The new venture of actor-writer-director Rajat Kapoor was eagerly awaited as he is not among those directors who would come up with something routine and uninteresting. Plus the execution and performances in his films have rarely disappointed in the past and his last venture ANKHON DEKHI is proudly also there in the Movies To See Before You Die list at BTC.
However KADAKH unexpectedly turns out to be just an above average mixed bag imitating a widely seen classic, with an excellent beginning bringing you on to the edge of your seat and the rest of the film strangely following an entirely familiar, inspired path concluding on a highly unconvincing and bizarre note.
Sharing my thoughts (without revealing any twist), I really expected something great to come up post the brilliant initial 15 minutes of the film, but was really disheartened to see the director opting for a kind of tribute, making his own version of Alfred Hitchcock’s famous classic ROPE. Besides, the way it all ends so conveniently as a supposedly black comedy but irresponsibly involving the kids, doesn’t convince and also doesn’t justify the tragic situation of any of its key characters. In addition, certain sequences like the Kalki entry as a mind-reader and Ranvir smelling something carelessly spoiling all the food, looks like entirely forced and unrequired, compensating for the lack of ideas.
Having said that, what still keeps you thoroughly engaged is the basic premise (particularly for the viewers who haven’t seen ROPE), the enjoyable performances of the entire cast led by Ranvir Shorey and Rajat himself, the well-composed background score, the racy pace and the witty dialogues saving the film, converting it into a fairly watchable, above average comic-satirical drama of less than 2 hours of duration.
So watch it for sure. And you are certainly going to like it if you have no information and haven’t seen Alfred Hitchcock’s ROPE based on an exactly similar premise.
Interestingly the one thought I kept toying with as the film ended was about its team of actors who surely would have seen the Hitchcock classic in their earlier years of training or watching world cinema. Was frankly thinking that did they bluntly share about the script being highly inspired with its director Rajat Kapoor? Did they all have a detailed discussion on the same or they all remained silent and simply did what they were signed for?
Thinking the director must have included it somewhere, I duly checked the opening and end-credits too but couldn’t find any mention of a TRIBUTE or HOMAGE paid to the master of suspense or the actual playwright. I hope I somehow missed the mention being there in the credits.
Rating : 2.5 + 0.5 / 5 (with the additional 0.5 for the talented supporting cast literally rescuing the film)
For friends interested in reading about the classic ROPE, please click at the link below:
