Khara bhi khota bhi har type ka bondhu milega yahaan”. After a long time, here comes a song that celebrates the true spirit of the city and its “double role” status. “Ami shotti bolchhi.”
Shakespeare has been so wrong! “What’s in a name?” Trust me Mr.Bard, there’s so much in a name. I have a name that make people go mad and although I have a “bhalo naam” and a “daak naam”, yet the variations make me feel I should have remained nameless! And imagine Vidya Bagchhi’s trials as she just tries to make people around the city realize that she is V-idya and not B-idya!! I hate distortions in my name, and it’s a confession. “Ami shotti bolchhi.”
The film takes off with a ‘kahaani’ of a poisonous gas-attack in Kolkata metro and as it proceeds, we go on knitting stories within stories and one ‘kahaani’ follows another and so on. Crimes unfold, blood sheds and the tapestry is woven around one woman, here called Vidya ‘Bidya’ Bagchhi. God knows, if her career graph grows in this way, how many more adjectives would be attached to our own reel-Silk! And Vidya, makes you so comfortable. As a stranger in the city, she never complains about it, unlike many of our contemporary films, and we know why she calls Kolkata her ‘second home’! It shows on screen. Her knight in the film, Parambrata is a perfect companion. Not only does he make a six-month -old police man look convincing but also plays his part pretty well. And we recall the duo in Balan’s debut, “Bhalo Theko”. Time flies, talent ferments. “Ami shotti bolchhi”.
Vidya Bagchhi, aided by Rana/Satyoki (and these several identities!) (Parambrata) leaves no stone unturned to unfold the mystery behind her ‘missing’ husband. During her search, they come across who’s-who of the state apparatus: Government employees, Investigation Bureau chiefs, Police inspectors, Teachers, HR recruiters and of course, the two cha-boys, Bishnu and Poltu! Khan, played brilliantly by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, is a show-stealer. They make and unmake their own ‘kahaani’s to revisit a two-year-old heinous crime and in the process ‘uses’ Vidya Bagchhi to reach their ends. I am not here to unfold my ‘kahaani’ and spoil your interest, so let this much be the gist of Sujoy’s ‘kahaani’. I will not divulge an iota of the taut screenplay, any more. Again, trust me, “Ami shotti bolchhi.’
Let chill run down your spines, let the flavours of the city of joy be soaked in your veins, let the continuous background scores of R.D. intoxicate you, let the oh-not-so-new metaphor of Durga maa divulge newer dimensions for you. But here again, I can not but bring in Rituparno’s Utshab. Remember how the director had deliberately avoided any visual of Durga puja in his film? We could only know decipher the five days of the puja from the loudspeakers that served an excellent background score in the relationship saga. Here Sujoy Ghosh mixes and matches the festival according to his own wish and the way he makes use of the Puja days is brilliantly captured by the cinematographer Setu. Brilliant work, Mr. Ghosh! I am sure, you’ll love this treatment, “ami shotti bolchhi”.
The entire ensemble is from Kolkata: Dhritiman Chattrejee, Saswata Chatterjee, Kharaj Mukherjee, Shantilal Mukherjee, Kamalinee and even in a cameo, newcomer model-tuned actor, Pamela. Everyone seems to fit in their roles to the T as if they could not have asked for a better exposure in national cinema. And how can the director forget his Genie? “Ekla cholo re” in Big B’s baritone and his narration at the end of the movie add to the seriousness of the film. And by the time you arrive at the truth, you know, to be weak is never a miserable thing! Ah, Rupam and Anupam, “shotti bole shotti kichhu nei”! “Ami shotti bolchhi”.
Few questions remain unanswered to me. Or may be, I am answered. I still don’t know, but they are open to interpretations and that’s exactly what this Kahaani is all about! You keep on interpreting, you keep on being teased and you keep on guessing till you know, dusting is not a bad habit after all! “Ami shotti bolchhi”.
