The super-success of ‘The Dirty Picture’ has helped create tremendous curiosity around Vidya Balan’s ‘Kahaani’ co-written and directed by Sujoy Ghosh. After tasting success with his very first film Jhankar Beats, Ghosh’s next two films – Home Delivery and Aladin – failed miserably at the box-office. While most directors would have tried to play safe, Sujoy’s fourth outing is easily his most challenging film.
Kahaani is about a pregnant lady Vidya Bagchi (Vidya Balan), who is on a never-ending search of her husband. She arrives in Kolkata from London to find her husband, but soon realizes that he simply does not exist.
Revealing more would kill your Kahaani experience. It’s one of those films that has to be watched in theatre, to experience the thrill and of course the fabulous performance by Balan.
Kahaani Review
Why Kahaani is a must watch
- For the sheer thrill that it provides from start to finish, Kahaani is a highly recommended watch. The first half is brilliant and has everything – great music, fabulous performances, subtle humor and most importantly you feel the anxiety and stress that Vidya Balan’s character is going through.
- If you thought ‘The Dirty Picture’ was one of Vidya’s best performances, watch out for her restrained brilliance in Kahaani. She proves yet again that, amongst the current generation of female actors, she is by far the most skilled performer. She is complimented wonderfully by the supporting characters – Parambrata Chattopadhyaay as Rana was superb, Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Khan was brilliant and special mention for the hired serial killer played by Saswata Chatterjee, who will send chills down your spine each time he makes an appearance.
- The city of Kolkata is captured in all it’s glory and plays a huge part - Right from the time Vidya Bagchi lands at the airport amidst chaos, you realize her search will be anything but easy.
- No unnecessary songs, no melodrama and hardly anytime to breathe!
- Loved Ekla Cholo Re sung by Amitabh Bachchan
What doesn’t work
- The second half tends to drag a bit.
- The climax/ending may not work for everyone.
Overall, Kahaani is a very well-made film with powerful performances and a strong storyline. We suggest you watch Kahaani not once but twice. It’ll help you understand the finer nuances better. At the box-office, the film should open to a decent response, but will rely on word-of-mouth publicity.
Rating: 
10/10,
awesome movie!!!!
Ya bro
Everyone should watch this movie… It’ll not disappoint u in anywhere.
I am going to wath this movie with lot of expectations, lets see does it works or not.
Aaaah….now THAT was SOME Kahaani …… intriguing Kahaani…Thrilling Kahaani….brilliant use of imagery of Kolkata…with a befitting twist at the end ….
Kahaani ho to aisi !!!
Hey piyali ur damn ryt
Excellent movie. The biggest plus point of this movie is exclusion of dance sequences that always degrades a thriller movie. Spectators never get bored or never loses focus from the story because of this. The suspence prevalis till the last scene. Overall it’s worth to be given 4 out of 5.
@Saikat: Esob pagol chagol er katha rekhe dao. er katha moto arnab mane ki rabbit tai jonno naki arnab amra use korte parbona onno din onno kono language e dekhbo anupam mane bador tahole to amar biswer sob language jene bose thakte hoi ar aste aste bangla theke sob word tule dite hoi. kar konlanguage e kiser ki mane darachhe sei vebe kono arek ta language to change hote parena . eisob chagol na pagol ke je janmo dai tar bap ma je kamon bolod seo vagoban e janen.
I along with my friends have seen KAHANI at the main cinema with our friends and we feel that salient features of this film should be openly discussed for the benefit of other cine goers.
Kahani has indeed a strong story line and holds sequence of the events as they unfold till the end: Thumbs-Up for the Director Sujoy Ghosh
The main star is the elegant Vidya Balan who has first part of her real name in the film; and other part of her name is a creation of the film makers.
Vidya portrayed as an expecting mother, lands at Kolkata from London in search of her missing husband who was joined with high profile assignment in India.
Soon the hunt will begin…..
People in the hall would soon observe that besides Vidya Balan there is no known array of artists inducted in this film, but still it worked out as a fine effort in its key departments.
The intriguing element in Kahani is the frustration of police. Suspense builds to high levels particularly the records of her husband vanish from the data base that really intriguing as the complexities continue to brew in a manner leaving the audience to anticipate be it on their own to an atypical turn, but this in fact the quality of the tension filled film that trepidation is kept intact till closing moments of the movie.
Vidya is a lone hunter whose discoveries as surfaced in Kahani stems out a similarly looking person is again perplexing for the lead star itself, but how to cope with and to find out some way out furthers the story sometimes gradually, but with powerful depiction of performance. However at no place we felt the movie dragged or was slow; in fact it rolled with calculated impetus with sudden turns in plot and telling of events.
The notable aspect of Kahani is the relevancy of the plot as amalgamated into the main story line and that too from very onset of the film.
Surround Sound editing is very good and especially in the action sequences it would be noticed clearly by the audience.
The search of a mysterious vanishing of Vidya’s hubby by the local authorities is at times dark; and a bit convulsed as the intelligence department’s splinter teams join hands to rummage the missing veiled links. The things which were looking quite straight forward for the investigating officials soon became a hard pill to swallow bringing even more fright and distress to the higher official’s thus giving rise to level of inquiry that attracted the attention of Government.
Fine Story-Line of film “KAHANI” is the pinnacle of the presentation, especially when the film makers handled the complex task methodically and executed it accordingly.
Kahani has a climax which shall impact the cine-goers although it was quite violent and may have an “R’ rating if it was a Hollywood film. Vidya Balan’s well executed timing and accurate dialog deliverance elevated the last moments which remain in our mind long after when the movie was over.
Vidya Balan’s portrayal of the character is that of connoisseur leaving the investigation team in a state of acute perplexity, many a team official may doubt even at each others credibility as who is a scam and who is reasonable, thus pushing the state of affairs into deep pit.
There is a fine balance of pacing of the first and second half which would keep many movie buffs happy, as they would be involved for sure that is key factor one should expect from a mystery thriller.
The department of the police particularly: the young officer who goes an extra mile with the lead star Vidya and helps out to ease her anxieties. There is a hint of romance on part of the young officer which may please segment of audience, and some may find it a bit odious, but there is no vulgarity, just traces of some emotions and that too emerge for a very short time.
Mr. Parambrata Chattopadhyay performs well in the capacity of Vidya’s escort; and he emerges as a decent supporting performer which must be appreciated.
The character of the office clerk of an office in-guise of a hardnosed killer is blended in a unique way and in a violent manner. That’s true, People on road cannot expect that an office clerk could be an assassin and in this context would be willing to cooperate and get killed abruptly & viciously.
Cinematography is excellent. Kolkata is the city where events took place & the colorful city with real life hustle & bustle captured very well by the camera team of Kahani.
It would be difficult to refute that despite a strong story line Kahani heavily relies on the superb performance of Vidya Balan.
Vidya Balan is no doubt very talented artist, and with her endowment she has portrayed the role assigned to her in Kahani with utmost dedication, fervor and realism..
Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays a role of a high ranking I-O, but in the film he mostly remained, insensate, crude intelligence officer in the film.
There were no glamorous songs in the film in fact typical boy girl singing and dancing were NOT IN THE FILM, AT ALL, but The title track and Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Ekla Cholo Re’ & brief rendering by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan’s of the concluding lines in this film had further heightened the film and it created a powerful impact on viewers in the cinema hall. Sir Amitabh has a great deep voice; and the lines so narrated touched the hearts which culminated the film in the most rewarding manner.
We have no hesitation in saying that Kahani is one of the finest films that Bollywood had brought forward in recent times.
Outstanding: ****1/2 (.)
gud movie. But i think that TDP is better than kahaani. The climax was awesome. Even then it is only a one time watch movie. Like everytime vidya was stunning. Luv u vidya
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