Product Code Database
Kahaani (; ) is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language Thriller film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Sujoy Ghosh. It stars Vidya Balan as Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant woman looking for her missing husband in Kolkata during the festival of Durga Puja, assisted by Assist Sub-Inspector Satyoki "Rana" Sinha (Parambrata Chatterjee) and Inspector General A. Khan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui).
Made on a budget of , Kahaani was conceived and developed by Ghosh, who co-wrote the film with Advaita Kala. The crew often employed guerrilla-filmmaking techniques on Kolkata's streets to avoid attracting attention. Its creative portrayal of the city and its use of local crew and cast made it a notable film. Kahaani explores themes of feminism and motherhood in a male-dominated Indian society. The film also makes several allusions to Satyajit Ray's films, such as Charulata (1964), Aranyer Din Ratri (1970), and Joi Baba Felunath (1979). The film's musical score and soundtrack were composed by Clinton Cerejo and Vishal–Shekhar respectively, with cinematography handled by Setu and editing done by Namrata Rao.
Kahaani was released worldwide on 9 March 2012. Critics praised the screenplay, the cinematography and the performances of the lead actors. Following critical acclaim and word-of-mouth publicity, the film earned worldwide in 50 days. The film won several awards, including three National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards. The latter included trophies for Best Director (Ghosh) and Best Actress (Vidya). The film was remade by Sekhar Kammula in Telugu as Anaamika (2014) with Nayanthara reprising Vidya's role. A spiritual successor, titled , was released on 2 December 2016.
Agnes D'Mello, the NDC's head of human resources, suggests to Vidya that her husband resembled former employee Milan Damji, whose file is probably kept in the old NDC office. Before Agnes can provide any further help, she is killed by Bob Biswas, an Contract killer working undercover as a life insurance agent, at the entrance of her house. Vidya and Rana break into the old NDC office and find Damji's file, barely escaping an encounter with Bob, who is sent to search for the same information. Meanwhile, the attempts to obtain Damji's records have attracted the attention of two Intelligence Bureau officials in Delhi—the chief Bhaskaran K. and his deputy Khan. Khan arrives in Kolkata and reveals that Damji was a rogue IB agent responsible for the poison gas attack. Despite Khan's warnings, Vidya continues her search, fearing that Arnab's resemblance to Damji may have led him into trouble.
The address on Damji's record leads Vidya and Rana to a dilapidated flat. An errand boy from the neighbourhood tea stall identifies R. Sridhar, an NDC officer, as a frequent visitor to Damji's flat. Bob attempts, but fails, to kill Vidya and is soon run over by a truck during a chase. Examination of Bob's mobile phone leads Vidya and Rana to an IP address, sending instructions to kill her. They break into Sridhar's office to verify his IP address, but he is alerted electronically and returns to his office. Vidya accidentally kills Sridhar during a scuffle, which upsets Khan, who had wanted him alive.
Sridhar's computer data reveals a code, which when deciphered reveals Bhaskaran's phone number. Vidya calls Bhaskaran to tell him that she has retrieved sensitive documents from Sridhar's office. She asks Bhaskaran to help find her husband in exchange for the documents, but Bhaskaran tells her to contact the local police. Vidya soon gets a call from an unknown number, warning her that she should hand over the documents to the caller if she wishes to see her husband alive. Khan thinks the caller is Damji.
Vidya goes to meet Damji at the designated location as told in the phone call, followed by Rana and Khan. Damji cuts the meeting short when Vidya expresses her doubt that he will be able to return her husband in exchange for the sensitive file, and he attempts to leave. Vidya tries to stop him, and in the ensuing struggle, Damji draws a gun on her. Vidya disarms him using the prosthetic belly she has been using to fake her pregnancy and promptly stabbing him in the neck with her Hair stick before finally killing him with his own gun. She flees into the crowd before the police arrive, leaving a thank-you note for Rana and a pen drive containing data from Sridhar's computer, which leads to Bhaskaran's arrest. Rana concludes that neither Vidya nor Arnab Bagchi ever existed and that Vidya had been using the police and the IB to achieve her own ends.
Vidya is revealed to be the widow of Major Arup Basu, an IB and Army officer and Damji's colleague, who was killed in the poison gas attack, which also caused Vidya to fall unconscious upon seeing her husband's corpse and suffer a miscarriage. In her mission to avenge his and their unborn child's deaths, Vidya was helped by the retired IB officer, Col. Pratap Bajpayee, who suspected the involvement of a top IB official.
Ghosh, who co-wrote the story and the screenplay, began to plan the film while awaiting the release of his previous film Aladin (2009), but the dismal response to Aladin was a setback. He had to approach several producers to finance him for Kahaani, but was refused and discouraged from making the film owing to three factors: a pregnant woman as the lead star, a bunch of unknown Bengali actors as the supporting cast and Kolkata as a backdrop. Yashraj Films were willing to produce the film, but wanted Ghosh to sign a three-film deal, which he declined because he did not want that much commitment.
Bengali film actor Prosenjit Chatterjee encouraged Ghosh to shoot in Kolkata. Ghosh finally selected Kolkata for several reasons: the director's acquaintance with the city, its mix of modernity and old-world charm, and budget constraints. Kolkata is a cheaper location than Mumbai or Delhi, where most Bollywood films are shot.
Ghosh admitted in an interview that after his two preceding directorial ventures— Aladin and Home Delivery (2005)—performed poorly at the box office, Kahaani was his last chance to create a niche as a director. He added that the film's plot twist came somewhat accidentally. Having described the skeleton of the story to a friend during its development, the friend called him back a few days later to enquire about his film. The friend had mistakenly imagined sequences which he assumed to be parts of the plot, from which the twist ending was derived.
Ghosh chose mostly Bengali actors as he wanted to make the characters as authentic as possible. The role of the Inspector Satyoki "Rana" Sinha was first offered to Chandan Roy Sanyal, but he could not take the part due to other commitments. Parambrata Chatterjee, a Bengali actor whose acting in the film The Bong Connection (2006) had impressed Ghosh at the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image festival, was later offered the role in Kahaani. Chatterjee had earlier worked with Vidya in her début film Bhalo Theko (2003).
The casting director Roshmi Banerjee suggested Nawazuddin Siddiqui for the role of Khan. Siddiqui, who had only had minor roles in Bollywood up to that time, was surprised that for the first time he would not have to portray a beggar. Saswata Chatterjee, another Bengali actor, was surprised as well when he was offered the role of the contract killer Bob Biswas. He thought there were suitable actors in Hindi film industry for the role. He said that Ghosh had known him since childhood and was impressed with his acting, so he wanted him as Bob Biswas.
Ghosh went against the expectations of casting a popular actor from Bollywood. He signed Bengali actor Abir Chatterjee to play Vidya's husband. According to Ghosh, popular Bollywood actors were not willing to work with him after his two previous flops. He also believed that audience might expect more screen-time from a better-known actor. Several other Bengali film and television actors, such as Indraneil Sengupta and Kharaj Mukherjee, were cast in supporting roles.
While briefing Saswata Chatterjee about his character, the cold-blooded killer Bob Biswas, Ghosh used the phrase "Binito Bob" (meaning polite Bob), which crystallised the notion of Bob's manners. Further discussions led to the inclusion of paunch and a bald patch. Chatterjee devised the mannerism of rubbing his nails together as some Indians believe doing that helps prevent hair loss. The mannerism was well-noted and praised by the viewers. Ghosh was surprised at how Bob Biswas was greeted by fans as a cult figure. He emphasised that the deliberate ordinariness of Bob Biswas was portrayed so convincingly by Chatterjee that the viewers can expect Bob to be around them at any time and any place.
Parambrata Chatterjee said in an interview that he did not identify with the Rana character, owing to the difference between his own urban upbringing and Rana's rural background. Chatterjee visited police stations and did some research "on their work, mindset and other relevant things" to prepare for the role. The character Khan was envisaged as a ruthless, arrogant, expletive-spewing officer who cares nothing about the emotional or social consequences of his behaviour. Siddiqui said that he was surprised on being offered the role, and wondered how he could portray the arrogance needed for the character. Ghosh built Khan as a character with lean physical build but full of mental strength, loyalty and patriotism. Khan smokes a relatively cheap brand of cigarette (Gold Flake) despite his high official post; Siddiqui had smoked that brand of cigarette throughout his struggling days in Bollywood and thereafter.
Ghosh chose the guest house in which the protagonist stays after noticing it during his visit to a neighbouring hotel in April 2010. He booked it for 10 days for , and requested the guest-house employees to keep the shooting schedule a secret. Choosing a room with windows overlooking a busy road, he proceeded to give it an old-fashioned look by replacing the windows' designer grilles with old-fashioned wooden ones, and by painting the room with some rough patches.
A recurring theme is the fleeting hint of romance between Rana and Vidya. Ghosh said that this delicate romance was "the most progressive thing" in the film—a suggestion that a man could fall in love with a pregnant woman. The director explained that the boy was initially "fascinated by someone who is literally a hero in his eyes", as Rana was awed by the computer skills of Vidya. Gradually, the fascinated boy moves into a zone where he tries to protect her.
Some reviewers note that a major protagonist is Kolkata itself, which is "brimming with warm, sympathetic inhabitants". A review in Rediff.com notes that the director pays a "fond yet understated tribute" to the city by incorporating imagery such as "yellow taxis, leisurely trams, congested traffic, claustrophobic metros, dilapidated brick houses, tapering alleys, rajnigandhas, lal paad saris, piping hot luchis". According to the reviewer, Kahaani did not depend on the tropes of Kolkata culture typically used in Bollywood film—"O-emphasizing accent, dramatic play of conch shells, rasgulla/mishti doi excesses." The director acknowledges that Kolkata "becomes a central character" of the film. Gautaman Bhaskaran, writing for Gulf Times, notes that Kolkata imagery was polished up in the film; noted Bengali director Srijit Mukherji argues that the portrayal of the city in Kahaani was akin to a "Lonely Planet exotica" on the city. Uddalak Mukherjee of The Telegraph explains that Kolkata in Kahaani was cosmetic and lacked a deep menacing presence. Mukherjee argues the depiction of the city never matches the level of Satyajit Ray's Calcutta trilogy, where "aided by bloodshed, greed and decadence, ...Calcutta ..., even though a place of dreams, desires and hope, slides irreversibly into chaos, anxiety and a moral crisis, taking its residents with it".
Durga Puja, the autumnal festival to worship goddess Durga, plays a prominent role in the story. The allegorical yearly return of goddess Durga to slay the demon Mahishasura is alluded to at the end of the film. According to Uddalak Mukherjee of The Telegraph, "Durga Puja, with its paraphernalia of idols, immersion processions, pandals, even an entire crowd of women draped in white saris with red borders, is central to the film's ... visual aesthetic." A review in Rediff.com praised the depiction of the festivities in Kolkata, a city well known for its celebration of Durga Puja.
Ghosh acknowledges the allusions to Ray's films. In one scene, Vidya asks the manager of the guest house why there is no hot water although the signboard had claimed "running hot water". The manager explains that the sign refers for his errand boy, who runs to deliver hot water in a kettle whenever required. This alludes to a similar scene in Ray's Joi Baba Felunath (1979). In an interview with The Telegraph, Ghosh says that the way Vidya looks out and moves from window to window in the guest-house room is reminiscent of Ray's Charulata (1964), where the actress Madhabi Mukherjee enjoys glimpses of the outside world through the blinds of windows. He also acknowledges the influence of Mahanagar (1963), another Ray film noted for its portrayal of Kolkata. According to the director, he was inspired by particular scenes of Ray's Nayak (1966) to plan the portrayal of complex emotional issues between Vidya and the police officer Rana, especially Rana's awe in the presence of Vidya. Ghosh expresses his inspiration from Ray's Aranyer Dinratri (1970) in which Ray "wanted the audience to be inside the car with the four guys all the time. So the camera never leaves the car." Ghosh shot a similar scene, hoping the audience would become "like Vidya's fellow passenger."
Besides Ray's films, Ghosh also admits inspiration from what he calls "visually striking" films of the 1970s and 1980s, such as Deewaar (1975). Critics have compared the fake-pregnancy twist of Kahaani with the 2004 American psychological thriller Taking Lives. The sequences towards the end that explain the missing pieces of the mystery were compared with The Usual Suspects (1995). Ghosh writes that the film was heavily influenced by the colour scheme of the Pratima Visarjan, a c.1915 watercolour by the Bengal School artist Gaganendranath Tagore.
On 5 March 2012, prior to release, Kolkata Metro authorities objected to a scene in which Vidya is pushed by a man onto the tracks as a train arrives. They requested that the scene be removed, as it would remind people of the past suicides, which had tarnished the railway's image. The filmmakers screened the scene for the authorities and explained that nothing in the film would affect the image of the Metro or prompt people to commit suicide. Convinced, the officials withdrew their objections, and the scene was retained, although it was removed from trailers.
Kahaani was released on 9 March 2012, a day after International Women's Day. It played on 1100 screens worldwide. CNN-IBN reported that although Kahaani was ready before The Dirty Picture, distributors deferred its release, fearing that Vidya's role of a sexy siren (in The Dirty Picture) after that of a pregnant woman might not be received well. Star India bought the exclusive right to broadcast the film for a price of , which was the highest-ever price paid for a female-centric film in India. The Indian television premiere of the film was on Star India's channel Movies OK on 3 June 2012. The DVD of the film was released on 17 May 2012 across all regions in a one-disc pack in NTSC format. Distributed by Shemaroo Entertainment, it contained additional content, such as behind-the-scene footage, video of celebration parties after its theatrical release, and music videos of the songs of the film. The VCD and Blu-ray versions were released at the same time. The film is also available on Netflix.
Many reviewers criticised the film's climax and certain features, feeling that they deviated from its general style. Rituparna Chatterjee of CNN-IBN noted that the climax of the film was a "huge dampener" and explained, "The diabolic twist at that juncture got underplayed ... What follows is a sobfest ... the apologetic explanation of why she does what she does. Justifying her action comes across more as an effort to appease the Indian morality". 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." It adds that the "spoon-feeding" of reasons at the end dampens the intrigue factor. The review in Yahoo! India comments that the Durga metaphor at the end was enforced, and that the film over-indulged in Bengali stereotypes. Gautaman Bhaskaran, in his review in Gulf Times, noted that the sometimes-handheld photography was "as irksome as the plot with a sleuth too many and cops galore."
Monalisa Guest House, the lodge which hosted Vidya Bagchi in the film, became a local attraction. Several hundreds have visited it since the film's release, to the extent that the owners planned to increase tariffs and renovate the rooms around a Kahaani theme.
The potbellied contract killer Bob Biswas became an Internet phenomenon, the subject of several jokes and pieces of pop art, which circulated through Facebook and Twitter. "Nomoshkar, Aami Bob Biswas... Ek minute?" ("Hello, I am Bob Biswas... do you have a minute?")—the monologue he repeatedly uses just before murdering his victims—was used in different internet meme. A graphic novel and a television show based on Bob Biswas were planned in March 2012.
|
|
